The Twelfth GM Inspiration: A Suggested Reading and Resource List
For my final blog post on GM Inspirations I am going to offer up my "top ten" list of additional books I keep on the shelf because they are great sources of inspiration and ideas for gaming. Each of these tomes have served me well over the years, and I will try to manage links for everything that can be found somewhere online:
The Dictionary of Imaginary Places
Written by Alberto Maguel and Gianna Guadalupi, this is a fantastic resource of imaginary places from myth, legend and fiction. You could do worse than to have this book on hand, it is an excellent resource for inspiration, and practically any article in the book could provide the framework for a game or campaign.
This venerable classic by Michael Grant has been in my collection for decades. This particular tome is all about actual places and locations in antiquity, and provides an excellent resource for historical gaming. It can also provide inspiration for names, ideas on fictional locations in your own setting, or ways to reinterpret the history behind actual locations into a fictional framework.
The Seventy Great Mysteries of the Ancient World
This is a more recent work headed by the ubiquitous Brian M. Fagan (one of the premiere popular archaeology writers, almost all of his books are worth a read). It's a fantastic well-illustrated overview of seventy real world archaeological sites, concepts and mysteries, complete with lots of photos and illustrations, the history on each subject, and often maps when possible. Many of the entries look at the real known history behind specific legends and myths, ancient texts and are extremely valuable for a GM looking for real world myth and fact to blend in to a game.
This tome by Edward Brooke-Hitching is a excellent resource on pretty much every weird notion that made its way into the cartography of the old world, whether it was steeped in legend, propaganda, a misunderstanding or outright fictions scribed on to maps. Every chapter in this book is a Pulp adventure or historical game waiting to happen.
This book is a deep read, but it is very much a guide to what it claims on the tin, and if you are specifically looking for inspiration for a medieval period campaign, or one inspired by the period, you may well find this book full of useful ideas and concepts.
Carol Rose's encyclopedia of monstrous beings is a lovely resource with tons of useful information on the imaginary beasts of the world. It's main downside is many entries degenerate into name-listing, but as a resource to identify the origins of a given beast it can be incredibly helpful.
The Deeper Dive List: these books are all valued in my collection but will require more time and reading investment....but the knowledge gleaned will definitely prove inspiring to you:
Written by Fritz Graf, this is is a very detailed analysis of magic and how it was perceived in antiquity. A fascinating read, exceptional in its depth and useful for Call of Cthulhu and games which want realistic magical concepts in them; a fun contrast with today's modern day magic systems that are primarily a product of video games.
Written by Mircea Eliade, one of the pre-eminent French anthropologists of the mid twentieth century, his work on shamanism and its many variations in different cultures is a must-read for students of anthropology but also happens to be a valuable resource for understanding the way people imagined and interacted with the spiritual aspects of life in antiquity and in archaic cultures. Mircea Eliade wrote several excellent books on religion and magic, but Shamanism is the definite must-read.
Peter D. Jean's treatise on maritime myths, legends and occasional facts is a fun read, but because it is more of a general tome on the subject with discreet chapters and topic it is slightly less useful as a general resource. It is a fun read, though, and provides a lot of inspiration for what may happen in a maritime themed campaign setting.
Hey, if you want to read a fascinating book full of interesting observations (and arguably still not too out of date), as well as one of the books actually on a sanity-loss inducing list in Call of Cthulhu that is a real book, then read James Frazier's unabridged seminal work on magic and myth. Well worth it, and surprisingly readable. I love this book so much I somehow have three copies on my shelf and one in my ebook collection, including a rare copy that is over eighty years old.
Okay! That's it for my GM Inspiration posts for December. What to do for next month.....hmmm....
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