Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Chigaru Aug 11, 2009 0:10:36	So, if one were to read Carl Zimmer's "Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea", one would come across several descriptions of aristocratic life in early 1800s Europe, a time that fits quite well with Eberron. I read the aforementioned book, and decided to hunt down some fiction/non-fiction novels that take place in or detail Europe circa 1700s/1800s, as well as World War I (also known as "The Great War" or, funnily enough, "The Last War". A good example of fiction is "Heart of Darkness", which would make a wonderful D&D plot in its own right. If anybody could recommend some more books like that, I'd be very appreciative. For the record, I think it's hilarious that a highly-regarded work of fiction, nay, art, can be mined as a resource for a table-top roleplaying game. That's all for that part of the post, but I'd like to run a plot idea by you guys. House Vadalis, specifically The Feral Heart, makes a great antagonist for a Resident Evil-inspired campaign. My idea right now is to have a Vadalis ranch located somewhere in Breland (possibly even Wroat) go suddenly and mysteriously quiet. The residents of the nearby town are curious as to why, and send some guys in to investigate. They don't come back. Now scared, the residents hire a crack team of S.T.A.-....I mean, Blademarks to come in and clean the site up. Again, no response. Deneith now wants to know what the hell happened in there, but doesn't want to risk sending in more house members, and so contacts the PCs. Along the way, The Feral Heart wants to find out what's happened to one of its major research facilities while eliminating potential witnesses and evidence linking them to any aberrant creatures within. I'm hoping to eventually expand the plot to parallel the events of the succeeding 4 Resident Evil games (even now I'm trying to decide between putting the final confrontation in Q'Barra or Xen'drik), but how does this sound for a set up?
#2 ChrisTheS Aug 11, 2009 12:58:02	H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quatermain books should be right up your alley. Also, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Giacomo Casanova's Histoire de ma vie.
#3 soyim Aug 11, 2009 13:39:14	All quite on the western front is a fantastic world war 1 book that carries that dread, horror, and unease that comes from entrenched warfare. In DnD terms its great for building up a character or an npc (or a series of npcs) that actually have terrible memories from the last war: or suffer PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) as a result. As for the Resident Evil: Eberron idea- i love it. A nice sense of terrible horror in the description. One thing i might add in, just for one extra layer of complications, is that one of the Vadelis Heirs on the project is Karnathi; and has known sympathies for the Emerald Claw. Just to toss in a few free thinking undead in with the monstrous mindless hungry aberrant undead.
#4 Chigaru Aug 11, 2009 15:12:23	Allan Quatermain looks good. I'm also intrigued by Histoire de ma vie, though I doubt I'll pick up a 12-volume memoir (12 volumes? what did this guy do?). The Scarlet Pimpernel looks good too, and I'm a huge fan of old-school, larger-than-life adventurers. Thanks for the suggestions.
#5 ChrisTheS Aug 11, 2009 17:50:09	I'm also intrigued by Histoire de ma vie, though I doubt I'll pick up a 12-volume memoir (12 volumes? what did this guy do?) Quite a lot, actually... if you want the short form, there was a three-part miniseries put on by Granada Television a few years back starring David Tennant and Peter O'Toole, which, while it takes numerous liberties, does draw heavily from the memoir. Just make sure you don't confuse it with the Casanova movie with Heath Ledger. Also, for a slightly more 'black comedy' approach to WWI, try The Good Soldier Svejk and his Adventures During the Great War (or however they're translating the title these days). It's kind of a forerunner to Catch-22, about a Czech conscript in the Austrian army and his efforts to avoid being sent to the Eastern Front.
#6 m4kitsu Aug 14, 2009 23:53:38	As I've oft-said on these boards, I'm a fan of the "fantasy noir" aspect of the setting. It's the right mix of intrigue, action, suspense, horror and comedy for me, wrapped up in a simple, accessible style with a no holds barred approach content. As such, I recomend flexing your google-fu with a search on "hardboiled" ...dear lords is there a list. However, I might recommend starting with the works of Dash Hammett and Ray Chandler, who were essentially the originators of the genre we know today. It's a good start, as are the "-punk" subgenres that have their roots in the dime-novels of the American 1920s. I'm often told that Bruce Sterling is the way to start that, but I found The Difference Engine insufferably tedious. Rather, there is a recent anthology called "Steampunk" compiled by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer that showcases an excellent cross-section of the genre and leads to several interesting authors that I think fits the theme and style of Eberron well.