101 ways to get the block rolling [Archive] - Wizards Community

101 ways to get the block rolling [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Solikawa
04-26-06, 11:28 PM I'm looking for advice from my fellow DMs on how they get the writer's block rolling, or even how you get something on paper you have a difficult time describing on paper, even though the picture is clear in your mind.

I usualy try to make a chart of atributes about what I'm trying to write about (city, NPC, character etc), but that is failing me at the moment ;/
Last City
04-26-06, 11:39 PM well i tend to listen to music and write at the same time... it helps inspire when u get the right mood of music (the same music i use to play with the PCs...for dramatic effect)

then i just write notes of what strikes me from movies or anywhere. Write em all down as pointers then connect them all together like they were meant for each other.

e.g:

1. oh! i want to have a flooded dungeon trap.
2. Skeleton are cool

hmmm.... ok lets put skeletons in flooded dungeon trap together. I seldom force myself to make it from a big scope coz i tend to find myself wanting to change a few plot-lines or include a few cool stuff in... :)
ashcat_lt
04-27-06, 12:22 AM How much of it do you really need "written out". If you're not planning on selling it to anybody, and you're not playing online, you might find that your rough conceptual chart will do you more good than five hundred pages of prose. As long as you know what you're talking about, and have a good picture in your head, just take a little time to convey this to the players at any way that seems appropriate at the time. I'd be willing to bet that much of what you plan to write won't ever come up at the table.

You may be interested to note that WOTC is working on changing the format of their published adventures to be far less textual.

That said, I don't blame you for wanting to have all of the details of your campaign all written out and professional looking. I think we all have the ultimate desire.

There are a few ways to achieve this.

Now I know, we don't want to think back to English class, but I've found that an outline structure can be quite helpful. Take the disorganized chart that you've got in your notes, and put it into some logical order. I've got a "work in progress" outline for my campaign world that might illustrate the point better than babbling:

I History/Geography/Sociology/Theology
A. Tumograt History
1. Halflings
a. Sedentary
1. Used wagon-houses while tending distant crops
b. Semi-Agricultural
c. No Economy
1. Ritual Theft
2. Hathrim
a. Semi-Nomadic
b. Hunter-Gatherer
c. No Internal Economy
3. Dwarves
a. Mountains and underground
b. Clannish
c. Communist (no internal economy)
d. Monarchy
4. Elves

This is part of what I’m actually going to use as a flowchart for a “set and setting” discussion I was going to have at our next session (whenever that happens to be…:{…) Eventually - probably after I’ve actually talked about this stuff out loud, and hopefully heard some observations and suggestions from my players – I’ll go in and replace each talking point with a coherent sentence or two. If I ever finish that I’ll have a very nice little book about this part of my world at this brief second at the very beginning of our campaign.

In my last campaign I tried to have my players help by keeping their own notes on the things I said out loud.

I have considered recording the audio of a session, but I don’t think I could ever stand to listen to it.

As I understood your original post, you were asking more how to take ideas you had and assemble them on paper. On the other hand you may have been wondering where to find inspiration. The only thing I can say to that would be “watch out for inspiration in everything you do”.

Read the forums.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Solikawa 04-26-06, 11:28 PM	I'm looking for advice from my fellow DMs on how they get the writer's block rolling, or even how you get something on paper you have a difficult time describing on paper, even though the picture is clear in your mind. I usualy try to make a chart of atributes about what I'm trying to write about (city, NPC, character etc), but that is failing me at the moment ;/
Last City 04-26-06, 11:39 PM	well i tend to listen to music and write at the same time... it helps inspire when u get the right mood of music (the same music i use to play with the PCs...for dramatic effect) then i just write notes of what strikes me from movies or anywhere. Write em all down as pointers then connect them all together like they were meant for each other. e.g: 1. oh! i want to have a flooded dungeon trap. 2. Skeleton are cool hmmm.... ok lets put skeletons in flooded dungeon trap together. I seldom force myself to make it from a big scope coz i tend to find myself wanting to change a few plot-lines or include a few cool stuff in... :)
ashcat_lt 04-27-06, 12:22 AM	How much of it do you really need "written out". If you're not planning on selling it to anybody, and you're not playing online, you might find that your rough conceptual chart will do you more good than five hundred pages of prose. As long as you know what you're talking about, and have a good picture in your head, just take a little time to convey this to the players at any way that seems appropriate at the time. I'd be willing to bet that much of what you plan to write won't ever come up at the table. You may be interested to note that WOTC is working on changing the format of their published adventures to be far less textual. That said, I don't blame you for wanting to have all of the details of your campaign all written out and professional looking. I think we all have the ultimate desire. There are a few ways to achieve this. Now I know, we don't want to think back to English class, but I've found that an outline structure can be quite helpful. Take the disorganized chart that you've got in your notes, and put it into some logical order. I've got a "work in progress" outline for my campaign world that might illustrate the point better than babbling: I History/Geography/Sociology/Theology A. Tumograt History 1. Halflings a. Sedentary 1. Used wagon-houses while tending distant crops b. Semi-Agricultural c. No Economy 1. Ritual Theft 2. Hathrim a. Semi-Nomadic b. Hunter-Gatherer c. No Internal Economy 3. Dwarves a. Mountains and underground b. Clannish c. Communist (no internal economy) d. Monarchy 4. Elves This is part of what I’m actually going to use as a flowchart for a “set and setting” discussion I was going to have at our next session (whenever that happens to be…:{…) Eventually - probably after I’ve actually talked about this stuff out loud, and hopefully heard some observations and suggestions from my players – I’ll go in and replace each talking point with a coherent sentence or two. If I ever finish that I’ll have a very nice little book about this part of my world at this brief second at the very beginning of our campaign. In my last campaign I tried to have my players help by keeping their own notes on the things I said out loud. I have considered recording the audio of a session, but I don’t think I could ever stand to listen to it. As I understood your original post, you were asking more how to take ideas you had and assemble them on paper. On the other hand you may have been wondering where to find inspiration. The only thing I can say to that would be “watch out for inspiration in everything you do”. Read the forums.