Choose the Right Workshop Generator
Compare all 22 Workshop generators by output, workflow and supported follow-up actions.
Start at RPG Workshop, decide what kind of campaign object you need, then choose the generator whose result surface supports the work you plan to do next. The Workshop has 22 visible generator choices, but their controls and follow-up tools are not interchangeable.
Start with the result you need
1. Choose the campaign object before the format
Ask what you need to use at the table. A person belongs in Character or NPC. A complete adversary belongs in Monster, while an active scene belongs in Encounter Builder. A place might be a Building, Dungeon, Settlement, Region or World depending on its scale. Choose Poetry & Lore only when the deliverable is verse or lore rather than an editable registry entity.
The selected generator controls the form, result type and available follow-up actions.
On mobile, move through the horizontal generator choices before completing the selected form.
Understand the three inventories
Do not infer one inventory from another. A type appearing in the main Workshop does not mean it is offered by every Generate and Link panel. Equally, a result using the shared registry does not mean it has every shared action.
The current 15 types are: NPC, Character, Monster, Faction, Settlement, Tavern, Shop, Region, Building, Hazard, Dungeon, Spellbook, Loot, MagicItem, Poetry. The current entity context changes the recommended subset shown first. Every remaining supported type stays available under Other generators, so the recommendation is guidance rather than a hard filter.
Compare the exact 22 choices
This matrix describes the reviewed product contract. “Auto-art” means a visible saved-art option on the normal generator surface. A saved paid preset may spend Gold, so generation should not be described as universally free. “Generic reroll” is the mounted section action reviewed at 1 Gold. Bespoke controls behave differently.
| Workshop choice | Best used for | Execution | Auto-art | Reroll or specialised control | Relationships | Share Card | Export/result boundary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Building | A single structure or important location | Async | Yes | None | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Character | A player-character record | Async | Yes | Generic reroll | Yes | Yes | Separate builder, registry result |
| Class | A homebrew class or subclass | Async | No | Generic reroll | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Dungeon | A room-based lair or dungeon | Async | Yes | Generic reroll | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Encounter Builder | A balanced combat or social scene | Async | Yes | Generic reroll | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Faction | A guild, order or political group | Async | Yes | Generic reroll | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Hazard | A trap, ward or environmental danger | Async | Yes | None | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Loot | A treasure bundle or reward | Synchronous | No | None | No | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Magic Item | One enchanted object | Async | Yes | Generic reroll | Yes | No | Registry and standard export |
| Monster | A complete creature or adversary | Async | Yes | Generic reroll | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| NPC | A non-player character | Async | Yes | Generic reroll | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Pantheon | A religion with several deities | Async | Yes | Regenerate one deity | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Poetry & Lore | Verse, prophecy or short lore | Async | No | Legacy refinement | No | No | Legacy result and URL copy |
| Puzzle | A riddle or physical mechanism | Async | Yes | None | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Quest Generator | An adventure with hook, scenes and cast | Async | Yes | None | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Region | A broad land, realm or frontier | Async queue | Yes | None | No | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Settlement | A town, city or community | Async | Yes | None | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Shop | A merchant, shopkeeper and stock | Async | Yes | Regenerate stock | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Species | An ancestry with biology and culture | Async | Yes | None | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Spellbook | A coherent collection of spells | Async | Yes | None | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| Tavern | An inn, tavern and its people | Async | Yes | None | Yes | Yes | Registry and standard export |
| World | A top-level world, shard or realm | Async | Yes | Generic reroll | Yes | No | Registry and standard export |
2. Use scale to separate similar place generators
Choose Building for one location, Dungeon for an explorable room sequence, Settlement for a community, Region for a broad area and World for the top-level setting. A World result can expand a Region, while Region uses durable queue recovery. Those are follow-up behaviours, not reasons to put every place in the largest generator.
3. Separate a statted subject from a playable situation
Use Monster for the creature itself and Encounter Builder for the situation in which creatures, terrain and objectives meet. Use NPC for a supporting person and Character for the separate player-character builder. Use Class or Species when the reusable rules or ancestry are the real output.
4. Check the follow-up action before submitting
If you need a Share Card, note that Magic Item, Poetry & Lore and World do not mount one in the reviewed contract. If you need relationships, Loot, Poetry & Lore and Region are exceptions. If you expect a reroll, check the table rather than assuming the shared entity view provides it. Confirm any displayed Gold amount before using an art or reroll control.
Make one deliberate choice
For the Glasswake walkthrough, an individual expedition captain is an NPC, not a Character, Class or Faction. The form can take age, level, game system, optional characteristics, campaign context, a concise brief and an auto-art preset. That choice produces an NPC result whose relationships and export controls fit the intended use.
Checkpoint
Check your result
- The chosen generator matches the campaign object and its scale.
- Its execution and result surface match the way you plan to review the result.
- Any needed relationship, reroll, Share Card and export action is present in the matrix.
- The live art or action price has been checked before one deliberate submission.
Troubleshooting
If something looks wrong
Troubleshooting
- Symptom
- The result is the wrong scale or kind of object.
- Likely cause
- A neighbouring generator was chosen by theme rather than by the object needed at the table.
- Next safe action
- Return to RPG Workshop and compare Building, Dungeon, Settlement, Region and World, or NPC, Character and Monster, before submitting another request.
- Symptom
- A relationship, Share Card or reroll control is missing.
- Likely cause
- Those actions are capability-specific, even when several types share the registry view.
- Next safe action
- Check the matrix and the generator handbook. Do not repeatedly reload or regenerate to make an unsupported control appear.
- Symptom
- Generate and Link does not offer all 22 choices.
- Likely cause
- Its inventory is intentionally smaller and is mounted for the current source entity.
- Next safe action
- Use the offered related type, or return to the main Workshop for the complete generator inventory and link an existing result afterwards where supported.