Random Loot Table in Google Sheets

[DMChef]

I did something kind of cool at least for me. I wanted a way to quickly look up and hand out loot so I created a Google Sheet to do it. I copied the loot and then used a simple formula to randomly pick a line and display it. I then added a check box to work as a button that allows me to click to randomly pick another one! It’s so cool.

I cannot share my file with the community but if you have the PDF’s you can easily create your own.

Here is the formula: =INDEX(A1:A100,RANDBETWEEN(1,100))

-DmChef

[Baconivore]

Ah, nicely done! Thanks for sharing the formula

[Krzysiek_Jeczala]

I modified your formula so that you do not have to change it every time you enter a new position in the column where you keep the data. Thanks to this, the formula itself calculates the number of items and gives you a random result :). Important: I keep my first row for column name.

=INDEX(A2:A;RANDBETWEEN(1;COUNTA(A2:A));1)

[Michael_Maitlen]

thanks for the spreadsheet goodness, can certainly see many ways this can be useful

[Mialin]

This works perfectly, thanks!

Can anyone think of a way to add drop chances?
For example I have item rarities: common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary
with respective loot chances 45%, 30%, 18%, 6%, 1%.
I now make a very long list with a common item being present 45 times etc.
But it would save a lot of work if I could just link the %-related column.

Thanks

[Jaide]

There are several ways this can be done, but it can be cumbersome for the document depending on how you want the data displayed. For example, if you wanted a variable list of 1 to 100 items to appear in a format that you could copy and paste from with a mix of common, uncommon, rare, epic, and legendary then I would handle that on a Calculation page with a limiting filter on your output page.

I would also consider sliders or input boxes for controls on the output page in order to fine-tune the results. As google sheets automatically updates formulas when just one cell changes it is recommended to limit the number of random number generations the sheet is doing for faster results.

I have a lot of experience in both excel and Google sheets, my current project is converting “The Extraordinary Book of Names” By Gary Gygax into a google sheet that can randomly generate between 1 to 100 names based on World Region, Country/Heritage, and Gender. With just shy of 4 million unique combinations in just names from the British Isles, with more common names appearing more than less common names.

Feel free to direct message me if you want more specific formulas.