We Interrupt This Series To Announce.....
......I was at BMV at 471 Bloor Street, Toronto, yesterday (in the Annex). A number of Appendix N titles were available there which I already owned, and these can be found on the 1st floor behind the stairs unless they have been scooped up already. I actually managed to score a copy of The Howard Collector for around $4!
I posted this as a question a few weeks ago and maybe this is the right place to repost it.
ReplyDeleteWyatt Allworthy27 February 2014 18:05
Have you finished reading through all the Appendix N booklist, yet?
Beyond appendix N, are there any books you'd recommend as inspirational for gaming? Especially, in the post apocalyptic, or new age long after an apocalypse, would be most interesting.
Any artists you find give you inspiration for designing adventures? Thanks!
I have read every work specifically named by title, and almost all of every series named (there are some Witchworld books I have not yet run down). I have also read a lot of works by the listed authors that are not specifically called out in Appendix N.
DeleteAs far as inspiration goes, read widely, and don't limit yourself to adventure fiction! The Appendix N stories will give you great ideas to help put weird monsters, unearthly locations, and energy into your games, but you will benefit from a much wider reading list. Rather than reading post-apocalyptic stories, why not read Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo and decide how to fit some of the ideas therein into your setting? I would have to scour my shelves for a "recommended reading" list - the only room without books is the bathroom, and that because moisture from the shower isn't good from them. But, since you ask, you might get some mileage out of Philip Jose Farmer's The Wind-Whales of Ishmael.
Also H. Rider Haggard. Great writer. C.L. Moore, M.R. James, and Clark Ashton Smith didn't make the list, but probably should have as well.
For inspirational art, do a Google image search for "Weird Tales" and let your imagination go wild, or simply subscribe to Jewel in the Skull (http://sorcerersskull.tumblr.com/). I am a big fan of Rackham's work, as well as Brian Froud's.
As a writer, I prefer to see what images my words create in the artist's mind rather than dictate to the artist.