One issue I've come across repeatedly when working on Scream of the Stickster: Volume II is that to fit the theme, I've often wanted to come up with a list of items or words that would apply. On more than one occasion I searched for possible art supplies that would make good weapons in the game.

After recently adding a new mode to the game I realized it'd be fairly awesome if I could implement even a rudimentary AI for NPCs, allowing people to play the game single-player or even while waiting for friends to show up. This could also provide balance to teams. The AI characters, I thought, should have first and last names, and the last names should fit this theme. As I started writing the list of names, I wanted to find a list of words related to handwriting.

Google came up dry, but then I decided to search not for words related to handwriting, but any site that could help me find related words. That search led me to the OneLook reverse dictionary. Like its name implies, this will help you find a word if you know the definition, and it will also help you find conceptually related words.

If you're looking to expand a game or document it in a way that's thematically consistent, a reverse dictionary is the tool for you. It is far better than a thesaurus because it won't merely find synonyms or antonyms, but words that go with the same concept.