How to Create
Texting Old School
As the old joke goes, “good artists borrow, great artists steal.”
When I need to create something, many times I outright thieve.
How, of course, is the subject of this blog.
I steal from history.
This came about from the time I watched a particular episode of the History Channel. It was about medieval transport, and more specifically, the transportation of large amounts of currency (metal coins). How could thousands of gold and silver coins be transported from one city to another safely? Military convoys were a popular method. As was hiring non-military armed escorts.
Immediately upon watching this episode, I imagined a side campaign for a MERP game I was running at the time. How to safely escort a pile of raw ore from the quarry to a smithy, and then the coins from the smithy to a town bank. The adventure was good enough, I suppose, but the key point here is the realization I made that recorded history is an endless source of ideas for fantasy quests.
Dig through your history books, from any era really, and you will find a plethora of events that can be molded into a fun quest for your own game, be it an MMORP or not.
I’ll show you what I mean.
I typed into Google’s search engine, the term “medieval castles”. I then chose the 4th URL from the top, Life in a Medieval Castle, and hit the link. I then read that first page. These are the ideas that jumped out at me:
*Animal fat for wax (quest: obtain items for making of wax candle)
*Lords and Ladies traveling to other castles (quest: escort crew, or attack and rob the nobles)
*Blockage of water supply to castle (quest: unblock the water, attack the blockers, etc.)
*Construction of chapel, and need for holy relics/items (quest: search, find and bring back relics
*NPC name, William Langland can be used somehow (quest starters name?)
Now, some of these ideas may only be suitable for minor side quests, while others such as the construction of a chapel and the need to obtain religious relics could be developed into an epic quest, spanning many game hours.
Once I have the idea for the quest framed, I can fill in the details that are appropriate to the world I am working with.
I think for many people who struggle with the act of creating, the biggest hurdle is simply getting started. Getting the ideas to start flowing. For me, any historical name, event or “way of life” description is enough to get those ideas to come.
Open your history books, do a little reading, and let your imagination run wild!
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