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Fantasy Influences on Roleplaying Games
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Tim_Eagon
Posted 2013-04-17 8:23 PM (#4955)
Subject: Fantasy Influences on Roleplaying Games



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Posts: 46
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Fantasy and science fiction literature - especially sword & sorcery, planetary romance, and weird fiction - had a large influence on early roleplaying games, especially the granddaddy of them all, Dungeons & Dragons. Some of the earlier books included recommended reading lists, whose influences are still debated today (sometimes quite vociferously). My renewed interest in fantasy and science-fiction literature came about after reviewing Gary Gygax's Appendix N in the 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide last year. I thought that the Appendix N list, as well as Tom Moldvay's list from the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules, and Appendix 3 of the more recent Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide would be of interest to other posters on this board. Here are the lists, which intermix general author recommendations, as well as specific series and books:


Appendix N (1e AD&D DMG - 1979)

Anderson, Poul. Three Hearts and Three Lions; The High Crusade; The Broken Sword

Bellairs, John. The Face in the Frost

Brackett, Leigh.

Brown, Fredric.

Burroughs, Edgar Rice, Pellucidar series; Mars series; Venus series

Carter, Lin. "World's End" series

de Camp, L. Sprague. Lest Darkness Fall; Fallible Fiend; et al.

de Camp & Pratt. "Harold Shea" series; Carnelian Cube

Derleth, August.

Dunsany, Lord.

Farmer, P. J. "The World of the Tiers" series; et al.

Fox, Gardner. "Kothar" series; "Kyrik" series; et al.

Howard, R. E. "Conan" series

Lanier, Sterling. Hiero’s Journey

Leiber, Fritz. "Fafhrd & Gray Mouser" series; et al.

Lovecraft, H. P.

Merritt, A. Creep, Shadow, Creep; Moon Pool; Dwellers in the Mirage; et al.

Moorcock, Michael. Stormbringer; Stealer of Souls; "Hawkmoon" series (esp. the first three books)

Norton, Andre.

Offutt, Andrew J., editor. Swords Against Darkness III.

Pratt, Fletcher. Blue Star; et al.

St. Clair, Margaret. The Shadow People; Sign of the Labrys

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit; "Ring Trilogy"

Vance, Jack. The Eyes of the Overworld; The Dying Earth; et al.

Weinbaum, Stanley.

Wellman, Manly Wade.

Williamson, Jack.

Zelazny, Roger. Jack of Shadows; "Amber" series; et al.

 

 

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Tim_Eagon
Posted 2013-04-17 8:32 PM (#4956 - in reply to #4955)
Subject: RE: Fantasy Influences on Roleplaying Games



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Posts: 46
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Basic D&D Inspirational Source Material (1980) - I omitted the non-fiction resources

Fiction: Young Adult Fantasy
Alexander, Lloyd - The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, et al.
Baum, L. Frank - The Wizard of Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, The Land of Oz, et al.
Bellairs, John - The Face in the Frost, The House Without a Clock on its Walls, The Figure in the Shadows, et al.
Burroughs, Edgar Rice - A Princess of Mars, At the Earth's Core, Tarzan of the Apes, et al.
Carroll, Lewis - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass
Garner, Alan - Elidor, the Weirdstone of Brisingamen, The Moon of Gomrath, et al.
LeGuin, Ursula - A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, et al.
Lewis, CS - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, et al.

Fiction: Adult Fantasy
Anderson, Poul - Three Hearts and Three Lions, The Broken Sword, The Merman's Children, et al.
Anthony, Piers - A Spell for Chameleon, The Source of Magic, Castle Roogna
Asprin, Robert - Another Fine Myth
Brackett, Leigh - The Coming of the Terrans, The Secret on Sinharat, People of the Talisman, et al.
Campbell, J. Ramsey - Demons by Daylight
Davidson, Avram - The Island Under the Earth, Ursus of Ultima Thule, The Phoenix in the Mirror, et al.
de Camp, L. Sprague - The Fallible Fiend, The Goblin Tower, et al.
de Camp, L. Sprague and Pratt, Fletcher - The Incomplete Enchanter, Land of Unreason, et al.
Dunsany, Lord - Over the Hills and Far Away, The Book of Wonder, The King of Elfland's Daughter, et al.
Eddison, E. R. - The Worm Ouroborous
Eisenstein, Phyllis - Born to Exile, Sorcerer's Son
Farmer, Phillip Jose - The Gates of Creation, The Maker of Universes, A Private Cosmos, et al.
Finney, Charles G. - The Unholy City, The Circus of Dr. Lao
Heinlein, Robert A. - Glory Road
Howard, Robert E. - Conan, Red Nails, Pigeons from Hell
Lee, Tanith - Night's Master, The Storm Lord, The Birthgrave, et al.
Lieber, Fritz - The Swords of Lankhmar, Swords Against Wizardry, Swords Against Death, et al.
Lovecraft, H.P. - The Doom that Came to Sarnath, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, The Dunwich Horror
Merritt, A. E. - The Moon Pool, Dwellers in the Mirage, The Ship of Ishtar, et al.
Moorcock, Michael - The Stealer of Souls, The Knight of the Swords, Gloriana, et al.
Mundy, Talbot - Tros of Samothrace
Niven, Larry - The Flight of the Horse, The Magic Goes Away
Norton, Andre - Witch World, The Year of the Unicorn, The Crystal Gryphon, et al.
Offutt, Andrew - The Iron Lords, Shadows out of Hell
Pratt, Fletcher - The Blue Star, The Well of the Unicorn
Smith, Clark Ashton - Xiccarph, Lost Worlds, Genius Loci
Stewart, Mary - The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment
Stoker, Bram - Dracula
Swann, Thomas Burnett - Cry Silver Bells, The Tournament of the Thorns, Moondust, et al.
Tolkien, J.R.R. - The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings (Trilogy)
Vance, Jack - The Eyes of the Overworld, Dying Earth, The Dragon Masters, et al.
Wagner, Karl Edward - Bloodstone, Death Angel's Shadow, Dark Crusade, et al.
White, Theodore H. - The Once and Future King
Zelazny, Roger - Jack of Shadows, Lord of Light, Nine Princes in Amber, et al.

Some additional authors of fantasy fiction are:
Beagle, Peter S.
Bok, Hannes
Cabell, James Branch
Carter, Lin
Cherryh, C.J.
Delany, Samuel R.
Fox, Gardner
Gaskell, Jane
Green, Roland
Haggard, H. Rider
Jakes, John
Kurtz, Katherine
Lanier, Sterling
McCaffery, Anne
McKillip, Patricia A.
Moore, C.L.
Myers, John
Peake, Mervyn
Saberhagen, Fred
Walton, Evangeline
Wellman, Manly Wade
Williamson, Jack

Short Story Collections
Carter, Lin (ed) - The Year's Best Fantasy Stories (in several volumes), Flashing Swords (also in several volumes)
Offutt, Andrew (ed) - Swords Against Darkness (in several volumes)

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Tim_Eagon
Posted 2013-04-17 8:37 PM (#4957 - in reply to #4955)
Subject: RE: Fantasy Influences on Roleplaying Games



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Posts: 46
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Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide (2010)

Alighieri, Dante: The Divine Comedy

Barker, Clive: The Hellbound Heart, Imagica, Weaveworld

Barlowe, Wayne: God’s Demon

Beowulf (anonymous)

Blackwood, Algernon: “The Willows,” “The Wendigo,” et al.

Brackett, Leigh: The Sword of Rhiannon, Skaith series, et al.

Burroughs, Edgar Rice: Pellucidar, Mars, and Venus series

Campbell, Ramsey: Ryre the Swordsman series, et al.

Carter, Lin: ed. The Year’s Best Fantasy, Flashing Swords

Clarke, Susanna: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

Cook, Glen: Black Company series

Cook, Hugh: Chronicles of an Age of Darkness series

Dunsany, Lord: The King of Elfland’s Daughter, et al.

Epic of Gilgamesh (traditional)

Farmer, Philip José: World of Tiers series, et al.

Feist, Raymond: Riftwar saga, et al.

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm: Grimm’s Fairy Tales

Gygax, Gary: Gord the Rogue series, et al.

Homer: The Odyssey

Howard, Robert E.: Conan series, Almuric, et al.

Hugo, Victor: Les Misérables

King, Stephen: Dark Tower series, et al.

Kuttner, Henry: Elak of Atlantis, The Dark World

James, M. R.: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary

Le Fanu, Sheridan: In a Glass Darkly

Leiber, Fritz: Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser series, et al.

Lovecraft, H. P.: Cthulhu Mythos tales, et al.

Machen, Arthur: “The White People,” et al.

Malory, Sir Thomas: Le Morte d’Arthur

Martin, George R. R.: Song of Ice and Fire series

Merritt, A.: The Ship of Ishtar, The Moon Pool, et al.

Miéville, China: Bas-Lag series

Moorcock, Michael: Elric and Kane of Old Mars series, et al.

Moore, Alan: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, et al.

Moore, C. L.: Black God’s Kiss

Morgan, Richard: The Steel Remains

Offutt, Andrew J.: ed. Swords Against Darkness

One Thousand and One Nights (traditional)

Ovid: Metamorphoses

Poe, Edgar Allan: “The Fall of the House of Usher,” et al.

Rosenberg, Joel: Guardians of the Flame, et al.

The Ramayana (traditional)

Saberhagen, Fred: Changeling Earth, et al.

Saunders, Charles: Imaro series, et al.

Sapkowski, Andrzej: The Witcher series

Shahnameh (traditional)

Shakespeare, William: Macbeth, et al.

Simmons, Dan: Hyperion series, The Terror, et al.

Smith, Clark Ashton: Averoigne and Zothique tales, et al.

Sturluson, Snorri: Prose Edda

Stephenson, Neal: The Baroque Cycle

Stoker, Bram: Dracula, Lair of the White Worm, et al.

Tolkien, J. R. R.: The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit

Vance, Jack: Dying Earth series, et al.

Verne, Jules: Journey to the Center of the Earth, et al.

Wagner, Karl Edward: Kane series, ed. Echoes of Valor

Wellman, Manly Wade: John the Balladeer series, et al.

Wells, H. G.: The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, et al.

Wilde, Oscar: The Picture of Dorian Gray 

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htaccess
Posted 2013-07-12 10:55 PM (#5426 - in reply to #4955)
Subject: Re: Fantasy Influences on Roleplaying Games



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Posts: 207
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There are also a bunch of games based directly on books eg:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stormbringer_%28role-playing_game%29

and there are also a bunch of books based directly on games eg:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonlance

Add comics and video games and even the NSA will find it hard to map all the cross pollination between these.
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