Caelin's Appendix N

Works that have influenced me in my writing, at my games and on my TTRPG journey

Here are some influencial works that have shaped me as an author and as a gamer. I’ll start off with artwork, then computer games, film, music, literary works, and in the end TTRPGs. It will be a long post, but I think some entries will surprise you!

Artwork

Rie Cramer

The artwork of Rie Cramer has shaped me from a very young age, with evocative pictures of fairy tales in an old 1920-2930’s style. The pictures didn’t really hold back, and were sometimes scary, but always beautiful. They hold a lot of color and contrast.

My favorite book illustrated by Rie Cramer is a fairy tale book translated by Nienke van Hichtum called “Verhalen” (stories). It is full of awesome fairy tales. Very imaginative!

Here is one of the artworks of Rie Cramer:

Clifford Harper

Though I only got to Clifford Harper on a later age through anarchism, I really like his illustrations, not only because I agree with their context, but also because I love the black-and-white imagery with lines and shapes. To make art like this is what I strive for with imagery in my work, though I am far away from that goal.

Computer Games

Final Fantasy (8 in particular)

Final Fantasy 8 was my first real computer game in my memory. I had played Tetris and minesweeper, but this was a game that my sister bought for my birthday and it had ‘real’ graphics. I was 10, probably didn’t understand most of the story, but what struck me the most was the amazing architectural and tech designs. This includes the Gardens, the trains, and the ships. It all has this classy (what I read as) Art Nouveau-like curves and art on it. It made me fall in love with the art direction of the game, and I still love it today.

I’m writing on a TTRPG that is heavily influenced by this art direction, and I hope to portray that also in my texts and setting.

Film

Solaris directed by Andrej Tarkovsky

I’m not a big movie fan , but the movies of Tarkovsky stick with me. They are slow, and I’m not a big fan of rewatching them honestly, but Solaris (originally written by Stanislav Lem) impressed me a lot. I have the book at home, have not read it yet though.

The movie is emotional, but also very curious. This really made me think of Science Fiction for a while, but unfortunately, I’m awful at writing Science Fiction tropes and I always feel my stories or games are not what Science Fiction should be.

Another big influence is Stalker, which I’m using in an adventure I’m slowly writing. But I want to keep this at one recommendation of Tarkovsky.

Music

Richard Wagner

I used to be a big fan of opera, and even got my minor at university in theatre/opera. What I love of Wagner is the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk, where all artforms come together in one presentation. I think TTRPGs are kind of like that too. A lot of art comes together when you sit down and play a game, even if you don’t recognize it as that in the moment. Unlike opera, you are a participant at the roleplaying game, and that is even better.

One of my lifelong dreams is to write a libretto myself, but I don’t have the musical talent to do it. I might stick with epic poetry instead.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Very different than Wagner, GYBE shows us the world at its worst in current times, and gives me release I need to deal with life’s issues. It opens my heart for emotions, mostly to relieve sadness, and I often cry when I really listen to their music.

I’ve written an adventure for The Lost Bay called Make Haste East, based on the music of East Hastings. I like to write on this kind of post-rock music, since it has only a bit to no text, and no lyrics at all, and it carries me to many places emotionally.

Literary Works

There is a lot I can post here, I have a Bachelor degree in Literature/Cultural Analysis. But I’ll try to keep it short.

Haruki Murakami

Although I haven’t read a book from him in years, his books have shaped me for years when I was in my early twenties. The magic realism is one thing I took with me in my writings.

Goethe

I was a big fan of Goethe’s Das leiden der Jungen Werther and I always carried the book with me. I loved the poetic and emotional writing, and have tried mimic that in my writings.

R.E. Feist’s Magician

My first real fantasy book. I never finished the series (my dad actually did), but I read a large part of it. I started with Magician when I was 14 on recommendation of one of my classmates of high school, and it was a success. It really made me think of how worlds can be build and expanded.

Tabeltop Roleplaying Games

Patrick Stuart’s Fire on the Velvet Horizon

One of my earliest buys and so so so very important in how I think of D&D and bestiaries. Though many people say it can’t be statted and it’s useless on the table, I managed to get quite some stories out of it, at my games table. I still haven’t read every entry, but some entries I always come back to, and I’m amazed by the ideas that are in the book.

Luka Rejec’s UltraViolet Grasslands

My first gaming patreon I followed, I think, was from Luka Rejec. the Ultraviolet Grasslands were a setting I immediately wanted to play. Unfortunately, the friends I wanted to play it with were very antagonistic towards me as GM and tried to find every loophole and hole in the (unfinished at that time) rules to make themself super powerful. And then they complained it was too easy and therefore not fun.

In my grand West Marches setting I played (as DM for D&D5e) here in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, I introduced an elven race with multiple bodies, based on the porcelain princes in UVG. I liked it!

David Blandy’s Eco Mofos

I love Eco Mofos, and this is the game I’ve written for the most. It’s an post-apocalyptic setting where the rich have fled the Earth, but are still extracting it, and you are a Punk fighting for the wellness of Earth and its people. It has a strong theme of Hope, and that’s what I take with me. The Hope that Eco Mofos brings is so uplifting, and makes a lot of games feel a bit sad.

Though post-apocalyptic was never my style, I got into it, and now I’m fully in.

With a special mention of The Lost Bay by Iko, which is a great game and inspires me a lot, but I want to keep this list manageable!