finding muse/writing exercises

[screwtape]

a question for those making RPGs:

How do you find your muse?

not just game ideas but also if you are struggling with how to set up a mechanic, are there any exercises that you go through? i currently let things marinate and end up with a flash of excitement while i'm just sitting around rolling random collections of dice for instance. it works sometimes but it's not exactly the most reliable method. i've thought of writing up a setting/system a day whether it sucks or not but i feel like that takes more skill than i have right now
i'm looking for other ways of psyching myself into getting ideas.
any thoughts?

[Vulpinoid]

Everyone will be different, so the solution that works for me, may just end up being more frustrating for you.

I use a couple of options when trying to resolve new concepts, settings and systems.

Predominantly, I use the old notebook method. This basically entails keeping a notebook (or some scraps of paper that can be added into the notebook later). Every time I think of a new idea that might warrant further exploration, I archive it with some hastily written notes before I forget it. Sometimes a concept will be a one off, sometimes I'll expand on it for a couple of days. Other times I'll offer one form of expansion, only to generate a completely different train of thought later. Over the past decade or so, I've filled a dozen or more of these notebooks.

Often these notebooks will have a few pages of system concepts, followed by illustrations, or kooky setting ideas. There might be horror on one page followed by comedy on the next, then ideas for intense drama. It doesn't matter, just as long as they get noted down. These notebooks tend to then get lost when my wife decides to clean up the house...then found again later when I need to archive a new concept I've developed.

There is literally no rhyme or reason to these notebooks. Sometimes I even start writing on a random page of the book and start working forward or backward through the notebook until my idea has reached some kind of closure. Sometimes I awaken from a dream and simply have to archive it in the notebook just in case it might tie in with something later.

The next part is where a bit more discipline comes into effect.

I've entered plenty of design contests and I've been asked for suggestions on how to develop certain ideas (a few posts here at the forge have generated responses this way). If I can remember a note I may have written, then I'll offer it as a suggestion. I've got so many of these notes now that I'll never be able to use them all. Otherwise I'll flick through the notebook and see if something strikes a chord with the concept being explored. Sometimes an old note about a completely different topic just seems to mesh with topic in an elegant way, other times it takes a bit of tweaking. I might grab two concepts that I've previously written up and meld them into something that seems to match the concept at a midway point.

Plenty of times, the concepts just don't seem to work after an initial rush of adrenaline and a burst of writing. Other times they just seem to stick. I guess it's just like any writing endeavour in that regard.

Other methods I've used involve finding the aspects of other systems that have seemed flawed in the way our local games have run. Maybe a combat system that just seems a bit unwieldy, perhaps a skill resolution system that just doesn't match the rest of the game, or a need to develop a belief system that takes the place of traditional alignments to determine how characters react with one another and with NPCs...anything is a viable source of inspiration. Methods to resolve these problems are typically written up in game notes about the specific campaign, but will often get transferred into one of the concept notebooks, if they seem to have worked.

The system a day method might work for you; personally, I tried that a couple of years back, writing each system concept into a page-per-day diary and barely made it through January. A system per week might be more realistic, there is a thread on these forums regarding someone who has tried this concept.

As for the "psyching yourself into getting ideas", that's the quickest route to writer's block...and if you've already got writer's block I can oretty much guarantee that this attitude won't help. Think about some other concepts for a bit, and while you're thinking of them slowly consider how they might be tied back into RPGs. Watch some movies, read some books, engage in the real world, consider the events that you perceive and think about how these events could be played out. What sort of numbers or descriptors would you need to use if you were going to play through a similar concept? How would you need to modify an existing system to do it? Can you use the essence of those modifications to develop a system of your own?

But like I said, everyone's different. Those are just my thought patterns when looking for a muse.

V 

[Ron Edwards]

Here's an old but great thread: Mike's Standard Rant #1: Designers! Know your hobby!. To it, I'll add the point that design is a function of play. One doesn't sit, put one's thumb on one's chin, and dream up a game. One plays; if and when some nifty procedure of play seems like something neat to try, then that's a design idea.

It's a good idea not to turn this forum into a creative writing seminar. I'm concerned that eighty people will now jump in with their versions of Michael's post, which would not be a discussion but merely a poll. Therefore, let's have threads about ideas, not about their lack.

Best, Ron

[screwtape]

hmm... thank you both.
two very good perspectives.
as to Vulpinoid's post, thanks for the suggestion i'll probably be picking up a notebook for those random ideas(and dreams). 
as to Ron's, i think i agree, i hope my question wasn't to blame. i just wanted to see where people go for their ideas. between all the writers, musicians, and artists i've known, i've run into a vast range of successful creation techniques, from very structured, regimented creating to practically (and sometimes literally) throwing everything at a page or a canvas and seeing what sticks. each successful technique is suited specifically to it's user and that intrigues me. i had been wondering if the same was true for game design. and maybe get some cool stories about specific epiphany moments while playing some other game.
thanks
-dan