If you go to your local bookstore, new or used, you can find shelves full of fantasy books. If you aren’t familiar with fantasy literature yet, however, you might want to start with the best. This is all opinion, of course, but these books and movies ought to give you a lot of enjoyment as well as good ideas for gaming, whether as a player or Guide.
You can find most of these at your local or your on-line bookstore. The rest are available from the publishers’ web sites or at used bookstores and on-line auctions. Good gaming literature is hard to find, and this list reflects that. Even here, most of the stories are about individuals. The two book series that come closest to being about a group are “The Lord of the Rings,” which you must read, and “The Dark Tower,” which you should. The “Knights of the Dinner Table” comic book stands on its own.
For movies, you must see The Seven Samurai. I strongly recommend getting a DVD player or cultivating a friend with one. The difference between a clear, uncut version of a good movie and the low resolution, usually side-chopped, versions found on VHS can be the difference between enjoying a movie and wondering what the creators were thinking.
The Dark Tower, Stephen King: The Dark Tower currently consists of four books, “The Gunslinger,” “The Drawing of the Three,” “The Waste Lands,” and “Wizard and Glass.” Roland the Gunslinger and his three companions search a dissolving world for the Dark Tower.
The Dead Alewives: This comedy group has a hilarious send-up of fantasy gaming in their “Dungeons & Dragons” skit. http://www.deadalewives.com/funny.ccc
Dragon Magazine CD-ROM Collection: “The Dragon” and its predecessor “The Strategic Review” were part of the gaming scene from the start. Now out of print, the CD-ROM collection collects all of The Strategic Review and the first 250 issues of The Dragon, which, in my opinion, will get you the best of The Dragon and the most useful of its gaming articles. If you can find a copy of this at a used bookstore or in the corner of your local gaming store, you won’t regret it. If you can’t find that, then the first two volumes of “The Best of Dragon Magazine” are also fascinating. Note that this CD collection was from the period when Wizard of the Coast’s user interface choices were, well, unique. Fortunately the files are all available as PDF files, which means that you can use any PDF viewer to read them. Avoid the buggy software that comes on the CD-ROM like the plague. (If you use Macintosh or Unix, you’re lucky: you’ll never have to worry about accidentally starting up their buggy proprietary software.)
Excalibur, John Boorman: This movie is the best adaptation of the Arthurian legend I’ve seen. Directed by John Boorman and starring his daughters as the babes. http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/Movies/Excalibur/
Ghostbusters, Harold Ramis: While the story itself isn’t necessarily fantasy-gaming oriented, if you don’t watch this movie you won’t get half the in-jokes at your gaming table, and you won’t know what to say when someone asks you if you’re a god. http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/Movies/Ghostbusters/
Highlander, Russell Mulcahy:There are at least two sequels to this fantasy movie, and you don’t want to see any of them. The first, however, is a classic. An immortal from the Scottish highlands learns swordplay from Sean Connery, and ends with a rambling swordfight through New York City. Get this on DVD for the extended version, although the print hasn’t weathered the ages as well as the highlander himself did. http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/Movies/highlander/
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien: If any fantasy literature can be said to have inspired fantasy gaming, it would be the middle-earth works of Tolkien. “The Hobbit” was the book that started it all, and it stands alone. There is a decent animated version of the Hobbit, although the accents are often jarring. http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/Books/hobbit-lord-rings/
The Knights of the Dinner Table, Jolly Blackburn: This strip featuring a group of long-time gamers is dead on. There are two sets. “Tales from the Vault,” which currently has three volumes, collects the strips. “Bundle of Trouble,” currently in nine volumes, collects the comic books. http://www.kenzerco.com/
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien: This seminal gaming work consists of three books, “The Fellowship of the Ring,” “The Two Towers,” and “The Return of the King.” The books do not stand alone. You’ll need to read them in order, and neither of the first two have any “ending” in the sense that stories have endings: you’ll need to read them all if you read one of them. The movie directed by Peter Jackson is incredible, and destined to inspire a new generation of fantasy gamers. http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/Books/hobbit-lord-rings/
The Road Warrior, George Miller: A sequel that you don’t need to see the original for (although you should), “The Road Warrior” is set in apocalyptic Australia, with a crazy ex-cop wandering the wasteland from gasoline source to gasoline source in his V-8 Interceptor. http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/Movies/RoadWarrior/
The Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa: A movie that inspired several imitations, including “The Magnificent Seven,” the basic story of “adventurers protecting village from marauders” has also inspired many gaming sessions. http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/Movies/sevensamurai/
The Three Musketeers,Alexandre Dumas: You cannot get much better than this story for high romance and adventure, and it does a pretty good job as a group story as well. http://www.hoboes.com/FireBlade/Fiction/Dumas/
The Worm Ouroboros, E.R. Eddison: Interesting for its historical significance as well as its heroic storyline, “The Worm Ouroboros” predates the fantasy glut inspired by Tolkien. Because of this, it avoids some standard fantasy clichés, and started some of its own. “Ouroboros” is pure high fantasy with powerful individuals standing against armies of opponents and holding their own. The Goblins and the Demons are the good guys in this one, fighting the perfidy of Witchland after a long war with the Ghouls.
http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/Books/worm-ouroboros/