The Writer’s Playground Series – The What-If Machine

The What-If Machine

• Objective: To generate unique story concepts by randomly combining core elements.
• How to Play:
  1. Create three hats or bowls.
  2. In the first hat, everyone adds slips of paper with a character archetype (“a retired astronaut,” “a skeptical ghost hunter,” “a chef who can’t taste”).
  3. In the second, add a situation (“inherits a haunted bookstore,” “must win a reality TV competition,” “wakes up with a strange new ability”).
  4. In the third, add a setting (“a deep-sea research station,” “a magical traveling circus,” “post-cyberpunk Miami”).
  5. To create a new prompt, simply draw one slip from each of the three hats. The resulting combination (“A retired astronaut must win a reality TV competition on a deep-sea research station”) is almost guaranteed to be original.
• Best for: Overcoming “I have no ideas,” creating high-concept story prompts, and sparking creativity.

Below are some examples of the Who, What, and Where to get you started:

Character Archetypes (The “Who”)

• A jaded, seen-it-all detective
• A disgraced royal knight seeking redemption
• An overly optimistic inventor whose creations always backfire
• A world-weary ghost who has seen it all
• A con artist with a heart of gold
• The last surviving member of an ancient, magical order
• A celebrity chef who has lost their sense of taste
• A librarian who can read the history of any object they touch
• A retired astronaut haunted by what they saw in deep space
• An AI that has just become self-aware
• A reformed supervillain trying to live a normal life
• A skeptical paranormal investigator
• A child who can speak to animals
• A master thief who only steals worthless, sentimental objects
• An immortal being who is tired of living
• A down-on-their-luck musician who can hear people’s “soul music”
• A ruthless corporate CEO on a spiritual retreat
• A humble farmer who is secretly a master swordsman
• A time traveler stuck in the wrong era
• The overworked manager of a supernatural hotel
• A cartographer who maps imaginary places
• A grizzled alligator wrestler from the Florida swamps
• A deep-sea biologist
• A bureaucrat from the Department of Fates and Prophecies
• A washed-up stage magician

Situations (The “What Happens”)

• Inherits a haunted bookstore
• Must win a high-stakes, deadly reality TV competition
• Wakes up with a strange and uncontrollable new ability
• Discovers a map to a lost, mythical city
• Receives a cryptic message from their future self
• Must deliver a mysterious, ticking package
• Is framed for a crime they didn’t commit
• Becomes the sole guardian of a magical creature
• Accidentally starts a world-ending prophecy
• Must plan the perfect, impossible heist
• Finds a lost dog that is much more than it seems
• Has to survive 24 hours in a city-wide manhunt
• Must broker a peace treaty between two warring factions
• Discovers their entire life has been a lie
• Is chosen by an ancient artifact to go on a quest
• Uncovers a vast conspiracy that goes to the very top
• Must reverse a curse that is slowly turning them to stone
• Falls in love with their sworn enemy
• Becomes the prime suspect in their own murder investigation
• Must train a hopeless rookie for a vital mission
• Their shadow comes to life and starts causing chaos
• Loses their most cherished memory
• Must survive a category 5 hurricane
• Stumbles upon a secret, ancient society
• Is declared the ruler of a tiny, bizarre nation

Settings (The “Where”)

• On a generation ship traveling to a new star system
• In a magical, traveling circus
• At a deep-sea research station at the bottom of the Mariana Trench
• In post-cyberpunk Miami
• Inside a grand, sentient library with shifting corridors
• At a hotel that caters exclusively to gods and monsters
• In a city built on the back of a colossal, sleeping creature
• During a permanent, planet-wide ice age
• In a high-tech, inescapable prison
• Aboard a pirate ship on a sea of acid on an alien planet
• In the last human city after a zombie apocalypse
• At a magical university hidden from the modern world
• Inside a massive, shared virtual reality simulation
• In a Victorian London powered by steam and clockwork
• On an abandoned, haunted space station
• In a subterranean dwarven city carved from gemstones
• At a rowdy, neutral-ground spaceport bar
• Deep within the Florida Everglades
• On a floating island in the sky
• Within a microscopic world on a speck of dust
• At the glittering, treacherous court of the Fae
• In a small town where magic is real but strictly illegal
• On an archaeological dig on a ruined alien world
• At a mysterious, isolated Antarctic research base
• Inside a colossal, world-spanning tree