In preperation for the Agrivaina campaign, I've decided to come up with my own Appendix N, or inspirational reading list. Now, I'm not directly borrowing much from any of these sources, they have all inspired the work I've done with the island, especial its mood, tone, and feel.
Dying Earth Series, Jake Vance
Island of the Unknown, Geoffrey McKinne
Gilgamesh, author(s) unknown
Odyssey, Homer
Aeneid, Virgil
Le Morte D'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malor
One Thousand and One Nights, Scheherazade/authors unknown
Conan Series, Robert E. Howard
Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
Histories, Herodotus
I'm also drawing on a number is historical works, such as The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character (Samuel Noah Kramer, 1971) and a number of other text I cannot recall off the top of my head centering around Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian.
While pretentious as hell, I'm finding these to be a very robust and well rounded group of stories to draw upon, coming from a a number of distinct time periods, locations, and genres.
"A doomed man needs no such elegant footwear." - Jack Vance, Eyes of the Overworld
This sounds awesome! The selection is very evocative.
ReplyDeleteI don't see why it's pretentious as hell.
ReplyDeleteAt one time having read half that meant you were educated, a respectable state, not pretentious. I'll be happy to defend D&D against pretentious if the reason is it is getting people to read classic literature.
Hell, I'd be happy if it just got people reading Pyle's Arthur at this point.