D&D General Appendix EN - What one book/series inspires your D&D?

[Jer]

Hmm. Besides the ones already listed I'd say Robert Graves "The Greek Myths".

I have others, but I'll follow the rules and wait until tomorrow to post the next one

 

[touc]

It's not the story that inspires my gameplay but rather Jordan's ability to make the scenery come alive. His descriptions are vivid with nuanced details so well done that a reader might begin to wonder if Jordan, well-traveled in his life, might have plunged through a portal into another world for a bit and come back.

 

[Cruentus]

Black Company - Glen Cook
Misplaced Legion - Harry Turtledove

 

[eyeheartawk]

I would add the four-book "Heritage of Shannara" series, by Terry Brooks. It's arguably his best work, so if you've only ever read the Sword of Shannara you're really missing out.

This series has been my D&D inspiration since I was a teenager.
How does magic work? Shannara.
How do I do court intrigue? Shannara.
What do bards and druids look like? Shannara.
How do I create a villain? an artifact? a mythology? a dragon? Shannara, Shannara, always Shannara.

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What makes these better than Sword of Shannara? In the circles I run in the Shannara books are not.. well received. So, I'm curious what the difference is.

 

[Yaarel]

For a book,

Every book written by:

Christopher Stasheff



His books tend to fuse medievalesque and scifi, where ships travel between planets, magic is psionic via (vague but plausible) scientific explanations, and the cultures comprise wizards and witches.

I always have fun reading his books, and they do come to mind when Im creating an adventure or building a character concept.

 

[Stormonu]

Fred Saberhagen - the first three Book of Swords.

I pulled the 12 swords lock, stock and barrel into my homebrew, as well as a lot of how the gods work.

 

[eyeheartawk]

The Lankhmar stuff by Leiber. The City of Seven-Score Thousand Smokes, Issek of the Jug, Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and Sheelba of the Eyeless Face is just all time great sword and sorcery stuff.

 

[steeldragons]

Gotta page through the ole mental catalogue...most/many of mine have already been brought up...

I have others, but guess I have to wait for future days to post them. (What's the point of that, exactly? Seems more irritating than anything else. Also, more likely to dissuade participation -shortening your lists- as people just don't return, forget, and/or have other things to do [irl] besides returning just to type out one item, than it would lengthen your threads/responses.)

Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon.

 

[Cadence]

The Lankhmar stuff by Leiber. The City of Seven-Score Thousand Smokes, Issek of the Jug, Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and Sheelba of the Eyeless Face is just all time great sword and sorcery stuff.

Those were in the freebie list

 

[eyeheartawk]

Those were in the freebie list

Whoops.

Despite posting in a thread about books, I clearly can't read.