Where do you get your inspiration?

[Jürgen Hubert]

For those of you who do their own world-building: Where do you get your inspiration?

Personally, I get my inspiration primarily by reading books. What books?

Any books. Books on history, other cultures, guide books, RPG setting books and many more. Even if they seem to have little in common with the setting I am developing, there is almost always something that fires a chain of neurons in my brain and allow me to come up with some new material for my own setting.

I also frequently do research on the Wikipedia. I know that the material there cannot be 100% trusted at all times, but that doesn't actually matter. After all, I am developing a fantasy world and not a book on history, so as long as it inspires me in some way it is all good. The Random Article function of the Wikipedia can also be very useful if you are trying to come up with something - the human brain can make the oddest connections...

And I take care to always have a notebook available nearby.


So, what inspires you?

 

[Infernal Teddy]

More or less the same as you. For my momentary campaign, some things just came together: I read Neal Stephenson's "The Diamond Age" and China Mieville's "Iron Council", I'd just gone over FFG's "Sorcery & Steam", and my two of players had just finished playing "Arcanum".

BAM

Instant D&D game

 

[Goblyn]

I get mine from a smoothee machine which is connected to a tube that originates at a floating dimensional portal in the middle of my living room.

 

[vulcan_idic]

Pretty much the same. The world I'm currently developing draws from Hindu mythology/philosophy and philosophy from ancient Greece particularly as concerns the classical elements, some Russian language, some yin-yang philosophy among others. Take a look if you'd like here, and please feel free to comment!!

 

[Timandre]

Archetypes, fables, legends, fairytales, etc. I have an encyclopedia of dream symbols. All I have to do is flip to some random page, pick a symbol think about it for a bit, flip to another symbol and 'BOOM' story line.

 

[pogre]

The main thing that inspires me is history, including archaeology. When I visit a museum, a historical site, or a dig it really makes me think about my game in new ways. Places like Mesa Verde in Colorado, Cahokia Mounds in Southern Illinois, and even the Great Wall of China have been important influences on my campaign.

 

[diaglo]

For those of you who do their own world-building: Where do you get your inspiration?

sitting on the toilet

So, what inspires you?

raw emotion. hate, love, sadness, ennui, joy, glee, etc...

 

[Psion]

• History and Mythology - I got a borders gift card for fathers day. I spotted 2 huge books on mythology (one on world mythology, one on ancient egypt) at borders for dirt cheap; I snatched them up and added them to my collection, which has other things like the atlas of world history.
• Short stories - some people draw a lot from longer fiction. Me, not so much. I often find better nuggest of ideas in short stories as part of collections.
• Gaming books - this should be a big duh, but I almost use no setting or adventure wholesale. Further, there are many great ideas out there shackled to systems I can't stomach.
• News.
• Random generators of various stripes. Sometimes I brew my own, sometimes I find some on the web (like Seventh Sanctum or in the pages of various generator products (2e World Builder's Guide, Heroes of Legend, etc.)

 

[bento]

Movies, cartoons & TV shows, rpg campaign settings, storytime postings, comic books and rarely novels.

When I get inspired by something historical I'll first read or watch how someone has taken the setting and used it to tell a story. After I read a few books or watch some shows, then I'll start going through historical information.

My most recent work has been putting togther a True20 demon hunter adventure set in early modern France (1600s). The inspirations are "The Three Musketeers" (Dumas), Solomon Kane stories (Howard) and the movie "Brotherhood of the Wolf". My source materials are "A Mighty Fortress" (TSR), "The Demon Hunters Handbook" (Goodman Games), "Gunpowder Plots" (Sword's Edge Publishing) and Wikipedia.

Since my group only plays D&D right now, I'm trying to find a way to run it without putting a hiccup into our regular schedule.

 

[freebfrost]

So, what inspires you?

My current campaign is based on the plot of a recent movie, and one of my summer one-shot games came into being because I purchased a lego jet recently... it was too cool to not use as a prop.

Basically, anything that stirs me can inspire me to use that stimulus in a game. It may be just a bit of window dressing in flavor text or the basis for a whole campaign.