via The Omnipotent Eye (among others), here’s a quick list of the literary influences on my earliest RPGs:
Alexander, The Prydain Chronicles
Burroughs, John Carter, Warlord of Mars
Byfield, The Book of Weird
De Camp, The Complete Enchanter
Dickson, The Dragon and the George
Eager, Half Magic
Goldman, The Princess Bride
Heinlein, Glory Road
Howard (et al–back then his imitators and rewriters were all mixed in with his work), Conan
Lanier, Hiero’s Journey
Leiber, Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser
Lewis, Narnia
McCaffrey, Dragonriders of Pern
McGowen, Sir MacHinery
Moorcock, The Chronicles of Corum, Elric of Melnibone
Nesbit, Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet
Norman, Chronicles of Gor (only the first three, and I was way too young to get the sex parts, which apparently got more and more blatant as the series went on)
Norton, various, but particularly The Beast Master and Star Man’s Son