What Authors Have Most Inspired Your Campaign?

[Buttercup]

Other than greco-roman and norse mythology, I've probably been most inspired by people not on the list.

Lois McMaster Bujold
F M Busby
C J Cherryh
Jo Clayton
David Eddings
Katherine Kerr
Katherine Kurtz
Ursula K. LeGuin
Elizabeth A. Lynn
Sherri Tepper
Vernor Vinge

Some of the above write SF rather than fantasy, but the concepts in their plots or their socio-political structures have stuck in my mind.

 

[Zaarastara]

Wierdly enough, probably Sep's storyhour has been as big a direct influcence as anyone on that list.

I would agree with that 100%. I actually ditched my last campaign and went montheistic. It took a lot of revision and my fingers were numb afterwards, but it was worth it. That story hour was a huge influence in my campaign. Tolkien was the number influence, prior to Sep's story hour.

 

[Cor Azer]

Tolkien mainly, Wies was also on the list. Of those not on the list, George R.R. Martin, Joss Whedon (well maybe not an author in the traditional sense, but his sense of pacing and twists still translates fairly well).

Not currently, but in one of my previous campaigns: Aesop

 

[radferth]

Lovecraft and Howard (and classical mythology) are two of my biggest influences. My third would be Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon books. Although I listed Tolkien and Moorcock, I would point out that it is only for world creation, not narrative. Seen as DMs, both of these guys seem to railroad their players a lot. (Imagine Elric is your character, and Elric's melancholy is just your boredom knowing that the DM is just going to transport you somewhere and have you easily defeat a universe destroying plot without you making a single important decision.)

 

[JonnyReb]

What's scary is that in thinking about this I realized what I have used most ..

I answered "other", though 2 of the 3 biggest influences I've ever actually used in a game are not books but cartoons, and a book with a big name author.

2 non-book influences: He-Man & Thundercats inspired more direct plot inspirations and situations then any book I've read...

and the Bible (told you the author was big name ) as an overall inspiration and guide to my Homebrew world

 

[DonaldRumsfeldsTofu]

If I ever make a campaign world, it will probably have influences from Tolkien, Moorcock, Lieber, Lovecraft, Stoker, Terry Pratchett, Milton, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the old first edition adventure modules, Lewis Carroll, Jonathan Swift, Robert E. Howard, HG Wells, history, meta-physics, secret societies, anime, Nintendo games, Zork, old Hanna Barbara action cartoons, and of course mythology from all cultures, including the kama sutra, Gnosticism and gypsy folklore.

Thus it's probably a good thing I've never made a campaign world.

 

[dougmander]

I'm amazed at the even distribution of votes among the authors listed. I would have predicted ol' JRRT way in front.

Other authors and what I've learned/stolen from them, in no particular order:

John Crowley -- incorporating fey and magic into a contemporary setting
Roger Zelazny -- elaborate plotting and effective action scenes
Philip Pullman -- internally consistent fantasy/weird tech worlds
Andrew Lang -- appreciation of fairy tales
Dorothy Dunnett -- plot, plot, plot: she does it better than anyone
Henry Fielding -- how to be an entertaining narrator
Jane Austen -- subtleties of characterization
Howard Pyle -- breathing life into old legends
Patrick O'Brien -- compelling characters
Orson Scott Card -- creating believable children/adolescent characters
Ellen Kushner -- fantasy without magic
Robert Graves -- transforming history into narrative
Algernon Blackwood -- making fey characters truly creepy and threatening
Lord Dunsany -- the evocative power of language; irony and humor in a high-fantasy context
Alan Moore -- super-powered characters with believable psyches
Delia Sherman -- creating a fantasy world through meticulous accretion of small details
Neil Gaiman -- meshing seemingly unrelated mythoi into a coherent whole; creating new deities/beings that fit a modern setting but resonate with older concepts
Rafael Sabatini -- swashbuckling action

 

[Hand of Evil]

Edar Rice Burroughs
Rodger Zelazany
Elizabeth Boyer
David Eddings
Barbara Hambly
Robert Don Hughes
Harry Turtledove
Philip Jose' Farmer
John Norman
Joe Dever
Karl Edward Wagner
L Sprague De Camp
Lin Carter
Robert E. Howard
Raymond Feist

And tons more

 

[DragonLancer]

Tolkien, Lovecraft, Ed Greenwood, Margaret Weiss, and "other" David Gemmell.

 

[Derulbaskul]

Ed Greenwood.

His Dragon articles before the pre-published Realms plus the first FR boxed set simply changed the way I thought about DMing particularly in terms of constructing a campaign by including seemingly superfluous details but which can be later used to construct hooks for further play. Also, everything has a backstory.