Anyway, I was doing so idly. I arrived at the section on creating adventures, and I read the bit about starting the process by writing down a bunch of one-line premises to get you started. I thought, Hey, I haven't sat down and just done that in a while. So today, at work, I took pen and paper and started writing stuff down.
The first thing I wrote, with no prompting, no ideas, no nothing:
The PCs must deliver a Philter of Attraction to the princess before she attends the ball - or else, the kingdom will be at war!
At war, you say! With who? Why does she need the philter? Is she trying to mack especially hard on some randy beau who can stop the war? Is she ugly? Rude? A pariah? Does he hate her? Who's trying to stop the PCs from getting there? Where will the chase scenes be set? Is this SF or fantasy? Who's the heavy? How do things go down if the PCs fail?!
I've been really into doing this lately. I'm really into the groove of grabbing a slender idea and fleshing it out. It's nothing revolutionary, nothing fancy; just something fun. This is play, to me. It exercises creative muscles and amuses me at the same time.
I love how you -anybody who tries, anyway- can just slap these ideas on paper and, with a little chin-tugging and giggling to oneself, can turn it into a story, an RPG adventure, a comic, a movie. Whatever. You just look at the premise and start asking questions -- and making up the answers.
Again -- this ain't magic. I'm not a prophet. This is just one of the ways in which this creative stuff gets done, and always has been done. And it's not that it's all that new to me, either.
I'm simply, honestly, and unconditionally amazed by the process, its simplicity, and mostly by how much freaking fun it is.
It makes me want to do something bigger with it.
8 comments:
Define "bigger".
It really is fun, isn't it?
And I have to totally agree with your assessment of the Risus Companion. Awesome book.
Trollsmyth --
I mean that I need to get unlazy and write a book or a screenplay, and then sell it and switch careers.
It's true that when people look in my general direction they can't help but be turned on. I'm the best Philter on the market these days.
Doc,
Yeah, me too. Or, rather, I need to put some consistent effort into my writing, rather than the fits and spurts I've been engaging in so far.
Best of luck to you!
- Brian
Hey there Doc. Long time-ish reader and general fan of the sweet gig that you call "daily life".
Just thought I'd mention that when I first read you tag sentence, I thought that the PC's were supposed to /drug/ the princess rather than give the drug /to/ the princess. One is an express delivery, the second is a very illegal act with a head of state as a victim.
Just thought I'd open up even more ideas,
Altharis
P.S. My Url is a good friend's good gaming-inspired webcomic. This friend does not have the confidence to plug his own comic, so I'm going to damn well do it for him! You should check it out.
Many thankings for the kind words on the Companion.
I was reading your blog while I waited for my lunch to be done (it's in the oven) and I happened to notice this post. It's a bit old but I hope that you end up reading the comment.
I was reading the first lines and it just surprised me as to how similar that idea is to a method I've been using to create content for roleplaying games (mainly characters and NPCs.) The idea centers around getting a quick and completely unexplained premise (usually through a simple question) and then asking a series of 'why?' question to that premise.
Example:
What is he doing?
1- He is playing basketball. Why?
2- Because he needs money fast. Why?
3- Because some thugs are demanding cash he doesn't have. Why?
4- Because he blew a job. Why?
5- Because he was supposed to keep an eye on the cops but he didn't. Why?
6- Because he got a call from his girlfriend and rushed to get her to the hospital. Why?
7- Because she was pregnant... etc
That was just off the top of my head. One of the several good points about that is that it enables me to create a great deal of content (you can actually apply the same process to any of the answers, getting more specific each time) by itself, and also that it really gets my creative juices running.
If you want to see the real thing, take a peak at:
http://dropthedice.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/the-%e2%80%9cwhy%e2%80%9d-method/
take care,
the_blunderbuss
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