Fiction that has affected you

[Fappy]

Exalted by White Wolf Publishing

I cannot think of another RPG series that has had a more lasting impact on me than White Wolf's magnum opus Exalted. As much as I love their World of Darkness material, Exalted is still my go-to RPG for creating high profile campaigns and introducing new players to the wonderful world of pen and paper RPG's. I still enjoy D&D on occasion, but I think Exalted is superior to it in every way possible minus the pretty broken combat system that leaves you rolling 300 D10's for a single Charm. Despite the game's mechanical flaws, the setting of Creation has enveloped me in ways no other fantasy series ever has.

I have the Exalted rulebook lying in my bookshelf right now. As of yet unused because of my inability to find people to play it with. It has a very interesting setting, but I prefer the rules of 3.5 D&D, just because I prefer my RPGs to be more simulations than anything else and I just find D&D does that better.

Best way to sell Exalted to new people is by telling them it's like Dragonball Z meets swords and sorcery, that usually catches their interest. What I enjoy most about the combat is the stunt bonus' that really encourage players to go all out in describing their attacks for bonus' and it really livens up a combat scene in ways that "I hit it with my axe" just can't compete. Like I said, you do tend to get bogged down with ridiculous dice pools, but I've found that winging it in combat is more fun than going down a checklist and making sure everything is going according to plan.

I really lost interest in D&D after 3rd edition, but in 2009 I did fall in love again with the release of Pathfinder which I have yet to break in yet because it's always "hey let's do a Sidereal campaign, we haven't done one of those in a while!". I guess I just got lucky with my gaming group having more interest in an eastern feudal historical setting than medieval Europe which is what you get for most things fantasy, and Exalted serves that purpose better.

Stunting was by far my favorite thing about playing Exalted. Unfortunately I haven't played it since college. My group at home only plays d20

I have seen so many OTT action and wire fu movies to get inspiration for playing Exalted. It's really one of the reasons why I put it up on my list, it really affected my viewing and reading habits in ways that many other forms of escapism have yet to do.

A large majority of my memories of playing Exalted involve stunts. Have any awesome stunts you pulled off that defined your experience?

 

[razor343]

The death of Alice in Stephen King's Cell. I...felt a bit depressed after that. This was one of the few times where I really and truly cared about a character in a book.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

The Sword of Truth series. Incredibly engrossing story, and it made me feel like I was part of the story, a silent unseen person following the characters around and sharing their experiences.

 

[shogunblade]

I tried reading up on Flowers for Algernon for the last few days. I read the short story in High School and it screwed with me quite deeply. I can't quite speak for books short of that one. I guess a close second and third would be The Perks of Being a Wallflower, it made me feel like I wasn't so alone, and the Series of Unfortunate Events books, for making me understand that sometimes life doesn't always have a happy ending, but sometimes the happiest endings are just the simplest ones.

Games: King Kong: The Official Movie of the Game. I have issues with defending things (I can't really defend things I love in real life, so let's make it fictional ones), but playing as King Kong when he tries to save Anne (The woman), It hits me very hard. The movie does this as well.
I bought Lost Odyssey the other day, and the guy who sold it to me told me I will probably cry. I'm counting on it.
Earthbound or Mother 2. The final act. I cannot talk about anything else, but the final act changed me dramatically.

Movies: Mary & Max. Go watch it, Don't read up on it, watch it. Requiem For a Dream, Made me realize the darker side of drug use. Same goes for A Scanner Darkly. Clerks , Because I relate to Dante in the movie quite well (My girlfriend never did a certain sexual action 37 times, but I relate in other ways).

That's all for right now, far as I can tell.

 

[SquidVicious]

Exalted by White Wolf Publishing

I cannot think of another RPG series that has had a more lasting impact on me than White Wolf's magnum opus Exalted. As much as I love their World of Darkness material, Exalted is still my go-to RPG for creating high profile campaigns and introducing new players to the wonderful world of pen and paper RPG's. I still enjoy D&D on occasion, but I think Exalted is superior to it in every way possible minus the pretty broken combat system that leaves you rolling 300 D10's for a single Charm. Despite the game's mechanical flaws, the setting of Creation has enveloped me in ways no other fantasy series ever has.

I have the Exalted rulebook lying in my bookshelf right now. As of yet unused because of my inability to find people to play it with. It has a very interesting setting, but I prefer the rules of 3.5 D&D, just because I prefer my RPGs to be more simulations than anything else and I just find D&D does that better.

Best way to sell Exalted to new people is by telling them it's like Dragonball Z meets swords and sorcery, that usually catches their interest. What I enjoy most about the combat is the stunt bonus' that really encourage players to go all out in describing their attacks for bonus' and it really livens up a combat scene in ways that "I hit it with my axe" just can't compete. Like I said, you do tend to get bogged down with ridiculous dice pools, but I've found that winging it in combat is more fun than going down a checklist and making sure everything is going according to plan.

I really lost interest in D&D after 3rd edition, but in 2009 I did fall in love again with the release of Pathfinder which I have yet to break in yet because it's always "hey let's do a Sidereal campaign, we haven't done one of those in a while!". I guess I just got lucky with my gaming group having more interest in an eastern feudal historical setting than medieval Europe which is what you get for most things fantasy, and Exalted serves that purpose better.

Stunting was by far my favorite thing about playing Exalted. Unfortunately I haven't played it since college. My group at home only plays d20

I have seen so many OTT action and wire fu movies to get inspiration for playing Exalted. It's really one of the reasons why I put it up on my list, it really affected my viewing and reading habits in ways that many other forms of escapism have yet to do.

A large majority of my memories of playing Exalted involve stunts. Have any awesome stunts you pulled off that defined your experience?

Ironically it was my Dragon-Blooded character Riddle's complete ineptitude that really defined my experience because he had inadvertently become a different version of me to some degree. He was a member of the V'neef house and because of the house's pure blood and favor from the Scarlet Empress (she was very fond of Riddle as a child) he had a lot to live up to and a lot resting on his shoulders. And boy did he suck, like big time. I have never botched so many rolls and caused so much grief with any other character in any other game I have ever played. It got to the point where I made a habit of buying a new batch of D10's every time we played. It didn't matter how much willpower or essence I spent, I failed my rolls. Despite his ineptitude he would never die, mostly because one of my other players was quite fond of me and protected and cleaned up my messes, but my storyteller got to the point where he gave me two options, kill off Riddle or make him join the Vermillion Legion.

Basically I was really into Exalted when I was a late teenager just getting ready to leave high school and go to college. My sister and I were going to be the only two people in my family to go to college so there was a lot of pressure riding on me to do well and live up to what my sister had managed to achieve. My family were incredibly disappointed that I did poorly on SAT's and didn't even bother applying for colleges and was just going to settle on community college... which I then promptly dropped out of before my semester even began so I could work full time as a forklift driver at a lumberyard. Besides work my life was largely based around escapism and because of that I was really a black sheep of the family, but I was living on my own and not taking any handouts so they couldn't really begrudge me too much, but there were a lot of awkward holiday dinners in my late teens/ early 20's. I felt this really tangible connection Riddle and how he must have felt with letting down the expectations of the V'neef house.

 

[Fappy]

-Snip-

I don't really think I've ever played a character too close to my personality/life experience before. I play a lot of humorous characters, but they often employ different methods than I do with different motivations and dispositions. Womanizers are fun to play XP

 

[blackrave]

Books
Isaac Asimov "Robots and Empire"- while I love all Foundation books, the very end made this book stand out from other his works. Long story short- one robot commits horrible act against humanity, only due to highly hypothetical Zeroth Law. That was unexpectedly dark, but made me think about bad things that was done in the name of good.
George Orwell "Nineteen Eighty-Four"- I started to watch the world through this lens. Although I don't think that it is fiction anymore- I personally believe we are living in mild version of that distopia.

Music
Eminem "Slim Shady LP" and "Marshall Matters LP"- not a big fan of rap, but these 2 albums, just... well... just find and listen them, it isn't 100% gold, but 95% for sure.
Within Temptation "Silent Force" and "The Heart of Everything"- Just get these albums... I don't care if you are deaf, just get out and get them NOW!

Movies
Robocop- just because Robocop

Anime
Ghost in the Shell:Stand Alone Complex- not even worth explaining.
RahXephon- my first anime entry and it might be just me
Digimon Tamers- I don't like digimon, but this one just stood out, saw it by accident and got hooked up, was totally worth it.
Angels Beat- theme of ultimate end, it is always hard.
Steins;Gate- I don't even know why. It is just good anime.

Games
Contra- my first game
C&C:Tiberium Sun- my first entry in PC gaming, in RTS, in story driven games, in most things I like in games now. So this game have a special spot in my heart (yes, my avatar picture). So C&C4 was my first serious reason to hate EA.
Neverwinter Nights- my first RPG, and my first experience with Bioware games. That's why Mass Effect was my last reason to hate EA (and ignore all further EA games)
The Elder Scrolls 3:Morrowind- not worth explaining
Katawa Shoujo- made me realize that I'm ok with girls without legs (I know it sounds wrong, but fuck you!)

Saya no Uta, Katawa Shoujo, and Steins;Gate impacted me pretty strongly.

must ask
Katawa Shoujo- which one? In my case it was Emi (when in the end she and Hisao visited her dad, it was one of the saddest moments in any game I experienced)
Steins;Gate- opening theme or ending theme? I'm sucker for violin so ending for me.

 

[MammothBlade]

Saya no Uta, Katawa Shoujo, and Steins;Gate impacted me pretty strongly.

must ask
Katawa Shoujo- which one? In my case it was Emi (when in the end she and Hisao visited her dad, it was one of the saddest moments in any game I experienced)
Steins;Gate- opening theme or ending theme? I'm sucker for violin so ending for me.

Well, Lilly most of all, her story had a real beauty to it. By the ending I was an emotional wreck. Also, parts of Emi and Rin (their respective missing limbs).

Assuming you're talking about the anime, I only playread the original visual novel, but hacking to the gate is brilliant.

 

[Coffeejack]

The Deptford Histories and The Deptford Mice. All by Robin Jarvis, an absolute master. The dark tales of the Deptford Mice often had me frightened as well as on the verge of tears.

 

[blackrave]

Well, Lilly most of all, her story had a real beauty to it. By the ending I was an emotional wreck. Also, parts of Emi and Rin (their respective missing limbs).

Assuming you're talking about the anime, I only playread the original visual novel, but hacking to the gate is brilliant.

I only played it once, need to replay it :/


Also sorry for not precising about Steins;Gate, I forgot that there was also game
Yes I meant anime. Were there multiple failed attempts to save Mayuri in the game too?
Because this moment seemed a bit complicated to do in a game.

 

[6SteW6]

The ending to Odd Thomas really hit me hard. I'm usually pretty good at figuring the ending of books long before I get to it but I did not see it coming. It depressed me the rest of the day.

Aww man I had forgotten about that ending So very ridiculously sad.

I'd say the Dark Tower series by Stephen King were pretty bad for that. I remember crying through the entire last book every time I read it - up to four now, I believe(yeah, I know, I'm a baby).

On the other hand, Terry Pratchett's The Last Continent always manages to get a giggle out of me, no matter how many times I've read it.

The Dark Tower! Yes! What a downer that book was, it was a painful read.

Spoiler

I grew incredibly attached to the characters through all six books (As I'm sure everybody did) and for it to deal with them the way it does is such a downer. Eddie was my favourite character and while he was dying I was like 'Just let go Eddie! go to the light!' It was a book I dreaded picking up and it's one of my all time favourites because of it.

The end of Wizard and the Glass was also really rough because we know going in it won't end well but damn!

I need to go back and read those books again, it's an amazing series despite some terrible missteps.

 

[Piorn]

Many things, but I'll only name a few here.

All the movies from my childhood; Toy Story, Lion King, you know the deal.

Almost every single one of Arthur C. Clarke's short stories did something to me, ranging from laughter to "I need to sit down for a second and reorganize myself".

Also, games like "To the Moon" and "Journey" are just beautiful. Just hearing the music always makes me tear up.

 

[MammothBlade]

Well, Lilly most of all, her story had a real beauty to it. By the ending I was an emotional wreck. Also, parts of Emi and Rin (their respective missing limbs).

Assuming you're talking about the anime, I only playread the original visual novel, but hacking to the gate is brilliant.

I only played it once, need to replay it :/


Also sorry for not precising about Steins;Gate, I forgot that there was also game
Yes I meant anime. Were there multiple failed attempts to save Mayuri in the game too?
Because this moment seemed a bit complicated to do in a game.

Yes, it's very well done. Without going into too much detail you can choose to send or not to send d-mails at certain points and that affects divergent storylines.

 

[Nooners]

Am I seriously going to be the first person here to say CALVIN & HOBBES? Go me!
I'm also going to list the Nostalgia Critic, particularly his passing during the events of To Boldly Flee.


Much, MUCH longer rant coming later.

 

[Lurklen]

Fionavar Tapestry, has evoked the strongest emotional reaction from me of any piece of literature.

And despite multiple times reading the series it can still strongly affect me. A truly beautiful piece of fiction.

Oh man me too, almost all of his books have at least one moment of "I'm gonna kick you in the sadness because it makes the story better." though.

George R.R. Martins song of ice and fire series really made me afraid for characters, I just never know what the hells going to happen to them next and most of the time when I think he's going left he turns right and someone ends up dead.

Oh and when I was eleven Brian Jacues' Redwall series really messed me up, that was the first book to ever make me cry. Even though everything worked out fine in the end.

And the castle town in Legend Of Zelda: ocarina of Time really bummed me out as a kid, all those people were just dead and this cool town was replaced with a haunted wasteland. All because of my screw up.

The last time though was when I caught Children of Men on tv, That scene where all the guns stop fireing and all you hear is the sound of this crying child as the soldiers look on like men in the cold looking at a bonfire, gets me every time. Looper had some themes I also found very affecting.

I guess I'm just overly emotional cause all kinds of movies and stuff will choke me up especially anything where someone knows they're screwed and just pushes forward anyway against terrible odds because they have to, I'm a sucker for that.

 

[Zen Bard]

"The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" by Alan Silittoe shaped me as a person. That, my fellow Escapists, is how to rebel.
(And it doesn't hurt that Iron Maiden wrote a song about it)

Although, I must say "Fight Club" (the book) shaped me as a man.

On the genre side, I really loved The Elric of Melnibone series by Michael Moorcock. I read them in high school and during those times of alienation, could really relate.

And finally "Lord of Light" by Roger Zelazny, in its own weird way, got me into Buddhism.

 

[Filiecs]

Just today I watched The Dead Poets Society and it almost made me cry. I haven't cried in years.
The ending was truly brilliant.