Snow is still piling up outside. It looks like a snowglobe. Big gobs of wet, white. Good snowball snow. I already was attack this morning in the parking lot by some of my co-workers. Luckily they were aiming at me. That's the safest place to be. They suck at throwing.
I know its Thursday, but I am off tomorrow and like any good GM I can wing it. So I'll dub today Friday.
If you had to pick one book or one movie that has influenced your gaming style what would it be?
Mine are the Theives World books. At least the first few. Black Company comes in a close second. I prefer the dark, low fantasy where a copper piece is a fortune to some. The inter-political struggles within organizations, the fantastic creatures of myth and legend are just on the outside of perception and the heroes tend to be unforgiving, brutal and in any other situation could easy be the bad guy.
So what's your most influential book or movie?
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Probably Robert E. Howard's tales of Conan. Hour of the Dragon (his only novel-length Conan story) has everything. But most of the stories can inspire me.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a favourite, but I remember W. G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn making a big impression. Looking back now, I can see it suits the way we play D&D very well.
ReplyDeleteI've played things in a lot of different modes, but my default fantasy style wouls probably be most inspired by Fritz Leiber's work, most specifically Swords Against Death.
ReplyDeleteMy movie is Your Highness. It's a great blend of comedy, swords, and sorcery.
ReplyDeleteMy book would be Joseph Conrad's Nostromo. Not only is it an awesome book, but it presents competing factions, dark mines, and hidden treasure with interesting characters. Everything I want my game to have.
I'd have to say Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series before it started extracting the urine around book 11....
ReplyDeleteJust one? Dune, I guess. Or else Thieves' World. It would be hard to choose between those.
ReplyDeleteFor movies, probably Conan the Barbarian. Or Dragonslayer. Maybe Ladyhawke. Damn, this "picking just one" thing is difficult.
Gah! I can think of so many others that deeply inform my gaming, from The Chessmen of Mars to the "Taarna" segment of Heavy Metal.
ReplyDeletePlus, different things affect different games that I've played. Alien has had more impact on my Traveller games than Conan the Barbarian (or even Dune), for example.
faoladh, we think much alike.
ReplyDeletekim numans dark future and vampire books i use in many genres - HPL, Clark Ashton Smith big for me but non fiction, Icelandic sagas and Herodotus are best fantasy sources you could read
ReplyDelete@ Digital Orc - Good call. Nostromo has a lot in common with Dune too. Scroll about halfway down this interview for Herbert's thinking on that.
ReplyDeleteDeed of Paksennarion! Granted, it does tend to read like a game report with narrative and more dialog thrown in (and I say this as a fan who has read the books multiple times).
ReplyDeleteThe Twilight Zone/Rod Serling
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I could really pick one. Some time ago, I really would have said Tolkien (and that certainly was the influence in my youth), but as my PbB campaign has unfolded, I don't think I see any real resemblance at all. I think I'm really just picking up a patchwork of influences dominated by whatever I happen to be reading or watching at any given moment.
ReplyDeleteMichael Moorcock's Elric books (lots of others, too). Movies have had less influence on my gaming, but maybe "Wizards."
ReplyDeleteBooks:
ReplyDeleteLOTR.. Elric..Shannara..Thieves World..
Movies:
Hawk the Slayer and other cheesy 80s fantasy movies..