The most important inspiration was of course the role playing session with Dave Arneson that introduced the game format Dave had invented to Gary. But if Dave is the inventor of role playing games, Gary is the one who made them accessible to all of us, and in doing so, defined much of the genres tropes like the various monsters, treasure, and characters. Here are his sources of inspiration for such detail. There is also an insightful post by RJK on the matter.
Childhood
Most of the influences on my creative work were acquired from childhood on--my father's bedtime stories about wizards with magic rings, cloaks of invisibiulity, my mother fairy tales and adventure stories reading to me. I read Bradbury's "The Veldt" in 1948, in BLUEBOOK Magazine, IIRC. That was about the same time I found a copy of Burrough's CAVE GIRL and Howard's CONAN novel. While I read Poe and a lot of military history, from 1950 on I was a devoted SF and fantasy fan, read a book or pulpo zine or two a day. (Back then my reading speed was about 600 words a minute.) So, to answer directly, the majority of what I used to create back in 1970 and onwards from there was material inculcated and gained over some two or three decades prior. #128
Actually, the abandoned ruins of the five-story, red brick insane asylum (Oak Hill Sanatarium) that still stood here until c. 1958 were more influential in inspiring the D&D game than was the history you mentioned--the place had tunnels under it and "secret rooms" created by the boys who haunted the place. Such places were needed, for the police took a dim view of us being in the building. #4780
Historical Sources
When I was writing the D&D game the Osprey books were not at all up to professional historical standards. I read dozens of military history books, including the works of CWC Oman and Stone's Glossary of the Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor, as well as DelBrucks Numbers in History and all manner of volumes dealing with medieval life, castellation, and weapons and armor such as that written by Burton, Book of the Sword. I demure from going down to my basement library and making a list of all the pertainent history and mythology books used as resource material by me, so I hope that suffices [11]
I did not use anything from the Bible, as I consider that quite beyond the pale. [11] Church and Abby are strictly Christian termonolgy, so thats why I employ temple and monastery. [11]
I do not care for Authurian Legend at all. If you have read my short story, "Duty," written from Excaliber's POV, you'll note just how little I enjoy the story #7955
Fiction
Most of the D&D game's inspiration comes from a mix of the ancient (quasi-ancient Hyborea of Howard's Conan) and medieval (and imaginary middle ages fiction), so there's no way I can measure the relative weight of each. I read pretty well equally in both historical periods. The medieval was a less organized and more individualistic period, though, so that's why general technological and socio-cultural assumptions are set in that time...or later. [11]
The material for the initial D&D game's content came from over 30 years of game playing, more than 20 years of intense reading of imaginative literature, nearly as many years of studying history and military history, and a decade of active game development and design work. The specifics for the D&D game sort of fell into place automatically after the Chainmail "Man-to-Man" and "Fantasy Supplement" material was published and Dave Arneson related that his college group were playing the system on a pure player-for-hero (or wizard) basis, with mercenaries for hire to add to the force. [11]
The aforementioned appendix in the OAD&D DMG has a pretty exhaustive list of those books I felt were influential and interesting #158
[Authors by influence on D&D]
It is hard to rank such infuence, but I'll take a stab at it...and add authors as well. Some on the list below are virtually tied as I consider them:
Howard
De Camp & Pratt
Vance
Leiber
Moorcock
Merritt
Lovecraft
Saberhagen
Poul Amderson
Tolkien
...and a score of others #8349
I can't narrow it down to five books, but five authors, maybe:
Jack Vance
Robert E. Howard
Fritz Leiber
de Camp & Pratt
A. Merritt
Honorable Mentions:)
Roger Zelazny
Michael Moorcock
Fred Saberhagen
L. Sprague de Camp
Stanley Weinbaum
Margaret St. Claire
Sorry, even being that "narrow" makes me feel uneasy. I read a LOT of fantasy and SF before I got to the penning of the D&D game #962
My real impetus was Howard's "Conan," not surprisingly. Fritz's novels and the De Camp & Pratt books were also great influences as was Vance--my all-time favorite author in the genre. From 1950 through 1956 I read about every book and magazine of F & SF published in the US, and I bought used pulps so as to read back through the entire 1940 on era. That's why I included so extensive a reading list in the old DMG...I read and enjoyed, was inspired by, a large number of authors. #819
I enjoy all of Vance's writing, and the Cugel yarns are amongst my favorites. At the top of my list are the four Planet of Adventure novels and likely thereafter come the five Demon Princes ones. [11]
The first two Elric stories were very influential in the development of the D&D game. Saberhagen is listed for his "Empire of the East" that I very much liked. None other of his novels struck me in this regard. Anyway, the series Saberhagen called to mind Stanley Weinbau''s The BLack Flame. That is not to deny Farmer, Fox, and Burrough had considerable influence. As I noted, another score of authors belong on the list. #8354
The Incomplete Enchanter, Castle of Iron, The Green Magician, Wall of Serpents are favorites of mine for sure. Very influential in the creation of the D&D game. Also enjoyed Three Hearts & Three Lions and High Crusade by Anderson. [11]
I recalled Edgar Rice Burroughs only after submitting my reply...,but I actually did remember his books. As for the Barsoom and Venus yarns, don't neglect the stories based in Pellucidar! Those hollow earth adventures, one with Tarzan included, were just great! #970
The Elric books by Moorcock were the inspiration for having the two "alignments." I used them because neither had a particularly perjorative connotation. As "chaos" became more closely linked to "evil" in the minds of D&D enthusiasts I devides to separate ethical bents into the nine alignments used in original AD&D. #3532
Ioun stones are absolutely the creation of author Jack Vance, and they were used in the AD&D game by his express permission--which he generously gave to me. #4626
REH was my first real S&S author and remains a favorite to this day. Oerth is indeed more influenced by his writing than ever that of JRRT. Tolkien did not write S&S, he wrote fantasy, what I would call high fantasy in the LotR trilogy. [11]
I am not a rabid fan of the "Rings Trilogy," so that should explain a good bit of why elves in D&D are more my conception of them than they are copies after what the Good Professor Tolkien saw them as;) My take was more of the British mythology based, with French "feys" the influence for the high elves. All of that was measured against what the D&D environment was meant to be, of course, a human dominated one. #960
Movies
From my very early childhood I recall from the film THIEF OF BAGHDAD (I think), where Sindbad was swinging on a line from a giant spider's web, fighting it, sending it falling into a deep pit in which octopi were waiting to devour it. Don't know if that oldie was Harryhausen's work, but his skeletons were indeed what I visualized for the D&D monster of that name. Ray did some very good work using the technology available then. The old film that holds up the best IMO is the original KING KONG, though. What a great movie that was! #1389
I do enjoy many a monster movie. Going back a ways the original King Kong, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, Wolfman, The Thing, and Them spring to mind as outstanding. Later on Creature from the Black Lagoon, Alien, The Lost Boys, and Fright Night are memorable to me. Likely there are others, but that's all I can think of at this moment. I could name a lot of Grade B monster films that I thing were plain awful [11]
Some of my film favorites are: King Kong (original), The Third Man, The Deep, The Longest Day, and Alien. I am not a big fan of TV series, although I did watch most of the Star Trek programs, preferring the more recent ones to the original season, the first couple of seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Generally when I watch the tube it is history, science, or military shows that I tune in. [11]
The spirit of the adventuring I attempt to provide is conveyed The Deep and the hoped for excitement in The Naked Prey. Another good picture for capturing the spirit of a fantasy adventure is surely Big Trouble in Little China. #7932
Board and Wargames
There was no medieval board wargame nor any miniatures game rules for me to reference when I wrote the Chainmail "Man-to-Man" material. I made them up as I went. Of course I had a lot of knowledge of medieval military history, weapons, and armor to draw upon. [11]
No game I had played before I devised the Man-to-Man rules for the Chainmail rules book influenced that design. I made it all up off the top of my head, just as I did the Fantasy Rules section. Inspirational sources were historical for the former, mythical for the latter. It is noteworthy, though, that the radius of a fireball and the stroke of a lightning bolt corresponded to a heacy catapult's area of attack effect and that of a cannon in the 1:20 Chainmail rules. #7739
That's essentially correct, the game being Chainmail using the "Man-to-Man" rules. What with command figures and the rules, individual figure play was not startling. When heroes, superheroes, and wizards were considered in the "Fantasy supplement," the concept of a player with but a single figure on the table born. I would use my point buys to take a superhero in magic armor, with a magic sword, backed up by a wizard with fireball spells. The superhero would assail the mass of enemy troops, and when they gathered round to attack him the wizard would drop a fireball on the lot. The superhero was very likely to come out unscathed, much to the fury of my opponents.
Dave Arneson's focus on underground play, using maps, and his suggestion of having a Hero be able to work up to Superhero status were most helpful.
Dave Megary is generallly not sufficiently credited for inspiring things, for his DUNGEON! game, based on the CHAINMAIL work, predates D&D. #3849
I do believe that every gamer with an iota of creativity does that very thing. I had four pages of rules additions to the original Avalon Hill GETTYSBURG boardgame after playing it for just a few months time. After a while we just tossed them aside, for they added nothingbut complications, didn't change the play, and brought no more enjoyment to the game. However, the exercise did teach me a number of the basics of game design. so the effort wasn't wasted. #1520
Specifica
Credit Dave Arneson and Dave Megary (designer of the Dungeon! boardgame) with my concentrating on subterranean settings for the D&D game. The contained adventuring environment was perfect for establishing fixed encounters before a game session, and for developing progressively more hazardous ones as the PCs grew in their capacity to manage them. #5642
The "memorize then fire and forget" principal for casting spells Jack Vance assumed in his fantasy stories seemed perfect to me for use by D&D magic-users. IT required forethought by the player and limited the power of the class all at once. I still like the concept even though I have gone to a manical energy point system in the Lejendary Adventure RPG. #8189
The inspiration for names such as I devised for the world setting comes from the Esteemed Author, Jack Vance #1286
[Levels] Its basis was the Chainmail military miniatures rules, "Fantasy Supplement". In that section of the work Heros required four hits to be killed, superheroes eight. IIRR, there were also two grades of magic-users, a wizard and another sort with fewer spells. #5585
[Saving Throws] It is a term taken directly from military miniatures gaming. Some rules allowed potential kills to be saved in case some number were rolled on a d6, and everyone called that "saves" or "saving throws." #5308
Indeed there was some fanciful reasoning behind the different saving throws. A person-cast spell was reckoned to be the most potent, then one from a staff, and lastly that from a wand...as simple as that. [11]
Naming of D&D
Dave Arneson was up in St. Paul and not with me when I wrote down two single-word lists of possible titles for the game. I did ask my player group which they liked, also queried my family. My youngest daughter Cindy, was adamant that I must use "Dungeons & Dragons." As a number of others were in agreement with that choice, and I liked the alliteration, that's what I went with when I took the mss. I had written to the printer in early December 1973. [35]
What I did to find the best name for "the Fantasy Game" as I called it for a working title was to make a list of words in two columns. After well over three decades I can not recall those names, but something like this:
SORCERY SWORDS
WIZARDS WARFARE
MAGICIANS MONSTERS
FANTASY ADVENTURES
ENCHANTMENTS CASTLES
DUNGEONS DRAGONS
ETC.
As I recall there were about 12 names in each column, some meant to stand alone, others to be used in a pair, such as I had named the Medieval and Miniatures interest group I formed many years before D&D was written, the Castles & Crusades Society. anyway, I spent a couple of days finding names I thought would be compelling, hoping that one would do, as such is usually best for a product.
What I was finished, I passed the list to my family, gamer friends that came by. When my youngest daughter, Cindy, insisted that Dungeons & Dragons was the best name I was convinced, for I was leaning towards that combination and several of my gamer friends liked it best as well. [11]
Condering this problem, I created a list of words, writing them in two columns. Having had some considerable experience in naming games by that time, thinking of potentially "good" names for the new design was not difficult. You can see for yourself some of the "rejected" choices on the covers of the three booklets that eventually come to comprise the finished product, the first edition of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game. That's right, men, magic(al), monsters, treasure, underworld, and wilderness were on the list. So were castles, dragons, dungeons, giants, labyrinths, mazes, sorcery, trolls, and so forth. I cannot recall all the choices, but there were about 15 words in each column. I took a poll of my players (two of whom were my children Ernie and Elise). After reading aloud from the list, there was no doubt. Youngest daughter Cindy's delight at the alliterative pair chosen confirmed my own personal favorite. After all, I had before that time created the "Castle & Crusade" society as a special interest group for the International Federation of Wargaming. It followed that a medieval-based new game should have a similar name, one evocative of its nature. [11]
Stuff Gary liked and played
I love to play, and I find that being on the other side of the screen tends to make me a better GM--both from the refreshment of playing and in regards to actual ideas and interaction with the players. [11]
My favorite wargame is still Operation Overlord. For other favorites Settlers of Catan, Rail Baron, Ticket to Ride Europe, and Puerto Rico rank high on my list. I have the Black Adder series on DVD and enjoy that a lot. [11]
For a wargame, though. I like Operation Overlord and most of the old AH titles are fun to play. Others I enjoy are chess in most any form, Settlers of Catan, Rail Baron, Empire Builder, Ticket to Ride Europe, Puerto Rico, and most of Tom Wham's creations [11]
The games I've played include Traveller, Star Frontiers, Empire of the Petal Throne, Boot Hill, CoC, Unhallowed [an unpublished horror genre game in the Dangerous Journeys system], Top Secret, Metamorphosis Alpha, Warriors of Mars, Gamma World, and Paranoia. [11]
In the past I played Star Frontiers, Warriors of Mars, Boot Hill. Gang Busters, Top Secret, Metamorphosis Alpha, Gamma World, Travller, Paranoia, and CoC. [11]
I have played and enjoyed EPT, Boot Hill, Metamorphosis Alpha, Gangbusters, Top Secret, Gamma World, Paranoia, CoC, and Dark Conspiracy... #902
I did indeed playtest Top Secret, and son Luke ran a short-lived campaign in which I played. I also play-tested and played Star Frontiers and Gangbusters. #1998
I found the Amber diceless RPG to be an incredible bore the one time I played it. [11]
OD&D Fantasy TSR
AD&D Fantasy TSR
AD&D Fantasy TSR
Boot Hill Western ::: TSR
Gangbusters Prohibition ::: TSR
Empire of the Petal Throne Fantasy :: TSR
Star Frontiers Sci Fi ::: TSR
Warriors of Mars Sci Fantasy :: TST
Metamorphosis Alpha Sci Fi :::
Gamma World Sci Fi ::
Traveller Sci Fi ::
Paranoia Sci Fi :: (Parody)
Call of Cthulhu Horror :::
Unhallowed Horror :
Dark Conspiracy Horror :
Top Secret Espionage ::::
Amber (diceless) Fantasy :
Dangerous Journeys Generic
Lejendary Adventures Generic
Some of my other, non-fantasy likes:
Vance "Planet of Adventure" quatrology.
Vance, any of his SF yarns
Cornwell "Richard Sharpe" series.
Forrester "Horatio Hornblower" series.
Van Gulick "Judge Dee" series. [11]
[References: see Greyhawk References]
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