Ravenlofter's bookshelves

[Le Noir Faineant]

Hello,
I did this thread a while ago at WoTC, but since the real RL community meets here, I thought it would be interesting to repeat it at La Maison...

So, I've the pleasure of quoting myself.

Just an idea that I had browsing through these boards...
RL players are often regarded as the *intellectuals*, or better the bookwyrms of the AD&D community, as they are supposed get their inspirations not by reading fantasy mainstream novels, but are said to seek for better - acquainted literature (well, if the fantastic and horror literature of last three centuries can be regarded as such). But is this true?
What do you, players, DMs and developers store in your bookshelves?

Which are your favourite books?

*I hope you can forgive me my curiousity, but I personally never touched a horror novel besides the old classics and I really want to know if it's true most RL fans are so devoted to gothic style as it may seem at a first glance.*

To start, the most appreaciated books in my posession are:
* Musashi, by Eiji Yoshikawa, an adaption of Japan's most popular samurai myth

* Ivanhoe, by Walter Scott

* The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco, mocking on medieval murder mysteries

*...and dozens of others I cannot think of right now*


Would be interesting how/if what you read had an influence on your work as DM or developer or on your player characters!

Yours,

Rafael

[Steve Miller]

My favorite books keep changing. At present, I'd have to say they are...

"An Unsuitable Job for a Woman" by PD James

"The Gunslinger" by Stephen King

"Solomon Kane" by Robert E. Howard (from the Baen Howard Library)

"King Kull" by Robert E. Howard (same as above)

"Conjure Wife" by Fritz Leiber

Pretty much any short story anthology from Ray Bradbury or Stephen King

The short stories here and here.

(I'm limiting myself to fiction that I think might have that 'Ravenloft vibe.')

[eldervampire]

My fav's

1) Hamlet, William Shakespear

2) The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett

3) Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christi

4) Dracula, Bram Stoker

5) Any Sherlock Holms, A.C. Doyle

[Le Noir Faineant]

The short stories here and here.

(I'm limiting myself to fiction that I think might have that 'Ravenloft vibe.')

Very good stuff - Just printed out *The Valley of the Spiders*.

And Poe's one of my favourite, too - thgough I don't really know which story is most interesting for me. Heard about the upcoming E. A. Poe netbook for MotRD? *This is MY baby* Check here: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/thehauntedpalace/

Currently writing, but hoping to complete it in winter...

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

I have far, far too many favourite novels, but ones that are applicable to RL:

"Day of the Triffids" John Wyndam.

"The Moonstone" Wilkie Collins.

"Tess of the D'Urbyvilles" Thomas Hardy

"American Gods" Neil Gaiman.

And novels that have absolutley no use to Ravenloft that I like:

"Bridget Jones' Diary" and "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" Helen Fielding.

"Notes from Underground" Fydor Dostoyevsky.

"Diary of a Mad Man" Gogol.

D&D novels I like are:

The Dragonlance stories written by Weis.

The War of the Spider Queen series.

The Dark Elf trilogy.

[Jasper]

I have and am currently rereading Good omens.

On my shelf-

Complete book of swords vI, II, and III and the lost book of swords - Fred Saberhagen. Great inperation for any Dnd campaign and best ideas for magical swords I have seen in a long time

Last Unicorn by Peter S Beaglel. Great book.

The complete discworld Novel collection and DVDs- Terry Pratchet

The Watchmen collection - A very dark look at superheros

The Chronicles of Amber- Roger Zelazny

[Desertrising]

The alinest and Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr are wonderful books

Grimm brother fairy tales are good

The monk (can't remember the author off hand and am to lazy to look through all my boxes but it is one of the first "gothic" novels.

Dr. Jeckell and Mr. Hyde by RLS

Most of Kafka's work can be used to an extent

Really there are just way to many books to mention in a single post but that should give you an idea.

[AdamGarou]

My bookshelves are actually creaking and groaning under the weight of all the volumes I've packed onto them... and I just can't stop buying and reading more! I'm going mad, I tell you--mad! MAD!!

...

...

...

Whew, okay, I'm better now.

Anyway, several favorites:

1.) The Elvenbane (author's name escapes me--world ruled by elves who enslave humans; prophesy exists that a half-elven/half-human child would one day destroy the elvish way of life; one human slave finds herself pregnant with the child of an elvish king and must flee his wrath)

2.) Saberhagen's "Book of Swords" series--excellent ideas for magical weapons, including some that can... and do... kill gods.

3.) Michael Moorcock's "Elric" series--Stormbringer and Mournblade... need I say more?

4.) Anything and everything by Edgar Allan Poe.

5.) Anything by Dean Koontz. A lot of what he writes is easily translated into Ravenloft, because he rarely writes about anything other than ordinary people put into extraordinary circumstances. Infected with a mutagenic virus (By the Light of the Moon), receiving notes from a killer who makes the recipient decide who will die (Velocity), born with a genetic defect that makes it impossible to go into the sun (Fear Nothing and Seize the Night), a Ghostwatcher (Odd Thomas), all of his heroes (or maybe I should say "protagonists" since not all of them are that heroic) are usually just regular people facing fear of the unknown. Excellent for learning how to gradually create atmosphere and build suspense.

6.) Most of the earlier stuff by Stephen King. For some reason, I just can't get into the Gunslinger series, but a few favorites are It, The Dark Half, Misery, Needful Things, Salem's Lot, and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Excellent short stories/novellas include "The Langoliers", "Secret Window/Secret Garden", "In the Deathroom", "The Long Walk", and "Lunch at the Gotham Cafe".

7.) Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, of course.

8.) Quite a few works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, especially "The Minister's Black Veil".

9.) Dracula by Bram Stoker

10.) Complete works of William Shakespeare (Iago and Richard III--two of the best villains EVER, IMHO)

11.) The "Wayward Knights" series (Dragonlance)

12.) The "Moonshae Trilogy" (Forgotten Realms - Douglas Niles; lots of cool ideas for corrupted druids and evil priests)

Some usable for Ravenloft, others only good as examples of what NOT to do... but all good reads for all that.

[Le Noir Faineant]

1.) The Elvenbane (author's name escapes me--world ruled by elves who enslave humans; prophesy exists that a half-elven/half-human child would one day destroy the elvish way of life; one human slave finds herself pregnant with the child of an elvish king and must flee his wrath)

2.) Saberhagen's "Book of Swords" series--excellent ideas for magical weapons, including some that can... and do... kill gods.

I've heard of both books, but never got the chance to give them a look. Can someone detail it a bit more to me? Most important, is it the usual fantasy crap or can it aspire to be called *literature*?

[vipera aspis]

Brian Lumley easily works. "Necroscope" by Lumley actually works the best. I suggest it to anyone into vampires, spys(007), necromancy, Russian history, secret police(KGB), or ESP. Also Lovecraft's "Supernatural Horror in Literature" is one of the most useful books for frightning players. Ramsey Campbell's "Darkest Part of the Woods" is a great story about, well the title is just fine. Easily located in Tepest or maybe Verbek. His other work is good too. Clive Barkers "Cabal" would work nicely in the Nightmare lands or a lonely area of Darkon(instead of "tribes of the moon", it could just be...calbains). Books are my life. I could go on forever.

[Brandi]

I can't pick a favorite!

But on my shelves there is plenty of Lovecraft and Lovecraft Circle works, vintage stuff by MR James, EF Benson, and others (I even found a book that had Vathek, the Arabian Gothic novel quoted in RCS), Clive Barker (well, his short stories anyway), Stanislaw Lem, Ray Bradbury, Raymond Chandler, SJ Perelman, Dorothy Parker, Saki...

My husband and I also have a large supply of nonfiction, some of which is as good for inspiring game adventures as any fiction.

[Charney]

Ravenloft related books I have:
HP Lovecraft's collection of stories
Wilde's picture of Dorian Grey
Shelley's Frankenstein

Now with novels related to D&D and fantasy in general:
A LOT of courtly romance from the XIIIth century
The Prose Lancelot
Chretien of Troyes work.

I also read the Mabinogi recently, a collection of medieval Welsh tales.

[Jester of the FoS]

Just finished reading:
Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities
Robert J. Sawyer Far Seeer
Neil Gaiman Coraline
and am currently reading: Robert J. Sawyer Calculating God.

Fond of William Gibson, Gaiman, Sawyer, Douglas Adams, Neal Stevenson, David Eddings (my favorite bad writer), Ray Bradbury, Peter S. Beagle, Ursula K. LeGuin and assorted others.

[Bluebomber4evr]

Well I've got the classic horror novels: Stoker's Dracula, Shelley's Frankenstein (my all-time favorite), Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...Tons of Lovecraft collections, as well as some collections of his contemporaries/associates....a collection of Howard's Conan stories, a collection of Leiber's Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser tales...the LotR books, King's first four Dark Tower novels, and It....and some great examples of literary gothicism: Armadale by Wilkie Collins and The Monk by Matthew Lewis (I highly recommend this one for Ravenloft ideas!)...and some of my favorite Shakespeare plays: Othello, MacBeth, The Tempest, and Hamlet.

[Dark Whisper]

Hmmm, favourites, you say ? Let's see.

"The view from the mirror" - quartett by Ian Irvine
"The well of Echoes" - quartett by Ian Irvine (although I don't like the end)
E.A. Poe
Gunslinger-Series, Needful Things, Salem's Lot, It, Tommyknockers and various short stories by Stephen King
Imagica and Waveworld by Clive Barker
several books by Dean R. Koontz
"Der Hexer von Salem" - cycle by Wolfgang Hohlbein

and many more that I can't remember right now. I'll have to check my shelves, it seems...