Sigil: City of Doors

I have been thinking about what Ceremorph said in his inroduction, and it reminded of that scene from The Commitments where he is asking, "Who are your influences?" and a succession of people present to his door.

Just to remind you of what Ceremorph said:

wrote:I've been involved with D&D in some way or another, whether via tabletop gaming or playing computer games like the Gold Box Series and Baldur's Gate 2 since 1948. (Waits for the requisite age jokes here)...

My inspriations mostly come from reading, whether it be sci fi, epic fantasy, or thrillers. Those of you who keep track of such things will, I'm certain, be able to point to the Wheel of Time, A Song of Ice and Fire, Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, The Change, the Hero of Ages, Recluce, the Malazan Book of the Fallen, Thomas Covenant, and the Black Company just to name a few once you've met me.

It started me wondering who your influences are. When you RP, who do you borrow from? Or, better still, who do you enjoy reading and playing?

I did not type 1948.

LoL...if its 1948 you must be...over 91?!Really,you are probably a real Illithid then!


Actually you did type 1984 . . .

Ravel's Heart,Feb 13 2010 wrote:

It started me wondering who your influences are. When you RP, who do you borrow from? Or, better still, who do you enjoy reading and playing?

Michael Moorcocks Elric and Corum series. His whole multiverse is what made planescape so appealing when I discovered it later.

Much love for Planescape and Dark Sun


J

1984? They actually had D&D back then? :P

Jordan's Wheel of Time prior to the suckage that was the later books (Sanderson has kicked butt with his reincarnation of the old style!)

Frank and Brian Herbert's Dune series (if you've never read it, stop wasting your time with the movies and get the tree corpses!)

C. S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy: One of the best portrayals of how the lines can blur between good and evil ever

Melaine Rawn's Dragonstar and Dragon Prince Trilogies: Epic in every sense of the word

One probably no one has heard of but it was a childhood favorite for me, The Dragon and the George series for the lovers of light fantasy

R. A. Salvatore (of course, go Illythiiri!)

Ed Greenwood because no real D&D can call themselves such without paying homages to him

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman for everything they've written including the Dragonlance series and The Deathgate Cycle

I could continue but these are the forerunners of my adoration when it comes to literary achievements in Fantasy and Sci fi/Fantasy hybrids. I know a lot of people will also list movies as influences but personally I have trouble incorporating films into RP, there's something missing between watching a screen and reading the text to me. If I were to credit a film, it would have to be Excalibur as that was one of the last of the "old guard" films that put realism into every physical aspect of the production from arms and armor to the way the actors were taught to ride their mounts, yet added surreality without trying to make it look "real". I like my fake, fake and my real, real when it comes to movies.

SanguineOrchid,Feb 13 2010 wrote:
Frank and Brian Herbert's Dune series (if you've never read it, stop wasting your time with the movies and get the tree corpses!)

How did I forget to mention the master? The Calimshan group I came to Sigil with was loosely styled after houses Harkonen and Corrino


J

Ceremorph,Feb 13 2010 wrote: I did not type 1948.

I am so sorry! I don't know how that happened! :blink:

Of course, it should read:

wrote:I've been involved with D&D in some way or another, whether via tabletop gaming or playing computer games like the Gold Box Series and Baldur's Gate 2 since 1849.

I apologize for any confusion.

Hmm... my roleplaying started from Middle Earth Roleplaying tabletop game <.< it sucked because we players were terrible in the game (both roleplaying and game mechanically hehe, though criticals were fun as were failures :P and running in forest during night was not childsplay).

Then I played Cyberpunk (the futuristic game, not related to cybering... well unless you'd happen to be playing with group like that I guess... I wasn't!), it went a bit better, but we still sucked at roleplaying so it didn't quite work out.

Then came Baldurs Gate, Baldurs Gate 2, Icewind Dale, Icewind Dale 2, NWN, Planescape Torment and all the expansion packs (and to some unofficial expansions also). Then I got a bit of hang of the entire concept of roleplaying finally, mostly I was hack & slasher type player though.

Then came NWN 2, at first I was rather hack and slasher type player still, went through the campaign in just few days and started multiplayer, during each month I learned plenty more insight of the roleplaying and with help of some friends I think I managed to grasp the entire concept rather succesfully in the end.

Also there's Dragon Age, Cleric quintet (spelling), Drizzt books, DnD sourcebooks, Artemis Entreri + Jarlaxle books, few other books that weren't part of series, but Forgotten Realms related.


As for where do my influences come from... from several movies, other characters, friends, books or just the depths of my mind <.< Usually each of my characters have different influence sources and as they're evil aligned character I tend to try to think mental state where they'd be considered evil for their beliefs rather than being evil "just because", and that way also have actual reason for it other than "being evil just because" :P Helps a lot for deciding their actions when you know the mental state of the character for me. Yeah pretty multiple different things...

Oof!

Well, Kelth is inspired by actual Celtic history, bardic warrior poets :)


Valadir is loosely based on a character appearing in Raymond E Feists' Silver Hawk Chronicles...


What else inspires me?

Thomas Covenant chronicles
Pan's Labyrinth (the movie)
Music (Like Ensiferum, Korpiklaani, Omnia, Enigma)

As for the rest...my imagination can work overtime :P

Started playing 2nd edition when I was 13 or so? Sucked at first, but practice makes perfect! The group did suck a bit though :P and the dm was an idiot, you would have to be happy to make lvl 2 in 4 weeks *chuckles*

Then 3rd edition came and opened up a new path for us. Made a new group and took new DM, I loved it but then came study and work :P

Hmm....influences

A long long time ago, at the age of 14 I read the Hobbit. At 17, my math's tutor DMed a Runequest game and did my first and only PnP dungeon trawl which I adored. I found fantasy games like Baldur's Gate and its sequels and realised I still enjoyed RPG some years later and it took off from there including diving into the Thomas Covenant series and LotR etc and yeah I did also play Planescape Torment but have half forgotten that one, just remembering enjoying it for its music and strangeness. Only played single player until finding NWN2 online in Nov 2007 and I haven't looked back or picked up a single player game since.

I'm trying more reading forays - Melanie Rawn Dragon Prince, Sword of Truth series, but on line game time takes most of my free time, though I have a stash of fantasy books lined up as 'must read's' for the next holiday.

Influences for characters? nothing specific, a bit here from a book, a bit from a film, a bit from me, a bit from a person I know etc, I just come up with a style and some traits, a build I want to try out to match and see how I feel in the chars skin as I go. Writing a story helps me to flesh out the character's thoughts and styles further :) Pretty simple really.