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Appendix I: Influences and Inspirations of Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells

Section of an Illustration I did for Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells - Addendum

There are two books about creative work I swear upon nowadays: Steal Like an Artist and Share Your Work (both by Austin Klean). And one of the most important lessons I learned from them is that all creative work is collaborative. Even if you work all by yourself, it's still a collaborative work. Your ideas were born on the "corpses" of other people's ideas.

Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells is no different. It's obviously a reflection of many influences. Many games and authors are, in some fashion, responsible for it. It was I who managed to compile everything into a cohesive format, but these influences are what lead me there.

In the Brazilian version of SS&SS, I included a list of the main influences of the game, and now I want to share it here also:

Literature

• Burroughs, Edgar R. — Especially Pellucidar, Venus and Mars series.
• Camp, L. Sprague — Especially the Novarian series.
• Carter, Lin — Especially Thongor of Valkarth and Callisto series.
• Herbert, Frank — Duna series.
• Howard, Robert E. — Especially the tales Conan, the Cimmerian; Kull and Solomon Kane.
• Leiber, Fritz — Especially the stories focused Fafhrd and Gray Mouser.
• Lovecraft, H. P. — Especially how the author describes the presence of the horror from beyond.
• Moorcock, Michael — Especially the tales of Elric of Melniboné.
• Morris, Janet — Mainly the Silistra series.
• Smith, Clark Ashton — Especially Hyperborea and Zothique tales.
• Vance, Jack — Especially Tales of the Dying Earth.

Movies

• Conan — All of them, including the most recent one.
• Fire and Ice (1983).
• Kull, the Conqueror (1983).
• Masters of the Universe (1987).
• The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982).

Comics

• Any one you can find (Savage Sword of Conan; Conan, the Barbarian; King Conan).
• Fafhrd and Gray Mouser (illustrated by Mike Mignola).
• Heavy Metal and other Metal Hurlant comics.
• John Carter of Mars, Warlords of Mars, Dejah Thoris.
• Kull.
• Rat Queens.
• Slaine.

Role Playing Games

• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition — TSR (1979).
• Barbarians of Lemuria — Beyond Belief Games.
• Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures — Flatland Games (2013).
• Black Hack, The — Gold Piece Publications (2016).
• Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition — Chaosium (2016).
• Dungeon Crawl Classics — Goodman Games (2012).
• Fiasco — Bully Pulpit Games (2011).
• Lamentations of the Flame Princess — Lamentations of the Flame Princess (2013)
• Maze Rats — Glatisant Games (2016).
• Vornheim — Lamentations of the Flame Princess (2011).
• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay — Black Industries (2005)
• White Hack 2nd Edition — Christian Mehrstam (2015).
• Yoon-Suin — Noisms Games (2015)
• Edge of the Empire — Fantasy Flight Games (2012)

Sites and Blogs

• Akratic Wizardry — http://akraticwizardry.blogspot.com
• Dungeons of Signs — http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com
• False Machine — http://falsemachine.blogspot.com
• Gnome Stew — http://www.gnomestew.com
• Goblin Punch — http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com
• Grognardia — http://grognardia.blogspot.com
• Jeff’s Gameblog — http://jrients.blogspot.com
• Necropraxis — http://www.necropraxis.com
• Pontos de Experiência — http://www.pontosdeexperiencia.com.br
• Raven Crowking’s Nest — http://ravencrowking.blogspot.com
• Roleplaying Tips — https://roleplayingtips.com
• Sly Flourish — http://slyflourish.com
• Swords & Stichery — http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com
• Wizardawn — http://wizardawn.and-mag.com

If I can, I may someday enter in more details about how some of these have particularly influenced me in the process of creating Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells. Some of them might be obvious to many, others not so much.

Anyway, this is a way to say "thank you" to all of the people who have worked on these many influences. I would not have made it if it were not for you.

If you like what you've just read, check out my books over RPGNow and Lulu.
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