Story Generators?

[Bill Zebub]

My 12-year-old son needs to do some writing, and wants to write about an RPG-like character he has created, but feels paralyzed by "not knowing what to write".

I thought it might be fun for him to use some kind of random tables...the sort used in RPGs...to generate story elements, that he can then string together into some kind of narrative, even if it's a totally zany one. We actually used to do this together when he was about 4: he would draw cards from my Hobbit Tales game and then I would make up a story.

Anybody have any favorites for this kind of thing? My default will be to use all the great tables in Shadowdark, but if anybody else has something cool to try....

 

[Fenris-77]

If it were for Sci-fi I'd tell you bust out the Traveller lifepath tables and let him loose. SD has some god stuff there. Mythras and Burning Wheel also have some great tables.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I cannot recommend Notorious highly enough. It's Star Wars bounty hunters with the serial numbers filed off, and it has amazing prompts. (Seriously, I would put this book up against any of the stuff Disney+ is putting out right now.)

I did an actual play of it here, if you want to see how it runs.

Other solo RPGs are also good for this. Worlds Without Numbers, Thousand Year Old Vampire (probably too adult for your kid, as it's about aging, the loss of memory and death), Be Like a Cat, Be Like a Crow, Colostle, Ironsworn, etc., and many more.

WWN is probably the best all in one product for what your son wants, assuming he's looking for standard fantasy RPG stuff. And the same writer has a bunch of other genre books in case your kid wants to pivot to cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic, space, etc.

 

[John Lloyd1]

I recommend Do: pilgrims of the flying temple. Not strictly a RPG, but a story game.

 

[John Lloyd1]

Also, story dice are good.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I cannot recommend Notorious highly enough. It's Star Wars bounty hunters with the serial numbers filed off, and it has amazing prompts. (Seriously, I would put this book up against any of the stuff Disney+ is putting out right now.)

I did an actual play of it here, if you want to see how it runs.

Other solo RPGs are also good for this. Worlds Without Numbers, Thousand Year Old Vampire (probably too adult for your kid, as it's about aging, the loss of memory and death), Be Like a Cat, Be Like a Crow, etc., and many more.

WWN is probably the best all in one product for what your son wants, assuming he's looking for standard fantasy RPG stuff. And the same writer has a bunch of other genre books in case your kid wants to pivot to cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic, space, etc.

How did I not know about this!?!?! Not only for this project, but for a fun game in general. My kids love the Mandalorian, of course. Gonna buy this right now....

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

How did I not know about this!?!?! Not only for this project, but for a fun game in general. My kids love the Mandalorian, of course. Gonna buy this right now....

Let me know what you think. I was blown away by how good it was.

 

[Nytmare]

I am the HUGEST fan of Peter Chiykowski's Story Engine Decks.

The Story Engine: Decks of Prompting Story Cards

Beat writer's block with The Story Engine: Decks of Story Cards providing endless creative writing prompts, D&D campaign ideas.

storyenginedeck.com

At the cheaper end of the spectrum are Rory's Story Cubes.

If you've got a copy of Dixit or Mysterium, those cards are spectacular for brainstorming.

The recently reprinted Everway came with an awesome deck of prompt cards (I'm not sure if the newest version does).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The Central Casting books (out of print) was similar to the Traveller lifepaths in terms of generating character backgrounds.

I’ve also used the cards from Everway (and other CCGs) to inspire characters, encounters and so forth.

 

[Umbran]

There is also the storytelling card game, "Once Upon a Time" from Atlas games, that can be useful for prompts.