Hey all, Sam here.
Once again, we have reached the beginning of a new month, and that means it’s time for new Weekend Writer prompts! Eagle-eyed followers will know that this post was supposed to be up yesterday (AKA the first Friday of the month). I blame myself for that; I didn’t prepare in advance for how tired I would be after working a one-day street festival in our hometown on Thursday, and I was just too exhausted on Friday to get a post up.
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 seven 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: An Arcane Scam Artist Wants to Unmask the Conspiracy of An Ethereal Archive But They Will Have to Stop Living a Lie.
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 Decks
Prompt: Illusion, Play, Battle
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: The song being performed is all about a day in the life of the most boring man alive. The band is called Raining Explosions and they mostly play comedy parodies. At least one member plays a feathered sparkly accordion.
This month I decided to roll the dice on the Busking Bards 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, and what worldbuilding doesn’t include the arts with artists and musicians and performers of all varieties?
Sidequest Decks
Prompt 1: Message From Beyond — A dead enemy and a dead ally return aboard a ghost ship, luring PCs into a trap.
Prompt 2: Hold It Together — Teleport out to a foundering ship and use magic to keep it afloat so the heir to the throne is not lost at sea.
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 decided to use the new-to-me Coastal Town 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: A Mage Will Steal A Magic Weapon To Sell To Another But They Are Compelled By The Item.
Next, we have The Oracle Story Generator by Nord Games. 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: In the Port of the Lost, known for its sea caves, is a lighthouse that was originally a smuggler’s hideout, and maybe it still is while still doing its duty as a lighthouse. But the winds or tides (your choice) are now behaving strangely (unusual highs/lows, sudden shifts, or odd timing–again, your choice).
A newer 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 Tide & Tidings coastlines 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 (maybe next month? Do we want to do a big world creation to play around in for the rest of 2024?) 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.
The Oracle Character Generator
Prompt: Transporter, Optimistic, motivated by Pride, happens to be Unlucky, and is familiar to at least one of the MCs/PCs (depending on if you’re using this for creative writing or for tabletop gaming prep).
The newest addition to this is Nord Game’s The Oracle Character Generator, which finally arrived just before last month’s post, so it is making its Weekend Writer prompt debut here. They don’t have The Oracle Character Generator up on their page yet, but you can follow the link up in The Oracle Story Generator to find all of the cool TTRPG accessories that Nord Games and friends have created.
All right, well that is all from me for today. As a reminder, I share what I wrote based on one of these prompts the last Friday of the month, and I encourage you to join in with me. I honestly don’t know which one of these will be the one I choose for my writing this month, because there’s a few that I’m decently interested in, so I guess we’ll find out at the end of the month which one won out. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
Free State of Geek 