Damn but I loved the fighting fantasy game books, too. Lovely atmosphere in them, with those great illustrations and death around every corner...

Peter Englund's Ofredsår (Years of War) and Den Oövervinnerlige (The Invincible), which are about 17th Century Sweden. Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror would be obligatory too. Desmond Seward's War of the Roses is a good read too.

Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Vance's Dying Earth stuff.

Skyrim. Lord of the Rings Online.

Quote from: RunningLaser;721775David Gemmell's books would be in there.

DEFINITELY agree with this.  I found his fantasy books when I was almost out of gaming completely, and they pulled me back in to the whole mess.

My Appendix N are those things that inspired me in the early days of gaming, not necessarily now.  Things I watched as a kid that first decade of gaming that got me into gaming so much.  As mentioned, these are the media I was exposed to, so that's why I have movies rather than the book version.


From the other thread:


My Appendix N that inspired my early D&D days consists of a lot of things that would never make that back of the book

* Animated movies from the 70s and early 80s (Hobbit, LOTR, Bakshi's Wizards, Flight of Dragons, Last Unicorn, Watership Down, Black Cauldron, Heavy Metal, Secret of Nymh, Dark Crystal)
* regular fantasy movies (both Conan movies (the destroyer is still in my mind THE D&D movie), Dragonslayer, Sword and the Sorcerer, Krull, Black Hole, Beastmaster, Excalibur, All the Harryhausen movies [Sinbad, Clash of the Titans, etc], Time Bandits, Quest for the Holy Grail, Ladyhawke, Big Trouble in Little China, Willow, and the Princess Bride)
* Comics (Groo is #1 by far  ), The Adventurers, Elfquest, The Realm


Most books I read were ones from the library regarding fables, myths, and that sort. Those were my favorite. Fantasy authors were primarily Terry Brooks, Lloyd Alexander, and Weis&Hickman.  It wasn't until I was a late teen or adult before I read Lieber, Howard, Lovecraft, Salvatore, etc.

The first homebrew rpg I ever designed was based on Groo the Wanderer. Great comic. Perhaps the only comic that Im pretty much garunteed to find some laugh out loud moments in every issue.

Sword & the Sorcerer will always hold a special place in my heart.  My folks took me to see that movie when I was 9.  Far too young for me to be there, but my folks made a special exception for all the kids  since it was the first movie my uncle, a budding stuntman, was in.  He was one of the guys who was eaten by rats in the tunnel:)

In chronological order:

• D'Aulaire's books of myths
• Conan comics
• Sinbad movies
• Lord of the Rings movie (Bakshi)
• The artwork in the Holmes basic book
• Early TSR and Judges Guild adventures
• Trampier artwork
• Lord of the Rings and the The Hobbit
• Epic and Heavy Metal magazines
• Paul Jaquays
• Excalibur (Boorman)
• Moorcock's Eternal Champion series
• Conan movie
• The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson
• Fafhrd and Grey Mouser books by Fritz Leiber
• Arak comics
• Nift the Lean by Michael Shea
• Dying Earth series by Jack Vance

It's worth noting all of those influences were in place by the time I was 12 or 13, and that I haven't really had anything influence my fantasy RPGs since. I find most fantasy novels absolute trash, and movies are never as cool as the stuff I conjure in my mind. So since I was a teenager, anything creative has come from my own imagination.

Trying to narrow down to a few biggest influences is not easy, but here goes:

The Thousand Nights and a Night
Greek Mythology
E.R. Burroughs
Lord Dunsany
P.J. Farmer
R.E. Howard
T. Lee
C.S. Lewis
F. Leiber
A. Merritt
M. Moorcock
A. Norton
C.A. Smith
J. Vance
A.E. Van Vogt
K.E. Wagner
R. Zelazny

In the past, for fantasy, and in no particular order:

Robert E Howard  (Conan mostly)
H.P. Lovecraft  (Mostly the stuff that Conan might be able to kill)
Michael Moorcock  (Elric stuff mostly)
The Dark Crystal
LotR et al.  (with caveats)
The Once and Future King
Star Wars

I read Conan and Elric before I read Tolkien.  As much as I love Tolkien, and I do, I'm much more influenced by the previous two than Tolkien.  And I came to Lovecraft through Conan.

I also read a lot of science fiction, though I don't recall much of it being a direct influence.

Much later, the Black Company series has had a great impact.

Quote from: TristramEvans;721729As requested, what books, comics, videogames, films or plays have had the biggest influence on your gaming? Specifically what inspires your fantasy?

Anime/Manga:

Avatar: The Last Airbender (although it might not qualify, depending upon who you ask)
Cowboy Bebop
Sword Art Online

Video Games:

Dragon Age series
Final Fantasy series, particularly 6 and 9
Legend of Zelda
Persona 3
Tales of Vesperia

I'm surprised that people are mentioning so few gaming products here. The snake has been eating its own tail for a long time and while that can be annoying, a lot of the best inspiration for my own games has come from stuff written specifically for gaming even though I use my own setting as I steal everything that's interesting and plug it in.

Quote from: Daztur;722030I'm surprised that people are mentioning so few gaming products here. The snake has been eating its own tail for a long time and while that can be annoying, a lot of the best inspiration for my own games has come from stuff written specifically for gaming even though I use my own setting as I steal everything that's interesting and plug it in.

The BECMI & 2e era art has always remained a big inspiration for me, for sure.

As have these games, of course.

Rolemaster, too, and MERP, and CoC and CP2020.

Quote from: The Ent;722057The BECMI & 2e era art has always remained a big inspiration for me, for sure.

As have these games, of course.

Rolemaster, too, and MERP, and CoC and CP2020.

For me it was Bill Willingham, with his art from B/X.  Some of the first art I saw, and made a definite impression.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;722064For me it was Bill Willingham, with his art from B/X.  Some of the first art I saw, and made a definite impression.

I suppose Elmore fills that role for me.

Quote from: The Ent;722066I suppose Elmore fills that role for me.

For me there just isn't anything like Tony DiTerlizzi that will always be what D&D looks like to me.