I’ve written previously about the value of making lists in sparking creativity. Here are more ideas for generating ideas.

Explain it to Someone

Have (or just imagine having) a conversation in which you describe what you’re creating to someone. Talking about your work at a high level may prompt you to make connections you wouldn’t otherwise make. And you may find yourself describing ideas you “intend” to include that you actually just invented.

Mash Two Incompatible Things Together

Mash up two unrelated ideas that come to mind (or which you roll up) to deliberately get things that don’t go together. The human brain has a phenomenal capacity to rationalize; that is, to make sense of things that don’t seem rational.

• A kraken in a cave? Maybe the cave leads to a huge cavern with a deep subterranean lake that has a passage to the sea; and the kraken comes here to sleep or spawn.
• Polar bear in the desert? Maybe there’s a lost ancient temple in the area, and it has an open portal to the polar region, and polar bears wander in like it’s a warm cave.
• Priests of good who want to create undead? Maybe their ancestors promised to return to help fight an evil, and rousing their spirits from the Great Beyond will do that.
• Cleric-thieves? Maybe they’re followers of Kinshi, the trickster goddess, who rewards cleverness, trickery, and stealth. Instead of begging for alms, they steal–but only what they need and only what the victims can afford.

Blogs

There are a few blogs with very specific aids to creativity that you can lean on for inspiration.

• OSR Vault archives d100 lists created on Reddit.
• DnD Speak creates their own d100 lists. And they have a Tavern Generator.
• d4 Caltrops also creates their own d100 lists.

For the record, I create my own lists. I don’t borrow from these.

Browse Image Websites

Anything you want to do or make, an artist has already thought of ten ideas around it. Search for anything in the general vicinity of your idea and browse the minds of endless artists with visual creativity that is unmatched.

• Google images
• Pinterest
• Artstation
• Sketchfab 3D resource search for “medieval” or “gothic“, etc.
• walk-thru videos of exploration video games like Assassin’s Creed, Skyrim, and Hogwart’s Legacy
• OpenArt artificial art gallery

Mapping Software

Let software do the boring/arbitrary stuff for you. The human brain is bad at picking things at random. But software is good at filling in holes with random things and doing things repeatedly.

• Watabou is a fantastic site that features several tools for mapping your realms, cities, and such. I highly recommend Perilous Shores for creating small-scale (1 or 2 mile hexes) maps that map an 18-mile hex on a realm-scale map.
• One Page Dungeon, another part of Whatabou, will give you small, simple dungeons.
• You can then recreate a One Page Dungeon in the free mapping tool DungeonScrawl and modify it the way you want for your specific dungeon. If your dungeon needs to have a huge gathering hall and a vast cavern with a rope bridge, for example, add them onto the map OPD created for you.