Sources of Inspiration

One of the things that I have been asked most, as a Game Master is "Where do you get the ideas for a game?" To be honest, there are several different sources of inspiration to me.

The first, is also the most unusual: the news. There is enough messed up stuff happening in our own world that you can easily take a story from almost any new station, give it some magical cover, and it will fit right in as the twisted plot of an evil wizard or monstrous race.

The second is music. When I am planning for my adventures, I almost always have itunes on random. You never know when a particular song will spark something. I have had entire campaigns started by a single line in a song. And even if the lyrics themselves don't spark anything, often the music itself can help me get a feel for the emotions I want to engender in the game.

The last and probably most used for me personally, is movies. There are few enough good fantasy movies there, but more than enough to get a DM in the creative mood. Now I want to say clearly that I do not recommend anyone actually watch the Dungeons & Dragons movie, as it was one of the worse things I have ever seen. But the second one, "Wrath of the Dragon God" was pretty good, and of course the 80's Dungeons & Dragons cartoon is a great source of ideas as well. That being said, most DMs will want to go outside the D&D product lines to find good ideas from movies.

A quick list of recommended movies: Ladyhawk, Dune (the original, not the bad Sci-fi channel mini-series), Gamers 2: Dorkness rising, The 10 Commandments, First Knight, both Conan movies, Merlin, Alexander, Chronicles of Riddick and Troy. You will note that not all of these films are Fantasy, and that brings me to my last point for this post. A good DM will have the ability to look outside the genre for good ideas. The best way to get the most milage out of your planning is to be able to reskin ideas and make them appropriate for whatever genre you are currently playing. The important part is that your story is engaging to the players, and the be perfectly honest, this can happen regardless of the trappings of setting that you are usings.

A great DM does not try to tell a good fantasy story, they try to tell a good story that happens to be set in a fantasy world. Understanding the difference can really bring your game to the next level.