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This tip comes from Old Man Masha via the Roleplaying Tips Discord:
Here’s a cool way to come up with interesting ideas for elements of your game.
First, get a collection of 10 random words.
I got:
- Lantern
- Crisp
- Meadow
- Puzzle
- Whisper
- Anchor
- Velvet
- Orbit
- Shimmer
- Timber
Then, randomly pair them up.
I got:
- Lantern × Orbit
- Crisp × Timber
- Meadow × Whisper
- Puzzle × Velvet
- Anchor × Shimmer
Now, each pair can be used as an inspiration!
Check it out:
Lantern × Orbit
A protective spirit (Ayyanar in Tamil) has a number of paper lanterns orbiting around them and the things they are buffing.
Every time they defend against an attack, or, they make an attack, a flame goes out.
They need to do a ritual/take an action to relight the flame. This is a ritual that the local villagers do to protect their homes from evil and danger.
Crisp × Timber
Mountain shamans have bundles of sticks with incantations etched onto them. The writing of the spells is done by the disciples of the Shaman and are bound together by hair of devout.
Shamans give these bundles of magic sticks to the mountain village chiefs to help them endure the heavy blizzards of winter when the villages are cut off.
To release the spells, the chiefs have to snap the twigs. The more powerful the spell, the more brittle the twigs are.
Meadow × Whisper
The air is unnaturally thick here. Any time anyone moves through this meadow, the gusts and eddies from their movement sound like whispers.
Characters need to move in specific ways to release themselves from this trap. If they don’t do so, the air becomes thicker and thicker, the whispers become howls, and they asphyxiate with their eardrums blown out.
Puzzle × Velvet
There’s a square velvet cloth that seems to have random paint markings and creases.
Characters must rearrange and refold the velvet the way it was to trigger a Magic Mouth that speaks a message. Or, it could be a trap and the paint markings complete an explosive Glyph of Warding.
Anchor × Shimmer
A teleporting NPC has 7 anchor tattoos on her arms.
Each time she activates a tattoo, a shimmering anchor traps a PC and gives them the grappled condition.
If she touches two tattoos at the same time, large anchors shimmer into existence 50 feet above the PCs and drop on them for damage.
Hope this helps to brainstorm new ideas for your encounters!
Thanks Old Man Masha!
Roleplaying Tips GM, Mr. Masha shared with me a file of 1,232 words suitable for masha-ing together.
Download Mashas’ plain text words file here.
I’ve also turned this list into an inspiration generator in Campaign Logger. Gold+ Campaign Logger GMs will find this in the Generators sidebar next login:
The generator puts the 1,232 words into five categories, and then outputs every category combination for maximum inspiration:
If you are not yet a Gold+ Campaign Logger GM to get access to this inspiration generator and many others, hit reply to email me about how to upgrade.
If you are not a Campaign Logger GM, click here to get the free version of Campaign Logger for life.
Cheers,
Johnn
roleplayingtips.com
https://discord.gg/6MxTRAqQ76
Have more fun at every game!
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