Nerdspired

"I take inspiration from everyone and everything. I'm inspired by current champions, former champions, true competitors, people dedicated to their dream, hard workers, dreamers, believers, achievers."

-Conor McGregor

Most of us creative writers have done it in our private space at some point. You're suffering from severe writer's block. You can't think of anything to write, no matter how much coffee you ingest or head-banging-on-the-table you subject yourself to in hopes of dislodging a few ideas. You need something--anything to restart the creative faculties of your brain. There's no button to simply turn it off and turn it back on again.

Then, you remember that really cool movie you watched last night. You recall how captivating the characters were and how interesting it might have been if they had led another life. So, you decide to play around with them. You have them fall in love with their arch enemy. You make them the villain (or hero, depending on the movie). You write about their childhood or other things you never saw on-screen. You change the time period of their story. You put them in a completely different universe with characters from the last few TV shows, books, and video games you consumed over the past month.

Now before any copyright holders have a conniption fit, I am not talking about blatantly ripping off someone else's work and selling it as your own. This is not a profit-yielding endeavor or even a venture intended to make it to a public forum. It is absorbing influences from outside media and using them to inspire our private writing and games.

There's a saying that perfectly sums this up: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

A writer and editor for gaming website Geek and Sundry, James Haeck discusses this concept in an article providing tips on creating Dungeons & Dragons campaigns.

https://geekandsundry.com/how-to-write-the-best-dd-adventures-ever/

Certain quests, characters, weapons, and locations used in a campaign may not have originated from the DM's own mind. However, the DM can use these outside influences in a way that is creative. It combines things that are already beloved by the players with a new adventure with which they can interact. In this way, the DM and the players are inspired to create something new out of something old.

In my own experience, my friends and I often do the same thing with our Humans vs. Zombies games. It is greatly helpful to brainstorm some of our favorite movies and video games and to then use elements from those media to create exciting missions. Need a radiation mechanic? Draw inspiration from a nuclear-apocalypse-themed video game. Want to have interesting non-playable characters that must be protected from the horde at all costs? Base them off of the most popular characters from TV and movies.

This is one of the most exciting aspects of role-playing games--being able to interact with your favorite people, places, and things in a way that is only limited to the breadth of your imagination.