Casting Shadows

Today’s question asks us to share our favorite source of inspiration for our games. For once, I am glad of the inclusion of the word favorite in the question for I feel many things inspire me to one degree or another.  The world around us is fuel for our imaginings and recognized or not, offers coal after coal to that fire.

Sources of great inspiration to me are music and literature in their many forms, and of course film which merges the two. Relationships in fiction or fact, characteristics of people I see, theorizing about situations known and unknown all contribute to the largely unconscious process of inspiration and subsequent creation within me. Much of the synthesis of these elements is hidden from me until it comes time to prepare a pitch for a game whose sparks rise higher than the others clamoring to refine its base into a tool for use.

Of all these sources of inspiration, as I considered this question this month it occurred to me that my favorite source of inspiration is the refined inspiration of others. RPG setting books, rich in hooks and suggestion are like a weapon targeting the most creative reaches of my mind. Vague hints, innuendo, glimpses in artwork, and tbe author’s enthusiasm spur me on and help me diverge from and converge with their vision. That process of ‘distant collaboration’ is very satisfying for me. It’s open and I can see its parts in motion, feel the assembly of ideas. Authors like Sandy Petersen, Paul Wade-Williams, Richard Dansky, Vincent Baker, and Ron Edwards manage to impart shape to worlds and spark imagination without leaving you dependent on their vision to work within and around it.

My favorite source of inspiration? Setting books and sections would be my answer. How about you?

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