Does anyone know of any movies or books that combine sword and sorcery with rise of the machines post apoc? Or any other such media they think would be good inspiration for the setting?
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If you're not an oldster like me, you may not have been exposed to a "classic" cartoon from the early '80s...
Yeah, I'm talking about Thundarr the Barbarian. If you have access to the Boomerang TV channel, they show it from time to time. I think there were about 20 episodes. It was pretty much *the* post-apocalyptic swords and sorcery media.
The opening credits:
"The year: 1994. From out of space comes a runaway planet hurtling between the Earth and the moon, unleashing cosmic destruction. Man's civilization is cast in ruin. 2000 years later, Earth is reborn; a strange new world rises from the old... A world of savagery, super-science and sorcery! But one man bursts his bonds to fight for justice! With his companions Ookla the Mok and Princess Arial, he pits his strength, his courage and his fabulous Sun-Sword against the forces of evil! He is Thundarr the Barbarian!"
Most of it is so-so. Some is awful, some is pretty darn good.
I don't know of anyone who, upon first reading the description of Numeria, did NOT say "Oh, that's Thundarr-land".
Anyone know if The Broken Empire trilogy is a good fit?
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Fred Saberhagen's Empire of the East is a good read, and nicely combines elements of magical fantasy and post-tech-apocalypse sci-fi (including the most mind-blowing 'demons' ever).
Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, Isle of the Dead and Creatures of Light & Darkness and probably the Amber books (which I don't remember all that well) also combine the spiritual / mystical and technology (more mental development and psi than magic, but far from a Babylon 5 or 'psionics' sort of feel).
Andre Norton's Witch World and C.S. Friedman's When True Night Falls are post-tech-apocalyptic magic settings (as are the works of Linda Bushyager and Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern books), but none of them really have much tech at all.
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Anyone know if The Broken Empire trilogy is a good fit?
partially, it's set in fantasy medieval Europe, with knights, not barbarians
there is high-tech and magic later, different than in Numeria, but I don't want to spoil
some other similar books, tough none fit exactly:
Dying Earth by Vance
Lamentation by Scholes
Book of the New Sun by Wolfe
Second Apocalypse by Bakker
Viriconium by Harrison
Bloodstone by Wagner
Runestaff by Moorcock
Morgaine by Cherryh
Ash by Gentle
Star Man's Son by Norton
Neverness by Zindell
Helliconia by Aldiss
Wolf in Shadow by Gemmell
Unwrapped Sky by Davidson
Deathgate by Weis and Hickman
Shannara by Brooks, possibly
Thank you everyone for your feedback. It seems I have a lot of good material to sort through
The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffery.
The Chronicles of Morgaine by C.J. Cherryh.
The 1980 animated series Thundarr the Barbarian.
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series by Fritz Lieber is mostly fantasy, with a little bit of alien high tech here and there.
And, looking at it from the reverse perspective, the Star Wars universe is really a swords-and-sorcery setting with sci-fi trappings. (If "The Force" isn't magic, I don't know what it is!)
Owen's recent Paizo blog is probably a good place to look too. :)
Thank you Liz
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Ah, Zardoz...
I've described this movie to several people who were convinced I was making it up!
"Well, there's this flying giant stone head that spits out guns...and then it gets weird."
You have to add the words... "Sean Connery" for maximum effect.Ah, Zardoz...
I've described this movie to several people who were convinced I was making it up!
"Well, there's this flying giant stone head that spits out guns...and then it gets weird."
How 'bout...
"Well, there's this giant flying stone head that spits out guns... and then it gets weird. Starring Sean Connery."
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References to:
"The Gun is good! The Penis is evil! The Penis shoots Seeds, and makes new Life to poison the Earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the Gun shoots Death and purifies the Earth of the filth of Brutals. Go forth, and kill!"
Are also entirely appropriate if one wishes to convey exactly how weird Zardoz gets almost immediately. I think referencing that quote has allowed me to convince more people to watch that movie than anything else I've done.
I may be a bad person for convincing people to watch that movie...
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For Numeria, I would look at the John Carter series by edgar rice burroughs as to me that is what Numeria makes me think of.
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No one should be allowed to run a campaign in Numeria without first playing an hour or two of Tim Schafer’s Brütal Legend.