I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons for a few years now, and like anyone else who has played for long enough, I have a long list of backpocket characters. They often come to me at the most random times, or during mundane moments, or after hilarious banter with my partner:
Him: Okay, if you could choose your name, what would you go by?
Me: Oh, I don’t know. Something pretty and magical like Ruthian Rose.
Him: No, that sounds too fantasy. It’s got to be a real name. OR, if it’s going to be a made-up-sounding name, it has to be ridiculous.
Me: (saying the first thing that pops into my head) Quizzard Litorga.
Him: LOL WHAT?!
Me: Haha ‘Quizzard Litorga’ sounds like a kobold wizard.
Him: What’s a kobold?
Me: A tiny lizard person. Yeah! As a wizard, he’s probably a genius by kobold standards so he grew up really lonely among his folk. Picked-last-for-boofball-every-time kind of thing, you know?
Him: Boofball?! Lol did you just make that up?
Me: Yup. So anyway. Quizzard learned magic so he could conjure up friends. Now his goal is to find the great dragon masters of the world and learn magic from them so he can build an army of best friends. So like, he has an innocent heart but actually ends up doing some awful shit. Oh, and he talks in a cliché anime hero voice because he spent way too much time alone playing puppets to feel like he had friends lol.
DnD is a table-top roleplaying game that has been around for decades. There are multiple editions but they all follow pretty much the same basic rules and structures. The beauty of having experience with a framework like this is that it serves as both a series of preset building blocks and as a creative constraint. You can easily apply it to your other creative work and find troves of ideas. Whether or not you are a TTRPG enthusiast, here are a few ways you can use the framework of Dungeons and Dragons to inspire your creative writing with unexpected character choices and original story arcs.
Character Archetypes
The most obvious way to use the DnD framework is in building original characters. In the Player Handbook, there are 12 classes and 9 races to choose from. In the wider world of the Internet, you can find dozens more races, classes, and even subclasses that others have homebrewed. These traits can help to inform the fundamental aesthetics, energies, and motivations that go into a character.
And that doesn’t mean there have to be tortles in your world. Or even elves and dwarves and the like. Maybe you are writing a fictional piece that takes place in our world. You can still use the traits of a tortle, for instance, to describe a character. What about them is akin to a turtle? Maybe your characterization of them includes a slow manner of speech and movement, or a weathered exterior, or seemingly ancient wisdom. Allow your imagination to run with every metaphor you can think up, while staying within the creative constraint of the racial or class archetype.
Rules of Magic
If you are writing fantasy, then it is already obvious how the vast library of magic spells and effects available in DnD could contribute to your fictional world. That said, the same can be true for those writing sci-fi, which is arguably a sub-genre of fantasy in which technology is the “magic.”
If there are divine interventions or miracles in your story, which god or goddess in the DnD pantheon might be most akin to it? How might you take that framework and tweak it to make sense for your story and add originality? If there are magical abilities in your story, which of the eight schools of magic might it belong to? Or can you come up with your own original type of magic that isn’t covered by those eight?
Roleplay For Dialogue
I’ve talked with a lot of writers who have said that they struggle to write believable dialogue. My suggestion is usually to spend a week or more just listening and noticing the speech they hear in everyday life. However, if you have a background in TTRPGs, improv, or acting — or you don’t shy away from such things — then my suggestion is to roleplay your written characters.
First, you might need to find a friend or two who are willing to roleplay with you. Inviting others into the creative process with you can create a liberating atmosphere where play, experimentation, and unexpected turns can thrive. That said, you also don’t have to bring others in if you aren’t comfortable sharing your creative work or have other personal reasons. In that case, you may enjoy the challenge of roleplaying multiple characters at the same time.
With your roleplay buddies assembled (or not) and briefed on their characters, the next step is to find your character in your body. Connect with their emotional state in the scene you are exploring. Meditate for a few minutes on what they want: both their overarching motivation and their immediate goal for the scene and the tactics they might use to get it. With this somatic and emotional preparation, you are now ready to jump into the roleplay.
Try to stay immersed in the given circumstances and the present moment. Don’t break character if you can. Make sure to remember that most basic rule of improv: “yes, and…” Otherwise, let go and have fun! Record the roleplay session so that you can revisit what emerged when it is time to write your dialogue.
Ask the Dice Gods
DnD is a game that uses dice to determine various outcomes. Does my character succeed their stealth check and get by unnoticed? Are they strong enough to resist an enemy’s grapple attempt? Do they possess enough intuitive insight to notice a subtle calling? Anytime there is a decision to be made that depends upon a character’s abilities or choices, the dice are rolled. So, if you are at a stuck point in your writing and you’re not sure what might happen next or what a character might do in a situation, outline six different options and then roll a die to choose.
The dice gods can be cordial some days and vicious other days. But they always get the last say. What they determine is absolute law. So set the intention to hold yourself to it.
That said, if you find you are not happy with what the dice gods have mandated, then you have your answer. Thankfully, creative writing is not a game of DnD, and you don’t have to follow what the dice say if you don’t want to. The important thing is that you received the clarity you asked for.
There are other ways to involve the magic of probability in your creative writing. It doesn’t have to be limited to dice. For instance, author Pierce Brown of the Red Rising series is known for drawing names out of a “Hat of Death” to determine which character must die. Another idea is to set your intention and ask your question, then pick up a book, flip to a random page, and see if the first sentence you read sparks any answers. You could also try any form of divination, like drawing tarot cards, casting runes, or consulting the I-Ching.
Wrapping Up
Dungeons and Dragons offers a pre-existing framework that can help to generate ideas, whether you’re working on character design, magical world-building, dialogue, or making important story decisions.
What other ideas do you have for applying DnD frameworks to your creative writing? How has it helped you make character choices or discover a character’s voice? What crazy decisions have been made for you by the dice gods?
Let me know – I’d love to hear how TTRPGs have inspired your creative writing!