GM Writers Block

Comments

  • Triggerhappy938
    Triggerhappy938
    Posts: 6
    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?
  • Invictus
    Invictus
    Posts: 54
    Here try the CHAOS Engine, its designed to be a generic adventure creator for people who need inspiration on the fly.

    http://www.c-a-s-t-e.org/Chaos%20Engine.pdf

    http://www.c-a-s-t-e.org/
  • sonnycalzone
    sonnycalzone
    Posts: 4
    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.
  • DarkMagus
    DarkMagus
    Posts: 425
    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.

    Good Luck!
  • FemmeLegion
    FemmeLegion
    Posts: 521
    Online generation resources (I have a whole folder of Firefox bookmarks for this):

    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
  • Bahne
    Bahne
    Posts: 11
    I picked up the book "ultimate toolbox" a collection of tables ... roll a few random tables and you got instant key words to spin ideas around :)
  • Dethstryke
    Dethstryke
    Posts: 50
    I can second Bahne's suggestion of the Ultimate Tookbox. It's been a winner for me.

    Thanks to everyone's suggestions! I'm very excited about trying those out myself. :)
Sign In or Register to comment.

March 2024
Wrath of the Highborn

Read the feature post on the blog
Return to Obsidian Portal

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Discussions