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= Appendix_N =
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Introduction
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Appendix N is a list of books and authors which informed the creation
of Dungeons and Dragons. The term now covers a loose literary
aesthetic of pulp fantasy and planetary romance.
History
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The Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 'Dungeon Master's Guide' (1979) was
a book written by Gary Gygax to help people run games of Dungeons and
Dragons (D&D). It contained a series of appendices, including one
titled “Appendix N: Inspirational and Educational Reading”. Appendix N
was a list of authors and works that were identified by Gary Gygax as
the source of many concepts, tropes, spells and monsters that were
used in the development of D&D.
The list specifies 28 authors, 22 specific books, and 12 different
book series; it is one of the foundations on which fantasy roleplaying
was built. A revised and expanded version of the list was published as
“Appendix E: Inspirational Reading”, in the 5th Edition Player's
Handbook (2014).
Appendix N is now used to describe a subset of imaginative fantasy and
science fiction from the early-to-mid 20th Century that predates the
global mass media popularity of the genre; much of the work in the
list was originally published as serials in pulp magazines of the
1930s.
Impact on D&D
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Appendix N set the tone for fantasy roleplaying. The early design of
D&D drew so widely from Appendix N influences, that very few of
the classic monsters are even claimed as Product Identity by Wizards
of the Coast (notable exceptions including the Beholder and the Mind
Flayer). According to Appendix N researcher, Jeffro Johnson, if you
read Appendix N then a great many of the oddities of classic D&D
will start to make sense.
Gary Gygax has stated that D&D was not meant to recreate the work
of any one specific author in the Appendix, but his list singled out
the impact of L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt, Robert E.
Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, H. P. Lovecraft, and A. Merritt over
the others. The impact of J.R.R. Tolkien is also evident in races such
as the Halfling (originally Hobbit), the division of elves, the
ubiquitous orc, and the Ranger character class (after Aragorn),
although Gygax professed Tolkien's impact was “minimal” and dismissed
the Ring Trilogy as “tedious”.
D&D's influential alignment system of Law vs Chaos was derived
from the Elric stories of Michael Moorcock and their precursors in
Poul Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions, which also inspired the
player character class of Paladin. The player character class of
Barbarian is a direct nod to Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories,
although this remains the subject of debate amongst fans who class the
character variously as a fighter, thief, or hybrid of the two. The
concept of dungeons with multiple levels connected by secret doors is
derived from Margaret St. Clair, especially Sign of the Labrys, while
the inspiration for the Drow and the Underdark were derived from both
Merritt and St Clair.
D&D’s engine of memorised spells is known as the “Vancian magic
system” after the work of Jack Vance, who also inspired the Thief
player class, and several early spells. Vance freely gave permission
to Gygax to use his Ioun Stones as a magical item in the game on the
condition that his books received a mention (as they then did in the
Appendix).
However, not everyone was as happy to be so influential: the first
edition of the Deities & Demigods reference book included
statistics for nonhuman characters from the Cthulhu Mythos of H.P.
Lovecraft and the Melnibonéan mythos from Michael Moorcock, both of
which were the subject of legal threats and were removed from
subsequent editions. TSR was served with papers threatening damages to
the tune of half a million dollars by Elan Merchandising on behalf of
the Tolkien Estate in connection with D&D and a Five Armies game.
TSR were told to removed Balrog, Dragon, Dwarf, Elf, Ent, Goblin,
Hobbit, Orc, and Warg from the game, but eventually all but Hobbit,
Ent and Balrog were ruled as public domain.
Works listed in Appendix N
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Works cited but not formally listed include EC Comics books, medieval
bestiaries and fairy tales. The original list did not feature Clark
Ashton Smith, which Gygax later addressed as an omission. Some of the
books and series include an “et al”, indicating that their further
works were also partially included in the list.
Authors
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* Leigh Brackett
* Fredric Brown
* August Derleth
* Lord Dunsany
* H.P. Lovecraft
* Andre Norton
* Stanley Weinbaum
* Manly Wade Wellman
* Jack Williamson
Series
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* Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Pellucidar" series; "Barsoom" series; "Venus"
series
* Lin Carter: "World’s End" series
* Philip José Farmer: "The World of the Tiers" series; et al.
* Gardner Fox: "Kothar" series; "Kyrik" series; et al.
* R. E. Howard: "Conan" series
* Fritz Leiber: "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser" series; et al.
* L. Sprague de Camp & Pratt: "Harold Shea" series
* Michael Moorcock, "Hawkmoon" series (esp. the first three books)
* J. R. R. Tolkien: "Lord of the Rings" trilogy
* Roger Zelazny: "Amber" series; et al.
Books
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* Poul Anderson: Three Hearts and Three Lions; The High Crusade; The
Broken Sword
* John Bellairs: The Face in the Frost
* De Camp, L. Sprague: Lest Darkness Fall; The Fallible Fiend; et al.
* De Camp & Pratt: The Carnelian Cube
* Sterling Lanier: Hiero's Journey
* A. Merritt: Creep, Shadow, Creep; Moon Pool; Dwellers in The Mirage;
et al.
* Michael Moorcock: Stormbringer; Stealer of Souls;
* Andrew J. Offutt: Editor of Swords Against Darkness III
* Fletcher Pratt: Blue Star; et al.
* Fred Saberhagen: Changeling Earth; et al.
* Margaret St. Clair: The Shadow People; Sign of the Labrys
* J. R. R Tolkien: The Hobbit
* Jack Vance: The Eyes of the Overworld; The Dying Earth; et al.
* Roger Zelazny: Jack of Shadows
Legacy and cultural impact
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Appendix N reflects the canon of fantasy literature at the end of the
'70s. The amalgamation of fantasy tropes into the original D&D in
the late 70s has been identified by Michael Moorcock as a period
marked by the creation of a fresh genre of fantasy literature, whereas
the work that came before was often within the now-obsolete genres of
planetary romance or weird fiction.
Appendix N was instrumental in the foundation of fantasy roleplaying
and has been important to the OSR “Old School Renaissance” of
roleplaying games. Games designer, Joseph Goodman, read every book in
Appendix N in order to create the Gygax-inspired OSR RPG Dungeon Crawl
Classics (DCC). Many of the published modules for the game directly
reference some of the Appendix N texts, such as Peril on the Purple
Planet, which is inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs. DCC have also
published campaign settings for adventures set in the worlds of Fritz
Leiber and Jack Vance.
Jeffro Johnson's book on his journey through Appendix N was nominated
for the Hugo Award in 2016. In 2022, Ernest G. Gygax, Jr. designated
J.B. Jackson's novel Shagduk an honorary Appendix N title.
Others have also endeavored to read the entirety of Appendix N,
including games designer, Martin Ralya who maintains a blog on his
quest. There are multiple podcasts exploring and reviewing all of the
books in Appendix N, including Sanctum Secorum and the Ennie
Award-nominated (2022) Appendix N Book Club.
See also
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* Dungeon Masters Guide
* Gary Gygax
License
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License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appendix_N
