So, you wanna talk about roleplay ideas, huh? It’s funny, people always ask me where I get mine from, like there’s some secret well I go to. Truth is, for the longest time, I was just like everyone else, scrolling through endless lists online, trying to find something that clicked. Most of it was junk, or stuff that felt so overdone.
My Early Days of Idea Hunting
Back then, I’d spend hours, literally hours, trying to force an idea. I’d look at generators, read forums, you name it. I figured if I just consumed enough, something brilliant would magically appear. Spoiler alert: it rarely did. It felt like trying to catch smoke. You see something wispy and interesting, but it disappears when you try to grab it. I got a few decent scenarios going, sure, but it always felt like hard work, like I was missing some easy trick everyone else knew.
I even bought a couple of those “1001 Roleplay Prompts!” books. What a waste of money that was. Most of them were so generic, like “two strangers meet in a bar.” Yeah, groundbreaking stuff, right? It made me think I just wasn’t creative enough, or maybe roleplaying wasn’t for me if I couldn’t even come up with a good starting point.
The Big Change – Thanks to Aunt Mildred’s dreadful party
Then, something kinda shifted. It wasn’t a lightning bolt moment or anything dramatic. It was actually at my Aunt Mildred’s 70th birthday party. Now, I love Aunt Mildred, but her parties? Oh boy. Imagine a room full of distant relatives you see once a decade, all talking about their ailments or their grandkids’ T-ball schedules. It was mind-numbingly dull. I was stuck between Uncle George, who only talks about lawnmowers, and Cousin Sarah, who was showing everyone 300 photos of her cat.
I was so bored, I started just observing people. Really observing. Not just what they were saying, but how they were saying it. The little nervous tics, the way someone’s eyes would dart around when they thought no one was looking. And then, just to entertain myself, I started making up stories in my head. What if Uncle George wasn’t actually obsessed with lawnmowers, but used that as a cover for his international espionage career? What if the quiet lady in the corner, Mrs. Henderson, was secretly a fugitive queen from a tiny European country?
It sounds silly, I know. But suddenly, that boring party became a goldmine. I wasn’t trying to come up with roleplay ideas. I was just playing a game in my head to survive the boredom. And the ideas that came out? They felt more real, more interesting than anything I’d found in a book or online. They had little details already built in because they were based on real (though exaggerated) people and situations.
How I Get Ideas Now
That party was a real eye-opener. I realized I’d been looking in all the wrong places. The best ideas weren’t in some abstract list; they were all around me, hiding in plain sight. So, that’s my big secret now. It’s not very glamorous, is it?
Here’s pretty much what I do:
- I people-watch. A lot. In coffee shops, on the bus, even watching boring reality TV. I look for quirks, for odd little interactions.
- I ask “What if?” constantly. What if that stressed-out barista is actually juggling two identities? What if the couple arguing quietly in the park are actually rival spies forced to work together?
- I twist the mundane. Take a normal, everyday situation and just give it one weird twist. A regular office, but the photocopier can predict the future. A simple camping trip, but there’s something ancient and strange in the woods.
- I listen to snippets of conversation. You’d be amazed what you can overhear. Sometimes a single out-of-context phrase can spark a whole scenario. The other day, I heard someone say, “He wouldn’t dare, not after the incident with the ducks.” Ducks! My mind was off and running.
Honestly, it’s less about finding ideas and more about noticing them. They’re like little seeds. You just have to pick them up and give them a bit of water. I stopped trying so hard to be “creative” and just started paying attention to the world. And you know what? The ideas started flowing much more easily. No more staring at a blank page for hours. Sometimes the silliest observation at the grocery store can turn into a whole adventure.
So yeah, that’s my process. Nothing magical, just a bit of observation and a willingness to let my mind wander. It’s definitely made things more fun and way less stressful. Give it a try; you might be surprised what you come up with when you’re just trying to survive your own version of Aunt Mildred’s party.
