Grimshackle
Tavernwright
Basics Building The cast The board
Open Tavernwright
Straight answers from the table

Frequently Asked Questions.

Everything about Tavernwright — the free, browser-based tavern and NPC generator for D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, and Daggerheart. Build a living tavern in one click, run it straight from the page, and stay in the story.

D&D 5e Pathfinder 2e Daggerheart
The Basics Building a Tavern The Cast The Relationship Board Atmosphere & Extras Control & Saving About & Licensing
first things first

The Basics

What is Tavernwright?
Tavernwright is a free, browser-based tavern generator for tabletop Game Masters. In one click it builds a complete establishment — the room, a hanging sign, a full menu, and a cast of NPCs who each have a name, a face, a voice, a secret, and a stat block. It supports Dungeons & Dragons 5e, Pathfinder 2e, and Daggerheart, and runs entirely in your browser with no account and nothing to install.
What game systems does it support?
Tavernwright fully supports three systems: Dungeons & Dragons 5e, Pathfinder 2e, and Daggerheart. Every NPC's stat block is rendered in the chosen system's own terms — Armor Class or Evasion, that system's ability names, hit points, attacks, and signature moves. You choose the system when you build the tavern, and the whole cast is stat-blocked to match.
Is it free? Is there a catch?
Yes — Tavernwright is free to use. There is no account to create, no software to install, and no paywall on its features. It runs as a single local page in any modern browser.
Do I need an account or a download?
No. Tavernwright is one self-contained file that runs by double-click, with no sign-up, no login, and no server. You open it and start building taverns immediately, on desktop or mobile.
Is it private, and does it work offline?
Yes. Because Tavernwright runs as a single local file, nothing is uploaded or tracked — everything is generated on your own machine, and it works with no internet connection. Your taverns stay private to you.
Does it work on mobile?
Yes. Tavernwright works in any modern browser on desktop, tablet, or phone, with touch-friendly controls. You can run the tavern from a laptop at the table or a phone on the couch.
How much prep does it actually save?
The whole point is to skip the twenty minutes you would otherwise spend inventing a barkeep's name, a drink list, and who is in the corner while your players wait. Tavernwright hands you a complete, characterful room the instant your party walks in, so you can improvise from something alive instead of compiling lists.
open the doors

Building a Tavern

How do I build a tavern?
Choose a game system, a setting, an establishment style, and a trouble level — then open the doors. Tavernwright assembles the whole establishment at once: a name, atmosphere, menu, sign, and a full cast. Or hit Surprise for a completely random tavern.
What settings and styles can I choose?
There are 6 settings — portside, city, town, roadside, frontier, and underground — and 8 establishment styles: common house, mercenary hall, noble house, gambling den, entertainment hall, criminal dive, arcane lounge, and cult house. Each style is written distinctly, so a cult house never reads like a noble hall.
What does trouble do?
Trouble sets how dangerous the room feels — quiet, rowdy, or dangerous — and shapes the mood, the crowd, and the right-now moment as the party enters.
What is the quality tier?
Every tavern has a derived quality tier — Squalid, Common, Fine, or Grand — calculated from the style, setting, and trouble you picked. It drives the tavern's hanging sign and how clean and well-kept the staff are, so a Grand noble house and a Squalid dive feel worlds apart.
Can it just surprise me?
Yes. Hit Surprise and Tavernwright rolls a random establishment — setting, style, trouble, and name — then you open the doors to a full cast. It is built for the GM who wants to be surprised right alongside the players.
What does every tavern come with?
Every tavern arrives with a name and a full sensory atmosphere, an ambient read of how busy and loud it is, a right-now beat already happening as you enter, a complete menu, a hanging sign matched to the house, and vibe cues for what you smell, hear, and notice.
Does it generate a menu?
Yes. Every tavern has a complete menu with house character — specials, the cellar (drinks), and bites — each with its own names, flavor text, and prices, written to fit the establishment so a dockside dive's board never reads like a grand hall's.
people, not stat blocks

The Cast

How detailed are the NPCs?
Every NPC is assembled from roughly twenty independent traits, so no two feel alike. Each has a name, appearance (face, eyes, hair, skin, build, distinguishing marks, hands, and gait), a voice, a quirk, a secret, a motive for tonight, what they are doing right now, their clothing, a carried possession, their standing in the world, and a full stat block.
How many ancestries are there, and how do names work?
Tavernwright spans 31 ancestries across its three systems, each with its own naming style. Names are built from ancestry-specific sounds and surname conventions, with tens of thousands to over a million possible names per ancestry — so names always fit the character and rarely repeat.
Do NPCs have secrets and motives?
Yes. Every NPC carries a quirk, a secret, a motive — what they want tonight — and a beat describing what they are already doing as the party walks in. That is what turns a name into a person you can actually play.
Do NPCs have stat blocks for combat?
Yes. Under every character is a complete stat block for when steel gets drawn — weapon, ability scores, defenses, hit points, and signature moves, rendered in the system you chose when you built the tavern.
What kinds of people show up?
Tavernwright populates the room with seven person types — barkeep, worker, entertainer, muscle, patron, traveler, and oddity — each with a specific role or job. The mix and count follow the tavern's style, so a mercenary hall fills differently than a noble house.
Can I steer who shows up?
Yes. Add a person of any type — or a specific one — straight into the room or onto the board, reroll anyone you don't like, and edit names and ancestry by hand when you already have a character in mind.
a roster becomes a plot

The Relationship Board

What is the relationship board?
The board is an open canvas where every NPC becomes a draggable card. Connect any two with a relationship thread you can label in your own words, and a roster of strangers becomes a map of grudges and alliances your party can pull on all night.
What relationship types are there?
There are six relationship types — conflict, scheme, tension, bond, romance, and debt — each with its own color. You set what each thread means and label it however you like.
Can I edit and restyle the connections?
Yes. Every thread is fully editable: set its type, recolor it, rename the label, switch between curved and straight lines, or delete it. Click a thread's parchment label to open its editor; the label enlarges while selected and settles back when you click away.
What board tools are there?
The board includes add a person, connect two characters, and tidy up — an automatic layout that clusters connected groups and parks the unconnected out of the way.
the room has a pulse

Atmosphere & Extras

Does it describe the atmosphere?
Yes. Every tavern comes with a full sensory atmosphere written for its style, plus vibe cues for what you smell, what you hear, and the small detail you cannot help but notice — so you can set the scene in a sentence.
What is the ambient read and the right-now beat?
The ambient read tells you at a glance how busy the room is and how loud it is. The right-now beat is something already happening as the party walks in — a hook to open the scene on instead of a cold, empty room.
Is there a hanging sign?
Yes. Every tavern gets a hand-made hanging totem sign matched to its style and quality tier, pulled from a library of sign art, so the shingle out front fits the house.
make it yours

Control & Saving

Can I reroll just part of a tavern or NPC?
Yes — you can reroll granularly. Refresh a whole NPC, just their name, the menu, the vibe, or any single trait, all without disturbing the rest. Keep rerolling until the detail is exactly right.
Can I edit names and ancestry by hand?
Yes. You can edit any NPC's name inline and set their ancestry by hand, so when you have a specific character in mind, you can steer the generator instead of only rolling.
Can I copy or duplicate an NPC?
Yes. Copy any NPC to your clipboard as clean formatted text, or add another of the same type to build the exact cast you want, then reroll or edit to taste.
Can I save an NPC for later?
Yes. Mark the NPCs worth remembering with the bookmark ribbon and Tavernwright keeps a running count, so a memorable barkeep or a scheming patron is easy to flag for a later callback.
the fine print

About & Licensing

Who made Tavernwright?
Tavernwright is part of the Grimshackle family of tools, built by a Game Master for Game Masters. The guiding rule is simple: take away the mundane bookkeeping and leave the creativity, so the GM can stay in the story.
Is it official? What is it built on?
Tavernwright is an independent tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast, Darrington Press, or Paizo. Its D&D content is used under the OGL and Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0) SRD 5.1, its Daggerheart content under the Darrington Press Community Gaming License, and its Pathfinder 2e content under the OGL v1.0a and/or the ORC License.
Is it free? How is it funded?
Tavernwright is free to use and self-funded by its creator — no paywall, no account, and no ads. The core tool is free to use today.
How does it fit with my other tools?
Tavernwright is a focused tavern companion, not a replacement for your maps, rulebooks, or character sheets. It sits alongside sister tools like Grimshackle's Battlesmith and takes over the part that is most tedious in the moment — populating a living tavern — then gets out of the way so the rest of your table runs however you like.

Walk your party through the door.
The whole place will be waiting.

A living tavern in one click. No accounts, no installs — it runs right in your browser, private to you, in a blink.

Open Tavernwright
Grimshackle Tavernwright beta v2.003 Home Licenses & Attribution
Built by a Game Master, for Game Masters. D&D content under the OGL / CC-BY 4.0 (SRD 5.1), Daggerheart under the Darrington Press Community Gaming License, and Pathfinder 2e under the OGL v1.0a / ORC License.