I usually turn to fiction because I've stolen more ideas from Larry Niven's Warlock's Wheel fantasies than anything else, including the stories written by other authors in his universe of the Warlock's Wheel.

I admit that I also bought all of the T.H. Lain D&D Fantasy novels for ideas because they are like old pulp fiction for D&D. Easy stuff that you can read and be entertained by without having to be "Important Literature".

Oh, and some Peter S. Beagle & David Drake find their way in too, along with Jerry Pournelle's Janissaries books.

Well, the books that come down off the shelf most often...

• World Mythology
  
• The Timetables of History
  
• The Magician's Companion

Those three see the most circulation, but there are plenty of other sources to which I refer situationally.

!i!

Lately it's been the Beatrix Potter books... sitting in a box next to my bed.

History textbooks, Atlases, and Almanacs.

While I don't have one book that covers the games I've run in the past, I will say that the bargain bin at the local Barnes and Noble has been a gold mine of inspiration. I can always find something that I can mine for individual monsters, NPCs, encounters, entire plots, and fantastic locations.

Lately? Wikipedia.

RPGPundit

For any type of modern supernatural, investigation or supers game, I could always find my next adventure while waiting in line at the convenience store.  I speak of that ridiculous rag http://weeklyworldnews.com/

Now, the web site just doesn't do justice to the paper.  One paper will give you at least three or four potential ideas.  As a plus, you also have a groovy handout when you have the real thing in your hand.

For the past couple of years, the books I keep going back to, for ideas, concepts, characters etc are the books of Peter Hopkirk:

• Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities
  
  
• Treasures of Chinese Central Asia
  
  
• Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Secret Exploration of Tibet
  
  
• Setting the East Ablaze: Lenin's Dream of an Empire in Asia
  
  
• The Great Game: the Struggle for Empire in Central Asia
  
  
• On Secret Service East of Constantinople: The Great Game and the Great War
  
  
• Quest for Kim: In Search of Kipling’s Great Game
  

Regards,
David R

I've got an Atlas of World History that gets referenced fairly often, but really these days it's about 90% Google and Wikipedia for reference and research. I do have a decent-sized collection of books on mythology and folklore and history and such but even with those I'm more likely to just Google a subject than pull out one of those books to find more-or-less the same info. As far as drawing inspiration from fiction (and movies and tv), which I do a lot of, I tend to rely on my own (possibly faulty) memories rather than double-checking the source for accuracy. I'd rather base a character, encounter, or location off my hazy memories and impressions of something I read or saw a few months or years ago and use that as a springboard for my imagination than recreate it exactly. This not only makes me feel less like I'm ripping things off (the fine line between inspiration and theft...), it also makes it less likely that the players will immediately recognize the reference and be able to use that to their advantage (because when that happens I feel like I've failed as a GM).

The book "The world of Kong" Has been a big influence on my pulp, lost world games. As for say my modern/spy/spec ops games I draw inspiration from John le Carré, Frederick Forsyth, Don Pendleton (and others using his character Mack Bolan), Kenichi Sonoda (Gunsmith Cats), and Tom Clancy.

Quote from: David R;360130For the past couple of years, the books I keep going back to, for ideas, concepts, characters etc are the books of Peter Hopkirk:

• Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities
  
  
• Treasures of Chinese Central Asia
  
  
• Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Secret Exploration of Tibet
  
  
• Setting the East Ablaze: Lenin's Dream of an Empire in Asia
  
  
• The Great Game: the Struggle for Empire in Central Asia
  
  
• On Secret Service East of Constantinople: The Great Game and the Great War
  
  
• Quest for Kim: In Search of Kipling's Great Game
  

Regards,
David R

That list sounds really interesting to me. It makes me want to pick up a Martini-Henry and teach Johnny foreigner how things are done in this British Empire.

Quote from: Ronin;360171That list sounds really interesting to me. It makes me want to pick up a Martini-Henry and teach Johnny foreigner how things are done in this British Empire.

Always a good idea.

What I find useful about these books is that the ideas from them apply to a wide range of genres. You get interesting ideas about empire building, espionage, travel, assasination, treasure hunting, the way how tech changes warfare, fascinating personalites, history, exotic locations, strange cultures....hell, I always thought it would be cool to run a Fading Suns campaign based on these books.....or maybe IHW:StarCluster

Regards,
David R

Quote from: RPGPundit;360118Lately? Wikipedia.

RPGPundit

When was Wikipedia published into a hardcopy?

Quote from: PaladinCA;360176When was Wikipedia published into a hardcopy?

Last year.  I was an early subscriber.  They keep leaving huge piles of errata on my front porch every morning, though.

!i!

Quote from: Ian Absentia;360177Last year.  I was an early subscriber.  They keep leaving huge piles of errata on my front porch every morning, though.

!i!

I can only imagine.