And Rudolf, the story about your brother in law cracks me up — I can totally see doing that, if my “shower thinking” was more like my “dozing off thinking,” for example.

I guess she got tired of seeing him run soaking wet from the shower to the nearest pad of paper.

If this is you, take a trip to your local office supply store. It’s amazing what you can find for cheap.

I often use the “mental backburner” technique for working on new ideas. Often I have something kicking around in the back of my head for weeks before it goes to paper.

I could not agree more about reading, watching TV, movies, etc. It has been said that there are only a finite number of literary themes, but what makes each show/movie/play different is how the themes are told. By watching movies/TV/plays with an eye for not just what the plot is, but how the story is told, you will find great material and new techniques.

I once ran a Star Wars campaign during the Clone Wars, which was based on the themes of Gone With the Wind (my wife’s favorite movie). I sat and watched it with her one day, and loved the themes about how the movie opens with the South convinced that they cannot loose, to their realization that they will loose the war, to surviving the aftermath. It did not take long to work up a star system which had two planets based on the north and south and played out these themes.

As for writing things down, for years I have always carried some form of pen and paper with me to take notes. I have used every flavor of journal I could find. In the past few years I have become a big fan of the Moleskine journals, they are compact, very durable, and easy to write on. I always carry one dedicated to my RPG notes, and take notes when I have any downtime. I am known to bring the journal into meetings at work, and start taking notes, if the meeting gets too boring.

You really touched on an important theme with this article. A GM really should be working at some level, even if it is on the backburner, all the time. Your campaign evolves in complexity and grows in quality the more mental effort you put in it. Players come each session to contribute to the campaign for a few hours a session, but a GM should be evolving their game every day. The best way to do that is to keep a couple of pots on the backburner.

I mostly get my gaming idea when I’m… gaming
Be it playing a computer game (CRPG or MMORPG), driving, or even coding software at work.

1st rule of always keep a writing tool close by has been implemented since my high-school DMing. Used to go on breaks with a notebook and my trusty pen, through my army service and of course at work.

It sometimes amaze me that I subconsciously think about ideas nearly everywhere. I come home from work, and suddenly an idea that’s been cooking in my head all day bursts out on the paper, flowing and gushing forward with a lot of details.

Excellent post, I think everyone should try to utilise their “back burners” to work and not on just gaming issues

I got mine at Target for about $7, and it’s perfect.

The second part — getting in the habit of writing stuff down — can take a bit longer. Once you’ve remembered to do it for a couple of weeks, though, you should be in business.

S1lence: Have you used the technique you outlined — “focused thinking” to produce a full-fledged idea from an idea seed in a very short time? Just curious, because it sounds interesting.

CJ: I don’t know if I could compartmentalize as well as it sounds like you can — that’s neat!

It’s amazing how many times that 20 minutes of hard thinking about work solidifies the game idea I did earlier in the drive. I pull out Notepad, write a couple of sentences, and email them to my home email. Often, the time to write the note and mail it is just enough time to do a bit of subconscious solving on the work issue.

Thinking intensely about something for awhile–then thinking intensely about something else for awhile after that–is a good way to prime the subconscious for that first something.

I had a first this year. I solved a nasty design issue in our software–while dreaming. The solution was elegant and perfect. I’ve often dreamed solutions to work and game situations, but never any good solutions until now.

If you think your mind isn’t working fast enough don’t resign yourself just tell it to work better and it will. The more times you do it the sooner it will respond and with better accuracy. Theoretically and assuming your mind isn’t overloaded with other thoughts it could generate a full fledged plot from a seed given to it some minutes ago. It just takes practice. It’s like talking, you don’t exactly know how you’re able to talk but if you think of something words come to you and to your mouth automatically, what gives you the words is the invisible subconscious.

Ok, I’m sorry, I just love raja yoga.

I also do carry a pad, a small one the size of a wallet. I keep it near my wallet so when I go out I don’t forget it.

(Martin) There were a couple of years where I frequently got ideas right before bed, and would hop out of bed several times a night (before going to sleep) to jot them down.

This also happens to me, and when I’m doing yoga too (you bet, my mind is relaxed and it can perform the duties I gave to her earlier).

There were a couple of years where I frequently got ideas right before bed, and would hop out of bed several times a night (before going to sleep) to jot them down.

In my case, I was adding to text files of design notes, so a pad next to the bed wouldn’t have helped — but it’s an excellent idea, and one I should have mentioned in my post.