LibGuides: Tabletop Roleplaying Games: TTRPG Inspired Reading

Starfinder Inspired Reads

Similarly, there's a list at the back of Starfinder's Core Rulebook with media that helped inspire that game!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
ISBN: 9780345418913
It's an ordinary Thursday morning for Arthur Dent...until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly after to make way for a new hyperspace express route, and Arthur's best friend has just announced that he's an alien. After that, things get much, much worse.
Bitch Planet by Valentine De Landro (Artist); Robert Wilson (Artist); Taki Soma (Artist); Kelly Sue DeConnick
ISBN: 9781632153661
In a future just a few years down the road in the wrong direction, a woman's failure to comply with her patriarchal overlords will result in exile to the meanest penal planet in the galaxy. When the newest crop of fresh femmes arrive, can they work together to stay alive or will hidden agendas, crooked guards, and the deadliest sport on (or off!) Earth take them to their maker?
A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson
ISBN: 9780765390042
Long after the Towers left the world but before the dragons came to Daluça, the emperor brought his delegation of gods and diplomats to Olorum. As the royalty negotiates over trade routes and public services, the divinity seeks arcane assistance among the local gods.
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
ISBN: 9780765385253
Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs. Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy.
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
ISBN: 9781781084496
When Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for her unconventional tactics, Kel Command gives her a chance to redeem herself, by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles from the heretics. Cheris's career isn't the only thing at stake: if the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next.
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
ISBN: 9780345452399
Change or die. These are the only options available on planet Jeep. Centuries earlier, a deadly virus shattered the original colony, killing the men and forever altering the few surviving women. Now, generations after the colony lost touch with the rest of humanity, a company arrives to exploit Jeep--and its forces find themselves fighting for their lives. Terrified of spreading the virus, the company abandons its employees, leaving them afraid and isolated from the natives.

Why play TTRPG when you can just read them?

Whether you don't have a group to play with right now, looking for inspiration for a game you're running, want to absorb more about the worlds some of these games are set in, or are looking for reads similar to some of your favorite games, there's some options here!

D&D Reads

There are official D&D novels, covering some of the iconic characters of the world, like Drizzt Do'Urden and specific settings, the Dragonlance series. Some of these novels have been around since the earlier editions of D&D so they may reference things that are no longer canon, but that doesn't mean they can't be entertaining reads. There are also books recommended in the back of the Players' Handbook to serve as inspiration for campaigns, so some of those are included here.

Homeland by R. A. Salvatore
ISBN: 0786939532
Discover the origin story of one of the greatest heroes of the Forgotten Realms--Drizzt Do'Urden--in this thrilling first installment in the classic Dungeons & Dragons series, the Dark Elf Trilogy.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis; Tracy Hickman
ISBN: 9780786915743
This Dungeons & Dragons-inspired fantasy adventure is the first installment in the beloved Dragonlance Chronicles, set in the magical world of Krynn.
Critical Role Vox Machina: Origins Volume I by Critical Critical Role; Matthew Mercer; Matthew Colville; Olivia Samson (Illustrator); Chris Northrop (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781506714813
From the creators of the hit show "Critical Role" comes Vox Machina's origin story! Writers Matthew Mercer and Matthew Colville team with artist extraordinaire Olivia Samson and colorist Chris Northrop to bring you the story of where the heroes' journey began. Collects Critical Role Vox Machina: Origins comics issues #1-6, one of the best selling digital comics ever!
Dungeons and Dragons: Evil at Baldur's Gate by Jim Zub; Harvey Tolibao (Illustrator); Ramon Bachs (Illustrator); Dean Kotz (Illustrator); Steven Cummings (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781684053353
Follow the adventures of Minsc, Krydle, Shandie, Delina, Nerys, and Boo as the Baldur's Gate heroes return to the city at last! But their time adventuring in Ravenloft and the frozen northern reaches of the realm has changed them. Still, each of them must face great trials ahead before they'll be ready to embrace their destiny.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
ISBN: 9780553804676
In this stunning debut, author Scott Lynch delivers the wonderfully thrilling tale of an audacious criminal and his band of confidence tricksters.
The Books of Earthsea by Ursula. K Le Guin; Charles Vess (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781481465588
With a new introduction by Le Guin herself, this essential edition will also include fifty illustrations by renowned artist Charles Vess, specially commissioned and selected by Le Guin, to bring her refined vision of Earthsea and its people to life in a totally new way. [Stories include: "A Wizard of Earthsea", "The Tombs of Atuan", "The Farthest Shore", "Tehanu", "Tales From Earthsea", "The Other Wind", "The Rule of Names", "The Word of Unbinding", "The Daughter of Odren", and "Earthsea Revisioned: A Lecture at Oxford University".]
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
ISBN: 0805061320
Taran is joined by an engaging cast of characters that includes Eilonwy, the strong-willed and sharp-tongued princess; Fflewddur Fflam, the hyperbole-prone bard; the ever-faithful Gurgi; and the curmudgeonly Doli--all of whom become involved in an epic struggle between good and evil that shapes the fate of the legendary land of Prydain.
The Black Company by Glen Cook
ISBN: 9780812521399
Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itself. The hard-bitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must, burying their doubts with their dead. Until the prophesy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more. There must be a way for the Black Company to find her...
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
ISBN: 9780060855925
The Color of Magic is Terry Pratchett's maiden voyage through the now-legendary land of Discworld. This is where it all begins--with the tourist Twoflower and his wizard guide, Rincewind.
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
ISBN: 9781101572405
Publication Date: 2012
Three superheroes in the Crescent Moon Kingdoms bound together by a series of magical murders must work together in a race against time to prevent a sorcerer's plot from destroying the world.
The Name of the Wind: 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition by Patrick Rothfuss; Dan dos Santos (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9780756413712
My name is Kvothe. I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep. You may have heard of me.
The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny
ISBN: 9780380809066
All ten of Roger Zelzany's classic Amber fantasy novels in one book! Join Corwin, Merlin and the others in wild adventures in the lands of Amber, Earth, and the Courts of Chaos, where the powers of Amber and Chaos constantly battle for supremacy through intrigue and adventure. Revisit Amber, the land of mystery, adventure and romance. Amber, the one true world. All other worlds, including our Earth, are merely Shadows
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
ISBN: 0345443020
The metropolis of New Crobuzon sprawls at the center of the world. Humans and mutants and arcane races brood in the gloom beneath its chimneys, where the river is sluggish with unnatural effluent and foundries pound into the night. For a thousand years, the Parliament and its brutal militias have ruled over a vast economy of workers and artists, spies and soldiers, magicians, crooks, and junkies. Now a stranger has arrived, with a pocketful of gold and an impossible demand. And something unthinkable is released.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin
ISBN: 9780316043915
Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother's death and her family's bloody history.
Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear
ISBN: 9780765327543
Temur, grandson of the Great Khan, is walking away from a battlefield where he was left for dead. All around lie the fallen armies of his cousin and his brother, who made war to rule the Khaganate. Temur is now the legitimate heir by blood to his grandfather's throne, but he is not the strongest. Going into exile is the only way to survive his ruthless cousin. Once-Princess Samarkar is climbing the thousand steps of the Citadel of the Wizards of Tsarepheth.