What are some must-reads for fa/tg/uys? I mean, besides LoTR, Neuromancer, and other staples. Any more obscure things you dudes could recommend?
Also general /tg/ literature thread.
You can take the recommendations in the 5e Player's handbook without regret, since they're all Fantasy staples that form a pretty decent base for a "required" reading list.
If you haven't read the Dying Earth series and the Lyonesse Trilogy, and just about anything else from Jack Vance you can get your hands on, do so now.
Zelazny should also be on everyone's shelf. Lord of Light deserves a special mention, as does the Corwin series of the Chronicles of Amber.
Fritz Leiber's Swords series, Howard's Conan books, and Moorcocks's Elric saga are all fundamental works that can be described as essentials.
These are really the basics, but literally any good book can be scoured for ideas. Fleming's Bond novels are fantastic adventure stories, and it's also essential to have a background in mythology and history, which makes textbooks sometimes dry but rather useful reading.
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4928/pg4928-images.html
>>46393044
Tom fucking Clancy
Boat Jedi Wizard Chronicles desu
Black Company
Galactic Patrol (Lensman)
The Bas-Lag Cycle.
Lyndon hardy - master of the 5 magics secret of the 6th magic riddle of the 7 realms
>>46393044
I'm a fan of the Empire of Man series by David Weber, beginning with March Upcountry. Does a pretty good job of showing a technologically advanced culture (in this case, spacefaring humans) using that technology to advance their allies on an alien planet for mutual gain, in what feels to me to be a realistic manner.
Also a fan of David Eddings' book 'The Redemption of Athalus', for inspiration in playing as an enjoyable asshole-hero PC.
Terry Pratchett's works are, of course, always worth a read, especially from 'Guards, Guards!' onward (although I did enjoy all of them, even 'The Light Fantastic'). He had a way of sneaking in a well-written, serious and dramatic tale while you were distracted by all the humor and silliness that more writers could do worse than try to take inspiration from.
And of course, I'd recommend Steven Brust's novels for their worldbuilding and sense of style. Guy's got chops.
Malazan book of the fallen.
Anne McCaffrey's Pern series has a lot of worldbuilding, and are a great example of a story without a big bad.
If it's obscure it really shouldn't be required reading, just reccomendded at this point.
If you want a good account of what war does to a solder in modern times, I'd check out "storm of steel" and "what it is like to go to war"
Dune is of course an obvious one, but I'd also reccomend reading (or watching) ghost in the Shell for sci fi and cyberpunk inspiration.
>>46393044
Discworld is a must if you do humourous fantasy campaigns.
>>46393044
Vernor Vinge
Charles Stross
Michael Swanwick
Iain M. Banks
After that you run down the list of Hugo & Nebula award winners, and/or authors liked by authors you've enjoyed.
>>46393476
>>46393476
Until she decided out of nowhere to introduce religious fundamentalists despite thousands of years when perm had no religion - to get shekels from americunts
>>46393543
>hating on fundamentalists
How appropriate.
>>46393543
I don't think I've read that far yet. I'm assuming a faction emerges opposed to the use of AIVAS?
>>46393447
Before you get shit on because >Weber, I want to point out the Empire of Man books are mostly written by John Ringo. Weber usually writes the outline, the very few bits of space combat and some background political stuff, IIRC.
They're also pretty cool.
Harold Lamb is my strongest recommendation. Guy was a turn of the century author like REH or Lovecraft but was more 'professional' and graduated from the pulp writing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Lamb
I'm more a fan of what I'd call his 'narrative nonfiction' - he writes in such a way that it's not just a stale history text but rather one with a sense of storytelling and personalizing without losing the objectivity. In particular Genghis Khan: The Emperor of All Men, Tamerlane, The Flame of Islam Iron men and Saints (The Crusades should be both of them together), The City and the Tsar: Peter the Great is alright, Hannibal and Cyrus and Alexander are bretty good but the Genghis Khan/Tamerlane and Crusades ones are the best.
Demon Cycle by Peter Brett - this is a modern fiction and is a mixed bag. I really love the premise (when night falls unholy gibbering horrors rise from the earth and the only way to protect yourself is to hide behind very fickle and fragile runes) and the first book The Painted Man is top notch. The second is pretty good, the third starts to suffer but it's alright, the fourth goes pearshaped and the fifth isn't out yet. Faults of the 4th being mid-session it goes hardcore ASOIAF-style killing people left and right, more inordinate focus on the Spartan-Arabs (already the primary focus of the 2nd book and half the focus of the 3rd), more annoying characters instead of focusing on the relevant ones, less fighting demons.
I like Guy Gavriel Kay's books. Lions of Al-Rassan is great, the one about the Irish and Vikings and Angles I forget hte name of is good. All Under Heaven is a really fantastic T'ang (or not-T'ang) setting and political shit but the ninja girl in it is kind of annoying in its stereotypicalness. Still a good book
>>46393728
>Eileen Dennis
Fuck kind of name is that, curse you moot 2.0 and your perfidy!
>>46393447
>Also a fan of David Eddings' book 'The Redemption of Athalus', for inspiration in playing as an enjoyable asshole-hero PC.
My nigger. The Belgariad is a great read for an archetypal fantasy story, and it's not super heavily based on Tolkien.
Wheel of Time if you love reading and getting into lore
>Science Fiction
>Tiger Tiger/The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
Real Golden Age scifi. Full of great ideas, excellent set pieces, memorable characters and plenty of wacky 1930's strangeness. Notable for having a particularly abhorrent protagonist, a rapist thug with severe PTSD and an extraordinary ability.
>The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
Honestly if you think Starship Troopers is on the required reading list, you should read this also. A kind of a left-wing response to the Vietnam War where S T was written by the slightly more conservative Heinlein. Deals with culture shock, particularly with young soldiers returning from the war.
>Armor - John Steakley
I'm surprised that it seems so few people have read this. It's a great yarn. Kind of a crime novel, I guess?
>The Mote in Gods Eye - Niven, Pournelle
I rate this as the best first contact novel written. Slightly... dated setting, but realistic politics and a pretty unorthodox alien race makes for great storytelling. Kind of influenced a lot of stuff after it.
>Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds
Gothic space opera. Full of pretty strange nonsense but I mine his books for ideas all the damn time.
>>46393408
I liked them but YMMV. I'm not sure I like Mieville's method of worldbuilding, but I find the result kinda fun. Occasionally becomes brilliant, but it's a huge wealth of ideas. Also he's a damned commanist and it kinda shows.
>>>46393044 Also general /tg/ literature thread.
The Golden Bough is a /must/ for worldbuilders.
Barsoom fiction
Martian chronicles
>>46396098
I actually found them rather lacking. Some interesting "world building," but an example of rather dry delivery, cliche wish-fulfilment, and a lot of rather amateurish story-telling.
They do have a lot of those good Southern lines that would sound corny if anyone else were to try and say them, though.
Ursula K Le Guin is a great author, and while Earthsea is a fun read, I also HIGHLY recommend reading 'The Left Hand of Darkness' as it paints a picture of a truly alien culture. Very good for getting into the mindset of thinking about themes like isolation, multiculturalism, nationalism, etc.
Dune is a must, the psychological aspect is great, as is the focus on the power of religion. Plus, it's full of ecological goodness and a rather interesting take on intrigue. It explains everything as you read so that you don't feel overwhelmed by it, despite how fleshed-out it all is.
And because it's only been mentioned once, EVERYONE SHOULD READ FRITZ LEIBER'S FAFHRD AND THE GRAY MOUSER BOOKS. They're simply some of the best available for good ol' swords and sworcery.
Finally, I personally suggest The Night Land by Willaim Hope Hodgson. It's a crazy read, look it up.
>>46396502
+on Dune. Absolute must read.
Terry Pratchett and Timothy Zahn. Boy, that would be a weird collaboration book.
Speaking of Pratchett collaborators, Neverwhere is absolutely required reading for any kind of urban fantasy game.
What about Jules Verne and H. G. Wells.
I can say the hunt for red October, 20000 leagues under the sea, Edith Hamilton's mythology (probably the best mythology compendium I've read), and compendiums of stories (ice had luck with compendiums of historical stories from the wild west) are great places to start.
The compendiums are great for character inspirations.
>>46393044
So saith the original grognard.
>>46393044
It's not exactly fiction, but every science fiction fan should read Erik Davis's Techgnosis. If you really want to see how much mysticism and how many mythical themes you can fit into the modern mundane world or the dark cyberpunk future, this is the book for you.
I would recommend Skullduggery Pleasant. It's comedic modern urban fantasy and the reason I'd recommend it is because most of the main character strongly resemble PCs in the ways they act.
>>46393044
Worm if nobody else has mentioned it yet, it's more capeshit but it's dystopian capeshit, and one of the few good examples of it.
>>46399212
Speaking of, the Pirates of the Caribbean movies are similar in that every character feels like a haphazard D&D creation.
>>46393389
>Black Company
Not necessarily essential, but the novels by Umberto Eco are fascinating. I had a hard time beginning to interpret them with Eco's dense style of writing.
>Foucault's Pendulum
A story of modern conspiracies, it explores every point in European history, and dives into very interesting, mysterious orders, such as The Templars and The Rosicrucians. A translator is necessary, as Eco tends to use many different phrases of many different languages.
>Name of the Rose
the story takes place in 1327, in a specially monastery called an Aedificium. A mysterious string of deaths puzzles an order of monks. I found it very helpful in planning many monasteries in my campaigns.
When I was a kid, I read through the series of Xanth, by Piers Anthony. It was a cool high magic setting. I don't remember much of it.
>>46396502
I second Dune as well
>>46399499
Here's the Aedificium. I forgot to mention that the books mentioned are historical fiction, not fantasy. They're still great world-building inspirations however.
John Keegan's "The History of Warfare" should be required reading for historical wargamers and anyone interested in campaigns focused on war. He has another one called "The Face of Battle" which should also be read by the same people, but its focus is on what individual soldiers would have faced.
It's an amazing source of information, and since this board is full of cucks who post propaganda articles in place of arguments, it's very good for pointing out their horseshit.
Crossing into a bit of Vidya territory here, but I'm very fond of Mogworld by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw.
Basically about an undead in a vidya game that is trying to desperately kill himself, but keep reanimating. He doesn't want to burn himself at risk of becoming sapient ash so he goes on a quest to get the game's developers to delete him.
Really well written, has some interesting NPC ideas in it, and gets kind of philosophical at times.
>>46393301
>You can take the recommendations in the 5e Player's handbook without regret, since they're all Fantasy staples that form a pretty decent base for a "required" reading list.
It would probably take me three years to get through all this.
>>46400069
my nigger
>>46400547
That's awesome.
They could have provided a list of video games and movies too.
>>46400597
Honestly, they probably should have.
Lord of the Rings
Krull
Pirates of the Caribbean
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
>>46400597
What are the chances they'd put their own video games and movies on that list?
To whoever reccomended me Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Fuck you. That was the most awkward, creepy sex scene Ive ever had to sit through. What the actual fuck. With Monetta, you know the one.
If you want a really good dystopia, read The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi.
It's set in a future where food companies, Agricorps, spread diseases to kill off all food that isn't theirs so that they can make big money. Only the diseases got out of hand and started mutating rapidly. Now, just barely able to keep up with Blister Rust and a bevy of other horrible maladies, they go out and try to find foods that still thrive and aren't contaminated to find a way to widen their rapidly closing gene pool.
One of the best written books on my shelf, no doubt. Highly recommend.
>>46401897
Wait you mean the one with the colonel or the detective?
I've got some horror recommendations as lessons of how to do atmosphere right. It's all short stories of varying length, I'll list them by author.
>H.P. Lovecraft
The Colour out of Space
A meteorite crashes into a small, backwoods New England farm, when scientists investigate the strange object, it has an unnatural effect on the land and people around it. One of the few stories to ever actually creep me out. A perfect example of weird fiction and how to build an atmosphere of increasing dread as the eponymous colour takes effect, and how to describe
>M.R. James
A Warning to the Curious
Two friends staying at a sleepy seaside hotel encounter a young man who fears for his life from a malevolent spirit guarding an ancient treasure. One of the best ghost stories written in the English language and one that genuinely creeped me out. This is how you write a monster. Threatening, single-minded, and horribly intelligent. Also shows nigh-on perfectly how to describe a horror with only suggestion.
>Ambrose Bierce
The Difficulty in Crossing a Field, An Unfinished Race, Charles Ashmore's Trail
Three very short accounts of bizarre, similar events. Good, freaky plot hooks with no clear, immediate explanation. Written with an almost journalistic verisimilitude, very matter of fact. Bierce is an amazing writer all around.
>Algernon Blackwood
The Willows
The tale of two friends sailing up the Danube and encountering a wild place seemingly caught between two worlds. An absolutely masterful tale of atmospheric weird fiction, languid but consistent, Blackwood knew how to paint a setting.
The Wendigo
A group of friends and acquaintances go hunting moose in northern Ontario, Canada, and encounter a primal force beyond comprehension. A similarly densely atmospheric tale like The Willows, with a much different setting but with more of a focus on dread than alien strangeness.
>>46396878
The Long Earth Series would also be pretty good for alternate universes/worlds.
>>46407523
The Colour Out of Space gives me the willies to this day, fuck that shit man
>>46393044
I'd say on the Black Company note, also other stuff by Glen Cook, especially Starfishers and Garrett P.I.
>>46393044
Also, on the note of Robert E. Howard, I love his short stories, like Pigeons From Hell (collection) and The Fires of Asshurbanipal, and all the Solomon Kane stories. Solomon Kane was a big inspiration for me with the idea of sword and sorcery stuff being set in the Colonial/Imperial period.
>>46407523
I've wondered before how much The Willows may have inspired the Old Forest section of the Fellowship of the Rings.
>>46399499
Foucault's pendulum is excellent but be warned it's very heavy going in parts.
>>46393044
Stardust. Movie version is fine too. For whatever reason, it had a bigger influence on my tastes in fantasy than all the rest.
Also, I feel compelled to share this, even though it's not a must-read in any sense. It's short at least: http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=fillmore&book=czech&story=bayaya
>>46397731
>zelazny's books command $50+ prices on amazon
>>46409163
>they're worth it
>>46405403
Mother fucker, theres a second coming?
Has anyone said anything by Brandon Sanderson yet? I hear he does good writing. Also one of his book series, "Mistborn" has it's own rpg because someone liked his books so much that they asked his permission to make one.
Not really classics but you can get some interesting ideas:
Monster Blood tatto, or 18th/early 19th century world wiith lots of wacky bio-tech and gunpowderd and a constant war between Humans and monsters more or less open, the world is very well done and the author love his words.
The traitor son trilogy, or mercs knights doing merc knights things plus magic and monsters. I really liked the first of this one, the setting seems a mix of historical with lots of fantasy add-one, they even pray to Jesus but is an American novel so not that surpising.
Second Apocalipsis: This one can be hard to swallow, the first three is like the first crusade with some magic throw in, but man the setting is very well done. But fuck the Characters, there is only one than is likeable and he suffers a lot. Very cool ideas too but is sexual stuff makes you uncomfortable avoid it.
Anything from Abercrombie: Character driven plots mostly, they are very well done and the style of writing is fast and furious, kinda of pulpy imo. The setting tend to be pretty meh but serviceable.
The Sword of Shadows: I wouldn recomend this one but I liked some parts of it (the Clans dynamics were cool) but it's a lot of not much hapening and too many points of view, the world setting has plenty of cool shit but this isn't explored enough.
>>46410889
I like his style, he tends to do cool settings but lacks a bit in the characters. The way of kings is like a shonen manga with a well done setting, with magic power armors, alien ecosystems and spirits.
>>46410889
He has strengths and weaknesses. I binged Mistborn, but personally never recommend it to anyone (usually because I'm too busy saying "go read Neuromancer and Dune")
Deepsounding by some fa/tg/uy.
Search for it in the amazon, not on google. You don't want to see deepsounding, just read it.
It's a book about dwarves.
Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy feels like a modern take on old cyberpunk, especially the first two novels that setup a world that has recognizable arcologies, corporate headhunting in the form of kidnapping, and burger joints with meat of mysterious sources. Deals a lot with the everyday side of such a setting and the reactionary movements that would form.
>>46393044
Gave this a gander, and was pleasantly surprised.
There were a few moments where it tried to be deeper than it was, but overall it's a great science fiction criminal story.
![majipoor[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/9p7kDWo.jpg "majipoor[1].jpg")
>>46393044
Robert Silverberg's Majipoor series is an excellent example of a sci-fi feudal world. A lot of interesting flora & fauna, too.
>>46411778
second this.
>>46393044
DEPENDS ON THE GENRE YOU'RE GAMING IN.
(But here's 1e's list.)
>>46412126
a good stories a good story man
>>46410938
>Monster Blood tattoo
Excellent series. Great story and great world building. I'd love to run a campaign there.
>>46393044
Orks by Stan Nicholls and Tekwar by The Shat
House of Leaves.
I don't know if it has anything to do with anything but a CoC style campaign, but damn if it isn't a good book.
Howards Conan stories. Not the comics, not the movies, but the actual short stories they came from. Awesome world building and a great hero.
>>46411942
That series went to shit right around the prequel book though.
>>46402030
Wait, is that what happened? I thought the disease happened naturally, but because all the crops were the same genome, it just ripped through everything.
>>46413680
I had a feeling it would. A little too much Mary Sue and self-fellatio.
>>46393044
I'm really enjoying "Time enough for love" and the Thrawn Trilogy.
