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.
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) ..
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.
accidental 2nd post
I've seen them. They mostly suck.
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.
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
Yup, I liked the tv show too, better in fact than the movies.
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.
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.
Ninja Scroll has very good and original ennemies, I know I directly ripped something from it, although I can't remember what
This isn't a pop-culture entry exactly but John Crowley has a superb list (http://crowleycrow.livejournal.com/38862.html) of books to read for innovative fantasy ideas.
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.
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.
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
Good one Pundit, I'm an old Doctor Who fan from back in the day, (got a personalized letter from Tom Baker back in the late 70's.)
I use Dune, StarWars, Resident evil & zombies, Pirates (for sea-going folk), Aliens, Predator, Riddick, Count of Monte Cristo & Dangerous Liaisons (for feel & style), Underworld, D&D & DragonLance (movie & cartoon sucked, but they are main reference in their original form , but this is a movie thread), and tons of awesome anime.
Quote from: gabriel_ss4u;310235(got a personalized letter from Tom Baker back in the late 70's.)
You're my new idol.
Cool, I need a new scanner so's I can scan it! (I'm such a nerd, I used to wear a loooong scarf from 7th grade to 9th, needless to say, I didn't talk to chics 'til 10th grade, LOL)
Well! I hardly think the RPGsite is the appropriate forum for nerdiness….
Quote from: gabriel_ss4u;310235Good one Pundit, I'm an old Doctor Who fan from back in the day, (got a personalized letter from Tom Baker back in the late 70's.)
Yeah? Well, I was with the Filipino Army in the final assault on Rekjavik.
RPGPundit
I have just finished reading The Traveler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Traveler_(novel)) and I thought this had some sort of Amber vibe.
I am now planning a campaign where the Harlequins are all offspring of Elder Amberites as are the Travelers, the latter of whom have a limited shadow-path capability.
The Brethren are out to track down anyone who has knowledge of Shadow realms, so they can discover a way to travel themselves and ,maybe takedown Amber (I haven't thought that far ahead yet - the ideas are just forming).
Anyway, there we go.
I had a group out of Shadow of magi that discovered the pathways thru the Broken PAttern and tried to create a Shadow-traversing group, unfortunately, they were brought down pretty hard by House Minobee of Chaos. (they are the 'border guards' to many important shadow realms IMC)
I saw an episode of "Evereybody Loves Raymond"
My brother & uncle love that show, I've seen a few, eeh.
Last night I saw one that made me think of Amber.
"Favors" 2006
I find the 'mother-in-law living across the street' extremely funny, but this episode she had Ray's wife in her palm, owed favor's from one character to the other, and there was a real Amber feel going on.
If you ever run across it, or torrent download it, you'll love it for it's Amberesque plotting.
The mother-in-law from that show would make a good castle NPC.
...and another.
"Little Girl Lost" Twilight Zone episode 1962.
There is a Twilight Zone marathon this weekend, this episode had definate 'Trump' feel to it.
Parents could hear their daughter in her bedroom, but not see her. They had to breach the wall upon which a 'gateway' was drawn with chalk... leading to another dimension.
Tonight was; "OK hunny, let's watch the scary movie you like" night.
Her pick was Wishmaster 4.
Anyone ever use the Djinn in any Amber scenarios as gamemaster?
Not since "Rosencrantz & Gildenstern are Dead" have i enjoyed such a good banter of words in a conversation based movie.
"Mindwalk" 1990
featuring Sam Waterson, John Heard, and Liv Ullmann as a Politician, a poet, & a scientist, respectively, talking on a French island.
Verbal fencing and postulating abounds and is reminiscent of Amber style intellect.
I KNOW Weilde would absolutely love this movie with it's quotes and quips.
Let me know if you've seen it...
It's on Showtime tonight
Mindwalk is an interesting movie and mirrors some type of conversations between Amberites. I think Mont Saint Michel (the French island where Mindwalk was shot) is an interesting source to visualize aspects of Amber geography and architecture.
Mont St Michel is great but surely the best fencing dialogue is in Ocean's 11 between Clooney and Roberts.
I mean, 'I stopped doing that.' 'What stealing?' 'No lying about it.'.... genius
Malcom in the Middle.
A funny sitcom about a dysfunctional family.
episode; "New Neighbors" 1991
When new neighbors move in next door, the family hurries to become friends w/them before all the other neighbors give the dirty lowdown on Malcom's family, & keep them from 'swimming pool use' @ the neighbor's.
Never thinking this family could be worse, they blunder into chaos.
Partway though, Reece, who never out thinks anyone, comes up with this idea;
"...Fued! ... That's what we need, a feud! A common enemy to help us hone our skills and pit our abilities against, & draw us closer as a family."
(or something like that)
I was left thinking of various Amber plots & scenarios...
I love Malcolm :)
The Lion in Winter. Check it out.
The 1968 version with Katharine Hepburn & Peter O'Toole (actually, this just begins the star studded list of cast) is superior to the most recent remake with Glenn Close & Patrick Stewart. But, both versions have merit and are fantastic atmosphere movies in respect to "The Family Game" and Amber.
Lion in Winter is definitely good inspiration. So is "I, Claudius", if I haven't mentioned it already in this thread...
RPGPundit
I like these when it comes to Amber :
Barefoot in Athens (Peter Ustinov as Socrates)
Hamlet (Branagh's version)
Othelo (Laurence Fishbourne)
Election (Johnnie To)
.....argh, too many to name !
Regards,
David R
This may be a little weird, but I just saw "Silence of the Lambs" again yesterday, and Hannibal Lecter would make such a great amberite... the way the man has to lead every exchange to his own field, to make everyone play by his rules... it's just excellent. I sort of picture him as a good Oberon, or maybe a really sinister Dworkin or Suhuy (and then you can believe the man-eating part, too).
Good call Sunboy. At least it's a nice source for roleplaying our favorite arrogant bastards.
Quote from: SunBoy;332399This may be a little weird, but I just saw "Silence of the Lambs" again yesterday, and Hannibal Lecter would make such a great amberite... the way the man has to lead every exchange to his own field, to make everyone play by his rules... it's just excellent. I sort of picture him as a good Oberon, or maybe a really sinister Dworkin or Suhuy (and then you can believe the man-eating part, too).
Interesting in my head when I used to cast the Amber movie I would make when I was older I was oft times torn between Connery or Hopkins to play Oberon, obviously with Oliver Reed as Ganelon.
I just finished reading Neal Stephenson's Anathem. Getting too specific would be a big-time spoiler but suffice it to say there is interesting talk regarding probability, the many-worlds hypothesis, and the like, that translates marvelously to the ADRPG.
Also, the TV show dollhouse is good for ideas that could be applied with some modification to Pattern / Logrus ghosts.
I forget if someone already mentioned it, but House of Saddam, the miniseries about the Hussein family, would be very good inspirational material.
RPGPundit
Just watched Hellboy 2 . Some really quite nice amber bits in there obviously more Chaosite than Amber....
Quote from: RPGPundit;338155I forget if someone already mentioned it, but House of Saddam, the miniseries about the Hussein family, would be very good inspirational material.
RPGPundit
"I did... what was necessary. The man who can sacrifice even his best friend is the man without weakness. In the eyes of my enemies, I am stronger now."That's an Amberite in the making, right there. Of course, he went batshit insane later, writing the Qur'an with his own blood... :hmm:
Quote from: SunBoy;332399This may be a little weird, but I just saw "Silence of the Lambs" again yesterday, and Hannibal Lecter would make such a great amberite... the way the man has to lead every exchange to his own field, to make everyone play by his rules... it's just excellent. I sort of picture him as a good Oberon, or maybe a really sinister Dworkin or Suhuy (and then you can believe the man-eating part, too).
I had thought of him (Hopkins) as the pinnacle for Butler in Castle Kolvier, as seen in "Remains of the Day"
I watched Gremlins in passing, yet again (may be the movie I've seen the most times next to Wizard of Oz), and with Halloween here, it got me thinking.
Has anyone has any creatures in gameplay that have amounted to chaotic eruption about Amber due to some little varmit or troublemaking clan of creatures wreking havok on the town or castle?
Quote from: RPGPundit;310040some of Zelazny's other works
That one bears repeating and, in case anyone missed it in the midst of the list of other recommendations that Pundit provided, I thought I'd repeat it.
The thing about Zelazny is that he frequently reused the same essential protagonist. The Corwinesque, wisecracking cynic with hints of a deeper motivation is repeated time and again in Zelazny's other works, and many of the situations in which this recurring character finds himself would work well in Amber. Top of the list would probably be Lord of Light since it essentially contains the same family set up. There are also all sorts of useful hints at the way some of the less well defined elements of Amber might operate in other works. Mana from Heaven (the short story, as distinct from Manna from Heaven, the compilation of short stories containing Mana), for example, contains a detailed summary of how sorcery in the Mana setting works which could be lifted almost completely and dropped into Amber, complete with hung spells, lynchpins and the like.
The other thing to consider are those books which Corwin and others reference themselves, some of which have been mentioned on this thread already. Within just Nine Princes Corwin directly mentions Moby Dick, The Count of Monte Cristo and quotes Shakespeare several times. There are probably more that I've forgotten. Zelazny himself was exceedingly well and diversely read and brought a lot of that to his own work.
He was a real renaissance man. Aside from literary/theater references, he also put a lot of his hobbies into the books. You can tell the moment Zelazny started seriously getting into fencing, when he started seriously getting into samurai stuff, and when he seriously started getting into smoking a pipe, because in each of these cases his characters/narrative in the Amber novels start showing that.
RPGPundit
I was watching the end 1/2 of 'The Princess Bride', an excellent movie, as I'm sure anyone who has seen it, would agree.
But THIS time, I caught something I never noticed the other dozen times I've seen it.
Perhaps it was because i was just thinking of Amber stuff, but I noticed Prince Humperdink was clothed in Bley's colors. (the scene he's in before the wedding scene.) A nice Orange Red & Yellow styled outfit, much like the one Bleys wore in his trump, just different pattern.
Just thought I'd mention it.
As you wish...
The Princess Bride is likely tied for my favourite movie ever (I have a Y chromosome, but I'm such a girl :P) In addition to being a fantastic film, it is also an excellent source for glib one-liner quotes. Try Googling "quotes" +"Princess Bride" sometime!
The cliff-face fencing scene is even a fun example of DRPG combat if you twist things around to two players: each rationalizing their way to an advantage. :)
"I'm not left-handed, either!"
yes... a VERY good movie; the Princess Bride.
Yrs. ago, when it was out, I had not seen it, and all the sword-fighters in my group started telling me about it. They were so animated & excited, repeating all the lines...I think I knew every line before I got to see it.
"The Cliffs of Insanity!!!"
"Does anybody want a peanut?"
"Iocane powder, I bet my life on it!"
"I swear it shall be done."
"Truly you have a dizzying intellect..." / "Just wait til I get started!"
"Who are you? I must know." / "Get used to disappointment."
"Bye bye kiddies, have fun storming the castle."
"I'll call the Brute Squad!" / "I'm on the Brute Squad" / "You ARE the Brute Squad!"
"There are a shortage of perfect breasts in the world, would be a pity to damage yours..."
etc.... etc...
Barely a gaming session goes by without someone quoting from The Princess Bride. For us it's up there with the likes of Monty Python, Withnail & I and The Order of the Stick as an obvious source of good, vaguely gaming related quotes.
Thor is about to come out soon on the big screen.
Has anyone ever used the Thor Character or Mythology in their campaign?
(I have used Thor AS an Amberite son of Oberon from eons past in a story)
Almost.
There was an Amber scenario in a french magazine which used Fenrir as a kind of Unicorn-like beastie, with his own descendants.
So, first, I played this game.
Then, a while later, I had a story inspired by a Thor comics, featuring the Casquet of Ancient winters. I used this, and linked this to the Fenrir story, engulfing the universe (save the utmost reaches of Chaos) into Finbulvinter.
And thus ended my campain, with Brand, his son and Fenrir ruling over a frozen universe.
Not Thor, but pretty soon (relatively speaking) Zeus, Athena, Ares, Poseidon, etc...
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPundit;441110Not Thor, but pretty soon (relatively speaking) Zeus, Athena, Ares, Poseidon, etc...
RPGPundit
Don't forget Percy Jackson!
Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quote from: croaker;444472noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Scream all you want. It will happen. Somebody will post stats for Percy Jackson and his amazing friends on the internet within a day or two after Lords of Olympus becomes available.Face the inevitable.
Quote from: Lorrraine;445011Scream all you want. It will happen. Somebody will post stats for Percy Jackson and his amazing friends on the internet within a day or two after Lords of Olympus becomes available.Face the inevitable.
May the Gods haunt them till the End of Time ;)
Quote from: Lorrraine;445011Scream all you want. It will happen. Somebody will post stats for Percy Jackson and his amazing friends on the internet within a day or two after Lords of Olympus becomes available.Face the inevitable.
I certainly fucking hope so.
RPGPundit
Having recently seen ,,The Kings Jester'', I recommend it as great inspiration for a funny amberesque session. Its campy and requiers some patience during the beginning, but it sure reward with the plotting, and the dialogue is rather witty too. At one moment the main character gets vital cues from the multiple participants of six schemes he plays the main role in, while swooning over a girl. He naturally registers none of them. It's mostly a deconstruction and a good start for a newcomer in Amber.
Regarding Lords of Olympus, the internet will probably shoot out other movie conversions quite rapidly. A lot of movie material fits the greek mileage lately; Troy, Clash of the titans or even 300(even if it will probably be usefull for visuall reference, not the story:)
just saw an old (not OLD, just old) episode of Dr. Who
Fear her, 2005
Tennant
it was about a little girl making drawings and capturing people through them, also crating things from them... great Trump reference for ideas.
For the record, by the way, I've never actually read a percy jackson book, or watched the film. But people who've read the manuscript for LoO and do have knowledge of that series tell me that it would be unbelievably easy to use it run a Percy Jackson game using Lords of Olympus.
RPGPundit
yeah, they r just little god-ling offspring, like the Amber series... fits right in.
Just saw "Your Majesty"
Fuckin' Funny!, sounds like an PRG fer sure.
Also caught Thor finally, great visuals and it spawned a few ideas to.. good job Marvel, keep them coming, i know u will
The Lion in Winter's been mentioned already.
The James Caveziel version of The Count of Monte Cristo has some delightful deadpan dialogue that would be in place in Amber.
The Kirk Douglas version of Spartacus has some excellent scenes where people plot and scheme, and the "snails-and-oysters" dialogue is a mastery of innuendo.
D'Artagnan's Daughter is an interesting look at how older Scions of Amber might react to one of their children taking up the family business.
Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne series of fantasy stories has so much in common with Amber it was almost certainly a source of inspiration for Zelazny.
Quote from: Trevelyan;341968That one bears repeating and, in case anyone missed it in the midst of the list of other recommendations that Pundit provided, I thought I'd repeat it.
The thing about Zelazny is that he frequently reused the same essential protagonist. The Corwinesque, wisecracking cynic with hints of a deeper motivation is repeated time and again in Zelazny's other works, and many of the situations in which this recurring character finds himself would work well in Amber. Top of the list would probably be Lord of Light since it essentially contains the same family set up.
Creatures of Light and Darkness is a good idea source as well. It may lack a Corwinesque protagonist, but the use of the Egyptian pantheon is well done. And the story does have "The Agnostics Prayer" which is a stroke of genius.
Quote from: Trevelyan;341968The other thing to consider are those books which Corwin and others reference themselves, some of which have been mentioned on this thread already. Within just Nine Princes Corwin directly mentions Moby Dick, The Count of Monte Cristo and quotes Shakespeare several times. There are probably more that I've forgotten. Zelazny himself was exceedingly well and diversely read and brought a lot of that to his own work.
I've been trying to take a Zelazny like approach to building my campaign. In that, I've been looking to literary classics for the genesis of Shadows that will figure heavily into the story line.
For example, I've been working on including Osric IMC. I'm using Howl by Alan Ginsberg as inspiration for the Shadow ruled by Osric and his Sons.
The Shadow is called Moloch.
Osric has three sons named Ginsberg, Cassidy, and Solomon.
Haven't got much further then that, but you get the idea.
Quote from: daniel_ream;482009The James Caveziel version of The Count of Monte Cristo has some delightful deadpan dialogue that would be in place in Amber.
"I find that smuggling is the life for me, and would be delighted to kill your friend the maggot!"