Formative Fantasy Fiction (Patreon)

My fantasy ttRPG campaigns often pull from themes and ideas I picked up in my formative years of reading and watching. I've never tried listing which were my MAIN influences, but I've thought about it recently. These are certainly on that list, even if they aren't all of what I should include.

Note that this is not a list of my favorite fantasy media (though some are), or what I think are the best. Indeed, some of these were a BAD influence on me. But nevertheless, these are all FORMATIVE influences on what my baseline idea of "fantasy" is.

I'm sure I will think of three blinding omissions within a day...

BOOKS

Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series (especially Harper's Hall and the White Dragon)

C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia series

Glen Cook's Black Company and Dread Empire series.

Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series (especially Jhereg, Yendi, Teckla, and Taltos)

Barbara Hambly's Darwath series

Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books, especially the Arrows and Last Herald-Mage trilogies, and By The Sword.

Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter and Tarzan series

Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series

Lord of the Rings (duh)

Robert E. Howard's Conan stories

All of Michael Moorcock's work

Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories

Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber series

Fred Saberhagen's Book of Swords, Books of Lost Swords, and Empire of the East

Terry Brook's Elfstones of Shannarah (and only this book of Shannarah)

David Gemmell's Legend

Ann Maxwell's Fire Dancer triology (Fire Dancer, Dancer's Luck, Dancer's Illusions)

MOVIES/TV

The Archer/Fugitive from the Empire

The Beastmaster

Big Trouble in Little China

Clash of the Titans (1981)

Conan the Barbarian (1982)

The Dark Crystal

Dragonslayer

Excalibur

Fire and Ice

Flash Gordon (1980)

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

Hawk the Slayer

Heavy Metal

The Hobbit (1977)

King Kong (1933)

King Kong (1976)

Krull

Ladyhawk

Lord of the Rings (1978)

The Magic Sword (1962)(Although I did not know WHAT this movie was until 2015 or so)

The Masque of the Red Death

Mighty Joe Young (1949)

The Mummy's Curse

The Secret of NIMH

Star Wars: A New Hope (yep, as a fantasy influence)

The Sword and the Sorcerer

Watership Down

Wizards

Wizards and Warriors

COMICS

Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld (DC)

Conan the Barbarian (Marvel)

Elfquest (Warp Graphics)

John Carter Warlord of Mars (Marvel)

Micronauts (Marvel)

Red Sonja (Marvel)

Redfox (Harrier Comics)

Sisterhood of Steel (Epic)