More inspirational movies for Gamemasters

Due to popular demand and because this movie just belongs here, the Princess Bride had to make this list.

This masterpiece shows us, how to toy with the expectations of your audience. To quote the movie itself: "Not just your basic, average, everyday, ordinary, run-of-the-mill, ho-hum fairy tale."

If you liked the Princess Bride, you may like this one, too.

A girl has to travel into a mystical world and find her way through a huge labyrinth to save her sibling.

The labyrinth is inhabited by strange creatures and confronts the heroine with unique riddles and other challenges. You may want to steal one of two ideas for your dungeons.

A bunch of heroes fights an evil opressor. It's a very simple, very old story template, but it survived because it has a timeless appeal. This movie may have aged a bit here and there, but it is a quite vital version of the story.

Probably the best thing about this movie is the villain, played by the incredible Alan Rickman. Hear how he rants and you'll want to steal this character for one of your adventures.

Another, older take of the Robin Hood theme, featureing the immortal Errol Flynn.

Note that this movie stems from another age, where heroes were noble, villains had class, maidens were fair and everything was bright and colorful. If you look for the opposite of a dark, gritty approach, you may find this movie inspirational.

Note that this is the 1954 version, we stay with the classics here for a bit (avoid the 90'ties abomination of a movie at all costs).

Prince Valiant takes place in age of King Arthur and is based on an epic comic series, which is actually a must read for game masters. This movie, loaded with gallant knights, fair maidens and epic duels merely shows the tip of the mountain of potential inspiration the comics provide, but it is definitly worth a look.

This comedy belongs right here. It bears similarities and intersections with the Robin hood story template, but fortunately goes its own path.

The stroy about a hero infiltrating the villains castle by taking a fake identity is rich with intrigues and situational comedy. So how about an adventure, where your heroes go undercover?

This samurai/ronin story by Akira Kurosawa was the inspiration for "a fistful of dollars". A village suffers from the conflict between two rivaling bands of scoundrels until a mysterious stranger arrives and changes the status quo, playing the two parties against each other.

As you may have noticed, this story template works pretty well in any setting, feudal japan, wild west... set it wherever you want.

The lone swordsman from Yojimbo returns. This time he accidently stumbles into the plot of a few, righteous but ... well... simple men, who want to stop a corrupt official. He sides with them, but the battle cannot be taken out in the open and requires not only a quick blade, but also a keen mind.

So if you like stories filled with intrigues and treachery, this one may provide some ideas for your next adventure. Fortunately this is another example of a time- and placeless story template.

The original triology of Star Wars movies is so iconic and essential, that I have no other choice but including them here.

What to take away from part 1 (episode IV)?

The Jedi are only hinted at, that makes them very mysterious and interesting. I think it shows very well how to handle supernatural things like these: Leave room for imagination!

Another thing we can learn from Star Wars is, that you can easily switch the setting of a plot template by substituting elements. Think of a simple, medival adventure story with knights and dragons. Now replace the white knights with jedi, the dark knight with Darth Vader, the dragon/the villains lair with the death star... as you can see, there's rarely something locked in time and place.

What to take away from part 2 (episode V)?

Two words Plot twist!

The Empire Strikes Back features the most archetypical kind of plot twist one can come up with. I won't spoil it here, but it is so famous you probably know it yet. If you remember the impact it had on you, when you saw it for the first time, you'll know how lasting their impression is and how well a good plot twist can enrichen a story. Thus: have plot twists in your adventures!

What to take away from part 3 (episode VI)?

Obviously not the greatly critizised Ewoks. The best thing about Return of the Jedi is the "parallel showdown". The finale takes place in three different locations at the same time and cuts between them.

You could try to adapt cuts between different action scenes to your adventures. Another thing is, that you could offer your players various options where they want to be during the showdown and which kind of part they want to play in it.

A tongue in cheek adaption of Zorro, whom you are hopefully familiar with. What makes this story even more interesting, is, that the young hero isn't actually the first Zorro, but is trained by the old Zorro to become his successor. How about an adventure, where your player characters become students of a famous hero? Or what if they have to help an aged and thus not 100% fit hero to fullfill his destiny?

There are so many good things to steal... sorry, I meant to plunder about this movie, that I don't know where to start. It is an amazingly entertaining revival of the pirate theme.

One thing standing out, is the way one of the main characters, Captain Jack Sparrow is introduced to us. In about 2 jawdropping minutes we learn more about him than we are told about many characters in entire movies. If you have an important NPC to introduce, you may want to show how they are by example not by telling. This is the lesson to learn here. Even better if you can help your players to introduce their new characters this way.

A very american, Indiana Jones type of treasure hunt.

This is by far the best Lupin movie (don't worry you can enjoy it without knowing the other ones), and this is not surprising, since it was directed by no other than Hayao Miyazaki.

Action, fun, adventure, heroes, villains, damsels, mysteries and dungeons. This movie has it all.

You may stumble across a few things that will fit into your next rpg adventure

Solving crimes in historical setting can be pretty exciting and few movies have done it better than this.

This is actually a childrens movie, but a good one. It's a mystery thriller where the young main character has to follow riddles and leads to uncover a 40 year old mystery.

A haunted house horror movie and probably one of the finest.

As a gamemaster you may want to replicate the way this movie toys with the viewers imagination. The best example for that, is the scene with the ball... You'll know which one I mean.

You have probably seen this type of movie before: A bunch of college kids sets out for a sceluded place to enjoy themselves, drinking, having sex, taking drugs... and then all of a sudden a mysterious monster/killer/etc.. starts to hunt and kill them. The kids make stupid decisions and it becomes pretty predictiable who will die next... it's an often implausible cliche story that has been done over and over again.

Enter the grandmaster of story writing, Joss Whedon. In "The Cabin in the Woods" he takes the old template and constructs something new from it, by adding a completely new point of view, that actually explains a lot...

Two totally friendly, helpful but redneck looking guys are mistaken for insane killers by a bunch of college kids. Accidents happen, hilarity ensues.

Being an incredibly funny movie aside, this lesson on the risks of predjudices also provides a good plot idea. What if the player characters are mistaken for killers? What if things happen that make things look not in their favor?

This is a really, really creepy horror movie, that makes formidable use of the setting it takes place in: Lightless, claustrophobical caves.

If your next dungeon happens to be a natural cave and you want to replicate that atmosphere beyond an artificial theme park experience, watch this and take notes. THIS is how a creepy cave feels.

By the way: Try the european cut, avoid the altered US version.

Monster(s) attack little town. It is a basic template. It has been done often with giant spiders or ants, zombies and this time with giant worms. If you are looking for a short, simple setup, why not something like this?

Just see it if you haven't yet. If this doesn't inspire the gamemaster you, I don't know what will.

It's not only about heroes versus monsters, it's about the horror, the atmosphere and the pressure of it all and it has rarely, if ever, been done better than this.

I am against vilifying animals. Wolves, sharks and in this case lions have often been depicted as something evil, which they are not.

Anyway, this movie gives you a great idea of how to surround monsters with an appropreate shroud of dread and mystery. The plot is easily adapted to any thinkable setting. Just replace the lions with supernatural monsters please.

This is how to set an adventure in the wilderness. If this doesn't inspire you, you may at least want to use the soundtrack for your gaming sessions.

If you like siege or last stand type of stories, you may be interested in watching this one. 13 assassins are tasked to kill a sadistic feudal lord in a suicide mission.

You may want to adapt the story template for your purposes.

The plot of this story will probably not be 1:1 translateable into an adventure in your campaign, but how about having your player characters try to keep a low profile while helping out others? It may be a funny time for your players when they try to hide their skills from other people around them.

This doesn't look like a gamer movie, does it? But how about this: What if one of your player characters looks like someone else? Someone important, and is hired (along with the rest of the party) to impersonate that person? Or what if the entire group is mistaken for another one? What if the players have to play along with the sharade to achieve their mission?

A classical "Who done it?". You may want to try this type of adventure on your players.