Every storyteller has roots.
Before Master of Lore became an AI-powered narrative experience, it was born from countless nights of dice rolls, character sheets, and candlelit adventures shared around the table.
We’ve played, loved, and learned from decades of tabletop legends.
Here are the RPGs that shaped the way we imagine worlds, stories, and players, the ones that taught us that great role-playing isn’t about winning, but about becoming.
Dungeons & Dragons – The spark that started it all
No list of RPG inspirations could begin anywhere else.
Dungeons & Dragons is where everything started, the blueprint for adventure, imagination, and camaraderie.
From its humble origins in the 1970s to its modern renaissance, D&D showed the world that rules can serve creativity.
Its spirit of exploration and character-driven storytelling remains a cornerstone of Master of Lore’s design: freedom, consequence, and the joy of discovery.
RuneQuest – Where myth meets system
RuneQuest was one of the first games to prove that mechanics could enrich immersion.
Its world of Glorantha introduced players to mythological storytelling grounded in culture, belief, and consequence.
We drew from RuneQuest’s balance of narrative and simulation, how every roll feels tied to the world’s living mythology.
That same philosophy lives on in the SAGE engine, which ensures that every action in Master of Lore feels meaningful within its own lore.
Vampire: The Masquerade – The power of personal horror
Vampire: The Masquerade changed everything by turning the gaze inward.
It wasn’t about dungeons or dragons, it was about morality, politics, and identity.
Every game was a psychological mirror held up to the player.
That focus on emotion and choice is something we’ve carried into Master of Lore.
Your actions don’t just change the world, they define who you are within it.
Call of Cthulhu – The dread of knowledge
Few RPGs have captured the horror of the unknown as perfectly as Call of Cthulhu.
It taught us that true fear isn’t in monsters, but in what you discover about the world… and yourself.
Our upcoming world Dreams of the Old Ones is a direct homage to this lineage: sanity as a fragile currency, mysteries that whisper instead of scream, and choices that cost more than courage.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay – A world that fights back
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay showed us that a world doesn’t have to love its heroes.
Its grim tone, flawed characters, and merciless setting brought realism to fantasy.
That same tension between danger and destiny flows through Master of Lore: every victory has a cost, and the world reacts to your mistakes as much as your triumphs.
The Burning Wheel – Rules for storytelling
The Burning Wheel redefined what mechanics could mean.
Here, dice weren’t about damage, they were about drama. Every rule existed to serve character motivation and narrative consequence.
That idea became a cornerstone of our design philosophy: structure amplifies creativity.
SAGE borrows that same principle, ensuring that storytelling feels free, but never random.
Shadowrun – The thrill of hybrid worlds
Where fantasy met cyberpunk, Shadowrun proved that genres could collide without losing coherence.
It blended magic, technology, and noir atmosphere into something utterly new.
That boldness inspired us to imagine worlds where different settings merge — like Loom – Woven Worlds, which fuses mythic fantasy with human rebellion and even AI-driven storytelling!
Legend of the Five Rings – Honor, duty, and destiny
Legend of the Five Rings turned role-playing into poetry.
Its setting of Rokugan balanced philosophy, politics, and combat, teaching that honor can be a more dangerous weapon than any blade.
Its emphasis on culture, ritual, and inner conflict deeply influenced how Master of Lore treats moral choice and character arcs.
Not every victory is glorious, sometimes, the hardest path is the right one.
Marvel Universe RPG – Heroes that feel human
The Marvel Universe RPG reminded us that even the extraordinary must feel personal.
Its storytelling focused on human emotion inside superhuman worlds, a theme that echoes through every universe we build.
From heroes to investigators, every player in Master of Lore faces the same truth: courage isn’t about strength, it’s about choice.
Conclusion: the dice that started it all
Each of these RPGs left a mark on our imaginations… and on Master of Lore’s DNA.
They taught us that the best stories are collaborative, that rules and freedom can coexist, and that every player deserves to feel part of something larger than themselves.
In the end, we’re all still around the same table. Only now, the table spans worlds, voices, and technologies.
👉 Play Master of Lore today and see how these legends live on in a new form of storytelling:
Start your adventure — your story remembers you.
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