Tickling the Muse

Matthew McFarland

One of the more common complaints I’ve noticed on various forums is the “I’m out of ideas” dilemma. Sometimes this strikes Storytellers before the game even begins; more often it hits after a few stories have been completed. Either way, when the muse is being coy, your game is going to suffer. This essay concerns how to get the muse to laugh (or cry or scream or whatever she does for you) again.

Running a role-playing game can be daunting. Once you’ve read the rules to your chosen game, you might be sitting there in abject terror wondering how you’ll ever remember all the rules, much less concoct a satisfying story. This is especially true if one or more of your players are experienced Storytellers themselves. All that in mind, here are some tips for the first-time Storyteller:

• Use the old hats. Mine’s black. J Seriously, though, if you’ve got someone in your group who knows the rules better than you, use him. He’ll probably be willing to create a character who helps further your plot, and likely he’ll be able to keep his mouth shut about Out-of-character knowledge more easily, simply because he’s been doing it longer (I’m being a little optimistic here, but then, I’ve been spoiled with great players all my life). Also, chances are he knows the rules better than you. Great! That’s not threatening, that’s big time saver! Recently, two of my players ran a Werewolf game (jointly, both acting as Storytellers). As you may know from my bio page, I wrote parts of Werewolf Revised, so if someone needs a system for Gift, chances are I know it off the top of my head. That’s a great help to Storytellers who are still trying to keep all of their NPCs straight, much less memorize the rules.

You can also ask old-timers for rules or game interpretations. I can’t really recommend that unless you know the player isn’t going to turn it to their advantage in the game (or use it walk over you later). You’re still the boss, after all. Which brings me to the second tip.

• You’re the boss…but don’t let it show. I worked at a coffee shop in Toledo for over 5 years. During that time, a co-worker of mine got promoted to shift manager and immediately went on a horrible power trip, trying to run everyone’s day from start to finish and impose her own little preferences on us. Some people respond to sudden authority by feeling that they need to defend it. You don’t, though. If the players trust you enough to run the game in the first place, odds are they’ll take your rulings and live with them. If you make a ruling that’s questionable, be willing to entertain arguments, but after the game sessions ends (and see my essay on royal screw-ups on how to fix things later). In general, know the difference between grubbing for points and an honest concern.

• Know what you want. If you’ve got a group of players who don’t know each other, this is very important. A long-time group will often develop checks and balances; if Ryan starts making another character he can’t possibly play, we’ll advise him to alter the concept a bit. With a bunch of new faces, though, the “chargen orgy” becomes an important tool. (I hate to do it, but I’m going to send you to another essay. Look, it’s quicker than repeating everything. It’s the Starting from Scratch one, and it explains chargen orgies and related stuff). Keep a grip on what people do with their characters, and try to spot and encourage connections between them. Does everybody seem to be gearing up for combat? That’s a hint. Only one magic-oriented character in the group? Great! You know what kind of game to run to let that character’s player shine.

Well, with all that in mind, let’s move on to inspiration. How can you, as a Storyteller, break through a mental block and come up with something to do?

I like lists. Here’s another one.

• Music. Whatever’s your favorite. You probably have a band or a composer whom you find evocative. Some of mine are Sarah McLaughlin (“Angel” and “Black and White” particularly); Everclear (yeah, I know their music’s really basic, but listen to “Wonderful” ¾ really listen and hear that scared little boy behind the lyrics…great for In Nomine!); and Tori Amos (there’s a world of imagery in her songs). Let the movie in your mind make up a video for a song, and see where it takes you. This is also a great way to make characters, by the way. I give my gamers brownie points if their characters have “theme songs”.

• Movies/books/media. Duh. Lots and lots of ideas, everywhere. My brother mentioned Unbreakable in his essay (damn it, did it again!). But if there’s a film or a book that really seems to capture the mood of the game you’re running, ask yourself why. Seven and 8mm both captured the dark, in-your-face feel of White Wolf’s games (especially Vampire), and without one supernatural beastie. Neil Gaiman’s superb novel Neverwhere is great source material for Changeling (also from White Wolf). Don’t be ashamed to steal plotlines, just put your own spin on them. (I know a Storyteller who cribs characters directly from books for his Changeling games. Past NPCs have included Calvin and Hobbes and Opus the penguin. He’s now running a game set at Hogwart’s, the school from the Harry Potter novels. It was cute at first…).

• Buy more game books. No, really. The game companies don’t put those sourcebooks out just for the money. Often, there’s some good info in them. Get an opinion on the book, first (RPG.Net has excellent reviews) but one sourcebook can power a story easily.

• Carry a pen and paper. You never know when the muse will break her silence, grab you, tear at your clothes, and offer herself to you (that’s what mine does. Don’t knock it; Stephen King says his defecates on his head). Unless you’re in the shower, have a way to jot down ideas when they hit, because you won’t remember them. Or worse, you’ll remember that you had a great idea…but that’s all.

• Tarot. Stellar Games (now out of business, sadly) once published a tool called a Destiny Deck. With it, you could draw a Challenge, Setting, and Atmosphere for the game (and a Bonus for the characters, if you wanted). That much information alone was usually enough to get ideas going, at least for me. The Destiny Deck is out of print, but any Tarot deck works just fine. Just draw a few cards, look up the interpretations (or let the artwork suggest one) and go from there. This also works for creating characters.

• Meditation. Clear your mind. Focus on the number one or something similar. Keep it up for 10 minutes. You’ll be surprised what comes flooding into your mind afterwards.

• Sensation. I don’t for one moment recommend the use of drugs, alcohol, or any other poison for any reason. However, others inform me that while in altered states of consciousness, inspiration does sometimes strike. I don’t think it’s worth it. However, you could run around the block or otherwise exercise to get the juices flowing. (It’s all about endorphins, anyway, and natural highs aren’t addictive or harmful).

• Do something new. I recommend this anyway. Never held a gun? Find a friend who shoots trap and skeet and have him/her take you out to a range. Drive twenty miles in one direction just to see what you find. Sign up for a pottery class, or sit in on a political action meeting on a college campus. Whatever. You might not find a new hobby, but you’ll probably learn something. At worst, you might get bored enough to daydream your way in to an idea.

• Write. Grab a pen, and jot down whatever comes into your head, continuously, for 5 minutes. Do it when you’re not focusing on anything in particular; I tried this once after a girl had just dumped me and of course I could write about anything but the situation and how I felt. It totally killed the point of the exercise, which is to let your mind wander.

• Play a game. By this I mean a challenging game, like Scrabble or Boggle. Avoid stuff like Trivial Pursuit ¾ it’s fun, but it’ll just challenge strait knowledge and it won’t get your brain going in the right directions. Word games (and only about a million exist) always seem to help me break out of writer’s block. One game that merits special mentioned is Once Upon A Time, from Atlas Games. Excellent practice for Storytellers.

• Ask another Storyteller. If someone’s been gaming for more than a decade, chances are he’s got ideas he’s never used. Ask him. (And yes, that means you can email me and pump my brain; I don’t mind).

• Ask your players! Big no-brainer. If you don’t know where you want the game to go, ask the players what they think. You may not want to mention that you’re stuck; they may think you’re being lazy or apathetic, but most of the time they’ll welcome the chance to help determine the course of the story. (You should be asking them this periodically anyway, right?)

What NOT To Do:

• Let it Linger. (I like the Cranberries, too.) If you’re stuck, and you really can’t think of a way out, take a break. Ask somebody else if they’d like to run for a while. That takes a load off your mind and lets you be a player for a while (I’ve been doing this more often lately and it’s wonderful). But do not drag the game on if you don’t have any ideas. It’ll bore the hell out of your players, and that’s painful to watch.

• Use filler. If you’ve got to fill some time between events in a story, ask the players if they have anything special they’d like to do. Cross-cut between them, or just have them explain how they’re using the time. Let them spend experience, if the system works that way. Do not insert combat for no reason but to fill time. First of all, fights are brief (any fight longer than a minute in real time is highly uncommon), and second of all, people can get hurt/killed/vaporized, and that’ll derail your story pretty badly.

• Rehash. Recurring villains are one thing, bringing them in just because the players will recognize them and possible react is another. Hollywood does this all the time. “Look who’s back!” is a common tag line for sequels. We all know sequels suck, right? Keep it fresh.

In conclusion, keep the muse well-fed. Read. If you’re in college or high school, you probably have to read for classes. Learn to love it. If you aren’t in school, use your lunch breaks at work. Read for half an hour a day, instead of watching a TV show. Your muse will love you for it, and that’ll make her all the more receptive when she needs to be tickled.

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