(Posted 2025-09-17)
Everyone in the OSR scene seems to be listing their influencnes (or at least they were when I started this post), so I guess it’s my turn! This is primarily for my Fantasy RPG stuff, but some other genres will leak in a bit too.
Books/Manga
Goblin Slayer
Generic Fantasy Manga
Goblin Slayer
(Content Warning: Sexual assault, grisly deaths, strong implication of torture. If those concern you, DO. NOT. READ).
A guilty pleasure series of mine. In spite of having heavy problems (AKA the stuff I put content warnings for), it shines through how much the author loves fantasy. The setting is approached with a shocking amount of sincerity, and I really enjoy that!
Stuff like how references to books like the Hobbit and Tabletop RPGs are snuck in everywhere, little details like how ice cream is made with alchemy, or how despite gasoline being present, combustion powered vehicles never took hold due to the danger monsters cause to good road networks (leaving the fluid as an odd alchemist’s novelty).
Best use of the OSR player mindset I’ve ever seen as well. Cleverness is just as important as strength to the protagonist. Perhaps even more, since he gets bodied in one hit by most of the stronger monsters.
(also the manga has better art, so I recommend that over the anime. should you actually be interested)
Generic Fantasy Manga
Whatever I find when I look at manga sites. Many of these aren’t great, but some are solid fuel for D&D. Especially with how they twist the origins of familiar fantast elements while keeping the core the same (such as how in Unwanted Undead Adventurer orcs are actually hostile to regular folks since the human nobility eat their flesh as a delicacy).
I also can read for the visual aesthetics and chraracter designs. At the very least I end up describing the best designs for NPCs.
TV/Movies
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
My Hero Academia
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
A fun textured ruined sci-fi setting! In fantasy I usually avoid high tech stuff, but substitute some of it with magic and you’re probably fine. Mainly fond of the movie’s optimism to human being able to co-exist with nature, but it’s all quite good.
My Hero Academia
I adore seeing limited powers used creatively! Stuff like realizing you can’t punch the guy who can phase through walls, since he’ll just go through your counter-hit, and punch you once he’s past it.
In fantasy terms it’s very good reference for a magic saturated world, or at least an idea of one.
I’m particularly a fan of the Vigilantes spinoff for it’s near essential extra worldbuilding. Stuff like the origin of the hero system being rooted in vigilante justice, with a transition into institutionalization being based on public trust instead of the actual merit of the power.
Games
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Magic The Gathering
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Image Source: ZeldaXtreme
Honestly Breath of the Wild is, in my mind, the epitome of a fantasy adventure. Large expanses of wilderness, melancholy ruins, but with an overall brighter balance. I really like the implication that there is danger, and that it’s treated with pretty serious weight (i.e how the bokoblin lairs ARE littered with human bones). It really contrasts the sense of heroic optimism (Korok Forest OST my beloved…)
Tears of the Kingdom may have made it, but I haven’t finished it yet. Too much focus on the gadeteering and level-scaling so far.
Magic The Gathering
Image Source: TheGamer.com
Haven’t liked most of the cards since 2019 (mainly with the crossovers and badly themed sets, but I digress). Still, it felt like exactly how I wanted a mage to be. Really opened my eyes to how to re-use simple mechanics with flavor.
Miscellaneous
Click the images to be taken to a song! (assuming they're still up at least)
BIONICLE
(the 1st generation, not the 2010s reboot). Definitely a soft spot from my childhood. Amazing character designs, a huge sense of mystique, concrete yet fascinating worldbuilding, tropical island theming (for some of it, at least), etc.
I think a thing that really appealed to me back then was how the mechanical characters of the story regard nature not as something to overcome or ravage, but something to live in harmony with. For D&D it’s filled with an absurd amount of worldbuilding (still trying to write how the red star could inspire prophecies in a campaign)
Soundtracks for JRPGs I Keep meaning to play
Stuff like Xenoblade, the rest of the Tales of series, the Atelier series, etc. I borrow the music before I play it in may cases, since that lets me divorce the context from my brain a bit once I do. They usually have pertty fun fantasy plots once I end up getting to them, too.
Changelog
2025-12-02: Added images and revised some little paragraphs. Removed a few redundant influences (Still love Hyper Light Drifter, though)