Rolling for Initiative: How 40 Years of RPG Mechanics Power My Fiction Blogging
I’ve been rolling dice for over forty years. Now in my late fifties, my regular gaming table looks a little different than it did in the early days. I still play consistently, but my party now consists of seasoned professionals: the president of a big-law firm and four technical professionals in the finance sector. We spend our days dealing with high-stakes reality, but we still make time for the gaming table. Why? Because the mechanics of Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs) offer a structural framework for storytelling that nothing else quite matches.
As a part-time, somewhat inconsistent, fantasy fiction writer, I’ve found that those same game mechanics aren’t just for our game nights. They are a robust toolkit for stress-testing narratives, generating unexpected plot hooks, and completely shattering writer’s block.
Here is how I use the structure of gaming to fuel my fiction.
1. The Physicality of Rules: Breaking the Stare
Writing is an entirely cerebral act. When I find myself blocked, staring down a blinking cursor, my brain is usually caught in an endless loop of "what ifs." RPG mechanics offer a physical interruption to that loop.
By taking out a set of gaming dice, I move the creative process out of my head and into my hands. The physical act of rolling dice disrupts the anxiety of a blank screen. It forces me to react to an external stimulus rather than trying to generate a perfect scenario from thin air.
If my protagonist is sneaking past a corporate security drone, I stop agonizing over whether they succeed. I assign a difficulty class, decide on a modifier based on the character’s skill, and roll the dice.
- Critical Success: They hack the drone’s network and download the drone’s patrol routes.
- Failure: They trip an alarm, instantly turning a stagnant stealth scene into a high-octane chase.
By outsourcing the immediate outcome to physics and probability, I force myself to write the reaction, which is almost always easier than plotting the action.
2. The Character Sheet Approach
Traditional character outlines often end up feeling like static resumes: hair color, worst fear, favorite food. RPG character creation, however, is built to generate active participants who are forced to engage with a story.
When a character feels flat, I try building them using a character sheet from a relevant RPG.
- Attributes & Stats: Rolling stats forces me to accept flaws. A protagonist with maxed-out intelligence but abysmal charisma is inherently interesting. How do they convince a skeptical faction of an impending threat when they are deeply unlikable?
- Skills & Feats: Choosing specific, limited skills forces me to define exactly what my character can and cannot do, keeping them grounded and preventing the dreaded omnipotent protagonist.
- Setting Connections: Many systems require you to mechanically link your character to the world: recent editions of D&D, for example, let’s players (and writers) choose, directly or randomly, character bonds and flaws.
- Advantages & Disadvantages: GURPS, the Generic Universal Roleplaying System uses a “point-buy” system of character generation that credits or debits a character’s build by selecting traits that your protagonist may present. The level of detail in these tables is astounding.
A character sheet ensures the protagonist is mechanically balanced. They will have blind spots, and those blind spots tell me exactly where the plot needs to attack them.
3. "Soloing" to Test Outcomes and Narratives
Solo RPGs rely on “Oracles”: tables and mechanics that answer questions and push the narrative forward.
If you follow my own dark fantasy serial on the C9 Chronicles blog, you’ll see this method in action. The entire serial is driven by a solo role-playing campaign.
When I hit a dead end, I use a solo engine to ask a yes/no question about the world or the plot.
“What is the condition of the River Stir today?”
Rolling against the Oracle doesn’t just give me an answer, it provides nuance:
- Fair... (River has more bends than you’d like)
- Good... (Well-known waters, clearly marked)
- Hampered... (River lock, nosy patrol boat, or traffic)
- Hazard... (Wreckers, pirates, or beasts attack)
- Impassable... (Blocked by fallen trees for 1d10 hours)
This “soloing” technique simulates the chaotic, uncontrollable nature of reality. It prevents my stories from feeling overly engineered and forces my characters to adapt to sudden, unscripted changes.
4. Setting the Stage: Stealing from the Sourcebooks
RPG sourcebooks are masterclasses in worldbuilding. They don’t just describe settings; they provide the rules for how those settings operate. When I am struggling to resolve specific worldbuilding blocks, I match a game system to the exact timeline and tone of my writing.
| Fiction Era / Genre | Suggested RPG Inspiration | How it Cures Writer’s Block |
|---|---|---|
| Alt-History & Historical Fantasy | Call of Cthulhu, Pendragon, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay | Provides mechanics for sanity, legacy, and, in the case of Warhammer, perfectly captures the dark, grim realities and brutal narrative friction of a harsh historical world. |
| The Present & Urban Fantasy | Vampire: The Masquerade, City of Mist, Dresden Files RPG | Teaches you how to build hidden societies, manage the explosive tension of street magic, and balance the extraordinary with the mundane world. |
| Near Future & Cyberpunk | Cyberpunk RED, Shadowrun | Offers hard mechanics for cybernetics, hacking networks, corporate espionage, and the economy of a gig-based dystopian underworld. (Shadowrun also provides a masterclass on seamlessly injecting magic and other fantasy tropes directly into a gritty cyberpunk milieu.) |
| Far Future & Hard Sci-Fi | Traveller, Starfinder | Features incredible tables for generating star systems, alien economies, ship combat, and the brutal logistics of interstellar travel. |
If I can’t figure out how a specific element of my world functions—whether it’s the cost of casting a street spell or the realities of a grimdark medieval economy—I look at how an RPG handles it. The game designers have already done the heavy lifting of establishing the logic.
Take the Next Turn
Writer’s block is just a symptom of stagnant energy. RPG mechanics inject chaos, prompt physical action, and force you to respond to outcomes you didn’t plan for. The next time you find yourself staring blankly at your manuscript, step away from the word processor. Grab a character sheet, roll some plastic, and let the game tell you what happens next.
