9 - Inspire
What inspires you?
The unhelpful answer is pretty much anything. But I’m most likely to get a fitting idea from something relevant.
I sort reference pictures by games and settings and genres, some to be used directly and some because they might come up. Easier with a broader setting, so my narrow setting folders often get bigger to keep plenty of ideas around when I can’t find a new one.
And sometimes something strikes me enough that it takes a while to find something suitable.
(I had this picture of ice sculptures of running wolves saved for months before they became Doctor Who monsters. They could easily have gone into a classic fantasy game if I’d run one.)
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| By Takao Waki, photo by Gary Whitton. Perhaps they might inspire you too. |
I play in-genre music ahead of sessions, and new music will sometimes filter in or get mentally filed for a different game it might fit later.
I’ll watch TV and movies, read books and comics, check forums and blogs and the like, and even read game materials!
And random lists can spark all kinds of unexpected things, like the Episodes Based On Song Titles challenge, where you get a list of titles or similar random phrases and a genre or setting and have to come up with adventure hooks that more or less fit.
Or indeed RPGaDAY!
Alternatively, inspiring characters.
I’m currently playing a character who inspires others, leading from the front and offering wise words. That’s unusual and a lot of fun, and works because the wise words are actually listened to.
9a - 4, 6, 3
When, Optimistic, Genre
An inspiring event gives everyone a boost. A rarity in a lot of genres, but some hope goes a long way. A chance to save someone in a horror game and it actually works. A call to action that someone surprisingly responds to.
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