I'm on Vacation! Let the Game Ideas Start Flowing!
I have been on the road all day today driving the family to spend a week with the in-laws near Chattanooga, TN. The great thing about a vacation is that your mind is free from the clutter of both your job and your daily routine. I had one goal today that I could accomplish easily on autopilot: drive. With cruise control the task was even simpler.
Something unexpected happened to me while I was driving. I found myself flooded with ideas for games! Of course my first concern was always my family’s safety, but I have always found that by driving the speed limit you can see the dangers coming and avoid them easily. By following the rules of the road my mind was able to take in the scenery and enjoy the drive. Being a gaming geek my creative side thought of adventure scenarios while my logical side dealt with the driving. It is that odd sort of mixed mode that people can only achieve when they are well practiced at the tasks being performed. I have been driving for a long time, and I have been thinking about adventure scenarios for a long time. The two tasks just merged into a manageable hybrid.
It was a wonderful experience, and it has resulted in idea for the game that I want to run at this year’s Con on the Cob:
COWBOYS DELIVERING STEAMPUNK WEAPONS ACROSS VAMPIRE INFESTED WILDERNESS
If I can not make a game with that premise rock, then I should not be a GM.
What about you? What gets your GMing juices flowing? Share your tips with the rest of us and let’s see what ideas are inspired by them.
Well pardner, I declare thatsa might bit similar to some RIFTS games I ran in college, yessir.
For me, some of my best ideas come from night-time dreams, day-dream free association, & the news.
As I see and listen to the world around me, bits of conversation, concepts, & characters jump out as truly notable. When those moments happen, I try to note them down. Sometimes it’s just a name “Spatzi” (sparrow), sometimes it’s a foreign crisis (Weapons drops in Libya), and sometimes it’s a quote or speech.
As for the dreaming, way back when in the 80’s OMNI magazine, there were a few issues that revolved around dreaming, dream states, & learning to lucid dream. A friend and myself practiced the techniques and studied conscious awareness of the dream. That practice has been upheld throughout my life. I find that the ability to let the subconscious flow allows for some really clever & curious manifestations. Some of my best ideas come from the cherry picked tidbits.