ZEITGEIST Zeitgeist: What do you use for inspiration?

[Crispy120286]

What do you use for inspiration when running Zeitgeist? I'm looking for a new book series to read and would love to find something that is along the lines of Zeitgeist. I know Zeitgeist is quite unique but im curious what others are into.

I've seen someone recommend the movies Solomon Kane, Three Musketeers, and The Patriot. Any movies you watched that made you think of Zeitgeist?

Rangerwickett, What did you use for inspiration when writing Zeitgeist? I'd love to read or watch what you did.

ps- is this even the right forum to post this in?

 

[Siberys]

In no particular order;

Allan Quartermain
Indiana Jones
Sherlock Holmes
The Works of H. P. Lovecraft
Certain stories by Edgar Allen Poe
Noir Novels (frex, The Maltese Falcon)
Modern Procedurals (Law & Order, NCIS, possibly Criminal Minds)
Frankenstein

These are the IPs that I can detect hints of most easily in Zeitgeist, but I'm sure there are others.

 

[skotothalamos]

Kanye West - Power

 

[Crispy120286]

Great stuff Siberys! i'll definately look into this. i havent even heard of some of them.

Nice roadtoad. Although I dont like it as much as Kanye likes it.

 

[RangerWickett]

Kanye is indeed the inspiration of Rock Rackus.

Siberys list has a lot elements that I didn't consciously take as inspiration, but they've become ingrained enough into culture that they show up naturally. In addition to Victorian era, pulp, and noir style inspirations, I took both encouragement and warnings from modern mystery TV shows like The X-Files and LOST. And while I have seen a lot of police procedurals, I went more for spycraft flicks like James Bond. The Wire did make me want to include elements of law enforcement working with and against both criminals and politicians.

Cauldron Hill and the Bleak Gate in general have Twin Peaks elements.

Music wise, I listen to a fair amount of soundtracks while writing (Sherlock, X-Files, and the obscure-ish "commentary on modern culture" movie Koyanisqaatsi).

And of late I've played some Dark Souls 2, so I've wanted to make monsters more horrifying, but that's more of a game design concept rather than a narrative one.

Oh, and the antagonists are drawn from a lot of different philosophies, ranging from really old stuff like St. Augustine, to more modern philosophy of Kierkegaard or Nietzche (plus arguments with a libertarian friend).

I'm sure there are a ton more, but it was a couple years ago when we first planned the campaign, so I remember less what I was riffing off of, and am focused more on what we still need to accomplish.

 

[Falkus]

A major inspiration to my games was the old PC game Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magicka Obscura

 

[ediz]

I try to keep it a Wire(Delft is kind of a Bunk and Daniels mix), Le Carre(dead drops, chalk marks, kind of thing)... especially the honorable Schoolboy ( my fave)

 

[piers]

We have a wiki page: - https://spiritoftheage.obsidianportal.com/wikis/inspirations

Quoted for ease-of-reference:

The following shows, films, and books are useful inspiration for those playing in the world of Zeitgeist.

Justified – A modern-day gunslinger returns to the county where he grew up.
The Shield – Corrupt cops in a world of grey
The Dark Tower – Gunslingers in a strange world and our own
Strike Back – Special Forces operatives fight terrorist threats and kick arse
Spartacus – Roman slaves revolt. Intra-character conflict abounds.
Pirates of the Caribbean – Swashbuckling action-adventure, with magic
Revolution One day the power stops working, everywhere in the world. 15 years later…