Inspirational movies/anime/books for Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

Inspirational movies/anime/books for Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Charles Phipps
08-11-05, 12:36 PM While we've had these before, please list your REASONS why you think that they are good inspirations and what aspects are capable of conveying a property of Eberron.
Endless_Helix
08-11-05, 02:26 PM Avigon: Gods and Demons, by Che Gilson and illustrated by Jimmie Robinson. Excelent for outlining the psycology of sentient constructs.Also gives some ideas for House Cannith.
Charles Phipps
08-11-05, 02:46 PM Brotherhood of the Wolf-

Largely not because of the atmosphere but the mixture of overthetop action with mysticism and conspiracies. Let's set this in...Aundair for example. The Queen is being undermined by the presence of werewolves in the region that are preying on the populous and can't seem to find anything concrete.

In truth, it's not a werewolf at all but it's actually a plot by persecuted Silver Flame followers in the region who want to make the Queen look ineffective against evil by setting up the Flame's ancient enemies as culprits. It's actually a dire beast (bullete?) from Xen'drick.

A agent of Thrane is in the region though to purge the lie after the Queen's agency 'writes the village off'.

Perfect fit, even with Halfling Druids who know Kung Fu.

;-)
Steelpunk
08-11-05, 04:20 PM I've found a lot of steampunk stuff to fit my own vision of what Eberron is kind of like...

Steamboy is an anime that isn't too bad, and shows a lot of interesting ideas regarding constructs and technology that could easily be adapted to a magical Eberron structure.

Any cyberpunk book/story (such as those by William Gibson) involving an arcology is great for Sharn, since they really make for good visualizations on how life differs among the different levels of a vertical city. Blade Runner (the film) can also be useful for this purpose, since it gives a sense of sweeping grandeur in architecture - not to mention the Vangelis soundtrack is great (we use it occasionally when the party is in Sharn, and the players love it).

Though it's not a book/anime/movie, the RPG video game Arcanum bases itself on a steampunk-ish world of magic and technology while maintaining an archaic fantasy feel, complete with constructs, a rail system and races common to D&D.
Elentilion
08-11-05, 04:33 PM Book and movie: The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco.

A possible suicide has occurred in a monastery of the Church of the Silver Flame located in Thrane countryside. A group of the Church from Flamekeep (with at least one cleric with the Master Inquisitive PrC if possible, for flavour reasons) is sent to investigate it. The victim was a resident priest.

While in the monastery, other deaths occur, and through investigation the group (it's hoped) realize some patterns in the deaths (such as the black tongues and finger tips of the victims) which makes them conclude they were actually murders.

The cause is a book with poisoned page edges, and the victims were poisoned while reading the book and moistening the tips of their index fingers in their tongues to turn the pages. The book is not found in the scribes' office; the small quantity of books in the office should arouse the group suspicion, due to the fact that this monastery was renowned for its huge and comprehensive library, only smaller than the Korranberg Library and The Royal Collection of Aundair. The monastery library if hidden deep inside one of the major towers of the monastery, and is actually a huge labyrinth, whose design, entrance, and exits are known only by the master librarian and the abbot.

The book contains one of the most accurate records regarding the true nature of the Silver Flame and the demon who lies within it. This is the only remaining copy. The abbot poisoned the book to punish those priests who would dare to read such blasphemous book. The reason for the abbot not burn the book? He is obviously seduced by the truth in the writtings and plots to use it somehow to make the demon within the Flame become more proeminent and active, eventually overcoming the couatl and Jaela and put himself as the Keeper of the Flame afterwards.

The group find this out and has to solve the mysteries of the labyrinth to find the book and the abbot inside and decide what to do with both. Would the PCs hand both out to the Church, or would they have other uses for the book after reading it?

Add a deformed hunchback priest who knows to much about the ongoing events in the monastery and we have an interesting plot to deal with. :)
Pax
08-11-05, 04:44 PM Strangely enough, I think I would add Laputa (a.k.a. "Castle in the Sky"), by Hayao Myazaki, to the list. It doesn't feel quite right for Eberron ... but, then ... it's not completely wrong, either.

I might also include Kiki's Delivery Service, from Miyazaki as well. Strangely, I think Kiki would fit eberon better, in some ways - due to the fairly casual intermingling of magic and technology.

And in general, anything Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have put out there, is worth the time and money to see ... at least ten times over. :)

For reading material ... I highly recommend a look at the series The Age of Unreason, by J. Gregory Keyes (in order, the books are Newton's Cannon, A Calculus of Angels, The Empire of Unreason, and The Shadows of God). The series is set in a world where the classical idea of alchemy holds sway - instead of gunpowder-and-lead-shot pistols, there are equivalent devices which fire strokes of lightning; there are devices for communicating across vast distances ... LOTS of magic-like stuff. All against an otherwise-ordinary late 18th century to early 19th century backdrop.
a_psh
08-11-05, 04:59 PM I tend to run a pulp/noir mix, but the examples I can think of are more on the pulpy side...

Fifth Element - A good example of crazy, almost surrealistic action, which makes this movie very pulpy and oozing with style. The guy in the flying boat thing flying up to your window to sell you breakfast is also a very Sharn-y idea, I think (not something I would make common, but something that a few eccentric businessmen could certainly do). And I can certainly imagine the party taking a few pointers in how to "negotiate" from the main character.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - More so than the other two in the series, I think, this one really underscores the "Search Slow, Fight Fast" paradigm of Eberron, and has great examples of travel encounters, where challenge lies in not only surviving, but securing further means of transporation. And Indy's style basically *is* the Extreme Explorer, after all.
LugWrench
08-11-05, 05:12 PM For the "Shadows of the Last War", I thought that a little mood music would be needed. It took some work, but I managed to pull it off. When my group found the correct hatch and entered the Whitehearth facility, I turned on the CD player and the opening theme to "Resident Evil" started playing. Two players went paper-white pale and one shuddered. :D
Charles Phipps
08-11-05, 06:13 PM For the "Shadows of the Last War", I thought that a little mood music would be needed. It took some work, but I managed to pull it off. When my group found the correct hatch and entered the Whitehearth facility, I turned on the CD player and the opening theme to "Resident Evil" started playing. Two players went paper-white pale and one shuddered. :D

*applauds* Excellent call.

I once did the Soundtrack from Interview with a Vampire while cruising through Aundair. I put on "Sympathy for the Devil" only when the bad guy got away at the end.

Full Metal Alchemist is one of those cases where so much is RIGHT that you need to obviously know when to change the rest. The cuteness of it detracts from the genuinely horrible and terrifying things that people do during the series for example.

The best representation is a magician working for the Knights Arcane and also insert the fact that an attempt to do the forbidden wish spell transmuted his brother's soul into a nearby warforged.
protonik
08-11-05, 06:41 PM Comics:

Battlechasers. It has a Warforged and a medieval setting with magick as tech. Very cool book.

Scion
greatfrito
08-11-05, 07:38 PM Heheh, there have been so many of these, and really, I'm in the boat of "Eberron can adapt to anything/Anything can adapt to Eberron".

For starters:

Hellboy(Comic Books): Action and Investigation, mostly in the darker Lovecraftian style of world. I think the whole darker setup works well with Eberron, and I love Mike's artwork (and love Eberron's comic-pages that are so similar to it). I catch myself picturing things in Mignola's style of art while I play.

Marvel 1602(Comic Book): Mostly action, and a great idea for dealing with "Superheroes" (really, what are the PCs in your game?) in a medieval-esque world.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen(Comic Books): The League books just have that "feeling" that I like in my Eberron games. Honestly, this is one of the comic books where half of the heroes don't have "super powers", and I think it's a good show of party-structure.

Sin City(Comic Books/Movie): There really isn't a different between the comics and the movie, except accesability. Either way, the world that Miller creates seems to be a good influence for a very dark Sharn - perhaps darker than many people would consider. Marv, Dwight, Hartigan, and the other "leads" of the comics all fit the darker anti-hero archetype that I've seen cropping up in my Eberron games.

Brotherhood of the Wolf(Movie): I'll second this one. It seems a bit strange the first go-through, but it has the high-action and convoluted storylines that I think fit very well with the Eberron setting.

Bladerunner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep(Movie/Book): They're just so good. I'll use Bladerunner as my futuristic/cyberpunk influence (I don't dare use too much more cyberpunk influence) for Eberron because the technology presented in the movie is easily reimagined into the Eberron world, and the themes of personal understanding and the meaning of "humanity" go well with Changelings and Warforged running about.

Neverwhere(Book): This piece of modern fantasy has the darker, minimalist (let's say "low level characters") setting that just makes the events and characters more epic in scope, without them being tremendously powerful. The book has awesome good-guys, incredible (or at least incredibly fun) bad-guys, and twists that would make a great straight-conversion, let alone great inspiration.

Hellsing(Anime): I almost took this off the list, but hear me out: while the action is a bit over-the-top for Eberron, and the characters are insanely powerful, the end-half of the show presents a great series of events and gives a great feel of what the characters should deal with in a "conspiracy" sort of campaign.

Batman:Year One(Comic): Another great comic series that focuses on the "noir" element. I really like the story in this one, and the investigative elements of it.

Meh, I'll try to go find links to the other threads like this one from a while back - I'm sure they've got a great summary going (and I'm still pro having all of the "good inspirations" threads compiled and stickyed, but I'm sooo lazy). :D
getyourspotusa
08-11-05, 11:21 PM Pirates of the Caribbean : It's been said elsewhere, iirc, but... great examples of how to use Action points and heroic action (esp. the scenes where Jack Sparrow is saving the girl and escaping in the beginning of the movie), stealing the ship (inspired and SO Eberron), and all the sailing stuff...
Tealgorthian
08-12-05, 12:12 AM AS much as I think Warforged are kinda crappy as they are, Armitage from Armitage The Third could make a good inspiration for a Warforged character striving to be human.
Elentilion
08-12-05, 02:27 PM Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot (as well as her other detectives) stories are a major inspirational source material to run noir investigative adventures.

Sharn for 19th century London and the Lightning Rail ("Murder on Orien Express"? Old joke around here, I know, but still kicking :P ) as a crime spot: can't go wrong.
Arcane Guyver
08-12-05, 09:59 PM I'll just stick with anme here for this post:

Noir - Not a great anime by any means, but the mood fits perfectly. Just imagine one of the biggest, nastiest secrets of the Silver Flame...two maidens with black hands, bearing the sins of many to bring judgement to the wicked...

Witch Hunter Robin - 'Witchery' in this show is obviously a thinly veiled term for psionics. Doesn't take much imagination to fit the war of the quori into this.

...I can't think of any more offhand that really scream Eberron to me. Scrapped Princess is certainly fantasy, and has lots of noir-ish betrayals and oddball alliances, but that's where the similarities end. :confused: I'll try to think of some more.
Charles Phipps
08-12-05, 10:17 PM Battlestar Galactica the Second Series- While the hunting down and eliminating the last survivors of all humans is decidedly not going to be easy unless the remenants of Cyre are going to pile into a boat and the warforged of the Lord of Blades hunts them, I definitely use the Cylons as inspiration for the mindset of the Lords of Blades warforged.

The best part of the Cylons Warforged is there's a curious mixture of love and hatred for the human race. They are grateful for their creation but they are also aware that for all of humanity's accomplishments that they were not built out of love but will have to fight for any place in the future. Their desire is to replace mankind and they adopt a religious worship for that.

It's beautiful in that respect.
aelryinth
08-13-05, 12:14 AM Every single one of the James Bond movies.

Agents of the Queen, Great Gadgets, Villains with Eldritch Machines, conspiracies, secret societies, and in the early ones, shadows of the cold war, with megacorps taking over the later ones.

Fun fun!

IN the same vein, Mission IMpossible, Old and new.

==Aelryinth
MysticTheurge
08-13-05, 01:43 AM I draw some inspiration from The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman, for noir/mystical aspects, especially since dreams and the quori (will) play a large part in my campaign.

I'll also second the recommendation of Age of Unreason. It even has an airship (powered by a bound creature!) and some great scenes involving it, for anyone who wants inspiration on that front.
Elentilion
08-13-05, 05:17 AM Books: most of the "Cthulhu Mythos" related stories by H. P. Lovecraft, especially The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, The Silver Key, and Through the Gates of the Silver Key, would make a perfect oneiric/planar oriented campaign related to Dal Quor, while stories such as the obvious The Call of Cthulhu, At the Mountains of Madness, and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward could provide a nice (and terrible) view of what happens when mere mortals find out and meddle with unknown things such as Xoriat's nature and its inhabitants. Quite easy to adapt the Old Ones in this context also.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Charles Phipps 08-11-05, 12:36 PM	While we've had these before, please list your REASONS why you think that they are good inspirations and what aspects are capable of conveying a property of Eberron.
Endless_Helix 08-11-05, 02:26 PM	Avigon: Gods and Demons, by Che Gilson and illustrated by Jimmie Robinson. Excelent for outlining the psycology of sentient constructs.Also gives some ideas for House Cannith.
Charles Phipps 08-11-05, 02:46 PM	Brotherhood of the Wolf- Largely not because of the atmosphere but the mixture of overthetop action with mysticism and conspiracies. Let's set this in...Aundair for example. The Queen is being undermined by the presence of werewolves in the region that are preying on the populous and can't seem to find anything concrete. In truth, it's not a werewolf at all but it's actually a plot by persecuted Silver Flame followers in the region who want to make the Queen look ineffective against evil by setting up the Flame's ancient enemies as culprits. It's actually a dire beast (bullete?) from Xen'drick. A agent of Thrane is in the region though to purge the lie after the Queen's agency 'writes the village off'. Perfect fit, even with Halfling Druids who know Kung Fu. ;-)
Steelpunk 08-11-05, 04:20 PM	I've found a lot of steampunk stuff to fit my own vision of what Eberron is kind of like... Steamboy is an anime that isn't too bad, and shows a lot of interesting ideas regarding constructs and technology that could easily be adapted to a magical Eberron structure. Any cyberpunk book/story (such as those by William Gibson) involving an arcology is great for Sharn, since they really make for good visualizations on how life differs among the different levels of a vertical city. Blade Runner (the film) can also be useful for this purpose, since it gives a sense of sweeping grandeur in architecture - not to mention the Vangelis soundtrack is great (we use it occasionally when the party is in Sharn, and the players love it). Though it's not a book/anime/movie, the RPG video game Arcanum bases itself on a steampunk-ish world of magic and technology while maintaining an archaic fantasy feel, complete with constructs, a rail system and races common to D&D.
Elentilion 08-11-05, 04:33 PM	Book and movie: The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco. A possible suicide has occurred in a monastery of the Church of the Silver Flame located in Thrane countryside. A group of the Church from Flamekeep (with at least one cleric with the Master Inquisitive PrC if possible, for flavour reasons) is sent to investigate it. The victim was a resident priest. While in the monastery, other deaths occur, and through investigation the group (it's hoped) realize some patterns in the deaths (such as the black tongues and finger tips of the victims) which makes them conclude they were actually murders. The cause is a book with poisoned page edges, and the victims were poisoned while reading the book and moistening the tips of their index fingers in their tongues to turn the pages. The book is not found in the scribes' office; the small quantity of books in the office should arouse the group suspicion, due to the fact that this monastery was renowned for its huge and comprehensive library, only smaller than the Korranberg Library and The Royal Collection of Aundair. The monastery library if hidden deep inside one of the major towers of the monastery, and is actually a huge labyrinth, whose design, entrance, and exits are known only by the master librarian and the abbot. The book contains one of the most accurate records regarding the true nature of the Silver Flame and the demon who lies within it. This is the only remaining copy. The abbot poisoned the book to punish those priests who would dare to read such blasphemous book. The reason for the abbot not burn the book? He is obviously seduced by the truth in the writtings and plots to use it somehow to make the demon within the Flame become more proeminent and active, eventually overcoming the couatl and Jaela and put himself as the Keeper of the Flame afterwards. The group find this out and has to solve the mysteries of the labyrinth to find the book and the abbot inside and decide what to do with both. Would the PCs hand both out to the Church, or would they have other uses for the book after reading it? Add a deformed hunchback priest who knows to much about the ongoing events in the monastery and we have an interesting plot to deal with. :)
Pax 08-11-05, 04:44 PM	Strangely enough, I think I would add Laputa (a.k.a. "Castle in the Sky"), by Hayao Myazaki, to the list. It doesn't feel quite right for Eberron ... but, then ... it's not completely wrong, either. I might also include Kiki's Delivery Service, from Miyazaki as well. Strangely, I think Kiki would fit eberon better, in some ways - due to the fairly casual intermingling of magic and technology. And in general, anything Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have put out there, is worth the time and money to see ... at least ten times over. :) For reading material ... I highly recommend a look at the series The Age of Unreason, by J. Gregory Keyes (in order, the books are Newton's Cannon, A Calculus of Angels, The Empire of Unreason, and The Shadows of God). The series is set in a world where the classical idea of alchemy holds sway - instead of gunpowder-and-lead-shot pistols, there are equivalent devices which fire strokes of lightning; there are devices for communicating across vast distances ... LOTS of magic-like stuff. All against an otherwise-ordinary late 18th century to early 19th century backdrop.
a_psh 08-11-05, 04:59 PM	I tend to run a pulp/noir mix, but the examples I can think of are more on the pulpy side... Fifth Element - A good example of crazy, almost surrealistic action, which makes this movie very pulpy and oozing with style. The guy in the flying boat thing flying up to your window to sell you breakfast is also a very Sharn-y idea, I think (not something I would make common, but something that a few eccentric businessmen could certainly do). And I can certainly imagine the party taking a few pointers in how to "negotiate" from the main character. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - More so than the other two in the series, I think, this one really underscores the "Search Slow, Fight Fast" paradigm of Eberron, and has great examples of travel encounters, where challenge lies in not only surviving, but securing further means of transporation. And Indy's style basically is the Extreme Explorer, after all.
LugWrench 08-11-05, 05:12 PM	For the "Shadows of the Last War", I thought that a little mood music would be needed. It took some work, but I managed to pull it off. When my group found the correct hatch and entered the Whitehearth facility, I turned on the CD player and the opening theme to "Resident Evil" started playing. Two players went paper-white pale and one shuddered. :D
Charles Phipps 08-11-05, 06:13 PM	For the "Shadows of the Last War", I thought that a little mood music would be needed. It took some work, but I managed to pull it off. When my group found the correct hatch and entered the Whitehearth facility, I turned on the CD player and the opening theme to "Resident Evil" started playing. Two players went paper-white pale and one shuddered. :D applauds Excellent call. I once did the Soundtrack from Interview with a Vampire while cruising through Aundair. I put on "Sympathy for the Devil" only when the bad guy got away at the end. Full Metal Alchemist is one of those cases where so much is RIGHT that you need to obviously know when to change the rest. The cuteness of it detracts from the genuinely horrible and terrifying things that people do during the series for example. The best representation is a magician working for the Knights Arcane and also insert the fact that an attempt to do the forbidden wish spell transmuted his brother's soul into a nearby warforged.
protonik 08-11-05, 06:41 PM	Comics: Battlechasers. It has a Warforged and a medieval setting with magick as tech. Very cool book. Scion
greatfrito 08-11-05, 07:38 PM	Heheh, there have been so many of these, and really, I'm in the boat of "Eberron can adapt to anything/Anything can adapt to Eberron". For starters: Hellboy(Comic Books): Action and Investigation, mostly in the darker Lovecraftian style of world. I think the whole darker setup works well with Eberron, and I love Mike's artwork (and love Eberron's comic-pages that are so similar to it). I catch myself picturing things in Mignola's style of art while I play. Marvel 1602(Comic Book): Mostly action, and a great idea for dealing with "Superheroes" (really, what are the PCs in your game?) in a medieval-esque world. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen(Comic Books): The League books just have that "feeling" that I like in my Eberron games. Honestly, this is one of the comic books where half of the heroes don't have "super powers", and I think it's a good show of party-structure. Sin City(Comic Books/Movie): There really isn't a different between the comics and the movie, except accesability. Either way, the world that Miller creates seems to be a good influence for a very dark Sharn - perhaps darker than many people would consider. Marv, Dwight, Hartigan, and the other "leads" of the comics all fit the darker anti-hero archetype that I've seen cropping up in my Eberron games. Brotherhood of the Wolf(Movie): I'll second this one. It seems a bit strange the first go-through, but it has the high-action and convoluted storylines that I think fit very well with the Eberron setting. Bladerunner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep(Movie/Book): They're just so good. I'll use Bladerunner as my futuristic/cyberpunk influence (I don't dare use too much more cyberpunk influence) for Eberron because the technology presented in the movie is easily reimagined into the Eberron world, and the themes of personal understanding and the meaning of "humanity" go well with Changelings and Warforged running about. Neverwhere(Book): This piece of modern fantasy has the darker, minimalist (let's say "low level characters") setting that just makes the events and characters more epic in scope, without them being tremendously powerful. The book has awesome good-guys, incredible (or at least incredibly fun) bad-guys, and twists that would make a great straight-conversion, let alone great inspiration. Hellsing(Anime): I almost took this off the list, but hear me out: while the action is a bit over-the-top for Eberron, and the characters are insanely powerful, the end-half of the show presents a great series of events and gives a great feel of what the characters should deal with in a "conspiracy" sort of campaign. Batman:Year One(Comic): Another great comic series that focuses on the "noir" element. I really like the story in this one, and the investigative elements of it. Meh, I'll try to go find links to the other threads like this one from a while back - I'm sure they've got a great summary going (and I'm still pro having all of the "good inspirations" threads compiled and stickyed, but I'm sooo lazy). :D
getyourspotusa 08-11-05, 11:21 PM	Pirates of the Caribbean : It's been said elsewhere, iirc, but... great examples of how to use Action points and heroic action (esp. the scenes where Jack Sparrow is saving the girl and escaping in the beginning of the movie), stealing the ship (inspired and SO Eberron), and all the sailing stuff...
Tealgorthian 08-12-05, 12:12 AM	AS much as I think Warforged are kinda crappy as they are, Armitage from Armitage The Third could make a good inspiration for a Warforged character striving to be human.
Elentilion 08-12-05, 02:27 PM	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot (as well as her other detectives) stories are a major inspirational source material to run noir investigative adventures. Sharn for 19th century London and the Lightning Rail ("Murder on Orien Express"? Old joke around here, I know, but still kicking :P ) as a crime spot: can't go wrong.
Arcane Guyver 08-12-05, 09:59 PM	I'll just stick with anme here for this post: Noir - Not a great anime by any means, but the mood fits perfectly. Just imagine one of the biggest, nastiest secrets of the Silver Flame...two maidens with black hands, bearing the sins of many to bring judgement to the wicked... Witch Hunter Robin - 'Witchery' in this show is obviously a thinly veiled term for psionics. Doesn't take much imagination to fit the war of the quori into this. ...I can't think of any more offhand that really scream Eberron to me. Scrapped Princess is certainly fantasy, and has lots of noir-ish betrayals and oddball alliances, but that's where the similarities end. :confused: I'll try to think of some more.
Charles Phipps 08-12-05, 10:17 PM	Battlestar Galactica the Second Series- While the hunting down and eliminating the last survivors of all humans is decidedly not going to be easy unless the remenants of Cyre are going to pile into a boat and the warforged of the Lord of Blades hunts them, I definitely use the Cylons as inspiration for the mindset of the Lords of Blades warforged. The best part of the Cylons Warforged is there's a curious mixture of love and hatred for the human race. They are grateful for their creation but they are also aware that for all of humanity's accomplishments that they were not built out of love but will have to fight for any place in the future. Their desire is to replace mankind and they adopt a religious worship for that. It's beautiful in that respect.
aelryinth 08-13-05, 12:14 AM	Every single one of the James Bond movies. Agents of the Queen, Great Gadgets, Villains with Eldritch Machines, conspiracies, secret societies, and in the early ones, shadows of the cold war, with megacorps taking over the later ones. Fun fun! IN the same vein, Mission IMpossible, Old and new. ==Aelryinth
MysticTheurge 08-13-05, 01:43 AM	I draw some inspiration from The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman, for noir/mystical aspects, especially since dreams and the quori (will) play a large part in my campaign. I'll also second the recommendation of Age of Unreason. It even has an airship (powered by a bound creature!) and some great scenes involving it, for anyone who wants inspiration on that front.
Elentilion 08-13-05, 05:17 AM	Books: most of the "Cthulhu Mythos" related stories by H. P. Lovecraft, especially The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, The Silver Key, and Through the Gates of the Silver Key, would make a perfect oneiric/planar oriented campaign related to Dal Quor, while stories such as the obvious The Call of Cthulhu, At the Mountains of Madness, and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward could provide a nice (and terrible) view of what happens when mere mortals find out and meddle with unknown things such as Xoriat's nature and its inhabitants. Quite easy to adapt the Old Ones in this context also.