Author Topic: What books inspire you  (Read 5378 times)

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Meg

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Re: What books inspire you
« Reply #20 on: May 20, 2008, 01:39:51 AM »
The book that most motivates me as a human being (not just games, but in life) is Ender's Game.  (nod to the previous mentions)

Whenever I face an obstacle, I think, "The Enemy's Gate is Down".  Most times a problem is presented with pretty clear avenues-- A, B, or C.  Well, what if I flip the original problem on its head and look at it in a completely different light?  Then maybe I'll see solution "Blue".
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phelanarcetus

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Re: What books inspire you
« Reply #21 on: May 20, 2008, 11:30:26 AM »
Conan! nothing better when needing to burn steam and kill stuff.
For sci-fi, David Weber's Honor Harrington novels.

Heartily reccomend these as well.  If only that Savage Tide campaign hadn't fizzled; my Conan-inspired character was a ton of fun.

Ender's Game I just loaned to a friend.  Unfortunately I was never able to get into any of the other Card books I tried.

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Re: What books inspire you
« Reply #22 on: May 20, 2008, 01:46:03 PM »
Conan! nothing better when needing to burn steam and kill stuff.
For sci-fi, David Weber's Honor Harrington novels.

Heartily reccomend these as well.  If only that Savage Tide campaign hadn't fizzled; my Conan-inspired character was a ton of fun.

Ender's Game I just loaned to a friend.  Unfortunately I was never able to get into any of the other Card books I tried.

You should take a look at the Ender's Shadow series it has a similar feel to Ender's Game, but revolves around Bean.
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Re: What books inspire you
« Reply #23 on: May 20, 2008, 05:13:26 PM »
A manga (well, mahwa) reccomendation: iD_Entity (aka Yureka). It uses the D&D rules by-the-book, but adds in a number of classes which would be quite interesting to play (witches, for instance, can enchant brooms of flying for free, and at high levels can cast any Wiz/Sor spell by increasing its casting time by a factor of ten). Oh, and it's very funny.

There is one character who has dipped in dozens of classes and taken obscure feats in order to duplicate a ninja (much to the game-makers' annoyance - "There are no ninjas in Lost Saga." >:(). The guy is at least level 40, even with multiclassing penalties in effect, but does not have access to any of the powerful class-based items the other characters use.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2008, 08:01:18 PM by Prime32 »
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Risada

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Re: What books inspire you
« Reply #24 on: May 21, 2008, 10:15:44 AM »
Well.... since I am a cultureless guy.... I can only say Tolkien's books, as well as Conan..

Meg

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Re: What books inspire you
« Reply #25 on: May 21, 2008, 01:21:50 PM »
Quote from: Mohji
You should take a look at the Ender's Shadow series it has a similar feel to Ender's Game, but revolves around Bean.

I agree.  I liked it quite a bit whereas I was very disappointed in the sequels. 
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Re: What books inspire you
« Reply #26 on: May 22, 2008, 05:00:38 PM »
The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, the Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer and The High King, Lloyd Alexander
The Seventh Tower Series, Garth Nix.
Collections of Faerie tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and/or Hans Christian Anderson
Many things by H.P. Lovecraft, but especially The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath

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Re: What books inspire you
« Reply #27 on: May 22, 2008, 05:08:04 PM »
I've actually turned some of the stuff from Dream Quest into DnD bits and pieces. Brilliant writing.

What I'd also like to add, for those fans of Cthulhu, is Briam Lumley's The Burrowers Beneath and the second two books of that series, as well as the early books in his Vampire series. The later ones I can't recommend nearly as much.
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Re: What books inspire you
« Reply #28 on: May 23, 2008, 08:13:04 AM »
A lot of my inspiration comes from books. The DnD rulebooks sometimes inspire me but most of my inspiration comes from the books written by Larry Niven, often in cooporation with Jerry Pournelle. Most recently I adapted an item from "The magic goes away". The warlock's wheel now features a prominent and powerful role in my campaign. And more importantly the way Niven portrays aliens has helped me figure out the mindset for a lot of non-human creatures in my worlds.

Terry Pratchett's Discworld books have inspired me in equal amounts in the way people react to magic around them and what kind of impact magic can have on a world.

And more recently, I've been inspired by the Wheel of Time where the descendants of Arthur Hawkwing turned every channeler(mage) into a snivelling slave. And I'm building a setting based on that right now.

Of course the works of H.P. Lovecraft cannot be left out. Beings that cannot be comprehended by humans. And Ia cthulhu Fhtagn!
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Re: What books inspire you
« Reply #29 on: May 30, 2008, 07:30:40 PM »

Feel wise for fantasy I draw heavily on the Malazan Chronicles by,Steven Erickson I think; stuff by Louise McMaster Bujold; the Prince and the plotting and planning in the old David Eddings Blue Rose series. Fpr fantasy Dune, Enders Game, the Vorkosigan books and the Phoenix Exultant trilogy are good stuff. Modern fantasy is definitely Mercedes Lackey and Jim Butcher.

Plots tend to be my own though I like moral psychodramas, so I guess I'd throw in Stephen Donaldson as well.
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