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Treasure Tables is dedicated to game masters, offering GMing advice and ideas and a community of GMs helping each other run great games since 2005. I'm Martin Ralya, and I've been GMing since 1989 and writing for the RPG industry since 2004.
Inspiration from Movies and TV Shows
Tue. September 6, 2005
One of my favorite things about GURPS books is that they nearly always have great bibliographies — and one of the best parts of those bibliographies is the section that lists TV shows and movies that can serve as inspiration for your game.
Movies and TV shows can serve not only as sources of inspiration with a very low “buy-in,” but as easy handles to describe your game.
By “low buy-in,” I mean that watching a TV show or a movie requires a much smaller investment of time than reading a book does — which is handy when you’re trying to get your group pumped up for a session, a whole campaign or a new RPG. (This is not to disparage books as a source of inspiration for roleplaying games — not at all! I could open a library with the books I have at home, but asking your gaming group to read a book for the game is an entirely different proposition than asking them to watch a movie!)
Whether you’re trying to set the mood for an individual session or establish the tone for your whole campaign, movies and TV shows make a great starting point. Want to make it clear that the derelict spaceship the party is about to board is a creepy place? Get together before the next session and watch Aliens or Event Horizon, and everyone will know exactly what you’re getting at. Are the investigators are about to uncover evidence of the conspiracy at last? Watch a couple of choice episodes of The X-Files — you get the idea.
On a larger scale, let’s say you’re running a D&D Eberron campaign, and you want to give the players a framework for that setting’s tropes — pulp action, flashing blades, political intrigue, etc. What better way to convey this than to mention (or better yet, watch) the Indiana Jones trilogy? (If you want to focus on a particular trope — politics, let’s say — you could also screen an episode or two of HBO’s new series, Rome.)
At the same time, if you’re looking for a way to tell someone what your game is like, pointing to a movie or TV show is a great way to do so. Think of it as a form of shorthand: “My game is like a combination of Alias, 24 and the movie Tomorrow Never Dies.” In other words, high-action espionage with Bond-esque gadgets — but also character-driven drama with plenty of nail-biting cliffhangers.
Not only is this easier to get a handle on, but it has the added benefit that players who want to get more immersed in the game can just watch some of the titles that you used to describe it. And if you’re trying to drum up interest, it’s much better to say, “My game is like these cool movies” than, “My game is cool.”
So what TV shows and movies inspire your current game (or past games)? If you had to describe your game in terms of a few titles, which ones would they be?
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10 Responses to “Inspiration from Movies and TV Shows”
I agree- media is a great way to get everyone on the same page. I’m very fond of artbooks, magazines, and comics as much as movies & TV, since you can hand these around as visual reference. Right now, if anything, the only problem I’m having is that folks are so eager to play, they’re not so interested in waiting for an actual chargen session- which means many characters are rather disparate… hopefully as I meet more people, I’ll solidify a good group and be able to sell them on the idea of codeveloping characters through use of a media reference.
(Chris) codeveloping characters through use of a media reference
What a great way to put that, Chris! Very concise — I like it.
I’m very fond of artbooks, magazines, and comics as much as movies & TV, since you can hand these around as visual reference.
Any art books in particular? That’s a neat idea, and I’ve love to hear some suggestions.
We mostly play fantasy D&D based games, so there aren’t as many TV shows to tie into as for present or sci-fi games.
But, there are some movies that fit our game. Princess Bride is one that comes to mind because we set up big, serious, earth-changing adventures. And, then hilarity ensues as the the PCs try to figure out a way solve it. Our group has been together over 10 years, so we have lots of history and are comfortable joking around.
And, of course the Lord of the Rings movies.
Brotherhood of the Wolf was a good RPG movie. I even based an adventure on the plot. It worked out really well.
What are some other movies that people use for inspiration in a fantasy setting?
(Pedro) And, of course the Lord of the Rings movies.
My guess is that very few gamers watched these movies without being inspired — one of the many ways in which this trilogy is so marvelous.
What are some other movies that people use for inspiration in a fantasy setting?
Personally, I find these three pretty inspiring from a fantasy standpoint: Braveheart, Willow and Gladiator.
I think that the whole Three Musketeers, Man in the Iron Mask, Dumas canon is a big influence on our group–even though we always tend to play epic fantasy rather than swashbuckling. One would think that Pirates of the Caribbean would thus be the obvious marker. We all saw it and enjoyed it, but I don’t see any influence yet, even running a “nautical” theme campaign.
(Jerome) One would think that Pirates of the Caribbean would thus be the obvious marker. We all saw it and enjoyed it, but I don’t see any influence yet, even running a “nautical” theme campaign.
When I hear “nautical theme campaign,” the first movie I think of is Master and Commander — an excellent flick! I don’t know whether or not you’ve seen it, but it does an amazing job of conveying what life at sea aboard a military ship must have been like (as well as having some pretty badass fight scenes, among other things).
Yeah, Willow was another great one.
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