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Post by deuce on Mar 4, 2018 17:06:41 GMT -5
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Post by Erik on Mar 5, 2018 10:58:12 GMT -5
Nice, deuce. Been a D&D player for decades, but I don't recall Appendix N in the back of the DMG. I'm going to see if I can get my hands on that recent book. Btw, Gary Con starts in a few days in Lake Geneva: garycon.com/ |
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Post by andys on Mar 5, 2018 15:10:26 GMT -5
Nice, deuce. Been a D&D player for decades, but I don't recall Appendix N in the back of the DMG. I'm going to see if I can get my hands on that recent book. I remember glancing at the reading list in the back of my DMG when I was a kid (early/mid-80s), but didn't give it a great deal of thought because back then the list was still mostly representative of popular fantasy. Of course you would read ERB, REH, and Elric, who wouldn't? It seems to have become more noteworthy in recent years because we've grown so estranged from those roots and people are trying to figure out how or why that happened. |
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Post by finarvyn on Mar 5, 2018 20:12:49 GMT -5
For anyone not "in the know" the original Appendix N was a list by Gary Gygax of works of literature that inspired the creation of AD&D (and by extension one would suppose inspired the creation of OD&D). This is only Gary's list, and as far as I know other early creators (Dave Arneson, Rob Kuntz, et all) never made lists of their own.
The original “Appendix N” from the Dungeon Master’s Guide (AD&D; 1979)
The following authors were of particular inspiration to me. In some cases I cite specific works, in others, I simply recommend all of their fantasy writing to you. From such sources, as well as any other imaginative writing or screenplay, you will be able to pluck kernels from which will grow the fruits of exciting campaigns. Good reading!
Anderson, Poul: THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS; THE HIGH CRUSADE; THE BROKEN SWORD
Bellairs, John: THE FACE IN THE FROST
Brackett, Leigh
Brown, Frederic
Burroughs, Edgar Rice: "Pellucidar" series; Mars series; Venus series
Carter, Lin: "World's End" series
de Camp, L. Sprague: LEST DARKNESS FALL; THE FALLIBLE FIEND; et al
de Camp & Pratt: "Harold Shea" series; THE CARNELIAN CUBE
Derleth, August
Dunsany, Lord
Farmer, P. J.: "The World of the Tiers" series; et al
Fox, Gardner: "Kothar" series; "Kyrik" series; et al
Howard, R. E.: "Conan" series
Lanier, Sterling: HIERO'S JOURNEY
Leiber, Fritz: "Fafhrd & Gray Mouser" series; et al
Lovecraft, H. P.
Merritt, A.: CREEP, SHADOW, CREEP; MOON POOL; DWELLERS IN THE MIRAGE; et al
Moorcock, Michael: STORMBRINGER; STEALER OF SOULS; "Hawkmoon" series (esp. the first three books)
Norton, Andre
Offutt, Andrew J.: editor of SWORDS AGAINST DARKNESS III
Pratt, Fletcher: BLUE STAR; et al
Saberhagen, Fred: CHANGELING EARTH; et al
St. Clair, Margaret: THE SHADOW PEOPLE; SIGN OF THE LABRYS
Tolkien, J. R. R.: THE HOBBIT; "Ring trilogy"
Vance, Jack: THE EYES OF THE OVERWORLD; THE DYING EARTH; et al
Weinbaum, Stanley
Wellman, Manley Wade
Williamson, Jack
Zelazny, Roger: JACK OF SHADOWS; "Amber" series; et al
The most immediate influences upon AD&D were probably de Camp & Pratt, R. E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, H. P. Lovecraft, and A. A. Merritt; but all of the above authors, as well as many not listed, certainly helped to shape the form of the game. For this reason, and for the hours of reading enjoyment, I heartily recommend the works of these fine authors to you.
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Post by almuric on Mar 5, 2018 20:35:51 GMT -5
It's very gratifying to see the explosion of renewed of interest in Appendix N. A whole new generation is being introduced to classic works of Fantasy and Science-Fiction.
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Post by themirrorthief on Mar 9, 2018 0:41:33 GMT -5
Gygax was a better than most novelist...I read a few of them and liked them
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Post by finarvyn on Mar 10, 2018 10:32:28 GMT -5
Gygax was a better than most novelist...I read a few of them and liked them Yeah, but sometimes I felt like he was trying too hard to be a human thesaurus when he wrote. This goes for both his fiction and his RPG products. He would have done better if he had avoiding throwing in so many unusual words, which he seems to have used just because they are unusual. (Example: spell is "dweomer." Why?) |
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Post by deuce on Mar 13, 2018 11:50:21 GMT -5
James Maliszewski, on his Grognardia blog, was one of the first people to really take a hard look at the influence of "Appendix N" on D&D and promote the authors therein. He wrote numerous posts about the Appendix. Here they are: grognardia.blogspot.com/search/label/appendix%20nSome are more closely related to App N than others, but all are worth reading if you're a gamer or fantasy fan.   |
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Post by deuce on Apr 3, 2018 11:27:43 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Nov 23, 2018 16:34:04 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Dec 15, 2018 19:54:24 GMT -5
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Post by Grim Wanderer on Dec 18, 2018 11:31:25 GMT -5
I may have to take a look at this. Appendix N was my entire reading list for a number of years.
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Post by finarvyn on Dec 19, 2018 0:37:01 GMT -5
I may have to take a look at this. Appendix N was my entire reading list for a number of years. Yeah, the sad thing (I think) is that a lot of newer gamers haven't heard of most of the books in the list. My old school D&D campaigns had a certain feel from reading REH, Moorcock, and Leiber -- and I found that my players got the "vibe" of the game quickly because they had also read those authors. Nowadays the list of books they have read don't seem to intersect mine much at all.  |
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Post by Grim Wanderer on Dec 19, 2018 10:04:14 GMT -5
I may have to take a look at this. Appendix N was my entire reading list for a number of years. Yeah, the sad thing (I think) is that a lot of newer gamers haven't heard of most of the books in the list. My old school D&D campaigns had a certain feel from reading REH, Moorcock, and Leiber -- and I found that my players got the "vibe" of the game quickly because they had also read those authors. Nowadays the list of books they have read don't seem to intersect mine much at all. Very true. Younger players don't seem to read much at all. The ones I've spoken to are film and video game addicts and they want their characters to be like those. More like superheroes than anything that you'd find in the Appendix N reading. When we played we were thrilled just to survive the session with the entire party still breathing. A rare thing to be sure. |
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Post by deepermagic on Dec 19, 2018 12:32:05 GMT -5
I may have to take a look at this. Appendix N was my entire reading list for a number of years. It's funny, maybe about 10 years or so after I was introduced to D&D through 3.5 and sort of lost my gaming group, I started looking for older D&D books and nabbed the AD&D DM's guide for next to nothing. I remember pouring through it like it was a mystical tome. Then I hit Appendix N and instantly took to Amazon and created my own Appendix N reading list. I used it as a guide whenever I hit up Half Price Books and filled my shelves with many of these great titles and authors. I stumbled across a blog more or less reviewing all the books from Appendix N and I started following it with great interest as I was encouraged that someone was doing the same thing I was, and then lo! and behold! the author of the blog posts was the same author of this book, Jeffro Johnson. I feel like there must be something in the air whenever some kind of movement like this happens, simultaneously, to many people at once, and it only takes a bit of wind this this guy's book to fan it into flames. I'm encouraged by what I've seen as a result of the book and blogs, etc, that are riding this movement. |
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