FigCat Lists

This list of literary works set in imaginary or speculative cities not only complements my list of more mainstream urban literature, but was researched concurrently with it, and in fact, my initial goal was to publish just one long list of city books with…

Needless to say, this is not just a list of books that happen to be set in one city or another; that would be of little use, and I would not even know how to begin researching a topic of this breadth.

“Spy fiction” designates such a broad array of works that it is almost useless as a descriptive label.

If the default hopeful and heroic flavor of fantasy roleplaying seems too bland or too saccharine for you, there are plenty of alternative avenues available.

Prior to compiling this list, I wasn’t fully aware of just how many comic books with post-apocalyptic settings are out there (and, of course, the list is far from comprehensive, covering only the 100 most frequently recommended titles).

Post-apocalyptic fiction as a source of entertainment is a hard sell to many people: visions of collapsed societies scrambling in worlds ravaged by disasters might hit too close to home rather than offer escapist relief.

One reason why space-faring science fiction is a less popular RPG genre than heroic fantasy is that it can feel like so much work, for both GMs and players.

Cyberpunk has a curious status as a genre in the history of roleplaying games.

At first glance, espionage might seem like an overlooked theme in tabletop RPGs – a small niche within the already niche category of modern-day, real-world games.

I had already published one list with “decadence” in its title, and various literary works recognized as decadent appear on many of my other lists tagged as “weird.”

I’m surprising myself by publishing this list only now.

In the most general sense, many comic books can be described as “pulpy,” as long as they focus on delivering action-packed, cliché-heavy, high-concept entertainment with little subtlety or intellectual ambition.

Let’s get the disclaimers out of the way.

The list below might resemble countless other lists of “best”, “must-read”, or “essential” Marvel publications, and it undoubtedly shares a number of titles with them.

Introducing the tradition and history of European comic books in a few paragraphs seems as futile as attempting to do the same for European literature, music, or cinema; anything I could say would be so general as to be uninformative.

In the grand tradition of this website, I’m publishing a list of literary works that would probably be much more useful as at least two separate lists, but it made sense in my head to mash several things together, and there was no one around to stop me.

I am delighted to announce that this is quite possibly the most niche list I have posted on this website to date; I am fairly certain that the majority of the texts included on it are now read only by small groups of academics who specialize in them.

The distinguishing feature of the roleplaying rulesets on this list is that they can be used to play games in a variety of settings and/or genres.

It might be useful to start by stating what this list is not about.

I compiled this list after realizing that my previous lists of books tagged as “weird” or “fantasy” failed to capture a related but distinct category of works characterized by their strong connection to the irrational and the unconscious.

I often struggle with defining the proper scope of my lists and get bogged down in explaining their intricate inclusion criteria.

If you’re even remotely familiar with English-language comic books, you’ve likely encountered some strong negative opinions about the quality of comics published during the 1990s.

In metaphysical detective fiction, the work of a sleuth serves as a metaphor for the human experience.

The crime genre has maintained a significant presence in the comic book medium throughout its history.

This is a list of comic book series, anthologies, and magazines released in the 1980s by independent publishers in the North American market (including some seminal British imports).

Fundamentally, a hexcrawl is nothing difficult or mysterious; it’s simply a systematic way to represent wilderness exploration and travel in roleplaying games.

While each of my lists of RPG publications can be overwhelming in its own right, none of them make me feel as dizzy as this one.

This is a list of pre-written adventures and campaigns for science fiction roleplaying game systems such as Traveller, Mothership, Stars Without Number, and others.

When I was compiling my list of dark and disturbing fiction, I noticed that my sources consistently featured suggestions for works that fell squarely into the realm of science fiction.

I have to admit that I’m not entirely comfortable publishing this list.

This list of bizarre and trippy comic book series and graphic novels is intended as a companion to my list of weird literature.

One of the most impressive achievements of the OSR movement is the incredible proliferation of finely-crafted adventure modules, including classic dungeon crawls, as well as sprawling megadungeons, hexcrawls, pointcrawls, and tools for procedural generati…

This list of classic supernatural and disquieting short stories holds a special place in my heart.

I believe the title of this list is sufficiently descriptive of its contents.

I prefer to categorize the works on my lists according to their genre, content, or historical period, rather than by the brand under which they were published.

Whether you like it or not, the popular standards and stereotypes for what passes for “fantasy roleplaying” are dictated by the Dungeons & Dragons behemoth.

You could be forgiven for thinking that the title of this list is just a random string of words, and that the books on it are a chaotic jumble of disparate genres.

Sometimes, morbid curiosity gets the better of me.

I was under the impression that the history, culture, and mythology of ancient civilizations are universally regarded as a rich storehouse of stories, themes, and motifs that continue to inspire art and narratives across all media.

This is a list of roleplaying systems, settings, and campaigns that represent several niche genres defying easy classification within popular contemporary distinctions.

This list is essentially a continuation of my earlier list of ancient narrative literature.

This is a list of RPG systems and supplements that are either set in or at least vaguely inspired by “the ancient times”, broadly construed.

This is a list of narrative works written during the vast period from the dawn of literature to late antiquity.

This is a list of comic book runs, mini-series, and graphic novels published by DC Comics, compiled from over two hundred recommendation threads and other lists found online.

This is a list of OSR and NSR roleplaying games, as well as some games that don’t really fit either description but are often mentioned whenever the topic comes up.

The ostensible premise of this website is that I compile my lists from other lists and various list-like materials (such as recommendation threads on message boards), which lends the whole undertaking a veneer of objectivity and neutrality.

After compiling my horror-centric list of supernatural-themed comics, I realized that it underrepresented titles from one important category: stories about wizards, occultists, and magical beings published by DC Comics and its now-defunct Vertigo imprint.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been captivated by creative works that I found strange, unsettling, or eerie.

This list serves as an appendix to my main list of science fiction comic books.

This is a follow-up to my previous list of non-Anglophone fantasy literature, picking up where the other one left off: the works included here were written between 1880 and 1939.