Where do you get your inspiration?

[Rose Swan]

I honestly wonder sometimes where people go to get these fantastic ideas for a roleplay. And meanwhile, while I am trapped with a terrible case of writer's block, I'm wondering where I should go to create wonderful roleplay ideas as well.

So tell me: What inspires your roleplays?

[FMAlchemist]

When it comes to writers block, I find reading some of my favorite/favorite types of books to be the best remedy....

[Kestrel]

Everywhere.

Sandcastle was inspired by the image of an hourglass.

Outrageous was totally "Hey you know what would be cool?" and Charley and the Chocolate Factory.

The Alluring because I read the word 'gargoyle' and decided to get lost in a mythology book.

Brave was because... I wanted to use a character from a previous RP. Possibly because I watched too much animé.

Love, Taxes and How To Survive a Zombie Apocalypse, was created because someone else on another site made an RP that was shortened to "Love, Romance and How To Surv..." and when it turned out to be "Survive Highschool", I ripped off my own ridiculous title and just winged it from there.

Oh and now The Library, which was inspired by chess.

[Grif of Hearts]

Nothing specific, really. Just what I happen to be doing at the time.

Films, books, games and other roleplays are the obvious ones, but I tend to grab ideas from just about anything. The problem I have is that I can never be bothered to actually make a roleplay out of them. :P

[Dudel]

So tell me: What inspires your roleplays?

In the metaphorical sense: I take a dump on some paper, then smear it around until something resembling an idea takes form.

[Foster]

Real life, and metagaming full-life-consequences while motivated by morbid stupidity.

[Destroyer4292]

I have a very overactive imagination and I watch a ton of anime.

[Informatix]

Hm, let's see .. it's often a little tidbit, or carricature of a more complex personality I find interesting - like "old-fashioned older sister" or "epileptic" or "greedy merchant wizard" or "teenager that is waaaay to upbeat for a sane person" et cetera, and then expand: The older sister is also schizoid with a dangerous fascination for putting pointy objects into people, the epileptic works twice as hard to prove his worth as a fighter anyway, the greedy wizard is also prone to randomly exploding things and people, and on and on, until I have something that can be confused with an actual personality.

Visually and mechanically, I pilfer ideas from various PnP supplements. The Gaming Den has some very cool homebrewed stuff, the awesome fluff on some things was the only good part about World of Darkness anyway, and you can easily rip single spells/charms from Exalted to flavor up other games.

[Brovo]

Step 1: Take a cheesy concept. (Damsel saved by a Knight who kills a dragon.)

Step 2: Subvert the cheese elements. (Damsel kills a Knight to save a Dragon.)

Step 3: Change the end goal to something you feel is more appropriate or entertaining or personal. (Damsel kills a Knight for revenge.)

Step 4: Change or create an antagonist. (Damsel kills a Knight The Gods for revenge.)

Step 5: Change anything else you like to input your own personal tastes, beliefs, ideology, interests, hobbies, your favourite stories, etc. Anything really. Add a few extra details, don't get too excessive. (Damsel Princess awakens after a thousand years to kill The Gods for revenge after they destroyed her home and her family.)

Step 6A: If you don't want a character-centric play, remove the protagonist and make the antagonist a concept, idea, or large organization. ([Entities(Players)] are at odds with/threatened by an evil empire, and must band their nations/groups/themselves together in order to stop the evil empire.)

Step 6B: If you want a character-centric play without a main protagonist, remove the protagonist and make the antagonist someone or something which is a broad enough concept for anyone with any sensible ideals or morals to dislike greatly. Similar to A, except that A is more built for a Nation RP, whereas B keeps it to the characters.

Step 7: Fluff up any additional elements of the plot you desire with whatever you like. It is your creation. Don't be afraid if it's "stereotypical" or "small." As long as it's enjoyable, who cares? I mean Star Wars is just trope-tastic, that didn't stop people from enjoying it when it initially came out. As long as it's fun, who cares. And those who do care, probably aren't worth your time.

Step 8: Add a setting. This is a good time to subvert the "stereotypical" nature of your plot if you feel like you need to do that for your own enjoyment. Take the above "princess revenge" plot and apply it to a Science Fiction setting, for instance. Or a Steampunk. Or a Colonial era. Anything to entice and entertain you.

Step 9: Fluff up the setting, though keep only to details that the players need to know so as to avoid swamping your idea with irrelevant information that nobody wants.

Step 10: Done. Seriously. You have a plot and you have a setting which you created in a simple step by step process, in which you took a stereotypical idea that anyone and everyone knows, modified it to suit your whims and fancy, applied a setting onto it, and now all you need is players to join you in it.

If you have writer's block, there are a thousand and one supposed remedies to "cure" it. I find the best "cure" is to simply take a day or two doing other hobbies and work to refresh your mind. Then sit down and write a post, no matter how small and uninspired it is, and suddenly you will notice all the things wrong with your post.

And you will automatically correct these "errors" in your perspective.

And suddenly, you won't have writer's block anymore.

[Jorick]

I take inspiration from all sorts of media. Books, movies, music, etc. can all inspire great ideas. Generally I find a single small concept I like and then try to expand it into a full story/character. I don't like to run roleplays, so I can't really say anything specific about coming up with ideas for a good plot, but I would probably do it the same way. Sort of like Brovo's process, except less step by step, more random and organic.

Whenever I've got writer's block I find that listening to music can help a lot. Classical and instrumental music are my general go-to things for getting rid of writer's block, but finding things that specifically fit the setting/character you're trying to write for can also do amazing things to get your fingers moving. For instance, I'm currently writing some characters for a Game of Thrones roleplay, in which I'll be playing the Greyjoys (who are essentially viking/pirate type people for those unfamiliar with the books/show). I got stuck on writing up the history for a character, so I turned on some Alestorm (pirate themed metal band) and found my creative juices flowing once again.