What if you could create a Roll a Story game designed entirely around your students, your current classroom text or the writing skills you want to develop? Instead of relying on pre-made characters, settings and story problems, imagine being able to choose every possibility yourself — from mysterious Victorian characters and dystopian conflicts to unusual objects, unexpected plot twists and challenging writing constraints.
With our free Build Your Own Roll a Story generator, you can do exactly that.
This interactive creative writing tool allows teachers, students and aspiring authors to create their own personalised story dice, complete with custom categories and six possible outcomes for each die. Start with the traditional Character, Setting and Plot / Problem categories, or add as many additional dice as you need to create a storytelling activity that is entirely your own.
Once you've entered your ideas, simply roll the digital dice to generate an original combination. You can roll everything at once, reroll individual elements, copy your results or generate a printable Roll a Story grid for classroom activities using physical dice.
The possibilities extend far beyond traditional story starters. Create a Gothic fiction challenge inspired by a novel you're studying, design a character development exercise, build a historical fiction storytelling game or challenge students to combine seemingly incompatible narrative elements. You could even invite students to construct their own games, exchanging them with classmates before writing stories inspired by one another's creations.
Whether you're planning a five-minute English lesson starter, a collaborative storytelling activity, a creative writing workshop or a more substantial narrative writing project, this customisable generator makes it easy to turn your own ideas into an engaging writing game.
Looking for more inspiration? Explore the Creative Writing Generators Hub for interactive story, character and worldbuilding tools, or browse the Creative Writing Archive for writing prompts, storytelling techniques and imaginative activities to develop your ideas further.
Ready to create your own storytelling game? Start by naming your dice, adding six possibilities to each category and discovering what happens when your ideas meet the roll of a die.
Build Your Own Roll a Story
Enter six possibilities for each die, add as many extra dice as you like, then roll or print your own classroom story grid.
1. Create your story dice
Every die has six numbered outcomes. All entries are yours to customise.
2. Roll your custom dice
Roll each die separately or roll them all. Empty outcomes are shown as “Not entered” if selected.
3. Your printable story grid
The grid updates as you edit. Scroll sideways if you have lots of categories.
How to Build Your Own Roll a Story Game
Creating your own Roll a Story game is surprisingly simple. Rather than working with a fixed collection of characters, settings and problems, this free custom story dice generator lets you decide exactly which elements students will use to construct their narratives.
You can create a traditional storytelling game, design an activity around a particular literary genre or replace the usual categories with writing techniques, character traits, historical events or imaginative constraints.
Every die contains six possible outcomes, corresponding to the six faces of an ordinary die. Once you've entered your ideas, the generator can roll them digitally or turn them into a printable classroom grid.
Step 1: Give Your Roll a Story Game a Title
Begin by entering a name in the Activity Title field.
Choose something that reflects the genre, topic or writing skill you want students to explore. For example:
Gothic Mystery Roll a Story
Dystopian Fiction Challenge
Shakespeare-Inspired Story Dice
Victorian Historical Fiction
The Impossible Fairytale
Character Development Challenge
A descriptive title is particularly useful when preparing printable grids for different classes or lesson activities.
Step 2: Create Your Story Dice Categories
The generator begins with three familiar storytelling categories:
Character: Who will your story follow? This might be a suspicious stranger, an ambitious inventor, a reluctant hero or someone hiding a dangerous secret.
Setting: Where will the story take place? Consider locations that create opportunities for conflict, atmosphere or discovery.
Plot / Problem: What happens to disrupt the character's ordinary life? A missing object, unexpected visitor, impossible decision or mysterious warning can provide the central conflict.
You can rename these categories to suit your activity. For example, a lesson focused on characterisation might replace them with Personality, Motivation and Secret.
Step 3: Enter Six Possibilities for Each Die
Each category contains six numbered fields. Enter a different possibility in each one.
For example, a Gothic mystery game might include the following character options:
A governess who hears footsteps in an empty nursery.
A physician who refuses to enter the village church.
A young heir who has inherited a house nobody will visit.
A portrait painter whose subjects keep disappearing.
A grieving widow who receives letters from her dead husband.
A night watchman who recognises a face in an old photograph.
Notice how each option suggests a character while introducing an unanswered question.
This is particularly useful for creative writing because students receive more than a generic character description. They are given a starting point for motivation, conflict and narrative development.
Tip: Aim for six varied outcomes rather than six versions of the same idea. The more distinctive your options, the more interesting the possible combinations become.
Step 4: Add Extra Story Dice
Want to make your game more challenging? Click Add Another Die to introduce a new category.
You could add Plot Twist, Mysterious Object, Dialogue, Atmosphere, Character Secret, Narrative Perspective or Writing Constraint.
For example, an additional Plot Twist die might include:
The apparent victim has been lying.
The only witness disappears.
An important document is discovered to be a forgery.
The protagonist recognises the supposed stranger.
The person offering help is responsible for the danger.
The final clue contradicts everything discovered so far.
You can add multiple extra categories, making the game as simple or complex as your lesson requires.
For younger or less confident writers, three dice may provide enough structure. For more experienced students, additional categories can encourage sophisticated planning, experimentation and problem-solving.
Step 5: Roll Your Custom Story Dice
Once you've entered your options, click Roll All Dice to generate a random combination.
The generator selects one of the six outcomes from every category, creating a personalised story prompt.
Alternatively, students can roll individual dice separately. This is useful when developing a story in stages or introducing an unexpected complication after the initial planning process.
For example, you might begin with Character, Setting and Problem, give students ten minutes to plan their story, then roll an additional Plot Twist die.
The new result forces students to reconsider their original narrative decisions.
If a particular outcome doesn't work, use the individual Reroll button to generate another possibility without changing the other results.
Step 6: Copy Your Results or Print Your Story Grid
Once you've generated your story elements, click Copy Results to copy the combination for use in a document, lesson resource or writing plan.
You can also select Generate Grid to create a printable version of your custom Roll a Story game.
The grid displays your categories across the top and six numbered outcomes beneath each one. Students can then use ordinary six-sided dice to select their story elements.
This makes the activity equally suitable for interactive whiteboards, independent computer-based writing, printed classroom tasks and collaborative storytelling games.
Prefer a ready-made activity? Try our Free Roll a Story Generator, featuring 12 complete storytelling genres, interactive dice, optional plot twists, writing challenges and printable grids.
What Categories Can You Add to Your Custom Story Dice?
One of the greatest advantages of building your own Roll a Story game is the freedom to move beyond the traditional Character, Setting and Problem format.
Different categories encourage different kinds of creative thinking. A Plot Twist die can develop narrative structure, while an Atmosphere die encourages descriptive writing. A Character Secret die introduces motivation and tension, and a Writing Constraint die challenges students to experiment with technique.
The following categories can be combined to create games for different genres, writing abilities and lesson objectives.
| Story Dice Category | What It Helps Students Develop | Example Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Character | Characterisation and protagonist creation | A librarian who has forgotten their own name |
| Setting | Worldbuilding and descriptive writing | A railway station abandoned for fifty years |
| Plot / Problem | Narrative conflict and story structure | Every clock in the town stops at midnight |
| Plot Twist | Reversals, revelations and foreshadowing | The person seeking help caused the disaster |
| Mysterious Object | Symbolism, clues and narrative significance | A silver key that unlocks no visible door |
| Dialogue | Character voice and relationships | "You weren't supposed to find that." |
| Point of View | Narrative perspective and voice | Tell the story through an unreliable narrator |
| Writing Constraint | Technical control and creativity | Write the opening without using adjectives |
| Atmosphere | Mood, sensory imagery and description | An overwhelming sense of being watched |
| Character Secret | Motivation and internal conflict | The protagonist knows why the victim vanished |
| Moral Dilemma | Character decisions and consequences | Save a friend or reveal a dangerous truth |
| Ending | Resolution, structure and narrative impact | End with a discovery that changes the opening |
Choosing Categories for Different Writing Objectives
You don't need to use every category in a single game. In fact, selecting a small number of carefully chosen dice often produces a more focused writing activity.
For descriptive writing, try Setting, Atmosphere, Sensory Detail and Writing Constraint. Students could be challenged to describe an abandoned theatre during a thunderstorm without directly stating that the location is frightening.
For character development, use Personality, Motivation, Secret and Moral Dilemma. This encourages students to think about what characters want, what they conceal and how they respond under pressure.
For narrative structure, combine Character, Problem, Complication, Plot Twist and Ending. Students must consider how events connect and how earlier decisions influence later consequences.
For genre studies, choose categories associated with the conventions of a particular genre. Gothic fiction might use Sinister Character, Isolated Setting, Unsettling Discovery and Supernatural Threat, while science fiction could feature Futuristic Society, Technology, Scientific Problem and Ethical Dilemma.
The key is to decide what students should practise before choosing which dice to create.
5 Custom Roll a Story Games to Try
Not sure where to begin? These five examples demonstrate how the same blank story dice generator can be transformed into very different creative writing activities.
Each game includes suggested categories, sample outcomes and a classroom challenge. You can enter the examples directly into the generator, adapt them for a particular class or use them as inspiration for entirely original activities.
1. Gothic Mystery Roll a Story
Focus: Atmosphere, suspense, secrets and Gothic conventions
Gothic fiction is particularly well suited to a custom Roll a Story game because its characters, locations and mysterious discoveries can be combined in countless unsettling ways.
Create four dice:
Character: A grieving widow; a nervous physician; an isolated governess; a disgraced aristocrat; a travelling antiquarian; a young woman searching for her sister.
Setting: An abandoned manor; a fog-covered cemetery; a ruined abbey; a Victorian asylum; a remote coastal village; a locked nursery.
Mysterious Discovery: A portrait with changing features; a letter written in an unknown hand; footsteps beneath the floorboards; a sealed coffin containing stones; a diary describing tomorrow's events; a photograph showing someone who has not yet been born.
Writing Challenge: Begin with dialogue; use pathetic fallacy; conceal the threat; include three sensory details; write in first person; end the scene with a question.
Classroom challenge: Roll all four dice and ask students to write a 300-word Gothic opening. Their writing should establish an unsettling atmosphere, introduce the central mystery and create suspense without immediately revealing the explanation.
Extension: Ask students to decide whether their story will contain a genuinely supernatural explanation or a rational explanation disguised as something supernatural.
2. Dystopian Fiction Challenge
Focus: Worldbuilding, social control, conflict and moral dilemmas
Dystopian stories often begin with a disturbing rule, restriction or system of control. This makes them ideal for a dice game exploring how fictional societies shape individual lives.
Create four dice:
Protagonist: A government archivist; a teenage rebel; a surveillance technician; a forbidden book collector; a memory editor; a child raised outside the city walls.
Society's Rule: Nobody may speak after sunset; all memories are recorded; citizens are assigned permanent occupations; books are forbidden; emotions are monitored; every person must report one suspicious neighbour each week.
Central Conflict: A secret message is discovered; the protagonist's identity is erased; a family member disappears; an illegal broadcast interrupts the news; the government announces an impossible new law; a trusted official requests help.
Moral Dilemma: Betray a friend or face punishment; destroy evidence or expose the truth; obey the law or protect a stranger; escape alone or remain with family; reveal a dangerous secret or remain silent; sacrifice freedom to save someone else.
Classroom challenge: Generate a dystopian premise and ask students to write the opening of a story that reveals the society's rules through character experience rather than lengthy explanation.
Encourage them to consider how the protagonist's ordinary routine might reveal the disturbing nature of their world.
Extension: Students write a government announcement, propaganda poster or official warning that reflects the society's values.
3. Fairytale with a Twist
Focus: Fairytale conventions, imaginative conflict and subverting expectations
Traditional fairytales provide familiar characters, magical objects, curses and impossible tasks. A custom dice game allows students to combine these conventions in unexpected ways.
Create four dice:
Fairytale Character: A princess who refuses the throne; a witch who has lost her magic; a giant afraid of heights; a talking fox with a secret; a prince under a curse; a fairy godmother who grants disastrous wishes.
Magical Setting: A castle beneath a lake; a forest that moves every night; a village where nobody ages; a palace built from mirrors; a kingdom trapped in winter; a cottage that appears only at midnight.
Magical Problem: A wish has been granted incorrectly; the kingdom's shadows disappear; a sleeping curse spreads; a stolen name must be recovered; the last dragon refuses to wake; an impossible bargain comes due.
Unexpected Twist: The villain is protecting the kingdom; the curse cannot be broken by love; the magical helper demands payment; the hero has been told the wrong prophecy; the monster is the rightful ruler; the happy ending creates a new problem.
Classroom challenge: Ask students to create a fairytale that uses at least three familiar genre conventions while deliberately challenging one traditional expectation.
For example, the princess might rescue the dragon, the witch might be the only trustworthy character or the supposed villain might be trying to prevent a greater disaster.
Extension: Rewrite the same premise as a dark fairytale, comic fairytale or contemporary retelling. Discuss how tone and narrative conventions change.
4. Historical Fiction Story Builder
Focus: Historical setting, contextual detail and believable conflict
Historical fiction challenges students to imagine lives shaped by the expectations, technologies and social structures of another period.
A custom Roll a Story game can be designed around a particular historical topic, making it useful for English lessons and cross-curricular projects.
For this example, create a Victorian storytelling game.
Character: A factory apprentice; a railway porter; a wealthy heiress; a newspaper reporter; a domestic servant; a medical student.
Setting: A crowded London street; a textile mill; a railway platform; a grand country house; a public lecture theatre; a foggy riverside warehouse.
Problem: A valuable document disappears; an employer makes a dangerous demand; a family secret is uncovered; an unexpected visitor arrives; a witness refuses to speak; a mysterious parcel is delivered.
Historical Detail: A gaslit street; a handwritten telegram; a horse-drawn carriage; a strict social convention; a newspaper advertisement; a crowded workhouse.
Classroom challenge: Students roll their dice and write a historical fiction scene that incorporates their selected details naturally.
Rather than inserting historical information as exposition, they should reveal the period through setting, dialogue, social expectations and the character's everyday experiences.
Extension: Ask students to research one element of their generated story and identify which details are historically plausible and which need revising.
5. Character Development Dice
Focus: Motivation, internal conflict and complex characterisation
Not every Roll a Story game needs to generate an entire plot. Sometimes the most useful activity is one that helps students create a believable character.
For this game, replace the traditional storytelling categories with four character-focused dice.
Personality Trait: Fiercely loyal; outwardly charming; painfully cautious; recklessly ambitious; deeply suspicious; quietly compassionate.
Greatest Desire: To be recognised; to escape the past; to protect a loved one; to uncover the truth; to gain power; to belong somewhere.
Hidden Secret: They betrayed a friend; they are living under a false identity; they possess something stolen; they witnessed a crime; they have been lying about their past; they know someone else's secret.
Internal Conflict: Pride prevents them asking for help; fear undermines their ambition; loyalty conflicts with honesty; guilt influences every decision; jealousy threatens a friendship; their beliefs contradict their actions.
Classroom challenge: Students generate a character and write a scene in which the character's desire conflicts with their internal weakness.
The aim is not simply to describe the character but to reveal personality through choices, dialogue and behaviour.
Extension: Ask students to create two contrasting characters and write a conversation in which both want something different. Neither character may state their true motivation directly.
6 Ways to Use Custom Story Dice in the Classroom
A personalised Roll a Story game offers much more flexibility than a traditional writing worksheet. Because teachers control the categories and outcomes, the same tool can support a five-minute starter, an extended creative writing lesson or a collaborative project.
Here are six practical ways to use custom story dice with secondary school students.
1. Create Curriculum-Linked Writing Starters
Best for: Lesson starters, text studies and genre revision
Design a game connected to the text, literary period or genre your class is studying.
For example, during a unit on Macbeth, you could create dice featuring Ambition, Supernatural Warning, Moral Choice and Consequence. Students would then write an original scene exploring similar ideas without simply reproducing the play.
Alternatively, a Gothic literature unit might use Setting, Unsettling Discovery and Atmosphere to reinforce genre conventions.
Teaching tip: Keep the categories closely connected to your learning objective. If the lesson focuses on suspense, ensure the outcomes create opportunities for tension rather than merely unusual situations.
2. Differentiate Creative Writing Challenges
Best for: Mixed-ability classes and independent writing
Custom dice allow teachers to vary the complexity of a task without requiring completely different activities.
Students who need more structure might work with three straightforward categories: Character, Setting and Problem.
More confident writers could add Narrative Perspective, Writing Constraint, Moral Dilemma or Plot Twist.
You could also prepare two versions of the same activity. One might use relatively direct outcomes, while the other introduces ambiguity, conflicting motivations or complex narrative restrictions.
Teaching tip: Offer additional dice as optional challenges rather than assuming every student needs the same number of restrictions.
3. Turn Narrative Planning into a Collaborative Game
Best for: Group work, speaking and listening, collaborative storytelling
Divide students into groups and give each group a custom Roll a Story grid.
Students take turns rolling a die and discussing how each new element changes their developing story.
For example, the first student rolls a character, the second introduces a setting and the third generates a problem. The group then agrees on the protagonist's goal and possible obstacles.
Once the narrative begins to take shape, introduce another die containing unexpected complications.
Students must negotiate how the new element fits their existing story.
Teaching tip: Give each student a specific role, such as character developer, setting designer, plot planner or editor, so everyone contributes to the final narrative.
4. Explore Genre Conventions Through Game Design
Best for: Genre studies, literary analysis and creative writing
Instead of simply asking students to identify the conventions of a genre, challenge them to turn those conventions into a playable game.
A mystery group might create Suspect, Clue, Motive and Red Herring dice.
A science fiction group could develop Technology, Futuristic Setting, Scientific Problem and Ethical Dilemma dice.
A horror group might choose Isolated Location, Threat, Warning and Escalation.
Students must consider which ingredients make their chosen genre recognisable and how those elements contribute to its effects.
Teaching tip: After playing, ask students which outcomes were most effective and whether any combinations challenged their expectations of the genre.
5. Practise Specific Writing Techniques
Best for: Targeted skills practice and writing workshops
A custom Roll a Story game can focus entirely on how students write rather than what they write about.
Create dice for Opening Technique, Figurative Language, Narrative Perspective and Writing Constraint.
For example, a student might roll:
Opening Technique: Begin with a question.
Figurative Language: Include personification.
Narrative Perspective: Third-person limited.
Writing Constraint: Do not use the word suddenly.
Students must then produce a short piece that satisfies all four requirements.
This encourages deliberate control of language and technique rather than relying on familiar writing habits.
Teaching tip: Include time for students to annotate their finished writing, identifying where and why they used each technique.
6. Create Printable Activities for Offline Lessons
Best for: Cover lessons, homework, small-group work and screen-free writing
Once you've designed your game, generate a printable Roll a Story grid.
Students can use physical dice to select their outcomes, making the activity suitable for classrooms without individual devices.
You could create a collection of grids for different genres, distribute different versions to groups or allow students to exchange their own designs.
For a longer project, students might complete a story planning sheet before writing their first draft.
Teaching tip: Keep a small set of six-sided dice with your printed resources so the activity can be reused whenever you need a quick creative writing task.
Challenge Students to Design Their Own Roll a Story Game
One of the most valuable ways to use this generator is to give students responsibility for creating the game itself.
Rather than simply responding to randomly generated prompts, students must consider what makes an interesting character, how a setting influences a narrative and which kinds of conflict provide opportunities for storytelling.
They also need to think about the person who will eventually play their game.
Will the outcomes be varied enough to produce interesting combinations? Are the prompts imaginative without being so specific that they restrict creativity? Does the game encourage the writing skills it is intended to develop?
These questions turn a straightforward dice activity into a lesson involving planning, creativity, collaboration and evaluation.
A Complete Student-Created Roll a Story Lesson
Suggested duration: 45–60 minutes
Suitable for: KS3, KS4, Middle School, High School and creative writing clubs
Learning objectives: To understand how story elements work together, develop original writing prompts, evaluate creative choices and construct a coherent narrative.
Stage 1: Choose a Theme or Genre — 5 Minutes
Begin by asking students to decide what kind of Roll a Story game they want to create.
They might choose a familiar genre, such as fantasy, mystery, science fiction or horror, or design a game around a particular topic.
Encourage students to think beyond broad labels.
For example, rather than simply creating a fantasy game, they might design a Cursed Kingdom Adventure, Magical Academy Mystery or Dragon Rider Challenge.
A more specific theme can help students create distinctive outcomes that work together.
Stage 2: Design the Categories — 10 Minutes
Students select at least three categories for their game.
Character, Setting and Problem provide a useful starting point, but students should consider whether alternative categories might better suit their chosen theme.
A detective story could use Investigator, Crime, Clue and Suspect.
A fairytale game might use Magical Character, Enchanted Location, Impossible Task and Curse.
A descriptive writing game could focus on Setting, Weather, Atmosphere and Sensory Detail.
Ask students to explain why they selected their categories and how each will contribute to the writing task.
Stage 3: Create Six Outcomes for Every Die — 15 Minutes
Students write six possible outcomes for each category.
Encourage them to create options that are distinctive, varied and flexible enough to combine with the other dice.
For example, an Adventure Problem die might include:
A bridge collapses, cutting off the only route home.
A map reveals a location that should not exist.
Someone in the group has secretly changed the destination.
The supplies disappear during the night.
A warning arrives from someone believed to be dead.
The travellers discover they are being followed.
Each outcome creates a different kind of conflict, allowing students to develop varied stories.
Before entering their options, students should check that their prompts are clear and offer enough information to inspire writing without dictating every event.
Stage 4: Build and Test the Game — 10 Minutes
Students enter their categories and outcomes into the Build Your Own Roll a Story generator.
Once their game is complete, they roll the dice several times and evaluate the combinations.
Ask them to consider:
Do the outcomes create interesting story possibilities?
Are any results too similar?
Can the different categories work together?
Are some outcomes too restrictive or difficult to interpret?
Does the game reflect its chosen theme or genre?
Students can then revise their options to improve the game.
This stage is particularly useful for demonstrating that effective creative work often requires testing, reflection and redrafting.
Stage 5: Exchange Games and Write — 15 Minutes
Students exchange their completed games with a partner or another group.
Each student rolls the dice and uses the results to write an opening paragraph, short scene or story plan.
Encourage students to interpret the outcomes imaginatively rather than treating them as a rigid checklist.
For example, a generated mysterious object might become a symbol, clue or source of conflict rather than simply appearing briefly in the narrative.
Once students have finished, invite them to share their writing with the game's creator.
Stage 6: Reflect and Evaluate — 5 Minutes
Finish by asking students to evaluate both the game they created and the experience of playing someone else's.
Useful reflection questions include:
Which category contributed most to the story?
Which combination was the most surprising?
Did the game provide enough freedom for original writing?
What would you change if you created another version?
How did designing the prompts change your understanding of storytelling?
Extension activity: Students create a second version of their game designed to practise a particular writing technique, such as suspense, characterisation, dialogue or descriptive writing.
How to Create a Printable Roll a Story Grid
Although the interactive dice are ideal for digital writing activities, the generator also allows you to turn your personalised game into a printable classroom resource.
This is particularly useful when students are working in groups, sharing devices or completing activities away from a screen.
Generate Your Custom Grid
Once you've entered your categories and six outcomes for each die, click Generate Grid.
The generator creates a table containing your personalised story options.
Each column represents one category, while the six numbered rows correspond to the faces of an ordinary six-sided die.
You can also select Show Grid to display the current table beneath the interactive tool.
Print Your Roll a Story Activity
Click Print Grid to open a print-ready version of your personalised game.
The printable layout includes your activity title, category headings and all six outcomes for each die.
For the clearest layout, check the print preview before printing, particularly if you've created a large number of categories or included lengthy descriptions.
If you're planning to use physical dice, students will need one six-sided die for each turn rather than a separate die for every category.
They simply roll once, find the matching numbered row and record the result before moving to the next column.
Use the Grid for Different Classroom Activities
Independent Story Writing: Students roll once for each category, record their outcomes and write an original story incorporating the results.
Paired Storytelling: Partners take turns rolling dice and developing a shared narrative, discussing how each new element changes the story.
Story Planning Challenge: Students use the results to construct a beginning, middle and ending before drafting their narrative.
Creative Writing Competition: Groups use the same grid but generate different combinations. Compare how effectively they develop their characters, settings and conflicts.
Student-Created Resources: Students design their own grids, print them and exchange them with classmates for a collaborative writing lesson.
For reusable classroom resources, consider printing a selection of grids and keeping them in a folder organised by genre or writing skill.
Looking for printable games without creating your own? The Free Roll a Story Generator includes 12 ready-made genre grids, covering everything from fantasy and fairytales to horror, mystery, science fiction and historical fiction.
Tips for Creating Better Roll a Story Challenges
A successful Roll a Story game needs more than six random characters and six unrelated locations.
The strongest activities offer enough structure to inspire students while leaving room for interpretation, originality and individual creative decisions.
These techniques can help you create custom story dice that generate more engaging writing opportunities.
1. Make Each Outcome Specific but Open-Ended
A prompt such as a mysterious person provides very little direction.
However, a stranger who knows something they should not immediately introduces questions about identity, knowledge and possible danger.
The second prompt is more useful because it suggests a story without deciding exactly what happens.
Try to include details that encourage curiosity while leaving students free to develop their own explanations.
2. Create Outcomes That Can Work Together
Because dice generate random combinations, your categories need to be flexible enough to produce a variety of plausible stories.
If every character belongs to a modern school setting but half the locations involve medieval castles, students may struggle to connect the results unless genre mixing is part of the challenge.
That doesn't mean every combination must be predictable.
Unexpected pairings can encourage original thinking, but students should be able to imagine a narrative connection between the elements.
3. Focus on Problems That Demand Action
An effective story problem should create a reason for the protagonist to do something.
Compare these two outcomes:
A character finds an old letter.
A character receives a letter warning them not to attend their own wedding.
The first offers a possible discovery. The second introduces immediate conflict, unanswered questions and potential consequences.
When designing your Problem die, consider what the protagonist might want, what stands in their way and what could happen if they fail.
4. Use Additional Dice to Develop Writing Skills
Extra categories are most effective when they have a clear purpose.
If students are practising descriptive writing, add Atmosphere, Sensory Detail or Figurative Language.
If the lesson focuses on narrative structure, introduce Complication, Plot Twist or Ending.
For characterisation, consider Motivation, Secret, Flaw or Moral Dilemma.
This ensures the activity supports a meaningful writing objective rather than simply making the game more complicated.
5. Balance Challenge with Creative Freedom
Too many restrictions can make writing feel like a puzzle with only one acceptable solution.
A student who must incorporate six highly specific plot details, three figurative language techniques and an unusual narrative perspective may spend more time satisfying the rules than developing a compelling story.
Begin with a manageable number of dice and introduce additional categories when they genuinely improve the activity.
For more confident writers, optional challenges can provide opportunities for experimentation without overwhelming everyone else.
6. Test Your Game Before Using It
Roll your completed game several times and examine the results.
Do the combinations inspire interesting stories? Are any outcomes repetitive? Do certain options make the activity unnecessarily difficult?
If you're creating a classroom resource, try completing one of the writing tasks yourself.
This can reveal problems that aren't obvious when you're simply entering the options.
You might discover that a category needs more variety, a particular prompt is too vague or an additional die would help students develop their ideas.
7. Encourage Students to Adapt Their Results
Finally, remind students that the dice are designed to inspire creativity, not control every detail of their stories.
A generated character can acquire a backstory, a setting can change as the narrative develops and a problem can lead to unexpected consequences.
Students should feel free to interpret, expand and connect their results in original ways.
The most successful Roll a Story activities don't produce identical stories. They provide shared starting points from which entirely different narratives can emerge.
Go Deeper: More Creative Writing Games, Story Generators & Classroom Activities
Creating your own Roll a Story game is just the beginning. Once you've experimented with custom characters, settings, conflicts and writing challenges, there are plenty of other ways to develop those ideas, explore new genres and introduce a little unpredictability into your creative writing.
Whether you're looking for ready-made storytelling activities, interactive classroom challenges or generators that help students develop more detailed fictional worlds, these free resources from Ink & Insights offer plenty of opportunities to keep writing.
Try the Free Roll a Story Generator: 12 Ready-Made Genres
Want to start rolling without creating your own categories first?
Our Free Roll a Story Generator features 12 complete storytelling games covering fantasy, fairytales, dystopian fiction, science fiction, mystery, paranormal fiction, horror, ghost stories, adventure, historical fiction, realistic fiction and comedy.
Each genre includes ready-made characters, settings and problems, with optional Plot Twist and Writing Challenge dice for students who want an additional challenge.
You can also experiment with Random Genre and Mixed Genres, combining elements from different types of fiction to create unusual story premises.
The generator includes interactive digital dice, individual rerolls, copyable results and printable story grids for use with physical dice.
Try this: Ask students to generate a story using the ready-made version, then challenge them to recreate the same genre with entirely original categories and outcomes using the custom generator above. Compare how the different prompts influence their storytelling decisions.
Spin the Creative Writing Challenge Wheel: 200 Writing Activities
Sometimes students don't need an entire story premise. They need a quick, imaginative challenge that encourages them to practise a particular writing skill.
The Free Creative Writing Challenge Wheel includes 200 original writing activities across ten categories: Dialogue, Writing Constraints, Description, Show Don't Tell, Suspense, Opening Lines, Perspective, Plot Twists, Figurative Language and Character Development.
Choose a specific category to reinforce your lesson objective or select Surprise Me! to generate a completely random challenge. The wheel also includes a timer, fullscreen mode and a no-repeat setting, making it particularly useful for classroom whiteboards and short writing activities.
Try this: Generate a character, setting and problem using your custom Roll a Story game, then spin the Creative Writing Challenge Wheel to determine how students must write their opening scene. Combining the two tools creates an activity that develops both storytelling and technical writing skills.
Explore the Creative Writing Generators Hub
If you want to develop a generated story beyond its initial premise, the Creative Writing Generators Hub brings together free interactive tools for creating characters, settings, conflicts, fictional worlds and original story ideas.
Explore fantasy character generators, magical kingdoms, enchanted forests and magic systems, or discover Gothic mysteries, horror story sparks, dystopian societies, science fiction settings and fairytale adventures.
These generators can be especially useful when students have an interesting starting point but need help developing the world around it.
For example, a student who rolls a fantasy character and a mysterious kingdom could use the Fantasy Kingdom Generator to explore the realm's government, culture, landmarks and hidden dangers. A student writing a Gothic mystery might use Gothic Story Sparks to discover additional secrets, unsettling encounters or unexpected complications.
Try this: Ask students to begin with a custom Roll a Story combination, then choose one additional generator to develop a missing element of their narrative. They must explain how the new detail strengthens their original story rather than simply adding more information.
Discover More Writing Prompts in the Creative Writing Archive
For even more inspiration, visit the Creative Writing Archive, where you'll find writing prompts, storytelling ideas, character inspiration, descriptive writing resources and activities across a growing range of genres and themes.
The archive is particularly useful for extending a short Roll a Story activity into a more substantial piece of creative writing.
Students might begin with a randomly generated premise, explore descriptive writing techniques to strengthen their setting, develop a more complex character or experiment with alternative openings and endings.
You can also use the archive to find themed inspiration for creating new custom dice games, whether you're planning a seasonal writing lesson, a Gothic fiction workshop or an imaginative storytelling challenge.
Keep experimenting: The most interesting stories rarely emerge fully formed. Sometimes all it takes is one unexpected character, one impossible situation or one additional roll of the dice to discover a direction you hadn't considered.
Final Thoughts: Your Story, Your Rules
Every great story begins with a possibility. A character with something to hide. A place that shouldn't exist. An unexpected discovery, an impossible decision or a single event that changes everything.
With the Build Your Own Roll a Story generator, you get to decide what those possibilities might be.
Unlike traditional writing prompt generators, this free interactive tool puts the creative decisions in your hands. You can design story dice around your favourite genres, create challenges that target specific writing skills, develop activities inspired by classroom texts or invite students to invent entirely new storytelling games.
And because every category is customisable, no two games need to be alike.
For teachers, that means transforming a simple dice activity into something that supports your learning objectives, whether you're exploring Gothic conventions, practising descriptive writing, developing believable characters or encouraging students to experiment with narrative structure. For students and independent writers, it offers a playful way to explore ideas, overcome the blank page and discover connections they might never have considered.
Perhaps the most exciting part is that creating the game can be just as valuable as playing it. Choosing characters, inventing conflicts, testing combinations and deciding which possibilities make the strongest stories all encourage students to think more carefully about how fiction works.
So start with three dice, six possibilities and an idea. Add a mysterious object, an unexpected plot twist or an impossible writing constraint. Roll the dice, see what happens and change the rules whenever inspiration strikes.
After all, the dice might decide where your story begins, but what happens next is entirely up to you.
Ready for another storytelling adventure? Explore our Free Roll a Story Generator for 12 ready-made genres, or discover even more imaginative tools in the Creative Writing Generators Hub.
Choose Your Next Adventure
