Let's be honest, we all have a handful of shows that really just ignite our imaginations and set our creativity on fire. This is a list of shows that have influenced my writing style and ultimately my GM style at the table.
Yes, I do realize that they are mostly kids shows but kids shows have a unique way of stripping away the fluff that can get added to shows for prolonged entertainment and each of these shows are powerful tools for improving our world view as well.
When I am shaping my next campaign, short story, or even just need to dive into a creative world these are my go to shows!
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts
“The Great Mutant Outbreak of 2017 caused creatures to grow to an incredible size and develop incredible intelligence, forcing humans to scatter for underground. After a giant mutant attack dumps her on the surface far away from her Terrarium home, Kipo gets a crash course on apocalyptic survival. She soon bands together with other surface dwellers--both human and mutant--on her journey to locate home, her father and the missing people of her underground city.”
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts is mine and my wife’s favorite kids show in the last few years. It is a powerful combination of progressive ideas combo’d with quick storytelling that instantly hooks you. From the moment you hit play, you are met with a diverse cast of supporting characters that are as rounded and inspiring as the show's namesake.
The Netflix original, produced by Dreamworks, aired right before the pandemic hit and we as a family were looking for things we could all enjoy together. I generally look for original settings and some “hit you in the guts” character development, my wife likes progressive takes on common themes in shows like the interparty romances, and my 5-year old daughter likes big monsters and kids that kick butt. Kipo delivered on all of this and more.
Creator Radford Sechrist moves the show along at an amazing pace filled with a kickass soundtrack, anthropomorphic creatures with unique group identities, and a colorful post-apocalyptic world for the characters to explore. The show is a wild ride of axe-wielding Timbercats and rat-made theme parks that in turn help Kipo show the world that humans and mutes (mutants) can get along and even learn from each other. That people of different circumstances, world views, and experiences can reach a middle ground and work together. Novel concept, I know.
As a storyteller, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts is a perfect example of how to add piles of lore to your world while giving succinct quests that allow each character their moments to shine. I genuinely think that is my favorite part of the whole show, each primary supporting character is super rich and rounded to a point that any of them could be the main character of a show and bring the same level of entertainment.
As for the Worldbuilder, this goes to show that you can take basic concepts like the 80’s workout fiend and mold that concept into an entire people to fill your world (Yea, workout love and neon clad Raccoons take this one). You don’t always have to reinvent the wheel and create species, races, and classes from the ground up. Sometimes a simple identifier is enough for players to wrap their brains around and move out of the world navigation and into enjoying and experiencing the world you created.
Over the Garden Wall
An animated miniseries focusing on brothers Wirt and Greg, who are lost in a strange forest called the Unknown. Teaming up with a wise old Woodsman and a bluebird named Beatrice, the brothers travel across the land searching for home.
Okay, so being 100% real with you all. This one aired in 2014 and I didn’t get around to it until 2020, but I would not have appreciated it as much 6 years ago as I did this first go round. Created by Patrick McHale, Over the Garden Wall was a miniseries that ran for a week on Cartoon Network. Oh, and you will recognize a POWERHOUSE cast as Elijah Wood, Collin Dean, Melanie Lanskey, and Christopher Lloyd that bring this fantastic show to life before your eyes.
The show starts you off in a unique setting that feels very familiar in so many ways that you experience a bit of cognitive dissonance as the show progresses and gets weirder still. The writing is the perfect balance of whimsical and borderline eerie as each segment moves the show along, but don’t blink. Each line foreshadows events to come, and scenes lay the foundations for the big reveal at the end.
I have watched the show a half dozen times now and each time I go back and see something I didn’t. I even went as far as turning on subtitles so that I could read between the lines on the dialogue.
This show really drove home the fact that animation is at a level now that it eclipses live action in its ability to evoke an emotional response. These were 11-minute episodes people. 11. I felt like in those 11 minutes I had changed as an observer. Each time going through a mini metamorphosis onset by simple dialogue, great animation sequences, and layers of symbolism.
The show is a perfect example of how to set up a bread crumb trail for the audience or players to follow without giving away the big reveal at the end. As world builders we want to really hone in on the use of references to real world mythos and references. Here is a great dive into this show and the many levels of allusion that it utilizes to drive home that eerie familiar sensation I mentioned before.
The Owl House
Self-assured teenager Luz stumbles upon a portal to a magical realm where she befriends a rebellious witch, Eda, and a tiny warrior, King; despite not having magical abilities, Luz pursues her dream of becoming a witch by serving as Eda's apprentice.
This is another pre-pandemic find that I happened on on social media actually. It was a clip from one of the first episodes and I knew I had to check it out immediately. It felt like the perfect balance of childhood whimsy, fantasy, and Lovecraftian themed horror and that is what it delivered.
From the start we are introduced to our character, Luz, who is in love with the fantasy. The magic of books. The magic of personal expression. But her mother and other authority figures drill home that her differences and crazy antics are anything other than their perception of normal. She created creatures out of the supplies around her. She borrowed from the fantasies she read to fuel her imagination. She desired friends who understood her desire to make sense of the world through magic. Sound familiar? Call your DM/GM and let them know you appreciate them after reading that!
Annnnd then Luz finds her self whisked away in a magical portal to the Boiling Isles, a series of islands nestled in the ribs of a long dead titan.
From there she becomes the apprentice to a con-artist and powerhouse of a witch, Eda who lives her life one step at a time, doing and saying whatever comes to mind with little filter. Over the course of the current season we watch as breath is given to this wonderful body of work. Dana Terrace and team create a world that slowly shows itself and the secrets it is hiding as Luz comes to surround herself with the outcasts, the bullies, and make them her friends. She also shows us that our quirks and our “short comings” can often be our greatest strengths in our personal trials.
Disney broke a lot of their own rules with this and gave us not only this amazing world to view but a same sex love interest that is going to be explored over the course of the season and undoubtedly the rest of the show.
Off to watch something else now!
These are just a few of the shows and media that I dive into when looking for inspiration for some writing or even just an NPC or two to fill my own worlds and game. Other shows I like to come back around to are Avatar the Last Airbender \\ Avatar Legend of Korra, Trollhunters, and Hilda. These all fall within this niche of YA/Kids television that I like to go to.
What are some of the shows you like to dive into when looking for inspiration?
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