ADND claimed to have been heavily based on the works of Jack Vance with elements of J.R.R. Tolkien. But then when you read any classic fantasy story, epic or otherwise (and I mean proper fantasy novels, not the cheap hack trash that TSR managed to pump out on a daily basis in the late 80s and pretty much most of the 90s) they are not good for basing a RPG adventure on. Most have one idea or concept which doesn't sit well with an ongoing campaign, or be based around one hero (e.g. Conan the Barbarian), and completely destroysthe concept of a RPG party.
So I thought more about the concept, what genre of books or films would be best to base a campaign on.
The DM of the Rings, a wonderful webcomic based on Lord of the Rings movies clearly showshow a bunch of players are completely inept at taking part in something based on Tolkien. So its plain to see that Role-Playing Games have very little to do with Tolkien.
And then it hit me, the Western. Yes thats right the Western, that quintessential American dream! Now that is what the modern role-playing group is like. A posse of ne'er do-wells. And I am not picking up on this because of Firefly, but simply because those western style games I have run in the past, the concept of a posse seemed to me to sit much healthier than a party in any other game I have ever run. It just makes sense for there to be a posse.
Deadlands, both the Weird and Wasted West are perfect settings for a mob of unruly players to shoot bad guys, and get shot at themselves without any consequences. Yes there are sheriffs, but they can be shot too.
Id heard the heroes of Pendragon referred to as a gang of knights wandering ancient Britain in search of trouble to sort out. A gang of knights is about as uncouth as you could imagine a team of valiant knights to be. Yet it was the most apt description.
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