Den Neverwhere: Cover Art

Den, appearing as it did in Heavy Metal Magazine in 1977 and 1978, was an important influence on my early Dungeons and Dragons sensibilities. One of my middle-school friends had parents who allowed him to collect Heavy Metal. It seemed odd at the time, and still seems odd to me now, but I and the rest of his adolescent friends benefited from his rather permissive parents. D&D and Traveller sessions at his house would be regularly interspersed with surreptitious gawking at the images in Heavy Metal. Even then, Den was our favorite, along with Barbarella. This is the cover art from the second printing of Den. It added to our D&D sensibilities, as it was a fantasy tale from which to draw adventure inspiration, in addition to feeding our teenaged appetites for images of nekkid women. The cover has a very Barsoomian, Burroughs-esque vibe to it. That's probably because of the green monster and damsel.

Tackling Appendix N

I created this blog as a vehicle for posting regularly on my exploration of the suggested reading lists found in various role-playing game appendices. The title of this blog, Appendix N, refers to the Appendix, in the back of the original 1979 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide, bearing the same title. On a weekly basis, I intend to post a review of a book, movie or graphic novel that I find inspirational for designing and running a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Since my tastes are varied and my concentration notoriously unreliable, i'm not going to commit to a particular schedule, other than trying to blog once per week, but at present i'm going to first try to tackle at least one book from each of the following authors, before I branch out to other writers and mediums.


• Anderson, Poul

• Anthony, Piers

• de Camp, L. Sprague & Pratt, Fletcher

• Haggard, H. Rider

• Howard, Robert E.

• Lanier, Sterling

• Leiber, Fritz

• Merritt, A.

• Moorcock, Michael

• Saberhagen, Fred

• Vance, Jack

• Zelazny, Roger

Appendix N From Mythus Magick

Chevski over at Grognardia published this appendix n list, which appears on the last page of the Mythus Magic rpg book, and is part of the Gary Gygax's Dangerous Journeys game.

This is a very good list of Appendix N entries, and so I am reproducing Chevski's summary on my blog, for easy reference. As Chevski mentions, the stars behind certain authors names indicates Gygax's estimation of each author's relative importance as sources of inspiration for role-playing games.

• Abbey, Lynn
• Anderson, Poul ****
• Anthony, Piers ****
• Asprin, Robert
• Barker, M.A.R.
• Bellairs, John
• Brackett, Leigh
• Brooks, Terry
• Burroughs, Edgar Rice
• Carter, Lin
• Chalker, Jack L.
• Cherryh, C.J.
• de Camp, L. Sprague
• de Camp, L. Sprague & Pratt, Fletcher ****
• Eddings, David
• Farmer, Phillip J.
• Fox, Gardner
• Gardner, Craig Shaw
• Gygax, Gary
• Haggard, H. Rider ***
• Hambly, Barbara
• Hickman, Tracy & Weiss, Margaret
• Howard, Robert E. *****
• Lanier, Sterling ***
• Leiber, Fritz ***
• McCaffrey, Anne
• Merritt, A. *****
• Moore, C.L.
• Moorcock, Michael ****
• Offutt, Andrew J.
• Pratchett, Terry
• Saberhagen, Fred ****
• St. Clair, Margaret
• Sims, John
• Springer, Nancy
• Stasheff, Christopher
• Stewart, Mary
• Tolkien, J.R.R.
• Vance, Jack ****
• Wagner, Karl
• Weinbaum, Stanley
• Williamson, Jack
• Weiss, Margaret
• Zelazny, Roger ****

Reading For Fun And Ideas

"The Following list of books contains suggestions for reading that is relevant to the Star Frontiers game. The more a player or referee reads for fun, the more ideas he will have to use during play or in creating an adventure.

The books listed below are only a few of the many good science and science fiction books available. Most of the authors listed have written many more books than can be shown here, so this list should be used as a starting point.

FICTION

Anthony, Piers -- Macroscape

Anderson, Poul -- Ensign Flandry series

Asimov, Isaac -- Foundation trilogy; I, Robot; Gods Themselves

Asprin, Robert -- The Cold-Cash War

Bester, Alfred -- The Stars, My Destination

Blish, James -- Cities In Flight

Bradbury, Ray -- The Martian Chronicles

Brown, Frederick -- What Mad Universe

Brunner, John -- Stand On Zansibar

Budrys, Algis -- Rogue Moon

Chandler, Bertram A -- Commodore Grimes series

Clarke, Arthur C -- Rendezvous With Rama; Fountains Of Paradise

Clement, Hal -- Mission Of Gravity; Close To Critical

de Camp, L. Sprague -- Krishna series

Dick, Philip K. -- Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?

Dickson, Gordon R. -- Dorsai series

Drake, David -- Hammer's Slammers

Farmer, P. J. -- Riverworld series

Garrett, Randall -- Starship Death

Goulard, Ron -- many short novels

Haldeman, Joe -- The Forever War

Hansen, Karl -- War Games

Harrison, Harry -- Bill, The Galactic Hero, Stainless Steel Rat

Heinlein, Robert -- Starship Troopers; Moon Is A Harsh Mistress

Herbert, Frank -- Dune series

Laumer, Keith -- A Plague Of Demons; Retief series

Le Guin, Ursula K. -- The Left Hand Of Darkness

Lem, Slanislaw -- Solaris; The Cyberiad

Longyear, Barry -- Circus World

Niven, Larry -- Ringworld; Takes Of Known Space

Niven and Pournelle -- The Mote In God's Eye

Norton, Andre -- Star Rangers

Pohl, Frederick -- Gateway

Pournelle, Jerry -- The Mercenary

Russell, Eric Frank -- The Great Explosion

Saberagen, Fred -- Berserker series

Silverberg, Robert -- The Man In The Maze

Simak, Clifford -- City

Smith, E.E. -- Triplanetary; Space Patrol; Lensmen series

Stapleton, Olaf -- Last and First Men

Vance, Jack -- Big Planet; Tschai series; Demon Princes series

Van Vogt, A.E. -- Voyage of the Space Beagle

Varley, John -- Persistence Of Vision

Zelazny, Roger -- Lord Of Light"

-- S. Winter, 1982 Star Frontiers, p.61

Inspirational Source Material

"A good D&D campaign is imaginative and creative. Sometimes a little research is useful to improve a dungeon, flesh out a scenario, and provide inspiration for a campaign. Books on folklore, mythology, fairy tales, bestiaries, and knightly legends can often help the DM fill in important details of a campaign, but fictional tales and fantasy novels usually provide the best sources of inspiration. The following list includes some books which might prove useful. A title list followed by 'et al' means that the author has written more fantasy titles than those which can be listed in the limited space available. Note that some books listed as 'non-fiction' are about myths and legends, but are labeled as non-fiction because they are not on the fiction shelves of the library or bookstore.

FICTION: YOUNG ADULT FANTASY

Alexander, Lloyd - The Book of Three; Black Cauldron; Castle of Llyr

Baum, L. Frank - The Wizard Of Oz, The Emerald City Of Oz

Bellairs, John - The Face In The Frost; House With A Clock In Its Walls

Burroughs, Edgar Rice - A Princess Of Mars; At The Earth's Core

Carroll, Lewis - Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Garner, Alan - Elidor; Weirdstone Of Brisingamen

Le Guin, Ursula - A Wizard Of Earthsea; Tombs of Atuan

Lewis, C.S. - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

FICTION: ADULT FANTASY

Anderson, Poul - Three Hearts Three Lions; The Broken Sword

Anthony, Piers - A Spell For Chameleon

Asprin, Robert - Another Fine Myth

Brackett, Leigh - The Secret Of Sinharat; People of the Talisman

Campbell, J. Ramsey - Demons By Daylight

Carter, Lin - Flashing Swords; Year's Best Fantasy Stories

Davidson, Avram - The Phoenix In The Mirror

de Camp, L. Sprague - The Fallible Fiend; The Goblin Tower

de Camp and Pratt - The Incompleat Enchanter; Land Of Unreason

Dunsany, Lord - King Of Elflands Daughter; Over The Hills And Far Away

Eddison, E.R. - The Worm Ouroboros

Eisenstein, Phyllis - Born To Exile; Sorcerer's Son

Farmer, P.J. - Maker Of Universes, Gates Of Creation, Private Cosmos

Finney, Charles - The Unholy City; The Circus of Dr. Lao

Heinlein, Robert - Glory Road

Howard, Robert E. - Conan; Red Nails; Pigeons From Hell

Lee, Tanith - Night's Master; Storm Lord; The Birthgrave

Leiber, Fritz - The Swords of Lankhmar, Swords Against Wizardry

Lovecraft, H.P. - Doom That Came To Sarnath; The Dunwich Horror

Merritt, A. - The Moon Pool; Dwellers In The Mirage

Moorcock, Michael - The Stealer Of Souls; Knight Of Swords

Mundy, Talbot - Tros Of Samothrace

Niven, Larry - The Magic Goes Away; Flight Of The Horse

Norton, Andre - Witch World; Year Of The Unicorn

Offutt, Andrew - The Iron Lords; Swords Against Darkness

Pratt, Fletcher - The Blue Star; Well Of The Unicorn

Smith, Clark Ashton - Xiccarph; Lost Worlds; Genus Loci

Stewart, Mary - The Crystal Cave; The Hollow Hills

Stoker, Bram - Dracula

Swann, T. Burnett - Cry Silver Bells; Moondust

Tolkien, J.R.R. - The Hobbit, Lord Of The Rings

Vance, Jack - Eyes Of The Overworld; Dying Earth; Dragon Masters

Wagner, Karl Edward - Bloodstone; Dark Crusade

White, Theodore - The Once And Future King

Zelazny, Roger - Jack Of Shadows; Nine Princes In Amber"

-- T. Moldvay, 1981 D&D Basic Rulebook, p. B62

Inspirational And Educational Reading

"Inspiration for all the fantasy work I have done stems directly from the love my father showed when I was a lad, for he spent many hours telling me stories he made up as he went along, tales of cloaked old men who could grant wishes, of magic rings and enchanted swords, or wicked sorcerors and dauntless swordsmen. Then too, countless hundreds of comic books went down, and the long-gone EC ones certainly had their effect.

Science fiction, fantasy, and horror movies were a big influence. In fact, all of us tend to get ample helpings of fantasy when we are very young, from fairy tales such as those written by the Brothers Grimm and Andrew Lang. This often leads to reading books of mythology, paging through bestiaries, and consultations of compliations of the myths of various lands and peoples.

Upon such a base I built my interest in fantasy, being an avid reader of all science fiction and fantasy literature since 1950. 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 just about any other imaginative writing or screenplay you will be able to pluck kernels from which grow the fruits of exciting campaigns. Good reading!

Inspirational Reading:

Anderson, Poul. Three Hearts Three Lions; High Crusade; Broken Sword

Bellairs, John. The Face in the Frost

Brackett, Leigh.

Brown, Fredric.

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. "Pellucidar" Series; Mars Series; Venus Series

Carter, Lin. "World's End" Series

deCamp, L. Sprague. Lest Darkness Fall; Fallible Fiend; et al.

deCamp & Pratt. "Harold Shea" Series; Carnelian Cube

Derleth, August.

Dunsany, Lord.

Farmer, P.J. "The World Of 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

Moorcock, Michael. Stormbringer; Stealer of Souls; "Hawkmoon" Series

Norton, Andre.

Offutt, Andrew J., editor 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.

Williamson, Jack.

Zelazny, Roger. Jack of Shadows; "Amber" Series, et al.

The most immediate influences upon AD&D were probably deCamp & Pratt, REH, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, HPL, and 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."

-- G. Gygax, Appendix N, 1979 AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide, p. 224