What literature influences your games?

[pawsplay]

This would pretty much be my favourite series above all others. I've never been able to wrangle it into game form though (D&D is the unifying game for our group). I'd love to give it a go but what game system would you use?

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

GURPS or Fantasy Craft, methinks.

 

[Daern]

oh yeah, Bernard Cornwell's historical novels, like the Saxon Chronicles, and the Grail Trilogy have been very influential lately.

 

[FireLance]

The biggest influences on my DMing style are probably:

The Chronicles of Prydain (Lloyd Alexander): The good guys are going to win.

The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkein): The good guys are going to win. The Deus ex Machina will ensure that this happens.

The Belgariad/The Malloreon (David Eddings): The good guys are going to win. They will do so without too much difficulty, and look good while they're at it.

The Discworld series (Terry Pratchett): If you're taking things seriously, you're doing it wrong. P.S. Did I mention that the good guys are going to win?​

 

[wedgeski]

I once pulled a villainous demonette NPC straight from the pages of Pride and Prejudice, so I'm pretty sure that "everything I've ever read" is about the right answer to this question.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Robert E. Howard
Fritz Leiber
Edgar Rice Burroughs
H.P. Lovecraft
A. Merritt
Robert Adams
Poul Anderson

 

[Trihelios]

I was also influenced most recently by Zelazny's fantasy works.

How on earth could I have forgotten Zelazny. He's had a huge impact on my fantasy conceptions.

 

[avin]

Books

- Charles Bukowski
- Raymond Chandler
- Dashell Hammet
- Hemingway

Comics
- Carl Barks (Donald Duck and Scrooge adventures)
- Neil Gaiman (Sandman)
- Conan, to some extent...

TV shows
- Twin Peaks
- X-FIles
- Millenium
- Lost

Influences to avoid
Tolkien, World of Warcraft (which I do play).

 

[jdrakeh]

Right now, I'm really caught up in period mystery novels such as Edith Pargeter's Brother Cadfael series and Umberto Eco's The Name of The Rose. There's something very appealing about protagonists who don't need magic to be effective and villains who don't need it it to be deadly.

 

[Raven Crowking]

One could do worse than to include a bit of Shakespeare, in addition to the many wonderful authors/works already mentioned.

Edgar Rice Burroughs is worth reading, and I think Robert E. Howard is a fantastic author in a lot of ways. Between the two of them, they've covered how to deal with any common rpg occurance without leading to a TPK. Also, for "Go into the unknown and deal with what you encounter there" there is no better source than the pulps, and no better pulp authors than these two. IMHO, of course.

(And, luckily, they are both back in print in a big way!)

Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo is a great read. I also throw in a bit of Dickens and Charles de Lint into some of my city/town settings.

I echo others in saying Tolkein and Eddison, and would add C.S. Lewis (to a lesser degree), and Gardiner Fox.

There are a lot more.....I am actually compiling a list of films and books/authors for an appendix of RCFG.

 

[maddman75]

Depends on the game I'm running. My Buffy games are of course inspired by the TV show, which is in turn inspired by pretty much all camp horror. My current Hunter game is heavily inspired by Supernatural, right down to the PCs all being family, children of hunters, and the elders are now missing. My CoC games of course come from Lovecraft and other classic/mystery horror stories. My Exalted game is still finding its footing, but I'm aiming for a classic heroes style of game. Not so much anime, and more Heracles and Achillies.