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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bawylie" data-source="post: 6716633" data-attributes="member: 6776133">Imagine an arrow. On the back end (the non-pointy end) you write "Start."  On the pointy end, you write "End."Then, you draw a perpendicular line that bisects your arrow. And on that line, you write "Conflict."You have 3 categories of things to write. Beginnings, Goals, and Obstacles. Where obstacles and goals intersect, you have conflicts. When your players do something you don't expect, make this sketch. Identify where they are and what they want. Then purposefully frustrate it. Put something in the way. "But what? Brad! What do I put in the way?"Time, distance, antagonists, physical obstacles, allies with conflicting goals, costs, other sexy opportunities that might sidetrack them. Pick one. Pick another. See if they combine well. You have, already in your head, a library of obstacles you've read, seen on TV or in film, overcome (or not) in real life, and heard tell of in stories. Use these. See, inspiration is a kind of mood. And sometimes it strikes and that's neat. But you can't wait for lightning to hit you before you create stuff for your game. You're a DM, and in the end, this means you must work. And since you must work, I advise you to draw upon those talents an skills that have the largest payoff for the least investment. As a default. And then add such tweaks as seems best to you. Identify goals, set obstacles. Rely on genre expectations, and subvert them only sparingly (let's not Shyamalan here).  Use what you know. Put in some work, screw inspiration.</blockquote>

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