Create a Random Generator

Welcome to Perchance!

Perchance is a platform for creating and sharing random generators. To create a random generator you simply create lists which reference other lists:

output
  Your [pack] contains [item], [item] and [item].

item
  a few coins
  an old {silver|bronze} ring
  a handkerchief
  a shard of bone
  some lint
  a tin of tea leaves

pack
  purse
  backpack
  bag
  pack
  knapsack
  rucksack

try this example

So, for example, whenever you write [pack], a random item from the "pack" list will be put in its place — as shown in this animation by Vionet20.

Here's a link to a minimal perchance generator based on the above code. You can edit it, save your own version, and share it.

You can change the odds of items like so:

pack
  purse
  backpack ^2
  bag
	...

That makes "backpack" twice as likely as the others to be chosen when we write [pack]. You can import other peoples' generators like this:

sentence
	I need a new {import:noun}.
	Quickly, {import:verb}!

You can also alter the capitalisation, pluralisation, tense, and other properties of your word lists. Here's how to play around with capitalisation, for example:

sentence
	[name.titleCase], can you hear me?
	HELLO, [name.upperCase]!

name
  patricia
	khalid
	anaya
	...

There are a bunch of different shorthand notations to make common tasks easier:

sentence
	{She|He} was about {15-20}0cm tall and was carrying {1-3} {import:concrete-noun}{s}.

If you prefer to learn via video, here's a great unofficial introduction video by YouTuber Chaoclypse who is using Perchance to create RPG generators:

(btw, feel free to share your own Perchance video tutorials on the community forum - you might get featured here!)

The above examples only show the absolute basics of Perchance! If you'd like to learn more, check out the tutorial, and start playing around with a minimal example (or the basic template). Check out the examples page and this somewhat complexified version of the previous backpack example for some demonstration of advanced features.

View Creations 🔧 Start Creating ⚄ Keep Learning 📚

Once you've created a generator, you can share it with others by simply sharing the URL. You can change the URL in the "settings" menu. You can also download it as a single HTML file so that you can run it offline, or even turn it into a Twitter bot or a Tumblr bot. It's also easy to embed it in your own website:

<iframe src="https://null.perchance.org/my-generator-name" style="width:100%; height:600px; border:none;"></iframe>

And a note to coders: It's also possible to set up an API server for your generator, even though Perchance doesn't have an "official" API at this point. It's also possible to set up a Discord bot which will respond to messages with the output of a generator that you choose.

We have a Lemmy community which you might like to join. Feel free to share your creations there or ask questions if you need some help building your generator. Also check out the work-in-progress useful generators list which might have some generators that you'd find useful for importing into your own generator.

If you're looking for a simple random generator maker that just randomly selects one of several different items that you specify, then you can still use Perchance, but it might be a bit excessive for such a simple task. That said, the advantage of using Perchance for something like this is that it makes it really easy to add different weights/chances to each item and to extend it with some additional complexity later if needed. Perchance is designed to allow you to create random generators that have a lot of complexity, without requiring any existing coding knowledge, and with a fairly simple interface.

Perchance is based on HTML/CSS, and JavaScript, and my secret mission with Perchance is to get people interested in coding with a smooth, fun learning-curve. If you enjoy using Perchance and want to take your coding skills to the next level, you might like to learn to code on Khan Academy, or Scratch.

Finally, Perchance's structure is based on other awesome random text languages like randomgen by Orteil and Rant by TheBerkin. Many thanks to these and other DSL creators which inspired Perchance's syntax and functionality. You might also like to check out Chartopia - another website which allows you to make random generators. If you like the HTML/JS coding aspect of Perchance, and don't really need the generator stuff, then neocities.org may also be interesting to you.

Thanks to the contributors behind these open source software projects:

Compromise: A JavaScript natural language library that powers pastTense and pluralForm and the like.
Split.js: A library that allows you to easily split the screen up into resizable quadrants.
MongoDB: A great document/NoSQL database. I use it for everything.
Express.js: Helps serve you this webpage and power the internal APIs of Perchance.

Thanks for checking out Perchance! •ᴗ•

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