I didn’t do many blog posts last week. I was still recovering from the catastrophic computer failure. But good news. Files are recovered and I’m starting the editing and layout for Forgotten Tales of Sword & Sorcery. So I figured it’s a good time to share some inspiration.

One of the things that I said early on is that I’m not trying to emulate the literary works. I’m going back to what first grabbed my attention in my youth. And that’s the tales of Conan, Thongor, Red Sonja, Marda the She Wolf and many that graced the pages of many a comic book.

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And there was also a slew of movies. Let’s face it the original the original Conan the Barbarian with Arnie, was great.

There’s even more movies out there including Beastmaster, Kull, and even the Scorpion King. And don’t ever forget the classic Harryhausen Jason and the Argonauts and Sinbad movies. But those low budget flicks were fun too and yes many were very bad too.

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I don’t keep this post just to inspiration from media. There’s gaming inspiration too. And some great resources out there that are worth checking out and mining for inspiration for your game.

Barbarians of Lemuria: This is the granddaddy of all Sword & Sorcery RPG’s. Just about every “What’s a good Sword & Sorcery RPG?” thread you see on the Internet mentions Barbarians of Lemuria. There’s lots of versions of this game, the Mythic and Legendary editions are the latest. And the BoL Hack is pretty darned good too.

Crypts & Things: The original edition of Crypts & Things was very close to Swords & Wizardry. The Remastered Edition does make some changes. And there’s some fine adventures especially Life & Death Zarth Edition is a good source.

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea: There’s a lot here to inspire you. All of their adventures are great. As a bonus there’s a host a free resources that are really handy. I regularly use the Drunken Debauchery table and the Random Adventure generator in my other games.

The World of Xoth: Originally, this made for Pathfinder but there are some other conversions out there. The adventures and setting material are so solidly placed in the Sword & Sorcery genre. On the Xoth website, there is slew of resources and many of their titles are available on Drivethru. Really, check these out.

I know that there are many more resources and inspirations out there but I think I’ve ranted enough here and given you enough to ponder in one day.