Forums » RP Discussion » Where does your RP inspiration come from?

We're all inspired by something, whether it's life events, movies, TV, books, comics, even dreams. As I'm up with insomnia, I've been thinking a bit about RPs, past and present, and what inspired them. So here's a bit of what I've realized have inspired me.

Scifi - Star Trek (TV series), Star Trek The Next Generation (TV series), The Liaden Universe series (Book series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller), Warlock series (Book series by Christopher Stasheff), Finders Keepers (Book by Linnea Sinclair), Star Wars (movies)...

Medieval Fantasy - The Pirates of Darkwater (Cartoon), The Lioness Quartet (Book series by Tamora Pierce), Dragon's Queen (Book by Carol L. Dennis), She-Ra (TV series, probably the old one as well as the new one, although I can't quite remember the old one), Cinderella, Shadow & Dagger (Book series by Anne Logston), The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Book series by Patricia C. Wrede), Robin Hood (book, movie, etc?),

Other? Mixed? - Lost In Translation (Book by Margaret Ball), Girl Genius (webcomic), Myth Adventures (book series by Robert Lynn Asprin)....

I know that there's more that I can't think of right now, but these have offered ideas for universes, characters, technology, kingdoms, and plot ideas...

Mostly books, shows and movies. I’ve drawn inspiration from Battlestar Galactica, a sci-fi show, Dune, part of a set of sci fi books, the Avatar, a show on Nickelodeon, the video game Breath of the Wild and MMORPGs like Neverwinter.

Or sometimes I’ll just randomly think of something, maybe while on a walk or doing chores.

I also got an idea from a comic. It involves an artifact that poses as a gift. It is given as a gift from a dying person, to someone who is young. The artifact carries a curse that activates whenever it’s accepted as a gift. The one accepting the gift finds his life force draining away, being siphoned into the dying person. Characters could be after the artifact, to stop someone bad from getting it. Or to sell it. Or it could be a last resort, if they are about to die, they could trick some NPC into accepting it and cheat death by causing the demise of another. Such an item would be sought after.

No specific place. Fragments from here, patches from there... I'd never be able to identify most of it. And a lot of it ends up being sort of self-inspired, in a way? Like things just naturally leading from one thing to another

Sometimes there are specific things that hit, though. For example, I had an RP primarily inspired by the song God Syndrome by Madame Macabre. Actually, I think for me, I'm more likely to be able to trace inspiration when it comes from songs as opposed to other media.

I’d say that much of my RP writing has been in the Middle Earth world, but I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration from playing board-wargames and writing companion stories based around some of said games. Some I get from some tv shows, like Sons of Anarchy, original Star Trek, Tour of Duty, China Beach, The Vikings, etc. Also, books are a great source of some of my inspiration.

Other inspirations are character-driven as I come up with a character and then work on a story for them. The character inspirations come from many sources... people I’ve known in life... aspects of parts of my life, inspiration from other’s ideas, etc. it’s just fun to create characters, their histories, and write stories ...

MOST of my inspirations come from life events happening to me every day and month. People I meet and things happening in front of my eyes, inspiring me to write more and more. I truly believe that everybody's life is going to be a perfect movie... or a book.

Most of my inspiration comes from mainly from cartoons or anime,such as (Gravity Falls)(Yu-Gi-Oh)(Steven Universe) exc.

My main inspiration is from songs I listen to, games(Age of Calamity, etc.), and some of my own thoughts.

Pretty much every movie or tv series I watch or every book has I read has the potential to inspire me a plot. Or maybe I'm working on a specific plotn and suddenly some elements of it remind me of a book/movie/tv series/comic book, and it takes the story into new turns.

Back in the old roleeplaying setting where most of my futuristic characters originated, one example was when I binge-watched an Italian series called "A un passo dal cielo", a murder mystery with some comedy and romance elements but little horizontal plot. At first I was in just for the beautiful landscapes and the comedy (murder mysteries are hard to do well, especially in Italian tv series where they abound f cliches), then I started talking about the landscape with a RP partner of mine and we decided our two lovers would find that the Lake of Braies still existed in the future and moved in the same cabin where the protagonist of the tv series lived. Before I knew it, a series of refugees were also invited to move over to Braies, in the surrounding mountains, and the place became one of the most important Earth bound locations of our RP.

My inspiration comes from Spyro the Dragon, Super Smash Bros. Infinity War/Endgame, and The Lord of the Rings.

Most of my RPs are generally stories I make up on the spot. Though some of the RPs I use to incorporate certain arcs or stories I’ve done.
One of my favourites was when I used the Golif-Rulag but at the same time that Roleplay helped me create a proper ending when at the time I didn’t. But the Golif-Rulag is loosely based on Norse Ragnorok.
But for the most part I just make up as I go along while keeping my main stories separate from the RPs I make

My inspiration comes from webcomics or shows i watch. Also it can come from music or just a simple drawing. Most of my characters are inspired by the media I take in. Currently the webcomic Down to Earth is inspiring my desires to do an alien based roleplay. While my fantasy roleplays are heavily influenced from things like lord of the rings, general historical facts that I know, and random pieces of pop culture that pop up. Like it was Erutan's song Willow Maiden that influenced my Fairy character. So its just depends on the media I'm consuming at the time.

I believe that inspiration for writers can come from anywhere, sometimes they are unique (For example, I always get my inspiration from darkness and vampires.)

Funny things and events, books, games, a person with different features, historical events, stars, the moon, etc... Generally, for a person who has a good imagination, everything can be inspiring.

The good mood of a role-playing partner, due to making you feel accepted, and appreciated would also inspire you to do better than ever concerning the role play.

Music, video games, books, a few movies, tabletop games, and my older brother. These all have had some affect on what I write and roleplay.

Video games and tabletop games (DnD, MtG) have always been a source for ideas on how things would operate mechanically. My brother introduced me to both dungeons and dragons and magic the gathering. These have both played some role in my inspiration on mechanics type stuff.

Movies and books are more for the characters themselves in the way that a story unfolds and pieces fit together. Exploring the psychological aspects of a character has been something I enjoy and some movies and books have those themes fit in.

Music is like a guide on painting something for me. It can help me get in a mood to envision something happening with the pace of the music sort of guiding the pace of what I'm imagining.

History has also played a role, primarily history of developing nations and the way the environment and the ecosystem affect one another. Just the idea of all these little pieces in motion slowly coming together to form something larger has always interested me.

Video games I play or played. Books I've read and films I've watched. Also I do a lot of research when I become passionate about a topic or idea I want to RP.

My partner and role-players from TGG.

Music! Listening to music I love gives me the biggest boost of inspiration when I write.

Oh yes. Music is a huge inspiration for my musician character. Should have added that to my earlier post.

My inspiration comes from things around me. Granted, it's been a lot less lately, but that's because of my tragic history rping...

So much anime and #aesthetic--Rule of Cool over practicality, especially lately since I've allowed myself to just embrace it, lol.

Outside of anime, ridiculous action/angst plots like Fast and Furious--insomnia, the most loyal joining the other team, villains becoming friends, etc. Vampire fiction as it's a favorite for me-- LJ Smith's works about vampires, werewolves, and witches in particular with other lore from here and there.

When I was a little Kidd, it was the books I read: Percy Jackson, Maximum Ride, Avalon. These inspired lots of urban fantasy for me, which I still prefer today. I've grown to enjoy some meieval fantasy, too, but I'm far pickier with it. Give me a city with mutants and I'm happy. :>

Good question. An inspiration for this rp idea I have in mind (and would love to try it out at some point) is a game called Star Stable Online, a horse game from my teenage years. Other than the said game horror can be an inspiration for rp monsters.

Uh-

Literally anything.

I came up with a horror story about a villain who kills people with intoxication on their first birthday only on a specific day because he believes that the day is bad luck and thinks that he's actually saving people. I got that idea from a kid singing happy birthday while I was walking in Navy Pier in Chicago. The mom said that it was no one's birthday and the kid said it's always someone's birthday, so I got to thinking what the reason would be for a day without a birthday

And the idea of intoxication happened because I saw a vintage vajen mask in a science museum

So really, anything can spark my inspiration.

I know that's not a RP idea, but it's an idea nonetheless.

Mine comes from a desire to write modern life experiences in a personal fantasy. Because my RL time is occupied with a lot of work these days, and has been for over a year now, I have little time to have a ‘life’. So in my off-time I like to just settle down under a blanket with my iPad and a glass of wine and write stories with random strangers.