Weekend Writer: March 2024 Prompts

Hey all, Sam here.

It’s the start of a new month, and that means it’s time for more Weekend Writer prompts! As I mentioned in a previous post, I am making some changes to how this blog series works, mostly because I was spending so much time prepping and writing these weekly posts and it left me so drained. I absolutely loved writing all the writing posts and doing the writing craft book deep dives, but I have to start thinking of my mental health and clearing the path for me to have more time to actually work on my creative writing.

So the first weekend of the month, I will have this prompt post up, and the final weekend of the month, I will share some of my writing: sometimes based on these prompts, sometimes based on whatever novel I’m writing, and sometimes both.

For the other weekends of the month, I will be talking about the writing craft, whether that is sharing writing craft books I’ve read and giving a general review for them, or having a writing related topic to discuss. I’m not strictly planning any of these other weekends. Some of them might even end up being extra prompt shares. So who knows what will happen…I’m just trying to figure out my new process and enjoy myself as I do it.

All right…I currently have six different creativity generator tools in my collection/arsenal. Some of them are technically aimed at TTRPGs, BUT I’ve found that for the most part they work for creative writing just fine as well, which is why I include them all. With each prompt, I take a photo of the prompt randomization (whether that is dice rolls, card draws, or whatever), type up the prompt below the photo, and then I include a paragraph where I give you information about the generator tool I used.

If you know of any other useful tools like these, please let me know. I’d love to keep expanding my collection. It’s cool to see what sorts of ideas can be generated when you use a randomization method for creation.

Story Engine Deck

Prompt(s): An Overlooked Archivist Wants to Reveal the Dangers of A Ruin But They Will Have to Turn Against a Mentor OR An Overlooked Archivist Wants to Reveal the Dangers of A Ruin But They Must Leave The Familiar Behind and Face the Unknown.

I couldn’t decide between two options for the final card, so I decided to give double the options…depending on which path you want to follow.

This prompt comes from this storytelling deck from The Story Engine, which is a prompt and idea generating tool that I adore for both creative writing and for TTRPG plotting.

Tarot/Oracle Deck

Prompt: Trickery, Risk, Perspective

Once again, I used my Urban Crow Oracle Deck by MJ Cullinane for this prompt. I really like using this oracle deck, because the card names are different from a tarot deck. I do have a few different tarot decks as well, and I might use those at some point for future draws, but for now I’m really enjoying my crow deck. What can I say? I just like crows.

Roll & Play

Prompt: A town with tall temples and cathedrals dominate the landscape, with a university at its centre, the town’s main income is from scholars and students. A hero was reluctantly elevated to leader years ago after an important victory.

This month I decided to roll the dice on the Town Features pages in the Roll & Play book. You can use the dice I rolled, or if you have your own dice, you can roll on the chart yourself. Or heck, if you want to then you can just choose whichever option sparks your interest. 

Basically, I am playing around with more worldbuilding and fleshing out towns and regions in my current WIP, so I figured I would continue that by giving myself (and all of you) some prompts to help with designing areas to write adventures in.

Sidequest Decks

Prompt 1: A foe of the party offers help in the group’s time of need, but at a heavy price.

Prompt 2: Death asks the characters to undo a great cruelty: return a city of the dead to Death’s peaceful arms. A powerful artifact is mounted at the top of a town’s central tower, turning all who stay there undead. The characters can avoid the transformation because of their current state.

The Sidequest Decks from Inkwell Ideas are another wonderful accessory designed for TTRPGs, but can easily be used for writers as well. This time around I went back to the After the Total Party Kill deck, and again, I went with two options as prompt inspiration. You can use either option, and you can either use the basic concept at the top of the card, or you can use the various encounters at the bottom of the card to expand upon the adventure/story further.

The Oracle Story Generator

Prompt: An Outlander Needs to Clear A Dark Forest To Retrieve a Family Heirloom But Fate Conspires Against Them

Next, we have The Oracle Story Generator by Nord Games. They have a Character Generator as well, and I just received mine a couple weeks ago, so I’ll probably be adding that to these prompt generation posts next month. I’ve enjoyed playing around with these cards the past couple months, and look forward to doing even more with them in future. With this prompt, you can make it even more specific by either rolling a four-sided die for each card, or by simply choosing which option you like best.

Deck of Worlds

Prompt: The Outpost of Burrows, Shaped by Extinct Sand Creatures is located within the Dunes. The area is known as both a source of a rare salt and for surviving on minimal water. However, strange faults are opening in the earth.

The newest addition to the prompt generation is the Deck of Worlds by The Story Engine, and it works in a very similar way to the story deck, but it helps you think about and build either micro settings or small words or huge words with numerous countries throughout. It’s pretty cool.

Since I’m still new to using the Deck of Worlds for prompt generation I chose not to use the full deck. Instead I only used the Worlds of Sand & Story deserts expansion deck. These decks are designed so you can use an expansion deck alone or build it into the main Deck of Worlds. One upcoming month I will do a full setting instead of a micro setting, and give us a larger world that we can explore for a few months of writing.

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Oooh…there are some interesting prompts this month, and I honestly don’t know which one I’m going to go with for my writing this month. I guess we’ll all find out when it comes time to share some snippets at the end of the month.

Happy March, and may you have fun creating your own stories (with or without these prompts).

That’s all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.