i used fallout's post-post-apocalyptic feel for a chizo-tech world, helped a lot by starship troopers 2 for the claustrophobia. hell, my players didn't know until session... 14? that they weren't in a vault but in a craftworld type spaceship. stargate atlantis i think was the original inspiration, i just inherited the idea from its creator.

other influences included but weren't limited to: cannibal holocaust, the jungle by upton sinclair, morrowind's deserts (ald-ruhn especially), lots of film noir tropes, silence of the lambs for the macabre aesthetics, warhammer 40k, the roman empire, the chicago blues musical scene, brazil by gilliam, halo odst, industrial metal, cyber metal (props to paul wardingham's first album for being the go-to soundtrack), road movies like fear and loathing in las vegas (even if i never watched that movie), the american civil war, the colonization of north america, theocracies and dictatorships (say what you will, but man if the nazis aren't a case study of how to enslave people by propaganda), and looney tunes. i also added my very surrealist nightmares that are both disconcerting and comforting because there's always a sense of normality despite the sheer horror (oh, i'm being eaten by maggots? that sucks. what's for lunch besides me?)

... believe it or not, that universe is actually coherent and tailor-made to give players mood whiplash once they leave the gaming table. on more than one occasion, laughter and high fives were interrupted by these words: "dude, did we really commit genocide? we're monsters!!" funny thing is unlike 40k, it's grimdark only to outside observers. most people actually like their lives despite the omnipresent threat of danger. i'm really proud of that. nothing gets more boring than cripplingly bleak tones non-stop. here, you'll have a barbecue with music and feasting, and everyone will be happy. ok, so you're eating the warriors killed in repelling the last attack, but it's to honor their souls so nothing goes to waste. in our society, cannibalism is kind of slightly frowned upon. in that one, it's normal and it's a grief mechanism tinged with base pragmatism since food can be scarce.

now, when i design characters, i'll tend to throw left-field references around. my current character in rogue trader is drawn from the history of my home city, and that raised a few eyebrows, since i'm the only one from that city at the table. it's not too often you get a history lesson about the city you live in from the gung-ho character. my first character in whfrp was inspired by child soldiers and stockholm syndrome. that was probably a bit too tragic to think about for any length of time. my "holy" characters usually follow the "good is not nice" philosophy, with paladins going for groin-attacks, inquisitors using torture, and clerics being foul-mouthed grumps. and once did i combine the joker and bugs bunny into one character. i'm never to be so cruel to a dm ever again.