Christmas Special - My Appendix N

Blurting some thoughts about the media that shaped me

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, I hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Christmas season. This post is a bit of a fluff piece while things simmer in the background on some of my other projects and games. I wanted to talk about the works that lead me into the RPG hobby in the first place. My own personal Appendix N, if you will.

Appendix N is one of the most well known features of the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide. This was a listing of the the stories and novels that inspired the creation of D&D in the first place. We owe the works listed on it a huge debt of gratitude in the hobby, and it behooves us all to read them. Reading Three Hearts Three Lions, Conan, The Dying Earth and of course Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser will grant a much better understanding of not only fantasy in general, but also what the game was created to emulate in the first place. This will in turn make you better at running the game. By this point I have read perhaps half of the material listed in the original Appendix N, and I intend to have that number near to 100% by the end of 2024.

But, when I was a child, and into my young adulthood, I was not aware of Appendix N, or its stories. That only happened after I made my transition to the OSR sphere. So from whence did my love of adventure spring? Well the same basic location, stories and novels. Many of them new (in comparison to Appendix N) some relatively obscure in the market of contemporary fiction, others more well known. Some even looked down upon by many fiction aficionados. I have spent the Christmas season thinking through what stories had a deep impact on me. I have only included things that I have at some point attempted to recreated on the tabletop (as was the original intent of Appendix N). There are many things I have enjoyed that simply didn't have a huge influence, Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling is such a one. I liked it just fine as a story, but was never interested in recreating it on the table top. With the primer out of the way, it's time to stop rambling and get to the business of listing and discussing the formative fictions from my past.

Literature

The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien

This entry is the only one that also appears on the real Appendix N, and for good reason. This is a seminal work of high fantasy, and has many many merit's besides. Nothing I could say in this brief excerpt could do it justice, except perhaps to say it is the bar by which I judge all new fantasy material. Many hopefuls are found wanting.

The Inheritance Cycle - Christopher Paolini

Ah, Eragon and its sequels. Undoubtedly, these books are the first source of my love for fantasy in general. Before I read anything else of note, I had read Eragon and Eldest through many times. Then I got to experience the joys of waiting an interminable amount of time for the continuation, long before Game of Thrones was even on my radar. These books are often lampooned as being overly derivative, being nothing more than Star Wars with dragons instead of lightsabers; and from an inspection of the first book that criticism holds true. However, the later books are truly inspired, and I've stolen more from the world of Alagaësia for my tabletop games than from anywhere else. It may be the nostalgia speaking, but these books hold a special place in my heart. I intend to eventually share my full thoughts on them in the future.

The Edge Chronicles - Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

Skyships!, Flying Wizard Schools!, Knights on strange beasts!, and a whole host of unique fantasy races! brought to life by Chris Riddell's skilled illustrations, The Edge Chronicles have it all as far as wonder and mystery go. These books taught me that a major cataclysm in a setting, even one that disrupts the rules of nature itself, are simply grounds for more story, and more gaming. They also inspired in me a love for sky ships and clever magical materials (rocks float when heated in the Edgelands, certain kinds of wood are lighter than air) that has simmered in the background. In many hexcrawls I run, the true endgame is finding a skyship (whether players realize that or not).

Abarat - Clive Barker

This is a big one. The initial idea for the Flooded Realms as a setting was spawned by book Abarat. Delivered with Barker's normal flair (and some truly stunning oil paintings in the hardcover editions), this book and its sequels describe a land consisting only of 25 islands, one for every hour of the day with the 25th to rule them all. Each island is a stunning location in and of itself, from the massive casino island in the early morning, to the torturous Midnight. Every location is vibrant and memorable. While my setting has drifted much from it's initial conception, Abarat remains a cornerstone of it.

Kane - Karl Wagner

Kane was my first introduction to sword and sorcery. Quite literally, as Kane himself is skilled at both. Bloodstone is perhaps my favorite, frog aliens who use an evil stone for power is a wild concept, but the story handles it quite well. Kane himself is an interesting protagonist, certainly no hero and a good exploration of what being immortal actually does to a man. The actual quality of the stories does vary somewhat, but they are all though provoking.

Movies

Treasure Planet

It's Treasure Island in space. With cool science fantasy sailing ships that look like they were ripped right off the ocean during the Golden Age of Piracy. Excellent adaptation of a classic story, excellent execution.

Video Games

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - Nintendo

Of course video games are going to make an appearance on this list. While I am a big fan of the Zelda games as a whole, this one in particular influenced me greatly. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's another setting about Islands and Boats (sort of a recurring theme for me). While Windwaker was the first to deliver on this concept, I've always enjoyed Phantom Hourglass more. I find the various locations more interesting, and the sailing is much much better.

Conclusion

Well, this list is somewhat shorter than I anticipated. As stated, I tried to cull down to the absolute most important works to me. There are several honorable mentions in the literature category that I would be remiss to neglect. Those are: Airborn and Skybreaker by Kenneth Opal, the Bartimaeus Sequence by Jonathon Stroud, Fablehaven by Brandon Mull, Beowulf, The Dream Cycle by H.P. Lovecraft. There are likely many many minor influences that I have forgotten along the way.

Thank you for reading this far, if you did. This post is very self-indulgent I am aware. There is some news though, The Tideland Empire game is well on it's way to actually starting. There were some unforsee complications when it came to running the domain machine of ACKS II backwards, but they are mostly sorted out. I expect to have a primer on each of the player domains over the course of January. Along with that, it is time that I pick up my pen editing software again and retictify some of the issues with The Taking of Icewrym Hold from NAP III. Expect some updates there. Finally, I am running another story game for my less hardcore crowd in the same setting as the Tideland Empire game. Should be some interesting reports to come out of that. I believe that's about it as far as new year news, so for now
Sail On!
-ShockTohp