GM Inspiration, Week 1
I don’t know about most GM’s, but I often feel the need for external sources of inspiration for my game. Any number of events or items can provide this inspiration; for me, those “lightening bolts of inspiration” can come in forms as wide-ranged and varied as follows:
- The Bible (lots of excellent game ideas in here, folks!)
- other books (including comics)
- movies
- music
- nature
- real life conversations & situations
- my family (especially my kids!)
- other games (which I touched on here)
This list just names a few, of course, it is not meant to be all inclusive. (If you have others, feel free to post them in the comments, below). However, possibly one of the most powerful and inspirational sources for me is art. Often times, a single picture can be so evocative and create such an impression upon me that entire histories, back-stories, or races can be spawned in the blink of an eye (literally)! I cannot number the times that a picture has led my campaign towards a particular, climatic scene or created a new foe for my players’ characters to face! In light of this, I’ve decided to begin a new weekly series here on The Misfits, entitled “GM Inspiration“. Each week, I will highlight another excellent source of inspiration (at least for me) and hopefully for you as well.
This week’s Inspiration actually inspired this “blog-thread”! I was doing a Google image search (which is a fantastic tool for the idea-blocked or “inspirationally-challenged” GM, I might add!) for something else altogether and I ran across this piece, which in turn led me to Jeremy Mohler.com - JUST A NOTE HERE, TRUE BELIEVERS - A FEW PIECES ON THIS SITE COULD BE CONSIDERED NWS!. Instantly, I thought, “Wow! I should really save this for later use!”, which was quickly followed by the thought, “I should do a blog post about this - maybe a whole series!”, and so, inspiration leads to archival and instruction… 
Looking at Jeremy’s work, you can see instantly that he is a talented artist who knows the gaming genre, which makes it even better for us inspiration-drained GM’s! Just take a look at his Gray Render piece for example! One look at this, and my GM-brain says, “WOO-HOO! I need to use a gray render in my game soon!” - what does yours say?
It has often been said that a picture is worth a thousand words - that is true for me, at least. Well-done pieces of art fire the furnaces of my brain like nothing else. Perhaps, for some GM’s it could be said that a picture is worth a thousand games! 
-Written as a part of Martin’s Blogging for GMs Project, as well as a Weekly Misfits Series!
Parting note, true believers: the artist mentioned above also has his own blog - check it out!
I’m the same way as far as seeing something cool and thinking, “Man, I have to use that!” — and I find del.icio.us to be an ideal spot to save random sources of inspiration from around the web.
Comment by Martin Ralya — October 25, 2005 @ 4:45 pm
Nice art link.
Someone last week on some other board pointed out the art of Edwin Rhemrev:
http://www.rhemrev.com/
Frank
Comment by Frank Filz — October 25, 2005 @ 4:54 pm
Very nice art link. Also a pleasant design job on your blog.
Comment by Arref — October 26, 2005 @ 3:15 pm
GM Inspiration 1
The Misfits! :: GM Inspiration, Week 1 :: October :: 2005 Something to keep an eye on….
Trackback by in the Shadow of Greatness — October 26, 2005 @ 3:17 pm
Speaking of inspiration from odd sources: Years ago I bought (almost at random) a “Nightwing” comic book. I pulled a trick from that book I’ve used quite a few times now, on different parties. In the book, Nightwing comes home to his upstairs apartment and surprises a burglar. The burglar runs away…right towards a window that’s 3 (or more) floors up, and crashes through it–and catches a rope he had hung there before going into the apartment.
Put the party members in a 3rd or 4th floor inn room, have them wake up while being robbed, and have the thief throw a knife or something (just to piss off the player) and then room and crash through the window. It works best if you can get the PC following the NPC closely. So far, I’ve never had a PC *not* jump out the window after the thief. They aren’t expecting the rope, so I describe the thief swinging on the rope, watching them plummet to the ground. I did have a PC once make a successful saving throw to react and grab for the rope. That carried the chase up the rope and onto the roof.
-David
http://www.davidrm.com/rpg/
Comment by David Michael — October 26, 2005 @ 11:30 pm
–>Arref - thanks so much for the kind words!
It is the MARS template you’ll find on the WordPress template page, hacked up by your’s truly. 
Be sure and drop back in next week for more great inspirations! 
–>Frank - excellent addition to my list. Thanks so much for the input!
–>Shadow, thanks! Look forward to seeing you back soon!
–>David - WOW! Awesome idea! Thanks for sharing (now how I can work that into my next game…)
Comment by Administrator — October 27, 2005 @ 3:18 am
GM Inspiration, Week 1
[Source: The Misfits!] quoted: However, possibly one of the most powerful and inspirational sources for me is art. Often times, a single picture can be so evocative and create such an impression upon me that entire histories, back-stories, or races can…
Trackback by Funky Cars — October 28, 2005 @ 1:46 pm
im obsessed with werewolves! i draw them all the time but i find it difficult to draw from memory so if anybody knows a good site with werewolf sketches on it please tell me.if the owner of thiss site is intrested i can e-mail someof my work to you thank you so much.i may be 14 but my drawings are excuisite lol
Comment by sue — September 6, 2006 @ 8:39 am