Pop Culture Movies/TV... Reference for background; ADRPG

gabriel_ss4u · June 19, 2009, 12:18:17 AM

I wanted to start a thread for anyone to bring up or converse about movies or tv inspiration for things in their campaigns.
I have seen alot myself, (as any good GM should, not to knock Books & Comics at all, but that could be a whole 'nother thread, I just love the visuals), and I luv referencing stuff that would be great in storylines or just as campaign material.

Like Dark City, any Space movies/5th Element, etc. for space reference, much Anime that has given me inspiration, 3 Musketeers, Count of Monte Cristo, Last Samurai, Bourne/Bond, Riddick, Aliens/Predator/Underworld, BigTroubleinLittleChina/Kung Fu, whatevea.

I actually wanted to ask if anyone has seen these 2 movies.
They are awesome I hear, and suspect there is good magik/sorcery reference, and I am upset with myself for not seeing them since I found out about them last year. (it's a trilogy, but the last isn't done yet I think)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Watch_(2004_film)
&
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_Watch

Anyone seen 'em?

Feel free add any love of cinema that's influenced your Amber campaigns too.

jibbajibba · June 19, 2009, 04:13:56 AM

Quote from: gabriel_ss4u;309282I wanted to start a thread for anyone to bring up or converse about movies or tv inspiration for things in their campaigns.
I have seen alot myself, (as any good GM should, not to knock Books & Comics at all, but that could be a whole 'nother thread, I just love the visuals), and I luv referencing stuff that would be great in storylines or just as campaign material.

Like Dark City, any Space movies/5th Element, etc. for space reference, much Anime that has given me inspiration, 3 Musketeers, Count of Monte Cristo, Last Samurai, Bourne/Bond, Riddick, Aliens/Predator/Underworld, BigTroubleinLittleChina/Kung Fu, whatevea.

I actually wanted to ask if anyone has seen these 2 movies.
They are awesome I hear, and suspect there is good magik/sorcery reference, and I am upset with myself for not seeing them since I found out about them last year. (it's a trilogy, but the last isn't done yet I think)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Watch_(2004_film)
&
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_Watch

Anyone seen 'em?

Feel free add any love of cinema that's influenced your Amber campaigns too.

Books are better than the films Russian I think and Isn't the third one Dawn Watch? (twilight Watch one of those two) ..

gabriel_ss4u · June 19, 2009, 01:06:04 PM

3rd book is Twilight-Watch or Dawn-Watch but movie title may be 'Dusk'.
(prob. to keep it from being confused w/that teen vampire 90210 drama angst movie.)
I bet the books may be better, always hard to get so much into 2 hours visually. But that's what works for me, visuals, another reason I search DeviantArt.com
Great reference material.

gabriel_ss4u · June 19, 2009, 01:07:41 PM

accidental 2nd post

SunBoy · June 19, 2009, 01:25:03 PM

I've seen them. They mostly suck.

weilide · June 19, 2009, 01:34:23 PM

I saw the first movie. I found it overly bombastic without much to say. If I recall correctly, the director went on to do Wanted.

jibbajibba · June 19, 2009, 01:47:03 PM

Closest thing to Amber is probably Highlander. The first film I loved, but watching it now and let's be generous and say it does not age well. Movies 2 & 3 were dire.
The TV show was actually quite good once you put aside continuity links to the movies.

I think I have seen H-amber-lander mods out on the web some place

Croaker · June 19, 2009, 04:08:00 PM

Yup, I liked the tv show too, better in fact than the movies.

boulet · June 19, 2009, 04:43:36 PM

I like Night Watch and Day Watch. It isn't perfect, but the actors are so over the top in an entertaining way, it's a very icky type of fantasy (what Clive Barker's adaptations should have been) and it's set in Russia for a change! A gulp of oxygen compared to the average Hollywood vampire crap IMO.

As much as I liked them I really can't see how it relates to Amber though.

gabriel_ss4u · June 20, 2009, 09:01:00 PM

Sunboy, that's a weak comment, any reason?

I still wanna see them, I am a fan of kung fu & off the wall sci-fi/fantasy, so I think it will be good.
As for highlander 2 & 3, yeah, everyone on earth, and even that stupid other planet they made up the immortals come from, know those 2 movies sucked.

As to what it or any other movie anyone wants to chat about having to do with Amber; Well, visual reference (as I said) is cool for new descriptive ideas & such, it gives me motivation for storywriting and character creation sometimes.
I imagined I may find some tid-bit ideas for Chaos stuff from the movies I 1st referenced above.

Ya ever see a movie and it gave ya inspiration for a storyline/campaign background stuff?
That's what this thread is for.

Croaker · June 21, 2009, 02:19:37 AM

Ninja Scroll has very good and original ennemies, I know I directly ripped something from it, although I can't remember what

weilide · June 21, 2009, 10:58:14 PM

This isn't a pop-culture entry exactly but John Crowley has a superb list of books to read for innovative fantasy ideas.

SunBoy · June 22, 2009, 12:00:34 AM

Quote from: gabriel_ss4u;309551Sunboy, that's a weak comment, any reason?

Nah, not really. I didn't find them that terrible, I just didn't like them very much. They had some good stuff, like the wolf girl, and the opening scene on the first one, but I just didn't find them that entertaining.
Back on-t, I think the comic book "Books of Magic" had some great stuff, visually great characters and some cool ideas about magic. In the same vein, a little more vanilla, I love Harry Potter. And whatever was that fairly new movie with the polar bear warriors called? Golden Compass, or something? That was nice, too. Someone mentioned sometime ago here that Corwin's narrative had something of a noir feeling to it, so that can be good for atmosphere, and Asimov's novels are win, too.

gabriel_ss4u · June 22, 2009, 12:37:45 AM

Yes, ninja scroll was awesome and had great characters, the Demons of Timon (no, not Pumba's friend), were cool. (or perhaps it was Kimon)
If you get a chance, check out 'Basilisk' for more ninja anime ideas, and 'Trinity Blood', for a Chaos vs Amber type feel of situation. (church vs. vampires)
Vampire Hunter D is good for reference too.
'Paprika' is awesome for Tir or Sand/Delwin ideas.
I only saw 1/2 of it, but was blown away by the dream sequence ideas.

RPGPundit · June 23, 2009, 05:49:38 PM

I think that without a doubt the biggest non-amber influence on my Amber game was Highlander. Besides that, it was also the Cthulhu mythos (mostly for the courts of chaos), some of Zelazny's other works, the planar stuff for D&D, the RPGs Over the Edge and Continuum, and recently, the new Doctor Who with its kind of cosmic feel has been a pretty big influence. Dark things lurking, long build-ups of coming dread, evocative names like the Medusa Cascade, the Eye of Harmony, the Family of Blood, etc. (those three I literally used in my current campaign, none in the same sense they were used in Doctor Who, exactly).

RPGPundit