Bradley Ramsey's Power up Prompts

Element 1: Setting

Your setting this week is The Atelier. This is a quaint workshop, filled with all manner of impressive inventions and odd machinery. It is a place that houses ideas both fantastical and grounded, each sitting beside one another on shelves that line the walls.

However, this is not simply a museum of industry. No, it primarily serves as a clock shop. The owner is an accomplished clockmaker and repairman. Even with all the amazing new inventions of this era, people still need to tell time, after all.

Element 2: Character(s)

Your character this week is The Clockmaker. This is someone who has become quite the recluse in their later life. Their Atelier is a monument to all of their accomplishments, but none of it will bring back what they lost.

For you see, their one and only love passed away some time ago, leaving them alone in the world. In their grief, they threw themselves into their work. While their skills have grown exponentially in the decades since they lost their love, the pain has yet to subside. And deep down, they know that no amount of technology will ever be able to heal them.

Element 3: Conflict

Your conflict this week is The Price of Progress. Should you choose to use this conflict, your character must come into possession of ancient blueprints that detail a brand new type of invention. Something that could change the world. The only problem? They are encoded in a way that cannot be easily broken.

In their desperate search for answers, your character discovers that the key to unlocking the blueprints lies in a possession left behind by the lover they lost. This can be anything: a locket, a ring, a photograph, etc, but in order to decode the blueprints, this priceless object must be destroyed.

Will they sacrifice their last connection to the one they lost for the sake of progress? That is for you to decide.

In the Beginning....

Setting: The First Moment

Whether it is a place beyond time, a forgotten archive, the instant before existence, the distant future where the truth has finally been uncovered, or something else entirely is yours to decide. Somewhere in your story lies the answer to one of existence's oldest questions: How did everything begin?

Character: The Witness

Perhaps they are a scientist chasing impossible evidence. Perhaps they are the last survivor who remembers what came before. They might be a deity, an ordinary person caught in extraordinary circumstances, an artificial intelligence, an explorer, or someone who was never meant to learn the truth.

Whatever form they take, they stand closer to the beginning than anyone else.

Conflict: The Cost of Knowing

The truth about creation is not merely interesting, it changes everything.

Perhaps revealing it would shatter civilizations, destroy faith, rewrite history, awaken something ancient, or force your character to sacrifice what they love most. Perhaps the truth is so beautiful it hurts, or so horrifying that it cannot be allowed to spread.

Your story should explore not only what the beginning was, but why discovering it matters.

Genre: Psychological Horror

Prompt written by Gary Mucklow.

Element 1: Setting

Your setting is The Listening Room.

Hidden inside a neglected sound archive, the Listening Room is where damaged and deteriorating recordings are examined. Its walls absorb almost every sound. Inside, even breathing seems intrusive.

The archive holds thousands of donated tapes, many poorly labelled and some with no recorded origin at all. Voices wait in boxes for someone to give them their attention again.

Element 2: Character

Your character is The Archivist.

They are skilled at identifying edits, distortions and gaps that an ordinary listener would miss. Years ago, before entering the profession, they were the principal witness in a criminal case. Their testimony helped secure a conviction.

They remember being certain at the time. They can no longer remember why.

Element 3: Conflict

Your conflict is The Missing Minute.

While processing a newly donated collection, the Archivist discovers an unlabelled recording connected to the old case. They recognise the place and the voices gradually, having begun their examination believing it was merely another damaged tape.

One minute is missing.

When they compare it with the official recording, they find the same precise absence, even though the two recordings came from different sources. As the damaged tape is restored, fragments of the missing minute begin to surface.

One of the voices belongs to the Archivist.

What it says does not agree with the testimony they gave, or with the life they remember living afterwards. They must decide how much of the recording they truly want to recover, knowing that the missing minute could overturn the case, expose a carefully buried lie, or reveal that their own memory was never entirely theirs.

Element 1: Setting

Your setting is The Mountaintop Kingdom. This is an entire civilization that has spent their entire history living atop the mountain they call home. The land below is shrouded in fog, and stories of what lives there keep people from venturing too far.

While the climate is cold and harsh this high up, the people have evolved to thrive in these conditions. Their homes, their clothes, their hunting, their entire way of life is designed to withstand and leverage the near-constant snow and the many blizzards they face.

Many have made comments about venturing below the fog to see if life could be easier down there, but such talk is forbidden by the kingdom’s leadership. Even suggesting it among friends is an easy way to get yourself killed.

Optional D’veen Variation

If you would like to set your story in my fictional fantasy and sci-fi universe of D’veen, the concept of the setting is similar, but instead you may choose to set your story in Winter’s Peak: a mountaintop kingdom nestled high in the Sunspire Mountains.

During the early epochs of the realm, this kingdom was home to the Valkyries. A race of all-female warriors who swore fealty to the Aluthian Titans and protected them at all costs. Unlike the initial setting here, Valkyries can leave the kingdom, but only when the Titans call upon them.

Element 2: Character

Your character this week is The Squire. This is someone who has hopes of being a true knight one day, but they are still very much in training. They can fight, they know the basics, but they are not ready for adventure or warfare.

They were raised from a young age to respect the laws of the realm. Both of their parents passed away peacefully of old age, but they each left them with the same message: stay the course, become a knight, protect this kingdom.

And so, our young Squire has become quite the believer in both the current leadership and in the rules of the place they call home. It will take something truly significant to shake their beliefs.

Optional D’veen Variation

Should you choose to set your story in D’veen, your squire will instead be a Valkyrie in training. The personalities are similar, and their belief in the cause is also resolute.

Element 3: Conflict

Your conflict is The Missing Crown. One day, the kingdom wakes up to find that their leadership is gone. They’ve vanished without a trace, leaving them without anyone to rule. There are no signs of foul play, nor a body to suggest murder. They’re simply…gone.

Chaos quickly takes hold as those who served the leadership scramble to find out what they should do next. They search the corners of the kingdom for clues, but nothing comes up. It quickly becomes clear that they will need to venture beyond its walls, and that everyone will need to help.

Should you choose to use this conflict, your character must not only leave the kingdom in search of its leader, but they must also discover a dark truth behind the disappearance. One that shakes the very pillars of all they have known.

Optional D’veen Variation

Should you choose to set your story in D’veen, your conflict will be similar, but instead of a ruler going missing, one of the Aluthian Titans has disappeared. Specifically, it is Skar. This is a Titan known for his love of adventure and for getting into trouble, so this isn’t the first time it’s happened.

However, it’s the first time he’s left without telling anyone. Not only that, but his disappearance follows rumors of a strange disease that has infected several others in the kingdom without warning. Something very similar to what D’veen denizens know as The Rot…