Non-standard fantasy/mythic influences

[Stormborn]

What fantasy influences have affected your game beyond the typical list (high fantasy novels and movies, sword and sorcery novels, comics and movies, other roleplaying games)? I'm not looking for how Dr. Who influenced your game, but stuff still under the broad umbrella of fantasy, but just farther afield than Conan, Fafhrd and Elrond.

I know its somewhat juvenilie, but I am really facinated with Avatar: The Last Air Bender cartoon on Nick and have been working on a campaign to encorporate elements of it. That plus The Nightingale Floor make me want to run an asian themed game.

Tim Powers is a big influence and I even wrote a short PDF about ghost eating inspired by his novel Experation Date. Other elements of his books creep in from time to time.

Paper Grail by James Blaylock inspired a magic item in one campaign, an origami grail.

Neil Gaiman's Stardust is a big influence in a project I am currently working on for Adamant.

I love Steampunk so we have had animal men, submarines, airships, clockwork golems, and all manner of tropes from Verne and Co. Only sort of fantasy but I keep coming back to War of the Worlds as well.

 

[Rothe]

Two abit farther afield...

Larry Niven's "The Magic Goes Away" series. The first story coming out around 1969 IIRC and the first novel a bit later.
Harry Turtledove's "Videsos" Series. Of course much later in the influence chain.

Although not a RPG per se, the campaign aspect of Squad Leader had a big impact on my views of games that can suspend disbelief. Metagaming's pocket games, culminating in Car Wars, influenced me in how simple game rules can provide a fun game and a good "simulation."

As RPGs go Traveller had a big influence on me about how a RPG could be done in an orgnaized fashion and how the assuptions of OD&D/AD&D are not the only reasonable ones for a fun RPG.

I don't know if you'd count them, but Beowulf, the Icelandic Sagas, and ancient Egyptian "adventure stories" also have a fantastic element that has influenced me. So do they count as fantasy literature?

 

[Shades of Green]

The Thief series of computer games, which are victorian-style steampunk first-person-sneakers with some fantasy/mystical elements.

Babylon 5, which, while being sci-fi (though with a certain amount of fantasy feel), has taught me much about things such as strong story arcs and continuity.

A dense wooded area near my mother's home in Tivon, Israel (17km to the southeast of Haifa), which is covered with various types of ivy, is quite dark, and is unfortunately littered with deries from a nearby abadnoned industrial facility. The place feels like something out of a post-apocalyptic setting, with the remanants of civilization crumbling and rusting between very oddy-shaped trees. This place looks like it was tainted by some twisted evil - be that a bio-apocalypse, a hag, a demon or even a troll.

 

[WayneLigon]

Lots of anime series, each influnceing a different genre. Most notably: Heroic Prince Arislan, Final Fantasy Advent Children, Ghost in the Shell TV series, Planetes, Twelve Kingdoms, Hellsing, L/R, Demon City Shinjuku, and pretty much every Miyazaki film ever.

Many art books and sources; usually the Spectrum series of yearly best fantasy art, but also some of the card sets of various artists done during the CCG boom. Several of these evocative cards became the gods and goddesses of several campaigns.

Magazine advertisements. Some are very bizarre, with strange imagery or costumes, which makes for good fodder for modern occult games. Also, pictures of various models makes for good NPC flash cards.

Several horror and mystery books. There are a number of mystery novels set in various older times: midieval, Roman Empire, feudal Japan, etc. Very good for snapshots of normal life in those times and good sets of exccentric NPCs to choose from.

Video games: look and feel of characters, especially.

As far as other fields of fantasy:
Mercedes Lackey, Tanya Huff, for bold adventurers not out to enrich themselves but willing to fight for a higher cause.
Marion Zimmer Bradley, for how psionics would work.
Lawrence watt-Evans and Steven Brust, for general high-magic fun.
Charles de Lint for a more mythological feel to fantasy.
James Blaylock for sheer inventive craziness.
Martha Wells, for inventive world building.

 

[Tarek]

A 1st edition campaign I was in drew heavily on "native American" and Meso-American mythology, and not just the stuff found in the 1st edition Deities and Demigods, either.

Mictlantecuhtli turned out to be a lich on the verge of, well, of demigodhood.

The "Collector of Eyes" was a particularily creepy foe...

 

[Mark Hope]

Clive Barker's books are as much of an influence (if not more) than Moorcock, REH and JRRT. Gaiman's Sandman series is a big influence as well.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

Clive Barker's books are as much of an influence (if not more) than Moorcock, REH and JRRT. Gaiman's Sandman series is a big influence as well.

My girlfriend's been talking up Weaveworld to me big time.

 

[Mark Hope]

My girlfriend's been talking up Weaveworld to me big time.

It's a great one to start with. Immediately accessible and chock-full of characters, magic, locations, concepts and plots just ripe for the stealing. I am unashamedly biased, but I'd recommend heeding your girlfriend's sage advice .

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Narnia. CS Lewis' sense of magic is wonderful.

Original Irish, Scandinavian, Icelandic and other texts. There are wonderful Middle English stories that feature magic, and stories of trolls from Sweden, and stories of the Cattle Raid of Cooley. I have recently become interested in African and Native American myths too. They contain rich, wonderful elements.

There's probably a lot more too, but the old brain is fried.

 

[Nyaricus]

The Grand Theft Auto series of games. They have great story-telling, are big and open-ended, and have compelling characters. My favourite games, by far.

Now, is only some entrepreneur could make a Grand Theft Chariot and I'd be set

cheers,
--N