The Forbidden Role
Envision a society where role-playing games are sacred rituals performed to honor the gods. Each role selected by players has implications for their real-world roles and influences divine favor. Follow a protagonist who unwittingly chooses a character role that no one has dared to play for centuries and the consequences that follow.
Suggested length: A short story: 1,500 to 5,000 words, or flash fiction under 1,000
Start the clock
Pick a sprint, press start and keep going until it stops. Momentum beats polish on a first draft.
Make it yours
Three ways to take this prompt somewhere nobody else will.
- Choose one ordinary object and show how this world changed it.
- Start in the middle of the strangest moment, and explain nothing for a page.
- Write it as a document from the world: a letter, a field report, a warning sign.
Writing fantasy books
Magic is real, and it costs something.
Fantasy builds a world where the impossible works: dragons, spells, gods who answer back. It might be a whole invented continent or one enchanted door in an ordinary house. Either way, readers come for the wonder and stay for the people paying the price for it.
What readers expect
- Magic or the supernatural, with limits
- A world that feels lived in
- Quests, wars or a power worth fighting over
- Myths and history under the surface
A tip before you start
Give magic a cost. Readers believe in a power when they can see what it takes from the person using it.
More Role-Playing Game prompts
- The Shopkeeper's Legendary GameIn a world where role-playing games determine one's social status, your character, a lowly shopkeeper, stumbles upon a legendary game set rumored to…
- Trapped Inside the VR GameYou’re a renowned game developer who’s latest creation, a VR role-playing game, unexpectedly traps players’ consciousness in the game world. As the…
- The Game That Decides PolicyImagine a society where every major decision — from governmental policies to personal careers — is decided through elaborate role-playing games played…
- Re-Rolling DestinyIn a futuristic society, citizens are assigned roles and professions by the all-encompassing AI, "The Game Master." Your protagonist, who dreams of a…
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