The Shelf

This is a list of media that I have taken a lot of inspiration from over my time running TTRPGs. Some are easily accessable, some are not, and all entries come with a shitty little overview of why I love them so much.

Games I am inspired by steal from all the time

• Troika!by Daniel Sell- My favorite TTRPG. Basically the entire game, but in particular I adore the way Troika! does NPCs with miens and skills.
  
  
• Call of Cthulhu by Sandy Petersen- Modern gaming probably would look pretty different without Petersen's encyclopedic knowledge on the Cthulhu mythos and his uncanny ability to build thematic conveyance into the core systems of CoC. It really feels like CoC is designed to make people feel a certain way rather than cater to as broad of an audience as possible.
  
  
• Dungeons and Dragons (1974) by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson- A great reminder of what came before, how gaming traditions have evolved, and how far we have to go to continue make gaming a brave space for everyone. I don't have a link to where you can get copies, but you can find them on DriveThruRPG or other places if you don't wanna support or Hasbro.
  
  
• Fallout by Black Isle Studios- I have a lot of love for the original Fallout beyond the setting being incredibly well fleshed out. I always feel like the game helps the player feel a real sense of urgency and ownership over their own decisions in a world filled with odd but realistic people.
  
  
• Axe/Not Axe by Bruno Bord- Drunk Dwarfs doing Drunk Dwarf things. What's not to love? Oh, also PBtA.
  
  
• AnonSRD by Anonymous- When in doubt, make your players make their own stats. This system works great for a silly, Beer N' Pretzels style one-three shot.

  Books that are on my reading list

  OSR Blogposts

  Public Domain Art Archives

  Movies and TV Shows

  Music

  Other

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