Appendix N(athe)
RPGs... Can't live with 'em... Can't live without 'em. Am I right fellas? laugh track Here are three things that have influenced the way I facilitate RPGs as a referee.
ORLANDO FURIOSO
This is the perfect adventure story. The emphasis on plot and action (common in the epic tradition) rather than a novelic attention to character interiority is helpful as a guide for running an RPG. The tendency toward extreme emotions, the function of chivalry as a constraint on behaviour, and the casualness with which the story introduces the fantastical without any need for explanation or taxonomy are all extremely useful for the referee. Without neglecting depth, the story is single-mindedly focused on adventure. Entire sections can easily be lifted for the use of RPGs, and the copy of the story I have even comes with a glossary of Magic Items, Monsters, and Magic Mounts which could populate an entire campaign.
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM
Specifically, I mean the works of Yoshiyuki Tomino. The portrayal of politics in Gundam has long influenced my RPGs. The role of incompetence, personal idiosyncrasies, and capriciousness in determining world politics spills through in the way I run NPC factions. I also borrow his tendency to humanize villains and authority figures through humour and slapstick. Turn-A Gundam in particular is the most influential series for me (also, incidentally, the best Gundam has to offer).
LEGEND OF ZELDA
The first two Zelda games are hugely inspirational for me. The games have a certain minimalism imposed by the limitations of the NES that I find super charming. The monsters in particular are really quite bizarre and alien. For RPG design I strongly believe that simple is best: from bestiaries, to magic items, to NPCs, I try to focus on using a small number across entire campaigns. In my experience, this allows players to recognize patterns and meaningful use their knowledge of the larger campaign structure to great effect, and it allows what is included to gain a kind of discursive weight among the players (e.g, Mermen from Wolves Upon the Coast). It also aids in clarity, which is very important in tabletop games.
I've yet to do it, but I intend to run a campaign set in the kind of extremely broken world you find in the first Zelda. Worse than a points of light setting, there seems to barely be anybody alive in Hyrule, save those who hide out in caves or dungeons. A campaign in which players explore an alien, destroyed world sounds perfect for an adventure game.
If I were to expand on this list it would mostly just be more video games (Suikoden, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, etc). It is pretty hard for me to think of books or movies that concretely influence the way I run or facilitate games; it would be easier if this was for a particular project rather than RPGs as a whole. It would be easy enough to list "stuff I like," but I'd rather focus on things that concretely effect how I referee to a significant degree.