I'm sure there is a GM or two in the crowd that can sympathise with me out there. Recently most of my friends have picked up Pathfinder RPG. I really like the system, and look forward to running it. Everyone looked to me to GM, and I wasn't at all opposed to it. The only problem is now that I've agreed to do it, I can't for the life of me spin together anything. I feel like every idea I come up with I've done before or is just a knock off of something I've seen. Any advice for a GM with writers block?
Wow, I never laid eyes on the CHOAS Engine before. That is a great tool for GM writers block! With that said, there are many other ways to get around writers block. One of my personal favorites is visiting a museum or an art gallery. Another is travel; even just taking a stroll around town and seeing the local sights. Inspiration can never be forced. You must allow it flow through you, when the moment strikes.
Lots of the time what I do is listen to music, sometimes while taking a walk at night-- just trying to clear your mind and dont even think about it, just immerse yourself in the the mood of the music. When the "right" song hits it takes me into a scene and I just follow that scene with the music. From there I have built whole worlds. The campaign I'm currently running came out of two different scene ideas that came to me this way. One was from listening to the Unbreakable soundtrack and picturing this city cast entirely in gray with a light snow falling, but not collecting on the ground. http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/the-ilumnos-series/wikis/grey1 The second had no connection to that scene of world, so I just kinda sat around thinking about how I could connect these things and other ideas just came. Thats how i ended up with a campaign, based on the PCs jumping around from world to world using this giant machine in a colorless city.
Also, reading helps. I just read Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis. Lots of great and unique description and ideas.
Comments
http://www.c-a-s-t-e.org/Chaos%20Engine.pdf
http://www.c-a-s-t-e.org/
Also, reading helps. I just read Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis. Lots of great and unique description and ideas.
Good Luck!
http://chaoticshiny.com/
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/
http://www.madsci.org/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~lynn/jardin/SCG (not necessarily for games, but still cool)
Another useful resource I've found for overthinkers like myself:
"Medieval Demographics Made Easy":http://www.io.com/~sjohn/demog.htm
Thanks to everyone's suggestions! I'm very excited about trying those out myself. :)