50 Fantasy Writing Prompts for Writers, Roleplayers, and Worldbuilders

Quick Summary

This guide features 50 original fantasy writing prompts across quests, creatures, politics, dark themes, and romance. Each prompt is built for writers and roleplayers alike. Learn how to turn any idea into a full story or scene using DreamGen’s Scenario Wizard, Role Play Mode, and worldbuilding tools. Visit the DreamGen blog for more reviews, guides, and tutorials.

Need a Spark for Your Next Great Fantasy Story?

 Blank pages are intimidating, especially when you’re trying to conjure an entire kingdom, creature, or curse from scratch. Maybe you’ve got ideas in your head, but turning them into something real is where most people get stuck.

That’s where fantasy writing prompts save the day.

These short, open-ended ideas are designed to ignite creativity. A good prompt doesn’t box you in or lay out a rigid plot. Instead, it gives you just enough to launch a new adventure, like “a dragon lives in your basement” or “a lost kingdom rises every hundred years.” Whether it’s a sentence, a question, or a strange little scene, the right prompt can spark an epic story, a compelling character arc, or a rich roleplay session.

In this DreamGen guide, we’ve put together 50 original fantasy writing prompts to help writers, worldbuilders, and roleplayers get started. Prefer a different genre? Check out our 50 Story Ideas for All Genres. Otherwise, scroll on and let the storytelling begin.

• Classic Quests
• Magical Creatures and Beasts
• Worldbuilding and Politics
• Dark Fantasy and Moral Dilemmas
• Fantasy Romance and Character-Driven Stories

Why Listen to Us?

We created DreamGen to give writers and roleplayers real creative control. That means we know what sparks a great story. These prompts are designed to work with our tools and give you the freedom to turn a single idea into something unforgettable.  If you’re tired of generic starters that go nowhere, you’re in the right place.

50 Creative Fantasy Writing Prompts to Get You Started

Classic Quests

The timeless fantasy backbone. These prompts draw from the familiar structure of journeys, trials, chosen ones, and ancient prophecies. They are perfect for epic adventures that grow with every chapter or message.

1. A lone courier is tasked with delivering a letter that could reignite a centuries-old war. The seal on the letter matches the mark of a long-forgotten empire.
2. A legendary sword appears embedded in stone and refuses all who wield magic. When a street thief touches it, the blade trembles and whispers a forgotten name.
3. Your party is hired to retrieve an artifact from a ruined city that no map shows and no one remembers. Yet deep underground, the artifact pulses like a heartbeat.
4. A dying dragon offers you one wish in exchange for finishing its quest. As it breathes its last, it brands your arm with the path ahead.
5. Every hundred years, a “Chosen One” is named. This time, six names are revealed, and none of them agree on who the prophecy truly favors.
6. A sentient map refuses to show its destination until you earn its trust. It opens only under moonlight and closes the moment you try to copy it.
7. A noble family hires you to escort their heir to a remote fortress. On the third night, the road vanishes behind you and stars shift out of place.
8. You wake up in a caravan heading toward a kingdom you've never heard of. When you speak, no one understands your language, including you.
9. A mysterious lighthouse stands deep in the forest and opens only for you. Inside is a sealed message written in your own handwriting.
10. An ancient prophecy predicts your victory in a distant war. It also says you’ll betray everyone who helped you win.

Magical Creatures and Beasts

Not all monsters are enemies. Not all allies are human. These prompts focus on sentient creatures, cursed animals, and ancient beings that shape the fate of your world.

11. A talking wolf arrives at your door and offers a blood pact. It will lead you through forbidden lands, but asks a question first that you must answer honestly.
12. A village sacrifices its memories each month to keep a sea serpent calm. One morning, the villagers wake up knowing nothing, not even the reason they are afraid.
13. Deep in the mountains, a phoenix is reborn without fire. It wanders the land, seeking someone to restore its flame before its soul disappears forever.
14. A noble’s prized unicorn stops glowing overnight. You are hired to investigate what it lost, and learn the truth is buried in the noble’s own past.
15. You bond with a baby dragon that reflects your darkest thought. It grows stronger each time you lie, and weaker each time you speak the truth.
16. A blind oracle rides a giant beetle across the desert. She is searching for someone who has already died, and believes you are carrying their spirit.
17. The spirit of the forest offers you protection from all harm. In return, it will hunt you for one day every year until the end of your life.
18. A scholar captures a basilisk to train as a royal guard beast. But when the basilisk begins dreaming, its visions reshape the world around it.
19. You inherit a magical falcon that only attacks those hiding secrets. Its latest target is someone you trust and you are not sure it is wrong.
20. A thunderbird begins circling your hometown. Since its arrival, the weather has mirrored your moods with terrifying accuracy.

Worldbuilding and Politics

Empires fall, guilds clash, and kingdoms hide secrets buried in ancient treaties. These prompts challenge your characters to survive and scheme inside systems much larger than themselves.

21. A newly crowned ruler bans all written magic across the kingdom. The oldest guild vanishes without a trace, leaving behind a single spell scrawled into the palace walls.
22. Three noble houses control the weather. When one refuses to summon rain, crops begin to die, and political tensions crack beneath years of false peace.
23. You are appointed royal advisor after six of your predecessors die mysteriously. The king insists on your loyalty, and the walls seem to listen when you speak.
24. The capital city is built on the back of a sleeping titan. When tremors begin beneath the palace, scholars argue whether it’s waking or dying.
25. A forgotten language resurfaces in political speeches. Only a few understand it, and they realise the true message hidden beneath the scripted praise.
26. A bard’s protest song begins spreading across the continent. Each verse turns citizens into rebels, and now a bounty has been placed on anyone who sings it.
27. You are sent to negotiate peace between two warring kingdoms. One speaks through dreams, and the other executes anyone who talks in metaphors.
28. In this empire, only citizens may wield magic. An outsider arrives with unmatched power and no papers, and the law begins to crack under public pressure.
29. A magical census reveals an immortal living in the poorest district. You are assigned to find them, but they already know who you are.
30. Every ten years, the king must duel a commoner chosen by lottery. This year, your name is drawn, and the sword you are given has already killed a king.

Dark Fantasy and Moral Dilemmas

These are not hero stories. These prompts explore cursed magic, impossible choices, and the kind of power that always demands something in return.

31. You are cursed to absorb the memories of everyone you kill. One memory refuses to fade and it starts whispering to you at night.
32. A city survives by sacrificing its shadow to an unknown force each month. This month, the shadow does not return, and people begin forgetting their names.
33. You can stop a deadly plague by taking the disease into your own body. It will never kill you, but you will feel every symptom forever.
34. Your sibling returns from the dead with perfect memories and kindness in their voice. Everyone welcomes them back, except you, the only one who sees their reflection flicker.
35. A spell allows you to hear the last thoughts of any dying creature. Now, you begin hearing them hours before death arrives.
36. A witch offers to heal your shattered body. Each restored piece belongs to someone else, and they all start dreaming through you.
37. You are immune to all magic. But now the gods cannot hear you, and no spell can help if you fall.
38. An ancient relic grants you peace for one hour each day. The rest of the time, it forces you to witness every death on the continent in real time.
39. A mirror reveals your true self and begins offering advice. The more you listen, the more you forget who you were before.
40. The cost of every spell you cast is forgetting someone you love. You have already forgotten three names and one of them still lives with you.

Fantasy Romance and Character-Driven Stories

Love, betrayal, rivalry, and fate collide. These prompts focus on relationships at the heart of the story, where emotions carry as much weight as magic.

41. Two rivals from ancient bloodlines are forced to marry to keep the kingdom from collapsing. They smile in public and plan each other’s downfall in private.
42. A mage falls in love with someone cursed to forget them each time they speak. Their only choice is silence, or losing the connection every day.
43. You and your sworn enemy are the only ones immune to a time-freezing spell. The rest of the world stands still as the two of you begin to talk.
44. A healer can save their dying partner but the spell will erase all their shared memories. The partner begs them not to cast it.
45. You are bound to your soulmate by a magical thread. One morning, you feel a second thread tighten around your heart.
46. An assassin is hired to kill a royal heir. The target already knows and still flirts with them every night.
47. A runaway prince hides among commoners and earns your trust. When his identity is revealed, you are the only one who doesn’t kneel.
48. A love potion works too well. The target now believes the two of you have been married for years and wants to return to a past that never existed.
49. Two gods fall in love through the dreams of their mortal avatars. When the avatars die, the gods face each other for the first time.
50. Your soulmate dies in every timeline. This time, you decide to fight fate itself, even if it costs you your own name.

How Fantasy Prompts Can Help Your Writing

With the right fantasy writing prompts, you can effectively: 

• Break through writer’s block: Prompts give you a clear starting point, making it easier to stop overthinking and start writing.
• Explore new subgenres: Try out styles like grimdark, portal fantasy, or romantic fantasy without needing to commit to a full story.
• Test character dynamics: Place your characters in unusual or intense situations to see how their personalities and relationships develop.
• Build scenarios faster: Skip the heavy setup. Prompts often drop you straight into a scene so you can focus on storytelling.
• Practice story flow: Prompts help you work on pacing and structure in short bursts, without the pressure of outlining everything.

Now that you know how prompts can boost your writing, we hope that you gain some inspiration from our great examples to get your creativity going!

How DreamGen Brings These Prompts to Life

Fantasy prompts are just the starting point. DreamGen gives you the tools to build entire worlds from a single idea: 

• Drop any prompt into the Scenario Wizard and DreamGen instantly generates characters, a plot, and a setting to match. 
• Use Story Mode to turn the idea into a full narrative, or switch to Role Play Mode to act it out with multiple characters. 
• With the Scenario Codex, you can define the lore, magic rules, and tone—so your world stays consistent from start to finish.
• Need help mid-session? The Story/Role Play Assistant suggests plot twists, character arcs, or scene rewrites. 

• You can also steer the story using inline instructions and adjust the style to control pacing and length.

Whether you’re writing solo or roleplaying with friends, DreamGen turns a single line into something unforgettable. 

DreamGen Is Built for Stories Like These

Fantasy writing prompts are more than ideas. They're the first step in building a world, shaping a character, or starting a story worth finishing. But prompts only go so far without the right tools.

Whether you’re building an epic quest, a tragic romance, or a morally grey empire, DreamGen helps you shape it your way. Every prompt in this article can become a full narrative or interactive session with just a few clicks.

Try DreamGen today and turn your next prompt into something unforgettable.