Continuing from the "cliched" thread, I would like to point out here that, in my opinion, the best GMs I've seen are NOT the ones who try to think up original setting, adventure, or campaign ideas.   They are, rather, the ones who do the best job of assimilating other stuff.

One of the keys to this is the ability to bring in stuff from sources other than the standard catalogue of material the average geek is likely to know about.  Everyone rips off Tolkien, or Star Wars, or comics, or popular fantasy novels.  The key, I think, is to find other sources to rip-off.

Its one of the reasons I think a strong grounding in both history and the classics is a very essential tool of the GM's workshop.

What non-standard sources do you rip-off from?

RPGPundit

I find a piece of media I like, and then go looking for the stuff that maybe inspired it, and rip off that.

I will proabably never run a Pirates of the Carribean game.

But I will run one based off On Stranger Tides.

I love bad 80s war fiction.  There's like 10-15 cliches per PAGE in one of those things.

They make highly original ideas feel like bad cliches.

I also am a Historian, so ripping things from History and folklore work pretty well.

In my short life I been to a Christian school, a correctional facility, and an art school. I've worked for Tom Brokaw (not that Tom Brokaw, but also rich) under my boss, the Groundskeeper William (not to be confused with the similarly named Simpsons character). Among other things.

It just seems to me that fiction isn't all I've got to draw inspiration from. The same has to go for other authors somewhere down the line as well.

That and videogames have good game-useful ideas, and are forgotten as their consoles fade into obscurity. Hella useful.

I think a grounding in the genre you wish to run is essential, in spite of the best rules sets for a genre. If you are unfamiliar with Sword and Sorcery sources, or superheroes or Machiavellian fantasy family fictions, your games will suffer.

This to me doesn't mean you lift things whole cloth but instad understand how to take a bit of an idea and blend. Like a found poem where all the words appear somewhere else, in the same order, but by editing out bits you create a smooth flowing bit of text that says something specific.

Quote from: SilverlionI think a grounding in the genre you wish to run is essential, in spite of the best rules sets for a genre.

I agree -- it's why I suggest that people wanting to run Star Wars focus less (if at all) on canon*, and get a feel for adventure serials, samurai flicks and hot rods instead.

*Especiallystuff post-Jedi, but your tastes will guide you.

I use whatever I can find for inspiration; it's rarely genre fiction, as most of the folks I game with are familiar with many of the same sources as me (and the sources we don't share in common, like my mania for Samuel R. Delany's novels, don't lend themselves to gaming)...though I do occasionally raid cop shows for ideas.  Sometimes a conversation overheard at a restaurant can spark a good plot.  In my current game, where the PCs are characters interacting with a shady underworld, I've found that Steely Dan songs can supply a lot of ideas about places and characters.

History books, of course, are wonderful, as are daily news reports and the odd/humorous stories from the CourtTV website.  I especially like trying to hunt down news stories that aren't being prominently featured in the MSM here, to avoid my players drawing too many parallels and thinking that I'm trying to spring some kind of allegory on them.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!I agree -- it's why I suggest that people wanting to run Star Wars focus less (if at all) on canon*, and get a feel for adventure serials, samurai flicks and hot rods instead.

*Especiallystuff post-Jedi, but your tastes will guide you.

I think this is a very important point, related to advice I've often given would-be sci-fi writers. A lot of these guys think they can write the Great Next Sci-fi novel on the basis of having read a whole bunch of Star Trek novels or David Drake, not getting that what they should be doing is reading the classics.

If you want to get a genre, have a grounding in what the creators of that genre were reading, or the real life stories that inspired them.

My Traveller campaign wasn't inspired/based-on/ripped-off-of Firefly, it was a rip-off of the US Civil War.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPunditI think this is a very important point, related to advice I've often given would-be sci-fi writers. A lot of these guys think they can write the Great Next Sci-fi novel on the basis of having read a whole bunch of Star Trek novels or David Drake, not getting that what they should be doing is reading the classics.

This is true of any creative endeavour.  The number of writing classes I had to sit through (n.b. my forum posts are not an example of my writing style, so stop snickering!), sharing the room with people who didn't even like to read....

History is a big one for me. I often take a historical or other-cultural event or beleif, and (in a fantasy setting) make it real and follow it to its logical conclusion. Historical fiction works well too. Many of our old D&D games had a strong "James Clavelle's Shogun" feel to it.

Early horror/fantasy is another big contributor to fantasy games for me. It seems like the more trite fantasy GMs rip off post-LotR Fantasy with aplomb, but I find that old short stories that were contemporaries or predescessors of Tolkein are untried territory for many modern gamers. Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique stories are a fave.

Also, genre crossing work well for me. Spy tales, techno-thrillers, and SF "what if" tales all make good imports to fantasy for me.

I use books and stuff from movies and tv.
Laurell K Hamilton is one of my favorite vics. I've hit Christine Feehan and Barb and JC Hendee also.
Tomb Raider, Raiders of the Last Arc, Lost in Space...lots of good stuff there!
The CSI shows are great for twisted baddies.
I'll grab anything I can!!:D

Quote from: darkwolfessI use books and stuff from movies and tv.
Laurell K Hamilton is one of my favorite vics. I've hit Christine Feehan and Barb and JC Hendee also.
Tomb Raider, Raiders of the Last Arc, Lost in Space...lots of good stuff there!
The CSI shows are great for twisted baddies.
I'll grab anything I can!!:D

I have taken mutliple episodes of CSI squashed them together to form a decent adventure. But generally I steal from anyone and anywhere I can get good gaming material.

Welcome to The RPG Site darkwilfess!

History, science, tall tales, that sort of thing. Want a bit of horror to drop into your game? Do a search for "canine transmissible veneral tumor" and "devil facial tumor disease". Both are (officially) cancers. But both are cancers descended from the tumors that afflicted the original subjects. That is, they are contagious cancers.

In fact, the canine version has evolved, so that while the cells are genetically canine, they have a stripped down version of the canine genome. While the tasmanian devil version (the "devil facial tumor disease") contains in its genome a suite of genetic material gained, in some manner, from the canine version. That is to say, the canine version is an amorphous parasite descended from a dog cancer, while the tasmanian devil form is descended from tasmanian cells with the event triggered by genes transferred from the original life form.

Now, think of this occurring to a human. Some poor chap who's dog "catches" CTVT. And who, in the course of treating his pet for CTVT "catches" it on his hands. And this new, contagious human cancer is spread on casual contact. How do you handle such a thing?

Strabon's Geographica is a treasure trove of oddball ideas from the ancient Mediterranean. Did you know...
...that the most beloved culinary treat in Borsippa is salted bats?
...that on the coasts of [Persia, I think] live the ichtyophagi, savages who dwell in houses built from gigantic whale carcasses?
...that the Persian kings are buried in towers?
...that [near some North African city], there is a shrine where a slave can safely escape to and become a holy man - if he can slay the previous occupant!
And a lot more. I have been looting this volume for adventure ideas and place names for a few years, and it still hasn't run dry. No ideas in the evening? Staring at an empty sheet of paper? Strabon to the rescue!

Quote from: MelanStrabon's Geographica is a treasure trove of oddball ideas from the ancient Mediterranean. Did you know...
...that the most beloved culinary treat in Borsippa is salted bats?
...that on the coasts of [Persia, I think] live the ichtyophagi, savages who dwell in houses built from gigantic whale carcasses?
...that the Persian kings are buried in towers?
...that [near some North African city], there is a shrine where a slave can safely escape to and become a holy man - if he can slay the previous occupant!
And a lot more. I have been looting this volume for adventure ideas and place names for a few years, and it still hasn't run dry. No ideas in the evening? Staring at an empty sheet of paper? Strabon to the rescue!

I will check that out and welcome to the board.