Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Intro to Gamer Lit


Early roleplaying games were heavily influenced by stories written by Jack Vance, Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, A. Merritt, H. P. Lovecraft, Fletcher Pratt, and J. R. Tolkien. Reading is an excellent way to get inspiration for your own game. Much as musicians list their influences when they form a band, people should seek out and be aware of their influences when it comes to RPGs.

I do a lot of reading and often incorporate aspects of stories I have read into my games. For this reason, and because I generally enjoy talking about books, I am adding a Gamer Lit section to my blog. I'll be reviewing some Gamer favorites (R.A. Salvatore, Weis & Hickman, etc) as well as many classic authors that might not come to mind right away when considering books to draw inspiration from (Arthur Conan-Doyal, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne, etc). I'll be looking at many aspects of their work including which of their ideas translate well from the written word to the gaming table.

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