Behind the Screen: Use creativity to foil writers block...

As you may remember last week I was suffering from writers block relating to our recent campaign. On the drive home, I got to thinking about creative ways that I've gotten past the writers block in the past.

What Dreams May Come

Aside from being a truly excellent movie, dreams can be a very interesting wellspring for new and creative ideas. One of the better original scenarios that I ran in the campaign before last was from a dream.

The trouble with dreams is that they may not logically flow together, or you may not remember the connecting pieces of the scenario. In this case, I took major elements and placed them into my campaign. The players ended up enjoying the trap and the scene, however they had the most unorthodox solution to it... but that is a story for another time.

And Pretty Much Anything Else

Over the years I've found seeds for campaign ideas from some very odd places: the back of a Frosted Mini Wheats cereal box, TV shows (both animated and live-action), even my workplace can occasionally spawn an idea or three.

I've found if you get writers block, its important not to focus too much on the fact that its there. Look in places that you normally wouldn't. Try some writing exercises, like free word association. Try relating a random object in your home to your campaign in some way.

Anyone else?

I'm sure many of you fine readers out there have been in this situation, be it as a Dungeon Master or as a player trying to find new and exciting ways to roleplay their characters. How do you do it? What strange inspirations have you used to break your writers block?