Topic: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

The list of literary inspirations in the Lamentations of the Flame Princess' Grindhouse Edition is simply excellent and covered many of the great, celebrated classics of weird and horror tales. However, I think that a few more modern sources also hold great potential for weird-fantasy inspiration.

The first is the Winter of the World saga by Michael Scott Rohan. While more "mythic" in format, this series of fantasy novels does remind one of weird fantasy in general and many of the elements of LotFP in particular. To begin with, magic is rare and magic items are rarer; magic items hold awesome power but also great risk, and are unique; a mage-smith ("magic-user" who crafts magical items) can wear armour and wield all sorts of weapons; and so on. And the creatures are either weird monstrosities, animals or both. There are no orcs or goblins in these books, but the purely human Ekwesh; no Elves, but the Alvar, who are [spoiler]degenerated humans[/spoiler]; and the Dwarves are a dying sub-species of man. Monsters in these novels tend to be weird and unique, from the "rusalka" to the dragons to the Hunt to particularly strange animals, and most combat is with human foes or animals with monsters being particularly horrifying to combat.

The second is a computer game, actually my second overall favorite computer game ever (after System Shock from 1993), Thief: Dark Project from 1997. This game falls almost squarely into the weird fantasy genre, and most technology and society fit LotFP's assumptions quite neatly. There are Things Man Was Not Supposed to Know; a struggle between Law (Hammerites) and Chaos (the Trickster); a Lawful church which could be good, but could also be quite cruel (complete with inquisitors and torture chambers); and almost all monsters are not archetypal vanilla-fantasy ones (with the exception of zombies, giant spiders and fire elementals). There are also weird lost cities, magic items which have very negative sides, and relatively little magic. Mages are secretive and rarely involved. The sequel, Thief 2: The Metal Age from 2000 is less weird fantasy and more Jules Verne-esque thriller with a particularly nasty and powerful mad scientist as the villain. The setting is a relatively dark, corrupt city with many horrors in store.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

While it might not be as "weird" as some other inspirational writings, I can recommend Jesse Bullington's "The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart".  The blurb at amazon.com says this: "Bullington's bizarre debut follows two monstrous siblings across 1364 Europe and the Middle East as they seek ever-richer graves to rob. The Crusades, the papal schism and the Black Death all make appearances, as do the obligatory witches, priests and knights. In addition to robbing, torturing and murdering innocent peasants, the brothers dispatch demons and imitation popes while debating theology and the nature of mercy..."

It is, perhaps, the most realistic D&D story I've ever read.

He has a second novel out now called "The Enterprise of Death":  A Moorish slave cast out of her Spanish home by war, Awa is captured by a necromancer who forces her to learn his skills. When she eventually flees, she discovers the necromancer placed a curse on her that will destroy her soul in 10 years' time-unless she can find his book of secrets, which could be hidden anywhere in the world. During her quest, Awa befriends Manuel, a painter-turned-mercenary; Monique, a lesbian gunsmith-turned-madam; and others both dead and undead. Bullington (The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart) bounces almost giddily between gruesome and tongue-in-cheek, from more horrific aspects of raising the dead to the odd problems faced by a necromancer with a conscience. Spiritual terror, Awa's star-crossed loves, and Manuel's guilt over becoming a mercenary to pay for art supplies are all grist for a relentless dark humor blended with occasional tragedy.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

Right now I'm reading Dan Simmons 'The Terror which really is a LotFP adventure waiting to happen, especially if you already have Weird New World.

Be sure to have a look at the Berserk manga. Awesome, disturbing and unique monsters ready to be used in any LotFP campaign;

In the rpg realm Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st edition has a lot of things you can plunder for your LotFP games (once you remove the more goofy elements) : towns, NPCs... So is Dragon Warriors.

EDIT : and I almost forgot, get the Time Traveler's guide to 14th century england. Very inspiring and handy when you have to design people or places or need a rough idea of how justice and religion worked. Highly recommended !

Last edited by Kobayashi (2011-05-10 00:35:18)

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

Kobayashi wrote:

Right now I'm reading Dan Simmons 'The Terror which really is a LotFP adventure waiting to happen, especially if you already have Weird New World.

That book was part of my research for Weird New World. You can find the creature in the module if you squint not too hard. smile

Kobayashi wrote:

In the rpg realm Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st edition has a lot of things you can plunder for your LotFP games (once you remove the more goofy elements) : towns, NPCs...

Lichemaster is cool for this, as is Death's Dark Shadow. Someday I will do something as cool as Death on the Reik.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

JimLotFP wrote:

That book was part of my research for Weird New World. You can find the creature in the module if you squint not too hard. smile

Doh ! tongue

Other interesting WFRP 1st edition books : Marienburg and Middenheim. Two interesting cities, quite easy to drop in your regular campaign.

JimLotFP wrote:

Someday I will do something as cool as Death on the Reik

I have no doubt about this.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

Someone posted this link on the storygames forums : http://johnkenn.blogspot.com/.

Use them as oracle cards, excerpts from a child's book found by your PCs, images from a dream/nightmare...

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uq8Nul3Gos4/TIcsHkeITeI/AAAAAAAAASY/UqJIGhmdV_w/s1600/john140.jpg

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

That Don Kenn blog is awesome - his work is really creepy and charming at the same time.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

I must say that when I first started reading/looking through LotFP, I immediately thought of Karl Edward Wagner's Kane the Mystic Swordsman. I know he's too "powerful" to be representative in LotFP, but I think the vibe is right on the money.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

After I posted this, I decided to go back and reread all of the Kane stories.
I just got started, but in "Undertow" I could easily see Kane's two antagonists in this story as LotFP characters.
I won't say more though, so as not to spoil anything.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

Karl Edward Wagner is always a good bet. I almost forgot about We are all Legends by Darrell Schweitzer. Lots of inspiration for any LotFP game (and pretty much anything this guy wrote by the way).

I just saw the Countess, a pretty good movie imho :

"A 17th century Hungarian countess embarks on a murderous undertaking, with the belief that bathing in the blood of virgins will preserve her beauty."

But of course, there's more to the plot : the countess is very rich, provides many men to fight the Ottoman Empire and the King is indebted to her.

So, if someone says she kills virgins to stay young, well, some people would be more than glad to burn her at the stake...

I started working on a LotFP scenario based on this story, it just begs to be adapted.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

I've got a rather large project on the drawing board involving Bathory as well.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

JimLotFP wrote:

I've got a rather large project on the drawing board involving Bathory as well.

That's good to hear ! Mine will be rather short and ugly.

Another thing of interest for those looking for really "Weird" monsters, the Dreamblade line of miniatures had some pretty wild designs.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

I guess Defoe a Pat Mills comic book could work as inspiration. It's  2000 AD title set in restoration era England with zombie apocalypse and other weirdness.

Last edited by MutieMoe (2011-09-28 14:30:14)

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

Old fairy/folk tales could be used as inspiration. I used to have a book from a collection my grandmother owned that had lots of different ones. I don't have the book anymore, at least I don't think I do, but I remember two of the stories: The Tinder Box and The Pumpkin Giant.

Also, the Wrinkle in Time series is quite odd, dealing with dimensional travel and a host of other gonzo things (don't remember any specifics without giving away any of the story, it was years ago when I read it.)

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

Aeron Alfrey recommends Junji Ito's comics.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

I'm current reading Michael Michael Moorcock's Stormbringer for the first time, after finishing The Stealer of Souls for the first time last week. Not only are these superb Sword and Sorcery novels, but they also seem to fit the LotFP milieu quite well: magic is nasty and frightening, magic items are weird, and monsters are horrible. Just like I like them.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

This sport - or a slight variant - would perfectly fit in Vornheim or in a LotFP setting, wouldn't it ?

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

This strikes me as good inspiration for both LotFP and Carcosa:

http://youtu.be/l4iOHPIlIQc

I don't like the way his ax works, but other than that I think it's pretty good.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

An article about monsters.
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/03/the_evo … singleton/

Last edited by Vito (2011-12-12 21:44:33)

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

I hesitate on contunuing to offer comicbooks as inspirational material but I have found comic that matches my interprentation of LotFP perfectly, and it is Ragemoor by Jan Strnad and Richard Corben.

Check the previews here:
http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/20-482/Ragemoor-1
http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/20-483/Ragemoor-2

Comic captures perfectly the weird pulpy atmosphere of the stories that were recommended reading on the LotFP boxed set, one part Poe and other part Lovecraft. There is high weirdness and horror and some sort of palpable feeling of decline and less than perfect world with even more hideous things lurking below. Yet there is clearly smirking gallows type humor in all of it, not the sort of belly bursting laughter inducing and forced type some erraneously attribute the word but humor that will have you smiling like cat that is pawing a rodent.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

Thanks for the heads up - I need to check that one out!

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

I just started this collection of REH stories based on the Recommended Reading section of the tutorial book. So far, thumbs up.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3195 … t-e-howard

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

I have started a blog with just semi-random ideas for a more Central European-like setting (I feel the implicit setting in LotFP has more of a North Western European flavour).
http://csachticz.blogspot.com/

「天朝大國」, 很有意思: http://celestialempire.blogspot.com

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

Brian Lumley's Necroscope series, especially those taking place in the Vampire World since it's a medieval-like world where the Wamphyri are at their strongest.
Very pulp and gore, with plenty of weird and horrifying creatures.

Re: More Inspirations for your LotfP Game

Conan kicking Duvan'Ku in the ass was my thought about black circles:
http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/24-074/ … k-Circle-1