Usually I go to history books and reference books. I also like to get inspiration from short fiction. Some books that I've found helpful for a variety of settings:

Paul Lunde: Organized Crime-an inside guide (for modern games, but good for fantasy too)

Fernand Braudel: A History of Civilizations (Found it useful for world building)

Carlo Ginzburg: Any of his works (gives a grounds eye view of the little people in history)

Historical Atlas: any (good for world creation)

Text Books: I have a shelf full of my old college text books and new ones I have picked up used. If there is a subject I don't know much about, having a basic text book is pretty handy.

The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook

I also have a shelf of "visual guide" style books about castles, medieval life, modern science, etc. and find that they're always inspirational.

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

I think Joe's hardcopy limitation is an artificial distinction. The problem is that for references purposes Wikipedia, and other website are often a superior resource as a general reference. For specifics hardcopy books are often better. But for a general survey on a topic the internet beats hardcopy references.

You can see this in computer book sections in bookstores. There been an erosion of variety and quantity over the years as for references purposes the Internet and to a lesser extant CDs are killing the hardcopy market. The same is happening with other references just drawn out longer.

Now you may argue whether a particular information source is reliable or not but there we can compare apples to apples by looking at the on-line version of the Britannica vs the hardcopy.

Given Joe's limitation I would say the best resources for RPGs are any book that try to give a sense of life in a particular era. For example Life in a Medieval City is great for fantasy campaigns. The reason for this is that RPGs connect with a character's view of the world. Life in a .. style books are more useful for that point of view than a history or book that looks at the grand sweep of things.

A neat book is the The Peel Affinity
http://www.amazon.com/1381-Affinity-English-Household-Fourteenth/dp/0980072603

Where it is especially illuminating is when the knight has to raise some troops for the hundred's year war. It is also lavishly illustrated with photos which gives great visuals to mix in with your descriptions.

Quote from: ggroy;359804Inspiration for ideas in creating badguys and evil empires:  "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler.

Actually, I read Mein Kampf expecting genius-level propaganda, and found it an oddly boring read. Stalin's books are even less interesting if that's even possible. The banality of evil?

Anyway, I got a lot of ideas out of Strabon's Geographica, a giant travel book of the Classical Mediterranean and a good reference work to get into the mindset of the Greco-Roman educated class.

Roman Herzog's Ancient States: The Origins and Forms of Governance (original title Staaten der Frühzeit. Ursprünge und Herrschaftsformen; I am not sure if an English translation is available) is a smart and elegantly-written book discussing how states were governed at the dawn of civilisation. Roman Herzog was also the President of Germany from 1994 to 1999.

There are more, but actually, I am more inspired by modern events - current affairs, social attitudes and the general fucked-upness of people. I have found that an inexhaustible goldmine of cool stuff.

Quote from: Melan;360252Actually, I read Mein Kampf expecting genius-level propaganda, and found it an oddly boring read. Stalin's books are even less interesting if that's even possible. The banality of evil?

"Mein Kampf" isn't particularly an exciting read.  It reads more like a whiny diatribe of an angry guy speaking on the telephone, thinking he can take over and rule the world.  I've used ideas from it more for the background of an evil empire.

Karl Marx's books aren't much better, other than attempting to masquerade under an "academic" looking veneer.

With respect to propaganda, the books by Gustav Le Bon and Edward Bernays were more interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Le_Bon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays

I heavily use the Sears and Roebucks catalog reprints (and those of other companies) as well as the actual catalogs where I've found them.

Quote from: estar;360250I think Joe's hardcopy limitation is an artificial distinction.

That would be my point, yes.

RPGPundit

I wonder, does anybody else use old copies of National Geographic for the articles as a reference? I have to go to the library now, but I used to be able to dig through about 30 years worth of old National Geographics when I still lived with my parents.

Quote from: jeff37923;360366I wonder, does anybody else use old copies of National Geographic for the articles as a reference? I have to go to the library now, but I used to be able to dig through about 30 years worth of old National Geographics when I still lived with my parents.

Used to, yes.  Great source.  When I was in high school, my batty art teacher had (literally) a closet full of them.

I guess I'm wierd (news flash), but I don't really have any books that I go back to for inspiration. With me, its more of a case of whatever I happen to be reading at the time inspiring me. I have plenty of reference books, but the ideas came from reading them (and novels and the like) the first time, not on repeated readings.

Quote from: Ian Absentia;360177

QuoteSo when was Wikipedia published in print?

Last year.

It's funny because it's true. In Germany at least. See here. The publisher, Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, is the most prestigious press when it comes to lexica around here.

Quote from: Windjammer;360381It's funny because it's true. In Germany at least.

And, thus, two years of high school German have finally paid off.

!i!

Quote from: jeff37923;360366I wonder, does anybody else use old copies of National Geographic for the articles as a reference? I have to go to the library now, but I used to be able to dig through about 30 years worth of old National Geographics when I still lived with my parents.

My parents had NGs going back to 1903-4 or so, but then I'm probably a generation older than you, and my parents were of the WWII generation. These belonged to my dad's father. The NGs got junked when we sold the house after they died. I don't keep my own longer than a week or so.

-clash

Quote from: jeff37923;360366I wonder, does anybody else use old copies of National Geographic for the articles as a reference?

I've used them quite often.

Quote from: flyingmice;360390My parents had NGs going back to 1903-4 or so, but then I'm probably a generation older than you, and my parents were of the WWII generation. These belonged to my dad's father. The NGs got junked when we sold the house after they died. I don't keep my own longer than a week or so.

-clash

I found some at a used bookstore (a horrible place--half college bookstore, half used books, I worked for them briefly.) They had some on the shelves--buried under other things that dated back to the beginning of the 20th century. I still wish I could have purchased them.