What Would Your Campaign/Setting's Inspirational Reading List Be?

[Hjorimir]

My DMing has largely been influenced by...

Asprin, Robert (The Myth Adventures)
Brust, Steven (Jhereg novels)
Burroughs, Edgar Rice (Barsoom series)
Claremont, Chris (X-Men)
Eddings, David (The Belgariad & The Elenium books)
Feist, Raymond E. (Midkemia)
Howard, Robert E. (Conan)
Lovecraft, H.P. (all)
Miller, Frank (Daredevil)
Tolkien, JRR. (The Lord of the Rings)
Weis & Hickman (Dragonlance)

and...

Sepulchrave's Storyhour

 

[Wombat]

You, sir, are a true officer and a gentleman. Captain Blood is one of my favorite books. I also highly recommend Sabatini's Black Swan and I think I actually like Scaramouche better than Captain Blood.

Dumas may be the King of swashbucklers, but if so, then Sabatini is at least the Prince of Wales of Swashbucklers, IMO.

I'll accept that, even the preference for Scaramouche, though it is a close race

But as my campaign was more of an early 17th century base, rather than late 18th century, Captain Blood was more appropriate for the campaign.

 

[Dykstrav]

I came up with a list of reccomended reading/viewing many a year ago. I got tired of people asking me which anime my setting was like.

LITERATURE
The Iliad and the Odyssey, Homer
The Aeneid, Virgil.
Le Morte d’Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory.
The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri.
The Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi.
The Art of War, Sun Tzu.
The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli.
Bulfinch’s Mythology, Thomas Bulfinch.
The Holy Bible, King James Version.
Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, or anything else by Sophocles. The works of Aeschylus and Euripides are also worth checking out.
The plays of William Shakespeare, particularly the tragedies.

FILM
Conan the Barbarian, John Milus, 1982.
Jason and the Argonauts, Don Chaffey, 1963.
Clash of the Titans, Desmond Davis, 1981.
Dune, David Lynch, 1984. The SciFi Channel series is far closer to the novels.
Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean, 1962.
The Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa, 1957.
Empire, Greg Yaitanes, John Gray, Kim Manners, 2005.
The Seventh Seal, Ingmar Bergman, 1957.
Mononoke Hime, Hayao Miyazaki, 1997.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam, 1988.

 

[Psion]

Books:
Clark Ashton Smith - Zothique stories
Michael Moorcock - Elric stories
Steven Brust - Dragaera/Vlad Taltos Novels
Larry Niven - The Magic Goes Away, Ringworld novels
Dumas - The Three Musketeers
Bulfinch's Mythology

Comics:
Thor
New Gods
Legion of Super Heroes (pre-Crisis reset)

Movies:
Miyazaki - Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle (I understand this is from a novel, but I've never read it)
Princess Bride
Aladdin (Disney)
Sinbad movies (both Disney and live action)

Plus lots I'm probably not thinking of.

 

[sckeener]

Most of the books in my games have been mentioned. Here are a few that haven't:

• Brian Lumley's Necroscope series (Mostly the 3rd book - The Source)
• Robin Hobb's The Farseer Trilogy
• Christopher Hinz's Paratwa Trilogy

Here are the ones that have been mentioned

• Asprin, Robert (The Myth Adventures)
• Clavell, James
• Cook, Glen
• Foster, Alan Dean
• Graves, Robert: I, Claudius
• Herbert, Frank
• Lackey, Mercedes
• Leiber, Fritz
• Lovecraft, H.P.
• Moorcock, Michael
• Norman, John
• Poe, Edgar Allan
• Rowling, J.K.
• Shakespeare
• Verne, Jules
• Zelazny, Roger
• Thieves World

I'd like to start including more China Mieville. Right now I have none.

I use Lovecraft, Poe for setting moods.
Rowling I raid for magic items.
planar mechanics I raid from Zelazny, Moorcock,
I rip setting material from all... Lumley (great material for the Abyss), Norman (for my slave trading states), Cook (for my merc companies), Foster (because he steals great ideas from other people), and Hinz (I just love the idea of one mind in multiple bodies)
For humor I raid Asprin and Lackey.
For politics I raid Graves, Herbert, Hobb and Clavell.
For stories, I raid Shakespeare, thieves world, Verne, Leiber, and Hobb.

There really isn't much that I don't raid for ideas though...everything is inspiration. I tend to watch old Dr. Who's knowing my players don't watch them any more and life plots from those....

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

My List!

David Gemmell's Drenai Saga - For what a hero (Druss) is like. And how fragile life is with the evil of men.
Weis & Hickman for Dragonlance Chronicles - It's what got me into AD&D and it's influence is felt to this day.
Sep's Storyhour - For what vancian magic is supposed to be played like.
Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow, & Thorn series - For a different take on elves and magic.
David Edding's Tamuli series - For Atan's; I'm using giants from Arcana Evolved and this is what they're like.
Raymond Feist's Riftwar Saga - For Kesh, Pug, Tsuranii armour and weapons, etc.
Elizabeth Moon's Sheepfarmers Daughter - For the best dang paladin, deities and orders of knights.

 

[GwydapLlew]

Most of what I would include has already been listed:

• Gemmell, David - The Drenai Saga
• Graves, Robert - I, Claudius
• Herbert, Frank - Dune
• Howard, R. E. - Conan
• Martin, George R.R. - The Song of Ice & Fire
• Straczynski, J. Michael - Babylon 5
• Sturlussion, Snorri - The Prose Edda
• Tolkien, J. R. R. - The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillon

 

[MonsterMash]

A lot is the same as other people for my Wilderlands campaigns:

R.E. Howard - Conan, Kull and the other fiction
Fritz Leiber - Lankhmar stories
H.P. Lovecraft
Jack Vance - Dying Earth
Michael Moorcock - Elric stories
Kim Newman/Jack Yeovil - Anno Dracula and the related stories, Warhammer FRP fiction
Homer - Iliad and Odyssey

 

[mseds99]

good thread

My campaigns are heavily infused with politics, so much of what inspires me during cmapign creation is non-fiction...

some recent examples:

The Life and Times of Grigorii Rasputin, Alex De Jonge, a biography about Rasputin and how he attained his power. The main antagonist in the current campaign I run is inspired by him, or more accurately, how he is described in this book.

World of the Maya, Victor Von Hagen, an archeolgical study of Maya culture

The Age of the Gladiators, Rupert Mathews, a study of gladitorial games of Rome and the civilization surrounding the contests

A History of Civilizations, Fernand Braudel, a study of world history on a macro scale...displays how forces beyond borders influence the advancement of culture

Latin American Heroes, Jerome Adams, Liberators and Patriots from 1500 to the present...describes various "heroes" of the Latin American world...written by Latinos so the viewpoint is extremely different...Fidel Castro is regarded as a hero...it's a great book for creating unique and interesting characters

The Americas, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Describes how the Western Hemisphere has develped its own personality, besides that of the USA

The Face of Battle, John Keegan, an interesting look at battle from an assortment of viewpoints...adds a little bit more depth to combat in D and D

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown, just a fanatastic read, everyone should get this book. About the fall of the American Indian as the USA expanded westward. My orcs have souls and when their "barbaric" tribes are moved out by the encroachment off rival cultures, theres more to it than just "kill the bad guy".

Conquests and Cultures, Thomas Sowell. As the back cover sayas..."{the book's} purpose has been to understand the role of cultural ddifferences within and between nations, today and over the centuries of history, in shaping the ecoonomic and social fates of peoples and whole civilizations." Couldn't say it better myself.

And lastly....

The Tiwi of North Australia, C.W.M.Hart and Arnold Pilling, an athropological study of the Tiwi of Nrth Australia, a once-upon-a-time virtually isolated group of aboriginees who developed an EXTREMELY unique culture where the currency was women...yes...females. Fascinating book, couldn't recommend it more.

As far as fiction...

1984 by George Orwwell probably single handedly inspired to create at least two campaign settings. Another great read.

Moby Dick, Herman Melville, if Captain Ahab can't inspire you to create a great character, nothing will.

Another vote for Heart of Darkness by James Conrad. This book was mentioned above, but is a brilliant look at contrast between between "civilized" man and the animal lurking within himself.

And of of course....The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I don't think it even needs to be said.


Addendum #1...

Julias Caeser and Macbeth by Shakespearre

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire by Alan Palmer

The Life and Times of Genghis Khan......i lost the book, author unknown



There are so many....i could just ramble on and on.


Addendum #2

EnWorld's own Blackdirge's creation.... Metamorphisis and An Assassin's Tale are great reads.

 

[Nyaricus]

Malazan, Books of the Fallen series (Steven Erikson) (My all time favourite series, absolutely damn brilliant stuff)

I DM the son of Steven Ericsons' best friend Nice guy, playing a Favoured Soul of Kelemvor in my FR game.

My list:

• Ericson, Steven - Malazon, Books of the Fallen series. Epic, huge, war-torn. Ancient threats, new names. Gods, magic, swords and sweat. Man these books have it all.
• Goodkind, Terry - Sword of Truth series. A solid series with a very neat backdrop. Mainly the books before Richard became 'Captian Liberation'.
• Drake, David - Lord of the Isles series. A very "D&D-like" series, with much planar travel and the like, which was an unexpected but pleasent surprize. Very believable characters with interesting stories to tell.
• Farland, David - The Runelords series. A neat romp with really frickin' powerful characters. Kinda like chivalric medieval France meets Starship Troopers, in some parts (you really have to read to understand, but it's neat).
• Jacques, Brian - Redwall series. The reason why furries in D&D is teh cool.
• Various - DragonLance. Instilled in me at a young age many D&Disms and a love for the fighter-type guy who will go for the maiden and slay the dragon. Many good D&D books in here, especially the Heroes Series, both I and II (The Gates of Thorbardin was, I think, my first D&D book I ever read, and is a classic in my mind).
• Lewis, C.S. - The Chronicals of Narnia. Read when I was very young, these books contain some of my favourite stories; A Horse and His Boy and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader are my favourites.

There are others which I can't remember right now, Ill post them when I do....

cheers,
--N