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Top 10 game-influencing non-game writers.

Started by Dominus Nox, March 18, 2007, 06:19:46 PM

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Pierce Inverarity

#15
March 18, 2007, 09:04:25 PM
Not meaning to derail, but... as I was trying to come up with a Top Ten I realized that no writer has ever influenced my gaming directly. Weird. I had been gaming for 15 years before I read my first fantasy novel. (I also don't recall ever seeing a fantasy movie besides Conan, Excalibur and LotR, and no fantasy TV show at all.) Maybe RPGs, or some RPGs, are far more self-sufficient than one usually thinks.
Ich habe mir schon sehr lange keine Gedanken mehr über Bleistifte gemacht.--Settembrini

stu2000

#16
March 18, 2007, 09:38:17 PM
Unknown Armies is kinda the Tim Powers rpg. Over the Edge is kinda the William S Burroughs rpg.

Seabury Quinn has had a huge impact on my horror scenarios. Not so much with the character of Jules De Grandin, but with his odd,  haphazard stories that can shoot off in any direction at any time. Writers call it erratic and uneven, gamers call it unpredictable and engaging.

Otherwise, I like the usual suspects:
H P Lovecraft
R E Howard
H G Wells
Jules Verne
Jack Vance
A C Doyle
H Rider Haggard
Dashiel Hammett
Mickey Spillane

That's something like ten.
Employment Counselor: So what do you like to do outside of work?
Oblivious Gamer: I like to play games: wargames, role-playing games.
EC: My cousin killed himself because of role-playing games.
OG: Jesus, what was he playing? Rifts?
--Fear the Boot

David R

#17
March 18, 2007, 09:40:30 PM
Quote from: stu2000Unknown Armies is kinda the Tim Powers rpg. Over the Edge is kinda the William S Burroughs rpg.


FATAL I suppose is kinda of like Caligula...:eek: :D

Regards,
David R

stu2000

#18
March 18, 2007, 09:49:43 PM
QuoteFATAL I suppose is kinda of like Caligula...  

Well--I was going to use it for a campaign based on the collected works of the Brionte sisters, but I like your idea better . . . :)
Employment Counselor: So what do you like to do outside of work?
Oblivious Gamer: I like to play games: wargames, role-playing games.
EC: My cousin killed himself because of role-playing games.
OG: Jesus, what was he playing? Rifts?
--Fear the Boot

flyingmice

#19
March 18, 2007, 10:02:16 PM
1: C. J. Cherryh
2: Larry Niven
3: Patrick O'Brian
4: David Brin
5: C. S. Forester
6: Poul Anderson
7: Jack Vance
8: S. J. Sterling
9: Elizabeth Moon
10: Dashiell Hammet

-clash
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Sigmund

#20
March 18, 2007, 10:43:53 PM
GRR Martin
Tolkien
Moorcock
Lieber
William Gibson
TH White
Raymond Feist
Ian Fleming
Donald Hamilton
James Ellroy
- Chris Sigmund

Old Loser

"I\'d rather be a killer than a victim."

Quote from: John Morrow;418271I role-play for the ride, not the destination.

GRIM

#21
March 19, 2007, 05:55:22 AM
Quote from: Dominus NoxI salute your taste for mentioning A.E. Van Vogt. What was your favorite book of his? Voyage of the space beagel or the weapon shops of isher?

More The Anarchistic Collossus or Supermind or The Silkie.

Honestly I read way to much to make a list so I just slammed down the first ten that came to mind.
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lev_lafayette

#22
March 19, 2007, 06:53:09 AM
Quote from: Dominus NoxOk, name 10 writers who weren't gamers/game writers but hwo's work influenced gaming in general and/or yours in particular.

Obviously J.R.R. Tolkein has to be at the top of any such list.

As much as Gary Gygax denied it to the nth degree ;-)

Gaming in General

1. J.R.R. Tolkien
2. Robert E. Howard
3. Terry Nation (hello, Traveller!)
4. H.P. Lovecraft
5. William Gibson
6. Michael Moorcock
7.  Sir Thomas Mallory
8. George Lucas
9. Alexandre Dumas
10. William S. Burroghs

My Gaming

1. Erich Auerbach (OK, analysis of several authors)
2. Joseph Campbell
3. Bruce Sterling, Rudy Rucker (and Ray Kurzweil)
4. various stories in Lévi-Strauss' 'Structural Anthroplogy'
5. Homer
6. J.R.R. Tolkien
7. The various authors of the Bible, the Koran and various "sacred texts"
8. Hippocrates/Aristotle/Galen (humour theory)
9. William S. Burroghs
10. William Shakespeare

Honourable mention to Elias Lonnrot (Kalevala) in both categories

One Horse Town

#23
March 19, 2007, 07:15:01 AM
I'm just going to list writers that have influenced my games, as opposed to gaming in general.

In no particular order:

Stephen Donaldson (used some badies in an ad&d campaign. Was going to use the setting of the second trilogy for a game, but never got round to it)
David Gemmel (themes of heroic sacrifice).
Robert Jordan (ran a long running ad&d campaign using this world)
Michael Moorcock (played Stormbringer for ages in the late 80s, early 90s. WFRP)
Peter F Hamilton (Was planning to use the technology eating powers of the baddies in a traveller game. Never got round to it).
William Hope Hodgeson (Out Lovecrafts, Lovecraft IMO)
Tim Powers (wierd shit in the modern day. CoC or UA)
Mr. Tolkien (MERP for ages, nearly every other gaming standard out there)
Glen Cook (Gritty stuff for WFRP)
Barbara Hambly (Love the Dark trilogy. Had great plans for an ad&d/CoC campaign dealing with the rise of the Dark and eldritch terror. Never got round to it).

There are probably a few more, but that'll do for now. :)

EDIT: Oops. Looks loke this should have been in the other thread. I'll cross post it.

Calithena

#24
March 19, 2007, 08:39:49 AM
Jack Vance is not mentioned in every post on this thread, so I'll mention him here.
Looking for your old-school fantasy roleplaying fix? Don't despair...Fight On!

Consonant Dude

#25
March 19, 2007, 09:31:09 AM
Good lists. Most of the obvious names have already been named but there is one omission that stands out to me:

Anne Rice

The rest, I would mostly repeat what others have said (Tolkien, Leiber, Howard, etc...)
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