What inspires you to create game plots?

[Tech]

What do you use to create game/episode plots? I'm curious because right now I've got little inspiration. So help out and tell me what you do.

[Tjack]

Everything. I've stolen from AHEM I mean been inspired by TV shows, old movies, comics, and novels.

For the premier episode of a 1930's game I ran I used the plot from an audio tape of the old radio show Sam Spade. It was a sequel to the Maltese Falcon written by Dashiel Hammett.

Actually I found the tape in the depths of the main branch of the Boston Public Library and it inspired me to start the campaign.

Robert Heinlein said " if you steal from three or more sources, it's research.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Yeah I do pretty much the same thing: swipe from all sorts of sources.  I have tons of game books with scenarios in them as well.  Your players will give you ideas as well if you listen closely, stuff like "man what if'..." and "we should go..." in play.  You can also get ideas from character backstories and complications.

[TheQuestionMan]

Player backgrounds create plot hooks for me.

 

A campaign I was running was to focus on VIPER but, the PC's prefered to chase after VOICE of Doom instead.

 

Campaign City was Vancouver, but the PC's refused to leave New Orleans after a visit.

 

Character interactions with Supervillains lead to my group leaving UNTIL Team Unity expansion team and going Rogue. As in Vigilante style Superheroes.

 

PC actions such as destroying a dimensional/time travelling foci threw them into the time stream. Landing briefly in alternate timelines where the PC's disappeared or altered the timeline by trying to prevent events like Dr. Destroyer faking suicide and laying waste to Detroit and giving rise to Millennium City.

 

Many of the fallen where still alive on the new timeline. Two PC's retired their characters. Upon returning to their home timeline they vanished and even there teammates soon forgot them.

 

QM

[bluesguy]

TV, Movies, Books, old comic books, etc.  I will use tools to help generate hundreds of plot ideas and work from there.

 

Here are some helpful tools to purchase:

• Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters
• Tome of Adventure Design

 

Also because I always use a setting where I live, for instance I live in the Twin Cities MN right now, I look for current events.  I read the paper (I know an anachronism).

 

For instance:

• Local science museum had an exhibit all about pirates and pirate treasure - including a bunch of gold coins.
• State Fair is a huge deal here so I had one there
• Governor's Fishing Opener was fun
• Every year there is a big Winter Carnival and a big party for all the people w/ money to pay (Die Hard rip off)
• Read an article about a farmer finding a large meteorite on his property so I used that for a plot hook

[BoloOfEarth]

Like others have said, I've pulled many a plot from a comic book or work of fiction (mostly books, though an occasional movie).  QM's point about character background is another good mining source for ideas.  (I gave the players 5 free points if they provided a background of at least 2 paragraphs - some ran to 8-12 pages). 

 

I also provided 5 free points if the player gave me 5 NPCs, friends / family his/her PC interacts with, and have found that they can be an interesting source of plotlines without turning those NPCs into DNPCs (which I promised I wouldn't do).  For instance, Circe has a friend (Nikki) who models, and is starting to have a substance abuse problem.  Circe discovered Nikki was using a new, designer drug and decided to shut Nikki's dealer and that whole drug pipeline down.  I tied it into an ongoing animosity between the PCs and a vampire queen, who was using the drugs to make money as well as gain gang minions.

 

Sometimes, a villain group's individual skills, powers, or Complications can spark an idea.  For instance, I wrote up the Heavy Metals (from the Villain Theme Team thread) and decided they had built a robot (Adamant) from spare Mechanon parts, with Adamant hunted by Mechanon.  This led to an adventure where the HMs were trying to modify a Mechanon plot to their own ends, with Mechanon showing up to teach them a lesson.

 

Of course, there's also game supplements (even if not for Champions) that can provide ready-made plots that can be modified to fit your PC heroes.

 

I'll second bluesguy's suggestion about current events.  I once read an article about a German U-boat that was found in 1991 but whose identity was unknown for nearly a decade.  (It had the enigmatic nickname of U-Who.)  I turned that into a plot spanning back to World War II (Nazi robot and a superhero-depowering formula, with the robot rebuilt by a villain group and turned loose on the city). 

 

If using a real city as your campaign location, use Google Maps to scan the city and you'll likely find specific locations that just cry out for a super-fight.  My game is set in Boston, and when I saw the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, I knew I had to do something there.  It turned into DEMON using giant fish-men to break the bridge and isolate a bunch of schoolkid hostages there while the cultists tried to cast a spell to banish a huge chunk of the city to a hellish dimension. 

[Balabanto]

I use a variety of sources. Modern Events. Social Issues. The news. Old pulp novels. Player Actions. Plots that come from player actions are the best 100 percent of the time. Nothing beats "Do you remember when you did this?" and they shake their heads and say "Yeah. We remember." 

 

One of the best plots I ever ran was about honor killings. A supervillain's sister got honor killed, so she threatened to nuke a middle eastern city unless the government held the people accountable. Into this situation came the PCs. Do they ally with the villain? Do they fight the villain? Do they hunt down the killers? 

 

Twist: The Killers have called upon Muslim superheroes to protect them. Not all the muslim superheroes agree with honor killings. 

 

The fight was BRUTAL when it finally came. But man, that was a great story.

[Fry Daddy]

I can echo what most here have written already. Anything I run into via TV, movie, novel, news article, even song lyrics, can be inspirational for a plot hook. The skill of active listening is key as well --- as our esteemed colleague above, Christopher Taylor, mentioned --- players will give you ideas as well. The best thing a GM can pick up during conversation at a game table is "it would be cool if".

 

Don't be afraid to use anything as inspiration, and be prepared for plots to take on a life of their own away from what you've planned. One of my life skills at the game table (and in my profession) that is very handy is adaptability -- go with the flow and your games will be so much more fulfilling for everyone.

[csyphrett]

I used to use the players' backgrounds and recurring villains to build a campaign. The players I have had like dealing with the same guys coming back and giving them a reason to play

CES

[BoloOfEarth]

I like recurring villains as well - finding new ways to use them can be a challenge, but very rewarding. 

 

Having a good multi-purpose villain group (like GRAB) or criminal organization (like VIPER) is always a good thing for simple plots when you're stuck.  For instance, I created the A-Team, a villain group for hire, and have had them face off against the PCs three different times.  Once they were hired to take the hero team down a peg or two, then they wanted revenge for the heroes daring to lock them up, and finally they were hired to derail development of a fusion power plant prototype.  They could also be hired to distract the heroes, collect key components for someone else's master plan, free another villain from PRIMUS custody during his trial, etc.

 

Another thing that can work when I've found myself lacking inspiration -- create a villain or a villain team.  (Shameless plug for the Villain Theme Team thread -- I've used this to provide inspiration for many a villain team in my campaign.)  Often, fleshing out a character or group of characters can stimulate an idea for an adventure.  This can also work if you want to dust off an existing team and update them with experience points.  Looking over their powers and Complications will flash back to your prior use of that team and might give rise to a new idea for using them.

 

Tech, why don't you tell us about your PC heroes as well as a few one-sentence descriptions of past scenarios you've run with them?  I'll bet someone here could give you an idea specific to your hero team that could spark your imagination.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Sometimes an adventure can just be a hodge podge of events without needing a story.  I had one entire evening taken up by unrelated little bits; a former villain comes to see if the PCs can help him turn his life around.  A jumper talked down off of a ledge.  A woman at the side of the road with a flat tire strangely unwilling to attempt to use her spare (which it turns out was packed with drugs to be driven across the border to Canada), etc.  Little stuff for each player to roleplay.

[Ninja-Bear]

I know that it usually comes into play.mostly in fanstasy games but a cool miniature can also inspire. That and other forms of art.

[Cassandra]

History.  I've got one based on the H.G. Wells "The War of the Worlds", Orson Welles Radio Version of the War of the Worlds, The Philadelphia Experiment, the accidental sinking of the Japanese Battleship Mutsu, Rosewell, and Watergate.

[Cassandra]

Valkryie

 

Origin:  Phoebe Elizabeth "Val" Kirk was the daughter of the World War One Costumed Adventurer known as the Archangel.  Born on Valentine's Day everyone called her "Val."   Worked as an Actress, a Secretary, and could speak fluent German and Norwegian learned from her mother.  Used her father's mechanical wings to fight crime as the Avenging Angel.  After Pearl Harbor she joined the Office of Strategic Services, and was given the cover identity of Valerie Krieger, German-American Bundist operative who joined the Axis supervillain group known as The Fifth Column.  Operated for two years and warned the United Superheroes of America of the Fifth Column's plan to steal the Operation Rainbow device in Philadelphia.  "Killed" by Nighthawk during the Philadelphia raid, and returned to being the Avenging Angel after being debriefed by U.S. Naval Officer Peter Maxwell, who she would later fall in love with.

 

Years later Peter Maxwell would become a politician, first serving a U.S. Senator, then Vice President, and finally elected President of the United States.  When his opponent found evidence of Val being the Valkyrie Maxwell had his political operatives steal the evidence, resulting in a scandal that ended his Presidency.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I know that it usually comes into play.mostly in fantasy games but a cool miniature can also inspire. That and other forms of art. 

 

 

This is mostly for design but yeah, a fascinating building or location can inspire me to scenario ideas and settings.

[Kesedrith]

I'll add in songs to all the things mentioned above. There are some songs out there that tell some amazing stories if you think about it, or have some great ideas in them.

 

One of my favorite street level villains I named "The Worm" after hearing They Might Be Giants song "Mr. Worm". He had a 1d6, cumulative, invisible power effects, telepathic Mind Control that only worked on normals. This set up several adventures, because the Worm would mind control some random stranger to go in and rob a convenience store, jewlery store, or whatever, and when they were arrested, they had no idea why the thought had popped into their mind or why they acted on it, but there was no trace of mind control....except the same MO kept happening and happening.....They finally looked at surveillance tapes and someone spotted the Worm at every incidence. Chaos ensued from there.

 

I created an entire set of adventures from the Police song "Wrapped Around Your Finger".

 

I have ideas for Seal's  song, "Kiss From a Rose".

 

I could go on, and probably further date myself, but the point is, inspiration can come from anywhere if you're open to it.

[BoloOfEarth]

This is mostly for design but yeah, a fascinating building or location can inspire me to scenario ideas and settings.

 

Heck, I think it's an occupational hazard of being a GM that I often walk through someplace - hotel lobby, shopping mall, sports arena - and begin imagining a Champions combat taking place there.  It doesn't necessarily have to be someplace fascinating or unique.

 

That said, unique places do seem to have a greater influence on scenario generation.  What GM wouldn't look at a fort on the Maginot Line and instantly see a villain base?