Originally this was a vast laundry list of novels that have had some influence on what inspires me when I run, read, write and play rpgs but it was rewritten to both A) reflect material that has had an enduring influence on my writing and gaming over a prolongued period of time B) parse it down somewhat since time is limited and there is only so much you can read on this earth.
What follows is a list of classical works of history and mythology, which serves as the primary inspiration for my gaming. This is supplemented by a fairly standard list of supplementary works, the majority being derived from Appendix N. Non-appendix N fantastic works are arbirarily divided into pre- and post 70s year of publication.
Of the Classics I will recommend Homer’s The Odyssey as the most all encompassing in terms of giving an impression of living in an ancient world of kings, honor, mythological creatures & the whims of fickle gods. Consider also Tacitcus’s Germanica or The Conquest of Gaul for inspiration for barbarian or evil humanoid tribes.
Of Appendix N I can heartily point to R.E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance & Abraham Merrit as the quartet of writers that strike most at the essence of what DnD is about. To this I would add the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, Michael Moorcock and J.R.R. Tolkien as essential supplementary material.
If there was one pre-70s author of fantastic fiction that I could recommend, it would probably be E.R.R. Eddison, whose mastery of language and stirring heroic tales are second to none.
In terms of post-70s authors, I would point to the writings of R.Scott Bakker as being most influential on my gaming and writing.
Classics
Homer – The Illiad, The Odyssey
Tale of the Heike (Royall Teller trans.)
Luo Ghuanzhong – The Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Werner Goëthe – Faust
Dante – The Inferno
John Milton – Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained
The Mabignogion
Beowulf
The Ramayana (abridged version, R.K. Narayan)
The Mahabharata
Alexandre Dumas – The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Christo
Thuycidides – History of the Peloponesian War
Tacitus – Germanica
Snorri Stürleson – Egil’s Saga (E.R.R. Eddison translation), Njal’s Saga, The Saga of Grettir the Strong, The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, The Saga of the Orkneys, The Vinland Saga
Sir Gawain & the Green Knight
Magnus Magnusson & William Morris – The Saga of the Volsungs
Wagner – The Ring of the Niebelungs
Virgil – The Aenead
The Kalevala
Xenophon – The Persian Expedition
The Tain (Ciaran Carson)
Sophocles – The Theban Plays
Hesiod – Theogeny
Herodotus – The Histories
Julius Ceasar – The Conquest of Gaul
H.J.C. von Grimmelhausen – Simplicius Simplissimus
Appendix N(or affiliated by author)
H.P Lovecraft – (The Mound, At the Mountains of Madness, Call of Cthulhu, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Shadow Out of Time, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, Within the Walls of Eryx, The Shadow over Innsmouth, Pickman’s Model et. al.).
Fritz Leiber – Faffhrd & the Grey Mouser series (ignore Knight and Knave of Swords collection)
R.E Howard – Conan the Barbarian (“The Scarlet Citadel”, “Tower of the Elephant”, “Red Nails”, “Beyond the Black River”, “A Witch is Born” etc.) Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn (“Worms of the Earth”), Kull, “Children of the Night”, “The Black Rock”, “Wolfshead”, “The People of the Dark”, “Skull-face”, “The Fires of Asshurbarnipal” et. al.
J.R.R Tolkien – The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Silmarillion, The Children of Hurin
J.Vance – The Dying Earth series, Lyonesse trilogy, The Demon Princes series, Big Planet, Blue Planet, The Miracle Workers, The Dragon Masters
F.Pratt & L.S. de Camp – Harold Shea series (The Compleat Enchanter et. al.)
A. Merrit – Dwellers in the Mirage, The Moon Pool, The Ship of Ishtar, The Metal Monster, The Fox Women
R. Zelazny – Amber series, Lord of Light, Shadowjack
Ursula Le Guin – A wizard of Earthsea
Fletcher Pratt – The Well of the Unicorn
M. Moorcock – Hawkmoon (first quadrilogy), Corum, Elric (Elric of Melniboné, The Dreaming City, Fortress of the Pearl, While the Gods Laugh, Sailor on the Seas of Fate, the Sleeping Sorceress, Stormbringer), Erëkose, “The Greater Conqueror.”
P.Anderson – The Broken Sword, The High Crusade, Three Hearts & Three Lions
Lord Dunsany – Don Rodriguez: The Chroncles of Shadow Valley, The Gods of Pegana, Time & The Gods, The King of Elfland’s Daughter,
S. Lanier – Hiero’s Journey
Misc. Fantasy/SF (pre 70s)
E.R.R Eddison – The Worm Ouroboros, Mistress of Mistresses, A Fish Dinner in Memison
M. Peake – Ghormenghast series
D. Lindsey – A Voyage to Arcturus
William Barton – Vathek
B. Strugatsky – Roadside Picnic, Prisoners of Power
W.H. Hodginson – The House on the Borderland, The Night Land
B. Stoker – Dracula
W.Morris – the Well at the World’s End
Robert W. Chambers – The King in Yellow
J.Verne – Journey to the Centre of the Earth
C. Smith – The Instrumentality of Man
C.A. Smith – Zothique, Poseidonis, Xiccarph, Averoigne, Hyperborea, “Maze of the Enchanter”, “City of the Singing Flame”
B.J.Bayley – The Garments of the Caean, The Grand Wheel, the Seed of Evil, Knights of the Limits, The Fall of Chronopolis, The Soul of the Robot
J.G. Ballard – Vermillion Sands (collection), The Crystal World, Chronopolis (collection)
A.E. Vogt – World of Null-A, Players of Null-A
Aldris Bugys – Rogue Moon
Misc. Fantasy/SF (post 70s)
R.Scott Baker – The Prince of Nothing Series, the Aspect-Emperor Series
Robert Aspirin – Thieves World
M. J. Harrison – Viriconium, The Centauri Device
G. Wolfe – Book of the New Sun, Soldier of the Mist
F. Herbert – Dune series
C. Mevielle – Perdido Street Station
P.K.Dick – Valis, Ubik, Eye in the Sky, the Penultimate Truth, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch et. al.
R. Aspirin – Thieves World: First Blood (collection)
D.Schweitzer – We are all Legends
M. Chrichton – Eaters of the Dead
K.E. Wagner – Dark Crusade, Bloodstone, Darkness Weaves, Death’s Angels Shadow
L.Niven – Ringworld, Ringworld Engineers, The Legacy of Heorot
T. Lee – Storm Lord, Anackire, Birthgrave
O. Gluhkovsky – Metro 2033, Metro 2034
Ryu Mitsuse – One Million Days and One Hundred Billion Nights
R.Pinto – Stone Dance of the Chameleon series
G.R.R. Martin – Game of Thrones series
D. Simmons – Illium, Olympus, Hyperion series, The Terror
A.H.Smith – Grey Maiden
P.Watts – Blindsight, Echopraxia
A.Reynolds – Diamond Dogs, House of Suns, Revelation Space Trilogy
Ray Bradbury – Something Wicked This Way Comes
S. King – Dark Tower series, The Shining
J.C. Wright – Null-A Continuum, Orphans of Chaos Sequence, Superluminary, The Golden Age trilogy
J.C. Carey – Kushiel’s Legacy series, Banewreaker & Godslayer
T.Goodkind – Sword of Truth series
A. Sapkowski – Witcher series
Alistair Rennie – Bleakwarrior
L. Sharp – God Killers
Glen Cook – The Black Company, Shadows Linger
D.M. Ritzlin – Necromancy in Niltztiria
Vox Day – Throne of Bones
Misc.
C. Mcarthy – Blood Meridian
J.G.Ballard – The High Rise, Chronopolis (collection), Concrete Island, the Unlimited Dream Company
Jorge Luis Borges – The Book of Imaginary Beings, The Aleph & Other Stories, Fictions
Art
Frank Frazetta
Hieronymous Bosch
Wayne Barlowe
H.R. Giger
Gustave Dore
Philipe Druillet
Kentaro Miura
John Blanche
Karl Kopinski
Ian Miller
Comics & Manga
Kentaro Miura – Berserk
Tsumoto Nihei – Blame!
Hiroya Oku – Gantz
D. Lawrence – Storm (original run)
Philipe Druillet – Loane Sloane
S.Abernathy – Atomika: God is Red
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (animu)
Neon Genesis Envangelion + End of Evangelion (animu)
Video/tabletop Games.
Warhammer Fantasy (anything pre-Age of Sigmar)
Doom I & Doom II
Darkest Dungeon
Dark Souls series
Castlevania (NES, Sega and SNES)
Age of Dusk 