Sci-Fi Fridays

For Sci-Fi Fridays, I plan on posting science fiction prose or speculative musings. I’ve decided on a four-week cycle:

• One-Roll Prose Prompt
• Speculative Musings
• Recent Science News Prompt
• Reader-inspired Prose Prompt

For this week, I’ve created a One-Roll Sci-Fi Prompt generator, inspired by Kevin Crawford’s games.

A one-roll generator is a common Table-Top RPG tool to help GMs (Game Masters) build their games. They’re very simple to use. A GM rolls the dice, and the results generate materials. And you don’t even need a set of physical dice.

A generator usually has six or fewer tables on one page, where each table corresponds to one type of die. So, the GM rolls all the types of dice the tables ask for, and then matches the results to use as inspiration for adventures, NPCs, planetary cultures, you name it. The point isn’t to strictly adhere to the results, but to mold the results to the GM’s needs.

So I thought, “Hey, I could create a one-roll generator for my science fiction prompts.”

Here are the results for tomorrow’s Sci-Fi Friday Prose post:

• Character age: Beyond normal limits
• Theme: Dark
• Conflict: Survival
• Motivation: Security – body/health
• Setting: City
• Subgenre: Simulations

The ideas are already turning about. I’m thinking someone kidnapped and trapped in a simulation and having biological weapons tested on them.

If there’s any interest in the One-Roll Sci-Fi Prompt generator, I’ll work up a post on how to design one, open to all types of writing.

-Chris Airiau