When you’re facing a locked door — to a room, ideas, life, whatever — all you need is a key! Check out this post for lots of narrative ideas for “keys”.
Keys are clever little devices like final pieces in puzzling contraptions. Some are mundane hunks of metal, others magical or technologically advanced. A key can be the solution to a character’s problem or a narrative solution when you as a writer need to create a problem.
Check out some of the writing prompts below and take a browse through the various menus that follow for tons of ideas for “keys” in your narrative writing or in your roleplaying games.
Writing Prompts for Keys
- While scanning the beach, your metal detector goes bananas. You get on your hands and knees and dig until you find a bottle that contains a note and a key. Where will this take you?
- A neighbour leaves you a key for emergencies. When they sell the house, strange new folks move in. You wonder if the old key will work.
- You are a member of a clan who has guarded a secret locked in a box for centuries. One day you come of age and are given the key to the box. Can you resist temptation? Can you prevent others from taking the key?
- Your grandmother leaves you a gift as a last gesture before she passes. It’s a key with a strange inscription. She used to talk about a special place but you never really paid attention. Now it seems maybe that was important. What do you do?
- You open a locked box with a key and find something strange. What is it and why do you lock it up again so quickly?
- You lose your car keys and you’re late for a meeting. A stranger approaches and they have your keys. They dangle them in front of you… but ask if you’d be kind enough to give them a ride. Doesn’t this sound like a good idea?
- You find a key on the floor of your office building that looks like it belongs to a locker in the gym. You pop it in your pocket and forget about it. Working late, you find it in your pocket. No ones around. Do you go check it out?
- At a rummage sale, you find a box with strange objects in it. You decide to take it to someone who knows a lot about history. They tell you that some of the objects (little dolls, bones, wooden blocks) are special keys used by an ancient order. How are they used and what do they do?
- You find the master key to your school. No one knows you have it. What will you do with it?
- Your keycard at work fails to scan when you arrive in the morning. You try it again, but it just buzzes red at you. Then, security approaches and asks you to accompany them to your bosses office. What’s the news going to be?
- A lover leaves you a key for their place. Are you ready for that commitment? You thought maybe you were, but now that you hold the key in your hand, how do you feel? What’s next?
- A key to open the clasp on a bound book comes with some strange instructions. The words you utter as you turn the key will call forth strong magic. Do you dare test the spells that come with this key?
- You secretly joined the resistance to fight back against tyranny from the inside. You know the inner workings of the corrupt government. But now at this turning point, in the heat of the moment, you can’t remember the digits for the passcode of the key that you stole. Desperately you work your fingers over the keypad hoping all will go well.
- An old key is found… and it fits that old wooden panel in the cellar of that colonial era house; I wonder what’s hiding in there??
- As a dying wish, an elder gives you a special key with the only instructions given, “Keep it safe”… safe from what? from whom? and why?
- A key that your character enjoys may come with a curse… attached to it is a devious poltergeist!
- A crime took place, and because of police budget cuts, it is likely to get minimal investigation… so, you took it upon yourself as a detective to pocket a clue (a key) and investigate on your own time and own dime.
- An organized crime boss is looking for a special key, and guess who has it? That’s right… you do.
- A fortune teller at a carnival dies while you’re in their tent, but not before saying, “You’re the one!” and handing you a key.
- You lost your key and planned to get your house locks changed. But life got busy and you let it slide. Well, a burglar has found the key and now they’re in your house. Oops. Procrastination hurts.
Types of Keys
- skeleton key,
- master key, control key, locksmith key,
- change key, day key,
- car key, house key, shed key,
- locket, amulet, puzzle piece, keystone, fitted piece,
- magical key, rune key, crystal key, moon key, bone key,
- padlock key,
- dimple key,
- vault key,
- tube key, tubular key, cylinder key, radial, barrel key, ace,
- code, symbol, combination,
- retinal scan, fingerprint, biometrics,
- alloy key, half-cylinder,
- crest key, logo key,
- paracentric key,
- blank,
- CAT key, heavy machinery key,
- pin tumbler key, lever tumbler key,
- ring key, voided key,
- valet key, restricted key,
- handcuff key,
- sidewinder key, laser cut key, internal cut key,
- cruciform key,
- transponder key, chip key, coded key,
- symbolic key, “key to the city,” “key to my heart,”
- bump key, 999 key, lock pick, slim jim, rapping key,
- patterned key, API key,
- antique key, vintage key,
- magnetic key, electric key, electronic key, energy key,
- key card, magnetic key, barcode key, holecard key, microchip key,
- proximity key, smart key, RFID key, electronic entry key, phone key, near-field key, biometric key,
- locker key, luggage key, briefcase key, cabinet key,
- keys could be made of lots of different materials: metal, iron, steel, aluminum, brass, bronze, bone, horn, tooth, wood, bark, stone, obsidian, crystal, glass, lacquer, plastic, ice, magical energy,
Parts of Keys
- cuts, the cut, groove, blade, bittings, teeth, notches, profile, edge,
- shoulder, bow,
- barrel, spine, pin, tip,
- coded immobilizer,
- burrs, nicks, cracks, breaks,
- “do not duplicate” stamp,
- label, coding, numbering,
- chain, fob, ring,
Stuff that goes with a key
- lock (duh?)
- bicycle lock, padlock,
- vault, safe, strong box,
- locker, storage locker,
- shipping container, sea-can, crating,
- chain, cord, fastener, clasp, bolt,
- gate, shed, trap door,
- door, secret door,
- vending machine,
- key chain, key band, key case,
- lanyard, cord, chain, necklace,
- locket, clasp,
- locker, storage locker, gym locker, airport locker, bus station cubby,
- cabinet, cupboard, sideboard, china cabinet, drawer, chest of drawers, jewelry box,
- piano, guitar case, violin case,
- elevator access panels, system control rooms,
- key cutting machine, grinder,
- handcuffs, restraints, chains,
- luggage, brief case, case, satchel, saddlebag,
- vehicles,
- safe deposit box, secret compartments,
- cage, jail, cell,
- security systems, control panels, control systems,
- weapons, trigger lock, gun safe,
Characters related to Keys
- lock smith, key cutter,
- a dog (or other pet) with key on collar,
- security guard, police officer,
- military personnel, soldier, officer, staff sergeant, HQ S-4, sentry,
- zookeepers,
- facility managers, foreman, supervisor,
- temple oblate, chaplain, minister, nun, abbot, abbess, monk, scriptorium caretaker,
- custodians, caretakers, janitor, cleaner,
- landlord, motel operator, hotel maid,
- casino pit boss,
- handyman, laborer, hired help, gardener, groundskeeper,
- high level scientists, researchers, level 12 specialists,
- secret service, CIA, FBI, CSIS, spies, individuals with special clearance
- office manager, supervisor,
- equipment manager,
- valet, servant, driver, porter, butler,
- dead body, skeleton warrior,
- courtesan,
- restaurant night manager,
- guardian, protector,
- librarian, archivist, curator,
- wizard, druid (wooden key), dwarf master, elf ranger, gnome inventor, humanoid scout,
- mail carrier, city employee, bylaw officer,
- teen kid with house key on a lanyard,
- demon, hill giant, ork king, angel, spirit, dragon (he’s sleeping on a Dwarvish key in his mound)
- gate keeper, toll operator,
- jailor, warden, guard,
Environments that use keys
- treasury, vault, bank, safes
- storage facility,
- armouries, weapons storage,
- office, business, shop,
- house, home, apartment, abode, domicile,
- police stations, evidence rooms,
- hospitals, asylums,
- cemetery, mausoleum, catacomb,
- restricted access areas, transitional access points,
- ventilation shafts,
- zoo, cage, cell, gated areas,
- certain sectors, areas, wards, blocks, ghettoized neighborhoods,
- wealthy communities,
- on caterers vehicles,
- fortification, castle, dungeon, prison,
- elevator,
- safe room, panic room, emergency shelter (once sealed),
- data centers, file storage,
- mailboxes, utility room, utility facility,
- shelter, housing,
- places to keep people out (or in)
- research facilities, centers for disease control, quarantine areas,
- space ships, teleporter rooms, engine rooms, weapons decks,
Places to Hide (or find) Keys
- under a door mat or rug, under a rock, planter,
- on top of a wheel, gatepost, window sill,
- in the crook of a tree, wood pile,
- in a cup, in a shed (or in a cup in a shed!)
- swallow it, make someone else swallow it,
- imbed it in the skin, under the scalp,
- put it on a young tree so the bark grows around it… only if you won’t need it for 60 years!
- in the queen piece of a chess set, or a white pawn, or the board under a black square (based on some code, where if the other spaces are tampered with it will trigger a disastrous trap!)
- inside a desktop computer housing,
- shaped into the bottom of a pottery mug,
- statue, statuette,
- transported to a magical or other dimensional space,
- buried on a desert planet, lost on a forest moon,
Additional Notes on Keys
- Some locks will require simultaneous turning of keys (two or three-man systems) in order to protect us all from the actions of a single madman! Who in your story could such a system be designed to thwart?
- Keys can be many shapes and forms… think outside the box (or lock) for your narrative. Maybe your character makes a key out of origami, or hair, or fingernails, or dried up peas. Yum!
- Nothing beats a good old creepy skeleton key; what is the creepy thing it unlocks? Use the characteristics and feel of your key to foreshadow what’s to come.