I just picked up a copy of my favorite author's collected short stories (Zelazny, Collected Stories, Volume 6) and it got me thinking about what literature inspired and informed my preferences in RPGs. So I thought I'd put the question to the rest of you as well. What books are your inspiration? I'm not necessarily asking for your favorite books, but the ones you read and think "I want my RPG to run like this..."
Here's mine, to kick things off
- Glen Cook - The Black Company books – I could probably just stop here, but I won't
- Tolkein – The Hobbit
- Andre Norton – Witch World, Moon of Three Rings, Uncharted Stars – for worldbuilding and ancient mysteries
- CJ Cherryh – Chanur books – for the well done aliens, and The Paladin – for the awesome
- Zelazny – Amber, Dilvish
I'm primarily into hard science fiction, so my games are heavily influenced by CJ Cherryh, Arthur C. Clarke, George Alec Effinger, Robert A. Heinlein, Larry Niven, H. Beam Piper, Jerry Pournelle, Aleister Reynolds, John Scalzi (only his Old Man's War stuff), and Allen Steele.
For science fantasy games there are a plethora of Star Wars authors but especially Timothy Zahn, Michael Stackpole, Alan D. Foster, Karen Traviss, Alexander Freed, and Kevin Anderson.
For fantasy, there is Robert E. Howard, Lloyd Alexander, and of course Tolkein.
(During my recent spate of research on Project Gutenburg, I found a lot of Robert E. Howard and H. Beam Piper stories up for free.)
EDIT: I should also add that the writings of Harlan Ellison are a huge influence on everything I create.
Mishihari, have you seen the 6 volume set of Zelazny's collected works? It's got everything but the novels.
Love Zelazny, especially "A Night in the Lonesome October" and "Lord of Light". Don't think any of his works directly inform by gaming, because I really don't have much interest in running games set around the premise of his books, but there is a ton of indirect influence in how I portray NPCs. He has that elusive writer quality of making highly flawed characters sympathetic.
Very much enjoy Terry Pratchett for the same reason, in writing that is otherwise a completely different style. Doesn't hurt that both of them obviously have a sense of humor.
For pulp, I enjoy Leiber and Vance the most, with Vance's "Lyonesse" at the top of the list. I'd run a game set there. I'm relatively late to the Conan party, but have enjoyed those stories more than I thought I would.
E. R. R. Eddison's Zimiamvian stories are a huge influence on my gaming. Along with some of Poul Anderson's fantasy, they've given me an appreciation of dark age and early medieval slants. I'm far more likely to ban plate armor than include gunpowder in my fantasy games. I'm not really a huge sci/fi fan, even having read widely if not deeply, but some of Anderson's sci/fi is strange in that it manages to be semi-hard tech mixed with early medieval sensibilities, which is strange enough to be enjoyable for a style not widely copied. When I do introduce tech into a fantasy game, I'm more likely to go with that angle than the "magic as science" or "weird science" angles.
I highly recommend the historical novelist Bernard Cornwell for fantasy lovers. His characters are complete badasses that would comfortably sit aside Conan. The Last Kingdom and Grail Quest series are the ones that translate well to frpg's. And I really loved the Agincourt and 1356 novels.
Quote from: jeff37923 on April 07, 2022, 05:40:57 AM
John Scalzi (only his Old Man's War stuff).
Really? I think Red Shirts lends itself quite well to most RPGs, and his Collapsing Empire trilogy isn't too bad either.
Quote from: Mishihari on April 07, 2022, 05:15:40 AM
- Glen Cook - The Black Company books – I could probably just stop here, but I won't
I have to say that I thought the first Black Company book sucked. The way it was written just wasn't at all enjoyable. However, I read it as the first part of a compiled "Chronicles" book, and the second and third stories get better.
For playing Shadowrun or some Cyberpunk games, I often suggest Ocean's 11, or Black Lagoon.
Just off the top of my head:
#1 for me is Fafhrd & Gray Mouser (and it's not even close!) There's so much D&D there it oozes out of the book binding.
After that:
Robert E. Howard's Conan
Thieve's World
Lyonesse
Dying Earth
Stainless Steel Rat
If my Appendix N can include films, I'd add:
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Star Wars
Quote from: HappyDaze on April 07, 2022, 09:29:53 AM
Quote from: Mishihari on April 07, 2022, 05:15:40 AM
- Glen Cook - The Black Company books – I could probably just stop here, but I won't
I have to say that I thought the first Black Company book sucked. The way it was written just wasn't at all enjoyable. However, I read it as the first part of a compiled "Chronicles" book, and the second and third stories get better.
The writing of the Black Company books improve as the series continues.
Quote from: Pat on April 07, 2022, 10:14:17 AM
Quote from: HappyDaze on April 07, 2022, 09:29:53 AM
Quote from: Mishihari on April 07, 2022, 05:15:40 AM
- Glen Cook - The Black Company books – I could probably just stop here, but I won't
I have to say that I thought the first Black Company book sucked. The way it was written just wasn't at all enjoyable. However, I read it as the first part of a compiled "Chronicles" book, and the second and third stories get better.
The writing of the Black Company books improve as the series continues.
Pat and I agree on something...?
As far as D & D goes, the biggest influence by far was Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser, followed by the Thieves' World books. Certain other books -- Brian Froud's "Faeries" and Alan Lee's "Castles" -- provided a certain amount of inspiration. European folklore and fairy tales also.
Robert E. Howard is a big influence, though with the exception of "Red Nails" not so much on D & D. The Conan and Kull stories were an influence on my Atlantean game (i.e., the Arcanum, the Lexicon, etc.). The old "Savage Sword of Conan" magazine has a wealth of stories and illustrations that provide game ideas for any fantasy game, though. Solomon Kane has a certain influence on Warhammer Fantasy RPG.
Quote from: I on April 07, 2022, 11:05:58 AM
The old "Savage Sword of Conan" magazine has a wealth of stories and illustrations that provide game ideas for any fantasy game.
Great mention. Savage Sword (and John Buscema) are a huge influence on my games.
The Sanctuary anthologies
REH Conan
The hobbit
The chapter from The Fellowship of the Ring "The Bridge of Khazad Dum"
Eisenhorn series
Ravenor series
The last two are not pure medieval fantasy in the classic sense, but the "party" consisting of specific specialists, the feudal background, the literal adventures they go on massing loot and knowledge (and not sure if it was intentional or not, but the literal growth in actual power of both title characters, as if they "leveled up").
Quote from: Zalman on April 07, 2022, 11:21:06 AM
Quote from: I on April 07, 2022, 11:05:58 AM
The old "Savage Sword of Conan" magazine has a wealth of stories and illustrations that provide game ideas for any fantasy game.
Great mention. Savage Sword (and John Buscema) are a huge influence on my games.
I agree, and they read like the Howard version of Conan very strongly (I think most of the ideas from the comic were either direct adaptions, or adventures that fill in space between those adventures).
Quote from: HappyDaze on April 07, 2022, 09:27:41 AM
Quote from: jeff37923 on April 07, 2022, 05:40:57 AM
John Scalzi (only his Old Man's War stuff).
Really? I think Red Shirts lends itself quite well to most RPGs, and his Collapsing Empire trilogy isn't too bad either.
Red Shirts made me ill because it seemed like a metaplot caricature. I couldn't even get through the first Collapsing Empire book because it seemed like he wasn't even trying to write, just going through the motions. The less said about his remake of Little Fuzzy, the better because he strained all of the charm and pathos out of H. Beam Piper's work and shat upon it.
Tolkien more than anyone else.
But also Poul Anderson (he's mostly remembered for SciFi but The Broken Sword is a great fantasy book, fairly close to actual myth)
Also Robert Howard' Conan and Kull.
Blood Red Angel by Adrian Cole
Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
Lords of Light /Creatures of Light & Dark Roger Zelazny
I like big central ideas and well developed backgrounds/settings that push those ideas no matter how weird such that they almost seem natural. I also like really formulaic packaged publisher friendly stuff like Saberhagen and Chalker did. I like the Pip & Flinx stuff Alan Dean Foster did and Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos stuff.
Robert E. Howard's Conan for adventures
Karl Edward Wagner's Kane for amazing overall background events (wars and such)
Keith Taylor's Bard series
Greetings!
I like Tolkien, of course. Besides The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, I have always been inspired by the stories in The Silmarillion. Truly epic, and inspiring on every level!
Howard's Conan series of books.
Karl Edward Wagner's Kane series of books.
David Gemmel's books, Drus The Legend and Waylander the Slayer being especially good. Everything he wrote was fantastic!
Jack Whyte's Camulod Chronicles series of books. Excellent. Very Dark Ages, historical medieval stuff, with just a bit of mystery and magic.
Bernhard Cornwell's books. The Vikings and all that. Excellent stuff.
Steven Brust's Taltos series of books. Good stuff. Lots of fighting, politics, and so on.
Harry Turtledove's Videssos series of books. Good historical flavour, good characters, politics, mixed with fantasy and some magic.
Kenneth C. Flint's Saga of the Sidhe, series.
Morgan LLywelyn Finn Mac Cool, The Lion of Ireland, and more. Medieval Celtic drama.
Barry Sadler; CASCA: The Eternal Mercenary series. Historical fiction about the endless adventures of the Roman Centurion Casca Longinus, living through the ages as a mercenary. Excellent history, politics, fighting, lots of additional characters, friends, as well as women.
Semper Fidelis,
SHARK
Quote from: Steven Mitchell on April 07, 2022, 07:58:50 AM
Mishihari, have you seen the 6 volume set of Zelazny's collected works? It's got everything but the novels.
Love Zelazny, especially "A Night in the Lonesome October" and "Lord of Light". Don't think any of his works directly inform by gaming, because I really don't have much interest in running games set around the premise of his books, but there is a ton of indirect influence in how I portray NPCs. He has that elusive writer quality of making highly flawed characters sympathetic.
Yes, actually. The book I just got was volume 6 in the collection. I'm starting there because I haven't read the Amber short stories and I have read most of the rest. This way I can see if the extra commentary is worth it to me to buy the entire series.
I really miss reading new work by Zelazny. I just read the first Amber short story and it was only a few pages but it felt like a cold drink of water after a parched week in the Sahara.
Quote from: jeff37923 on April 07, 2022, 05:40:57 AM
I'm primarily into hard science fiction, so my games are heavily influenced by CJ Cherryh, Arthur C. Clarke, George Alec Effinger, Robert A. Heinlein, Larry Niven, H. Beam Piper, Jerry Pournelle, Aleister Reynolds, John Scalzi (only his Old Man's War stuff), and Allen Steele.
For science fantasy games there are a plethora of Star Wars authors but especially Timothy Zahn, Michael Stackpole, Alan D. Foster, Karen Traviss, Alexander Freed, and Kevin Anderson.
I think it's really interesting that literature can inspire how we want our games to play even if it's in a totally different genre. From your list, I'm, also a fan of Niven, Pournelle, Zahn, Foster, and some Cherryh (I either love or hate her books, and it's about 50/50) I should check out some of the others. I've been looking for some new authors to read and having a great deal of difficulty with Sturgeon's law.
Quote from: Steven Mitchell on April 07, 2022, 07:58:50 AM
me of Poul Anderson's fantasy, they've given me an appreciation of dark age and early medieval slants. I'm far more likely to ban plate armor than include gunpowder in my fantasy games. I'm not really a huge sci/fi fan, even having read widely if not deeply, but some of Anderson's sci/fi is strange in that it manages to be semi-hard tech mixed with early medieval sensibilities, which is strange enough to be enjoyable for a style not widely copied. When I do introduce tech into a fantasy game, I'm more likely to go with that angle than the "magic as science" or "weird science" angles.
Any recommendations of Anderson's fantasy books? I've read Operation Chaos and Three Hearts and Three Lions, but that's about it. I thought he was primarily an SF author - I've read every Poleseotechnic League and Dominic Flandry book I could find.
Tolkien and Moorcock for me. Then HPL (and Poe), later REH. I love Lieber, Dunsany, and Andre Norton too. These are my favorites from the appendix N.
LeGuin is another favorite and, nowadays, I definitely feel CAS* should be in the appendix N (bot are on Moldvay's appendix BTW!)
*https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2017/03/mistery-of-month-why-cas-is-not-on.html
Recently, I have to say GRRM, despite him never finishing ASOIF.
Quote from: Mishihari on April 08, 2022, 04:22:22 PM
Yes, actually. The book I just got was volume 6 in the collection. I'm starting there because I haven't read the Amber short stories and I have read most of the rest. This way I can see if the extra commentary is worth it to me to buy the entire series.
I really miss reading new work by Zelazny. I just read the first Amber short story and it was only a few pages but it felt like a cold drink of water after a parched week in the Sahara.
You may not enjoy the 1st and 2nd volumes as much. I enjoyed them immensely because I'm interested in how his writing evolved. Some of the early stuff is not nearly as good, but I enjoyed it for what it was and for the historical, literary perspective of his style while it is still developing. That said, there are some hidden gems.
BTW, I finally got around to reading some Jane Lindskold which had been on my list for some time due to the Zelazny influence. There is only one Zelazny, but 2 books into the "Through Wolf's Eyes" series, I can see the connection.
Quote from: HappyDaze on April 07, 2022, 10:29:56 AM
Quote from: Pat on April 07, 2022, 10:14:17 AM
Quote from: HappyDaze on April 07, 2022, 09:29:53 AM
Quote from: Mishihari on April 07, 2022, 05:15:40 AM
- Glen Cook - The Black Company books – I could probably just stop here, but I won't
I have to say that I thought the first Black Company book sucked. The way it was written just wasn't at all enjoyable. However, I read it as the first part of a compiled "Chronicles" book, and the second and third stories get better.
The writing of the Black Company books improve as the series continues.
Pat and I agree on something...?
I'm battening down the hatches for the apocalypse now ...
On topic, while I agree that Cook has gotten better over time, the original Black Company is still my favorite. Part of that I'm sure is that it was my first exposure to the author's writing, so it was fresh, but I also like the episodic nature of the book, much like Lieber's work. There were a few things that bugged me, but on about my tenth read-through I realized that clever things were being done with the unreliable narrator technique and it all made sense.
Had never heard of CJ Cherryh before. Where to start?
Quote from: Mishihari on April 08, 2022, 04:35:16 PM
Quote from: Steven Mitchell on April 07, 2022, 07:58:50 AM
me of Poul Anderson's fantasy, they've given me an appreciation of dark age and early medieval slants. I'm far more likely to ban plate armor than include gunpowder in my fantasy games. I'm not really a huge sci/fi fan, even having read widely if not deeply, but some of Anderson's sci/fi is strange in that it manages to be semi-hard tech mixed with early medieval sensibilities, which is strange enough to be enjoyable for a style not widely copied. When I do introduce tech into a fantasy game, I'm more likely to go with that angle than the "magic as science" or "weird science" angles.
Any recommendations of Anderson's fantasy books? I've read Operation Chaos and Three Hearts and Three Lions, but that's about it. I thought he was primarily an SF author - I've read every Poleseotechnic League and Dominic Flandry book I could find.
The Broken Sword is the other obvious choice, but if you want something more difficult but less directly relevant to D&D, try
The Merman's Children. It's about representatives of the world of the fey dealing with the very alien mindset of the medieval Catholic church.
Quote from: Mishihari on April 08, 2022, 04:44:33 PM
Quote from: HappyDaze on April 07, 2022, 10:29:56 AM
Quote from: Pat on April 07, 2022, 10:14:17 AM
Quote from: HappyDaze on April 07, 2022, 09:29:53 AM
Quote from: Mishihari on April 07, 2022, 05:15:40 AM
- Glen Cook - The Black Company books – I could probably just stop here, but I won't
I have to say that I thought the first Black Company book sucked. The way it was written just wasn't at all enjoyable. However, I read it as the first part of a compiled "Chronicles" book, and the second and third stories get better.
The writing of the Black Company books improve as the series continues.
Pat and I agree on something...?
I'm battening down the hatches for the apocalypse now ...
On topic, while I agree that Cook has gotten better over time, the original Black Company is still my favorite. Part of that I'm sure is that it was my first exposure to the author's writing, so it was fresh, but I also like the episodic nature of the book, much like Lieber's work. There were a few things that bugged me, but on about my tenth read-through I realized that clever things were being done with the unreliable narrator technique and it all made sense.
Raven in particular.
Quote from: oggsmash on April 07, 2022, 11:52:26 AM
The Sanctuary anthologies
REH Conan
The hobbit
The chapter from The Fellowship of the Ring "The Bridge of Khazad Dum"
Eisenhorn series
Ravenor series
The last two are not pure medieval fantasy in the classic sense, but the "party" consisting of specific specialists, the feudal background, the literal adventures they go on massing loot and knowledge (and not sure if it was intentional or not, but the literal growth in actual power of both title characters, as if they "leveled up").
Sanctuary is a great inspiration for very low fantasy. I thought it was funny that Asprin's stories (IMO of course) were a lot better than those of the more established authors that he invited to contribute to his anthologies.
Quote from: Eric Diaz on April 08, 2022, 04:45:47 PM
Had never heard of CJ Cherryh before. Where to start?
My favorite is The Paladin, a pseudohistoircal book, followed closely by the Cyteen books. I like the Chanur books primarily for their depiction of alien races, which I consider to be the best I've seen. The Morgaine and Faded Sun books are popular, but i could never get into them. Some others, like the Foreigner series and Merchanter's luck I just found tedious.
Quote from: Eric Diaz on April 08, 2022, 04:38:50 PM
LeGuin is another favorite and, nowadays, I definitely feel CAS* should be in the appendix N (bot are on Moldvay's appendix BTW!)
I love the Earthsea books but have no idea how I'd use that world in an RPG. It seems much better suited to literature than games.
Quote from: Pat on April 08, 2022, 04:50:12 PM
Quote from: Mishihari on April 08, 2022, 04:44:33 PM
Quote from: HappyDaze on April 07, 2022, 10:29:56 AM
Quote from: Pat on April 07, 2022, 10:14:17 AM
Quote from: HappyDaze on April 07, 2022, 09:29:53 AM
Quote from: Mishihari on April 07, 2022, 05:15:40 AM
- Glen Cook - The Black Company books – I could probably just stop here, but I won't
I have to say that I thought the first Black Company book sucked. The way it was written just wasn't at all enjoyable. However, I read it as the first part of a compiled "Chronicles" book, and the second and third stories get better.
The writing of the Black Company books improve as the series continues.
Pat and I agree on something...?
I'm battening down the hatches for the apocalypse now ...
On topic, while I agree that Cook has gotten better over time, the original Black Company is still my favorite. Part of that I'm sure is that it was my first exposure to the author's writing, so it was fresh, but I also like the episodic nature of the book, much like Lieber's work. There were a few things that bugged me, but on about my tenth read-through I realized that clever things were being done with the unreliable narrator technique and it all made sense.
Raven in particular.
Yes Raven, but Croaker is the one that bothered me for a long time. He shifts loyalties from Soulcatcher to Lady about halfway through the book with very little groundwork laid about why he would want to do so. In retrospect it's obvious to me that Soulcatcher used a glamour on him and likely Lady as well. We never read about it because he either doesn't realize it at the time or he doesn't want to put it down in the Annals.
Quote from: Mishihari on April 08, 2022, 04:35:16 PM
Any recommendations of Anderson's fantasy books? I've read Operation Chaos and Three Hearts and Three Lions, but that's about it. I thought he was primarily an SF author - I've read every Poleseotechnic League and Dominic Flandry book I could find.
Well, depends on taste. I like the dark age fantasy stuff the best, which is strange because I don't usually enjoy fiction that dark (no pun intended). Maybe because its very dark, but not gratuitously dark? "The Kingdom of Ys" books don't pull any punches. I'd compare it most closely to the Bernard Cromwell books mentioned by others above, with the exception that Cromwell writes similar ideas as fantasy historical fiction, whereas Anderson is telling you a saga. "Mother of Kings" is along the same lines. Same kind of story as Cromwell, completely different style.
Note that you can get the Ys books in one volume, which makes a lot of sense because it is all one complete story, not a really a series. The gods are pissed, you can see it coming, some of the characters can see it coming, but they are going to keep marching right into it, because their nature won't allow them any other course.
He is primarily a sci/fi writer, but stories like "The Dancer from Atlantis" has that same mystical slant. Or maybe it is that so many of his stories have a strong element of "fate" in them, that even the sci/fi feels different.
I think some of the funniest things Anderson wrote were parodies or commentaries. His "Barbarian" is a send up of Conan writing which I quite enjoyed, despite appreciating the Conan stories too. (In fairness, I think it was aimed more at L Sprague de Camp, who probably had it coming, not just for his Conan work.) See also Uncleftish Beholding (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncleftish_Beholding), a physics essay written in "pure English".
Quote from: Mishihari on April 08, 2022, 04:32:15 PM
Quote from: jeff37923 on April 07, 2022, 05:40:57 AM
I'm primarily into hard science fiction, so my games are heavily influenced by CJ Cherryh, Arthur C. Clarke, George Alec Effinger, Robert A. Heinlein, Larry Niven, H. Beam Piper, Jerry Pournelle, Aleister Reynolds, John Scalzi (only his Old Man's War stuff), and Allen Steele.
For science fantasy games there are a plethora of Star Wars authors but especially Timothy Zahn, Michael Stackpole, Alan D. Foster, Karen Traviss, Alexander Freed, and Kevin Anderson.
I think it's really interesting that literature can inspire how we want our games to play even if it's in a totally different genre. From your list, I'm, also a fan of Niven, Pournelle, Zahn, Foster, and some Cherryh (I either love or hate her books, and it's about 50/50) I should check out some of the others. I've been looking for some new authors to read and having a great deal of difficulty with Sturgeon's law.
A short list you may want to sample.
Alastair Reynolds - The Prefect
Allen Steele - Chronospace
H. Beam Piper - Little Fuzzy (free on Project Gutenburg)
Quote from: Mishihari on April 08, 2022, 05:01:33 PM
Quote from: Eric Diaz on April 08, 2022, 04:45:47 PM
Had never heard of CJ Cherryh before. Where to start?
My favorite is The Paladin, a pseudohistoircal book, followed closely by the Cyteen books. I like the Chanur books primarily for their depiction of alien races, which I consider to be the best I've seen. The Morgaine and Faded Sun books are popular, but i could never get into them. Some others, like the Foreigner series and Merchanter's luck I just found tedious.
Thanks!
Quote from: Mishihari on April 08, 2022, 05:05:08 PM
Quote from: Eric Diaz on April 08, 2022, 04:38:50 PM
LeGuin is another favorite and, nowadays, I definitely feel CAS* should be in the appendix N (bot are on Moldvay's appendix BTW!)
I love the Earthsea books but have no idea how I'd use that world in an RPG. It seems much better suited to literature than games.
Fair enough. Although I like the idea of true names etc.
Quote from: Mishihari on April 08, 2022, 04:35:16 PM
Any recommendations of Anderson's fantasy books? I've read Operation Chaos and Three Hearts and Three Lions, but that's about it. I thought he was primarily an SF author - I've read every Poleseotechnic League and Dominic Flandry book I could find.
The Broken Sword is great and dark.
The High Crusade is great and light (though not 100% fantasy, it's close enough)
Quote from: Eric Diaz on April 08, 2022, 06:08:26 PM
Quote from: Mishihari on April 08, 2022, 05:01:33 PM
I love the Earthsea books but have no idea how I'd use that world in an RPG. It seems much better suited to literature than games.
Fair enough. Although I like the idea of true names etc.
That, and the Archipelago setting.
Quote from: Zalman on April 08, 2022, 07:27:52 PM
Quote from: Eric Diaz on April 08, 2022, 06:08:26 PM
Quote from: Mishihari on April 08, 2022, 05:01:33 PM
I love the Earthsea books but have no idea how I'd use that world in an RPG. It seems much better suited to literature than games.
Fair enough. Although I like the idea of true names etc.
That, and the Archipelago setting.
Dragon Quest has a Naming college of magic inspired directly from Earthsea. Within DQ, it is done fairly well for what it is, but is still somewhat of a special case. It wouldn't fit in every DQ game, because the presence of the college has a strong effect on the whole magic system. There are rules for using different levels of true names. Specific true names are hard to get, because once you get one magic flips from iffy proposition to the target is likely toast. Also, namers are the ultimately counterspell/dispel experts in a system where magic is otherwise very difficult to remove. Someone curses you, for example, the only way to get rid of it is to convince the original caster to remove it, find a more powerful caster with the same spell to do so, find an immensely powerful being (e.g. dragon or extra planar) to do it, or get help from a namer. So you get fairy tell outcomes where the princess is put to sleep for years.
My personal Appendix N, in no particular order, would probably look something like this:
- Dune
- The Lord of the Rings
- Various Bernard Cornwell books
- Leigh Brackett's Skaith Trilogy
- Robert E Howard's work in general
- John Carter of Mars (first three books)
- Wulfhere
- The Broken Sword
- The Book of the New Sun
- Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique Cycle
Quote from: Arkansan on April 09, 2022, 08:10:40 AM
- Wulfhere
I had heard of the Mercian king, but not the book. Based on the rest of your list it's worth checking out, and DMR Books (https://dmrbooks.com/) looks like a publisher to watch.
Quote from: Zalman on April 09, 2022, 10:34:36 AM
Quote from: Arkansan on April 09, 2022, 08:10:40 AM
- Wulfhere
I had heard of the Mercian king, but not the book. Based on the rest of your list it's worth checking out, and DMR Books (https://dmrbooks.com/) looks like a publisher to watch.
It's nothing revolutionary but it's a very solid historical adventure set in a time period that just begs for that sort of treatment. A lot of fun really. DMR books has all kinds of stuff if you dig pulp, great little publisher. I'll recommend their "Eye of Sounnu" short story collection as well, lots of good stuff in there.
Quote from: Mishihari on April 08, 2022, 04:51:52 PM
Quote from: oggsmash on April 07, 2022, 11:52:26 AM
The Sanctuary anthologies
REH Conan
The hobbit
The chapter from The Fellowship of the Ring "The Bridge of Khazad Dum"
Eisenhorn series
Ravenor series
The last two are not pure medieval fantasy in the classic sense, but the "party" consisting of specific specialists, the feudal background, the literal adventures they go on massing loot and knowledge (and not sure if it was intentional or not, but the literal growth in actual power of both title characters, as if they "leveled up").
Sanctuary is a great inspiration for very low fantasy. I thought it was funny that Asprin's stories (IMO of course) were a lot better than those of the more established authors that he invited to contribute to his anthologies.
I am not sure I can say it is low fantasy, at least not the setting. I think many stories are presented as such, but they are along with stories where some pretty powerful, and obviously supernatural characters are conflicted with relationships with people who are much more vulnerable. I think many of the stories are low fantasy, but the setting it self seems to certainly have open displays of high powered magic (there are mentions of battlefields where mages are letting loose all sorts of crazy fireworks) as well as a few situations where wizards are angry or about to face off. I think it does a great job of showing us the point of view of some very mundane people who live in a world where they know the supernatural is real, but it is hard to know what exists or does not exist.
The amount of magic, in many ways is probably close to what Gygax would present as a campaign for his characters. The thing is, Sanctuary is told from the perspective of Inn keeper #2, or Blacksmith Carboard cutout #2, Masked crimelord, random guardsman's perspective, etc. I think about the only character presented as more or less a PC is maybe Hanse Shadowspawn, because he sure as hell levels up like a PC.
I agree Asprin's stories are certainly the gems in the group. Very good at developing characters, and it is obvious lots of times when his characters are used in other people's stories.
I've been on a steady diet of History books for the last three decades... but when i read non-fiction more
voraciously than now the list was something like...
-Michael Moorcock, the Elric and Hawkmoon books in particular.
-Roger Zelazny's Amber books (read 'em all many, many times)
-J.R.R. Tolkien, pretty much everything from The Hobbit to Leaf by Niggle...
-the Old Time Life Books Enchanted World Series (mined dozens of gaming ideas from these books)
-Jim Fitzpatrick's "The Book of Conquests" as well... i designed a whole campaign around it in 1986.
-Robert Asprin's Thieves' World books...
-Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories...
-HP Lovecraft would be another obvious inclusion. (and Call of Cthulhu was always one of our favorites)
-David Eddings' books as well, which i actually rather liked back in the day.
-Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur" (and even before that i'd been known to check out the transcript of the
"Camelot" musical from the library to get my Arthurian legends fix back when i first started playing in 4th grade)
-A HOST of old children's books i grew up with (such as the Collier's Junior Classics series) had entire
volumes of Faerie tales and Myths (mostly Norse and Greco-Roman, though some had tales from other Mythos)
Kevin Crossly Holland's "The Norse Myths" was one of my particular favorites.
Those would be among the ones that inspired some of the games i actually acquired post-D&D which
i'd started playing before i'd read much fantasy, apart from the Hobbit and various Mythology books (which i
loved reading as a kid) and the books that i liked best and stuck with me all the way to the present day.
I read the Dragonriders of Pern, Pratchett's Diskworld books and the Conan books too late to have made the
cut (i was already on Warhammer by then, which was the last game i got into before a long hiatus from RPGs)
And therefore, i see no need to admit to ever reading Piers Anthony, Terry Brooks, or all the times i tried
(and failed) to make it through the "Thomas Covenant" books.
Oops.
Mentioned in prior Appendix N posts, but Lawrence Watt-Evans's Ethshar novels are pretty solid as well.
I've got a few Appendix N's, depending on which game it is.
Quote from: Doc Sammy on April 15, 2022, 10:00:20 AM
I've got a few Appendix N's, depending on which game it is.
Well said. If it's a post-apocalyptic game, Harlan Ellison's story "A Boy and His Dog" is a big influence. Superheroes? Silver and Bronze Age Marvel Comics. For Warhammer, you can't do better than the Black Library books for Warhammer Fantasy. C. L. Werner's books for that line are the closest modern equivalent I've found to the great old fantasy pulps of the 1930s-1960s.
Quote from: I on April 15, 2022, 10:56:06 AM
Quote from: Doc Sammy on April 15, 2022, 10:00:20 AM
I've got a few Appendix N's, depending on which game it is.
Well said. If it's a post-apocalyptic game, Harlan Ellison's story "A Boy and His Dog" is a big influence. Superheroes? Silver and Bronze Age Marvel Comics. For Warhammer, you can't do better than the Black Library books for Warhammer Fantasy. C. L. Werner's books for that line are the closest modern equivalent I've found to the great old fantasy pulps of the 1930s-1960s.
I can't really agree with recommending Black Library stuff even for Warhammer. The novels, the tabletop stuff, and the RPG stuff are three alternate universes that only share names and the basics of the world. I would not want to run or play WFRP like the BL novels portray. This goes doubly so for WH40K.
Ursula K LeGuin, The Language of Night a collection of essays on fantasy writing.
Isaac Asimov, Asimov on Science a collection of essays on chemistry and physics
Isaac Asimov, Asimov on Science Fiction a collection of essays on science fiction
Friedrich Heer, The Medieval World a work on culture and society in the middle ages
JRR Tolkien, On Fairy Stories an essay on writing fantasy
Diagram Group, Weapons
Quote from: Zalman on April 07, 2022, 10:13:20 AM
Just off the top of my head:
#1 for me is Fafhrd & Gray Mouser (and it's not even close!) There's so much D&D there it oozes out of the book binding.
After that:
Robert E. Howard's Conan
Thieve's World
Lyonesse
Dying Earth
Stainless Steel Rat
If my Appendix N can include films, I'd add:
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Star Wars
Absolutely this list for me.
And interestingly as much as I am a Tolkien fan I don't really want or try to have my rpg games run like Tolkien.
Quote from: David Johansen on April 15, 2022, 02:37:50 PM
Ursula K LeGuin, The Language of Night a collection of essays on fantasy writing.
Isaac Asimov, Asimov on Science a collection of essays on chemistry and physics
Isaac Asimov, Asimov on Science Fiction a collection of essays on science fiction
Friedrich Heer, The Medieval World a work on culture and society in the middle ages
JRR Tolkien, On Fairy Stories an essay on writing fantasy
Diagram Group, Weapons
Have you read Indistinguishable From Magic by Robert L. Forward or A Step Farther Out by Jerry Pournelle?
Most of these are manga or visual novels. Some are video games.
Full Metal Daemon Muramasa
Berserk
Hunter X Hunter
Dragon Ball
Animal Farm
Shinza Bansho (Dies Irae)
Megami Tensei