Hi all,
My name is Brian Fitzpatrick, but please call me Fitz. I'm the guy behind Moebius Adventures, a small RPG publisher producing system-neutral supplements to help inspire your muse (you can check them out here). But that's not why I'm writing today.
I'm curious. What do YOU use to inspire your game content as GMs and players? Is it all visual? Do you use music to get in a creative mood? Do you rely on random rolls and tables to kick things off? What do you use to get in that creative mode to write up descriptions, encounters, NPCs, adventures, and more?
Personally, my brain is full of bizarre connections. So I leverage those by coming up with random tables, pulling some words together in a particular context (usually keying off of one or more of the five senses to describe a particular element) and let my mind wander. Sometimes it works well. Sometimes not. But each time I go down the road, I end up with something unique.
What's your favorite method? I'm always looking for new ways to spark my brain in new ways!!
Thanks!
--Fitz
Moebius Adventures
Thanks for the topic, Moe!
I think, or I hope at least, that you'll get some dialog from others who have similar experiences.
However, for me, the problem is finding a way to not be inspired, because, I am so tired of always being inspired and being reminded, all of the time, of how absolutely pointless my exprerssions are. Sure, it's wonderful to be full of inspiration, but for me, it has become almost suicide inducing to keep facing the banality of my creations.
Terquem - I find that hard to believe. I'm inspired constantly by the world around me as well as what I read or watch. What about your creations becomes banal and pointless? The act of creation is always worthwhile.
Oh yes, it always seems that way, but in the end, they're just the work of another nowhereman. I love doing it, but, it used to always feel like I was missing something important
In time I came to realize the important thing that I was missing was that the stuff I was creating, really, wasn't that good.It's not about throwing a pity party, it's not about fishing for compliments, no, it really is a long time coming realization that I over valued my artistic creativity.
I still have a compulsion to write (I write five to eight thousand words every day, it seems)but I don't get worked up about it anymore, and just file the stuff away.
Booze can sometimes be a fine inspiration to loosen up the brain cells. I've even seen the saying "Write drunk. Edit sober." but I'm not a fan of the method myself. :)
And Terquem, that's a lot of writing! I'm not nearly that productive. I probably write 1000-2000 words a day in a variety of things on a good day. :)
When I sit down to write, I have to have a mug of ice tea or coffee before the words will flow.
Once I get writing and I hit a sticking point, my inspiration is nearly always the written word. In my current case, I reread the Pathfinder Beginner's Box or the Pathfinder Core Rulebook. If I'm still stuck, I refer to the First Edition AD & D rules, which had rules and random tables for everything . If I can't decide on some detail, sometimes I'll whip up a random table to help me decide.
I write much less than I used to, on a daily basis. I write, on average, a hundred and seventy words a day in my journal.
I like to read campaign journals and GM Kill Board-style threads.
Dover Pro, what do you find most inspiring about the Beginner's Box or Core Rulebook or 1E rules? Are there sections you find yourself going back to again and again? I'm obviously a huge fan of random tables - what are your favorites in 1E?
Kobold Cleaver, what are "GM Kill Boards"? I've not heard of those.
I hope the Kobold of Cleaver-ness doesn't mind
A DM Kill Board
I'm an avid armchair archaeologist with an emphasis on the ancient Middle East, which is where most of my of my campaigns gain their influence. I'm also an armchair (notice a pattern here?) paleontologist, so I get lots of information from newsfeeds on the subject, though I disallow actual dinosaurs in my campaigns, preferring to use ancient mammals, instead.
Then there's music. Being born in the 60s, I grew up in the heavy rock eras of the 70s and 80s, where a lot of fantasy elements found their way into music. And today there seems to be a a huge resurgence in heavy metal fantasy based songs and albums. Great places to find inspiration, though anything written by Dio is the best... lol.
And of course, books. I don't read any modern scifi or fantasy, but tend to fall back to the classics or the roots of the genres as well as mythology and history.
So there are my three muses; the past, music, and literature.
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Terquem - thanks for the link!
DungeonmasterCal - I love armchair archaeology/anthropology myself, so I'm with you there. New stuff is discovered almost daily it seems that's easily adaptable to gaming. :) And music and books (fiction, nonfiction) offer all sorts of fun inspiration for me as well.
Happy to see some kindred spirits on the forums. :)
moebiusfitz wrote: Terquem - thanks for the link!
DungeonmasterCal - I love armchair archaeology/anthropology myself, so I'm with you there. New stuff is discovered almost daily it seems that's easily adaptable to gaming. :) And music and books (fiction, nonfiction) offer all sorts of fun inspiration for me as well.
Happy to see some kindred spirits on the forums. :)
Anthropology finds its way into my games, too. When I think of orcs, I don't see green skinned morons with axes. I see Homo heidelbergensis with axes... lol.
Terquem wrote: I hope the Kobold of Cleaver-ness doesn't mind
A DM Kill Board
This. I particularly enjoy the Age of Worms Obituaries thread, where GMs list all the creative ways PCs met their end in that adventure path.
I have to admit a part of me likes the idea of a PC obituary section, but another part of me is put off by the idea of a DM kill list. That's an odd dichotomy.
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