When it comes to Character Design and World Building, do you find you turn to certain books and/or movies for ideas?
What are you reading and/or watching for inspiration?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
INSPIRATIONS:Clark Ashton Smith, Mervyn Peake, Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, M. John Harrison, Gene Wolfe, Steven Brust, Terry Pratchett, China Miéville.
Character and world inspiration are vastly different, and plot inspiration is another animal as well.
Best for world building are other invented worlds. My favorites are Middle Earth, Earthsea, and the unnamed colony world in Lord of Light.
Best for character building are lyrics. My favorites are The Be Good Tanyas, The Indigo Girls, and any of the English Romantic or Victorian poets.
Best for plots? I can't generalize, although I can tell you I love to adapt The Warriors to any system. I've also had good luck with The Divine Comedy and with stealing the Clan Invasion from Battletech's future history.
Discworld has inspired the flavor for a lot of my campaigns, no matter the setting. Its soft magic system and the way it describes the way magic affects the user and the world have helped me solidify plots that sound reasonable despite not being mechanically backed up by the game. Plus it's just a very funny world that focusses on subverting fantasy tropes, so i just steal vibes from it all the time.
Burn Notice. We really enjoy heists and capers with lots of intrigue at my table. I often think "What would Michael Westen do?" when we are brainstorming.
One book I really enjoyed reading, and I think really helped me with a lot of worldbuilding is a book called the phantom tollbooth. It's certainly an odd book, and not really related to fantasy in any way, but reading through it gave me a lot of really unique ideas. I would definitely recommend it, as it's not a hard read, but really makes you think about some things. I think after reading it my creative view was expanded a lot.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Quokkas are objectively the best animal, anyone who disagrees needs a psychiatric evaluation
It's not unusual for my characters and worlds to borrow from Jack Vance (The Dying Earth, The Eyes of the Overworld, Cugel’s Saga, and Rhialto the Marvellous); China Miéville (Perdido Street Station); M. John Harrison (Viriconium); Mervyn Peake (Titus Groan, Gormenghast); Clark Ashton Smith (the Hyperborea, Poseidonis, Averoigne, and Zothique tales); Lord Dunsany; Gene Wolfe (The Book of the New Sun); Michael Moorcock (The War Hound and the World's Pain, The City in the Autumn Stars, and more); and Fritz Leiber (the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories).
I don't watch too many movies but things like Excalibur, Fire and Ice, and Conan the Barbarian were influences when I first started playing.
Song titles that make perfect names for elements of setting have also made their way into my games.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
INSPIRATIONS:Clark Ashton Smith, Mervyn Peake, Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, M. John Harrison, Gene Wolfe, Steven Brust, Terry Pratchett, China Miéville.
Books:J.R.R. Tolkein, David Eddings, Robert R Jordan, Ann Mccaffrey , Piers Anthony, Glen Cook,Terry Brooks, Allan Dean Foster, Charles Dickens, Alexander Dumas
Movies&TV: Legend, The Beastmaster, The Neverending Story, Excalibur, Conan the barbarian, Conan the Destroyer, Red Sonja, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,The Crow, Labrynth, Mr and Mrs Smith, Kingdom of Heavan, Three Musketeers, Robin Hood (many many versions), the John Wick series of movies. Dark Matter, Star Gate, Altered Carbon
Anime: Berzerk,Record of Loddoss War, Ninja Scroll, Mononoke, Heavy Metal, Wizards, Tenchi
Games: Final Fantasy, XI and XIV, World of Warcraft, The Secret World
Everything i read, watch, and play influences me when i am world building. Even my friends when they are spitballing sometimes breaks something loose allowing me to move in a direction i had not even considered.
Wow, it's hard to remember them all. Um... some key ones that jump to mind as very clear influences:
Our current campaign, a big chunk of it was inspired by the Marvel Comics "Secret Avengers" storyline "Time Runs Out" by Jonathan Hickman (looks like the movies might be using some of it with all of their references of "incursions"). Of course, once the plot met the PCs, it's gone in completely unpredicted directions, but a big chunk of the underlying situation and plot was heavily inspired by various elements of those comics from the multiple worlds to trying to build a lifeboat to survive the end of the universe. Still want to use some other elements from it because it is such rich worldbuilding on its own!
Also have a group of NPCs sort of inspired by The HU (first heard their song "Wolf Totem" when coming up with various NPCs). Not really directly inspired so much as thinking of it as their background music to help me capture their vibe.
Also, Monte Cook's short story "The Rose Window" in Realms of Mystery is a great hook for a Far Realm adventure that you can even hand the story over to the players as an in-world hook. Not sure I'm going to be able to fit it into this campaign, but I'm hoping to.
Wow, it's hard to remember them all. Um... some key ones that jump to mind as very clear influences:
Our current campaign, a big chunk of it was inspired by the Marvel Comics "Secret Avengers" storyline "Time Runs Out" by Jonathan Hickman (looks like the movies might be using some of it with all of their references of "incursions"). Of course, once the plot met the PCs, it's gone in completely unpredicted directions, but a big chunk of the underlying situation and plot was heavily inspired by various elements of those comics from the multiple worlds to trying to build a lifeboat to survive the end of the universe. Still want to use some other elements from it because it is such rich worldbuilding on its own!
Also have a group of NPCs sort of inspired by The HU (first heard their song "Wolf Totem" when coming up with various NPCs). Not really directly inspired so much as thinking of it as their background music to help me capture their vibe.
Also, Monte Cook's short story "The Rose Window" in Realms of Mystery is a great hook for a Far Realm adventure that you can even hand the story over to the players as an in-world hook. Not sure I'm going to be able to fit it into this campaign, but I'm hoping to.
Comicbook storylines make for great inspiration! I've had characters and worlds that have borrowed from Nemesis the Warlock, Sláine, and ABC Warriors.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
INSPIRATIONS:Clark Ashton Smith, Mervyn Peake, Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, M. John Harrison, Gene Wolfe, Steven Brust, Terry Pratchett, China Miéville.
SYSTEMS: ShadowDark, C&C, AD&D.
GEAR: pencils, graph paper, dice.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
When it comes to Character Design and World Building, do you find you turn to certain books and/or movies for ideas?
What are you reading and/or watching for inspiration?
INSPIRATIONS: Clark Ashton Smith, Mervyn Peake, Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, M. John Harrison, Gene Wolfe, Steven Brust, Terry Pratchett, China Miéville.
SYSTEMS: ShadowDark, C&C, AD&D.
GEAR: pencils, graph paper, dice.
Character and world inspiration are vastly different, and plot inspiration is another animal as well.
Best for world building are other invented worlds. My favorites are Middle Earth, Earthsea, and the unnamed colony world in Lord of Light.
Best for character building are lyrics. My favorites are The Be Good Tanyas, The Indigo Girls, and any of the English Romantic or Victorian poets.
Best for plots? I can't generalize, although I can tell you I love to adapt The Warriors to any system. I've also had good luck with The Divine Comedy and with stealing the Clan Invasion from Battletech's future history.
way to many to answer
Though lots of content has come from Money Python, Princess Bride and Conan
However, I am currently building a campaign based on the Well World by Jack L Chalker
Discworld has inspired the flavor for a lot of my campaigns, no matter the setting. Its soft magic system and the way it describes the way magic affects the user and the world have helped me solidify plots that sound reasonable despite not being mechanically backed up by the game. Plus it's just a very funny world that focusses on subverting fantasy tropes, so i just steal vibes from it all the time.
:)
I once ran an adventure involving orcs kidnapping a human family on an isolated ranch followed by a chase, inspired by the movie The Missing.
Burn Notice. We really enjoy heists and capers with lots of intrigue at my table. I often think "What would Michael Westen do?" when we are brainstorming.
One book I really enjoyed reading, and I think really helped me with a lot of worldbuilding is a book called the phantom tollbooth. It's certainly an odd book, and not really related to fantasy in any way, but reading through it gave me a lot of really unique ideas. I would definitely recommend it, as it's not a hard read, but really makes you think about some things. I think after reading it my creative view was expanded a lot.
Quokkas are objectively the best animal, anyone who disagrees needs a psychiatric evaluation
Rick Riordan inspired a lot of how I treat the gods and their relationships with mortals in my homebrew version of Forgotten Realms.
I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
It’s a game, does that count?
Ill say anyway.
When I was started on my campaign I did a game based on Skyrim, now I take a bit of influence from WoW.
no more time for dnd
Nice to see a great variety of influences!
It's not unusual for my characters and worlds to borrow from Jack Vance (The Dying Earth, The Eyes of the Overworld, Cugel’s Saga, and Rhialto the Marvellous); China Miéville (Perdido Street Station); M. John Harrison (Viriconium); Mervyn Peake (Titus Groan, Gormenghast); Clark Ashton Smith (the Hyperborea, Poseidonis, Averoigne, and Zothique tales); Lord Dunsany; Gene Wolfe (The Book of the New Sun); Michael Moorcock (The War Hound and the World's Pain, The City in the Autumn Stars, and more); and Fritz Leiber (the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories).
I don't watch too many movies but things like Excalibur, Fire and Ice, and Conan the Barbarian were influences when I first started playing.
Song titles that make perfect names for elements of setting have also made their way into my games.
INSPIRATIONS: Clark Ashton Smith, Mervyn Peake, Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, M. John Harrison, Gene Wolfe, Steven Brust, Terry Pratchett, China Miéville.
SYSTEMS: ShadowDark, C&C, AD&D.
GEAR: pencils, graph paper, dice.
Books:J.R.R. Tolkein, David Eddings, Robert R Jordan, Ann Mccaffrey , Piers Anthony, Glen Cook,Terry Brooks, Allan Dean Foster, Charles Dickens, Alexander Dumas
Movies&TV: Legend, The Beastmaster, The Neverending Story, Excalibur, Conan the barbarian, Conan the Destroyer, Red Sonja, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,The Crow, Labrynth, Mr and Mrs Smith, Kingdom of Heavan, Three Musketeers, Robin Hood (many many versions), the John Wick series of movies. Dark Matter, Star Gate, Altered Carbon
Anime: Berzerk,Record of Loddoss War, Ninja Scroll, Mononoke, Heavy Metal, Wizards, Tenchi
Games: Final Fantasy, XI and XIV, World of Warcraft, The Secret World
Everything i read, watch, and play influences me when i am world building. Even my friends when they are spitballing sometimes breaks something loose allowing me to move in a direction i had not even considered.
Just published a map on DriveThruRPG The Forgotten Temple
Wow, it's hard to remember them all. Um... some key ones that jump to mind as very clear influences:
Our current campaign, a big chunk of it was inspired by the Marvel Comics "Secret Avengers" storyline "Time Runs Out" by Jonathan Hickman (looks like the movies might be using some of it with all of their references of "incursions"). Of course, once the plot met the PCs, it's gone in completely unpredicted directions, but a big chunk of the underlying situation and plot was heavily inspired by various elements of those comics from the multiple worlds to trying to build a lifeboat to survive the end of the universe. Still want to use some other elements from it because it is such rich worldbuilding on its own!
Also have a group of NPCs sort of inspired by The HU (first heard their song "Wolf Totem" when coming up with various NPCs). Not really directly inspired so much as thinking of it as their background music to help me capture their vibe.
Also, Monte Cook's short story "The Rose Window" in Realms of Mystery is a great hook for a Far Realm adventure that you can even hand the story over to the players as an in-world hook. Not sure I'm going to be able to fit it into this campaign, but I'm hoping to.
Comicbook storylines make for great inspiration! I've had characters and worlds that have borrowed from Nemesis the Warlock, Sláine, and ABC Warriors.
INSPIRATIONS: Clark Ashton Smith, Mervyn Peake, Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, M. John Harrison, Gene Wolfe, Steven Brust, Terry Pratchett, China Miéville.
SYSTEMS: ShadowDark, C&C, AD&D.
GEAR: pencils, graph paper, dice.