|
Appendix N
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 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dungeons And Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules (TSR). It has been published by Wizards of the Coast, later a subsidiary of Hasbro, since 1997. The game was derived from miniature wargames, with a variation of the 1971 game '' Chainmail'' serving as the initial rule system. ''D&D'' publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry, which also deeply influenced video games, especially the role-playing video game genre. ''D&D'' departs from traditional wargaming by allowing each player to create their own character to play instead of a military formation. These characters embark upon adventures within a fantasy setting. A Dungeon Master (DM) serves as referee and storyteller for the game, while maintaining the setting i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson ( ; November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until his death in 2001. Anderson also wrote historical novels. He won the Hugo Award seven times and the Nebula Award three times, and was nominated many more times for awards. Biography Poul Anderson was born on November 25, 1926, in Bristol, Pennsylvania to Danish parents. Soon after his birth, his father, Anton Anderson, relocated the family to Texas, where they lived for more than ten years. After Anton Anderson's death, his widow took the children to Denmark. The family returned to the United States after the beginning of World War II, settling eventually on a Minnesota farm. While he was an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota, Anderson's first stories were published by editor John W. Campbell in the magazine ''Astounding Science Fiction'': "Tomorrow's Children" by Anderson and F. N. Waldrop in March 1947 and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fredric Brown
Fredric Brown (October 29, 1906 – March 11, 1972) was an American science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer.D. J. McReynolds, "The Short Fiction of Fredric Brown" in Frank N. Magill, (ed.) ''Survey of Science Fiction Literature'', Vol. 4. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press, 1979. (pp. 1954–1957). He is known for his use of humor and for his mastery of the " short short" form—stories of one to three pages, often with ingenious plotting devices and surprise endings. Humor and a postmodern outlook carried over into his novels as well. One of his stories, " Arena", was adapted into to a 1967 episode of the American television series ''Star Trek''. Life and works Fredric Brown was born in Cincinnati.Introduction to ''Rogue in Space'' Italian edi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leigh Brackett
Leigh Douglass Brackett (December 7, 1915 – March 24, 1978) was an American author and screenwriter. Nicknamed "the Queen of space opera, Space Opera", she was one of the most prominent female writers during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. As a screenwriter, she was best known for her collaborations with director Howard Hawks, mainly writing Western (genre), Westerns and crime films. She also worked on an early draft of ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), elements of which remained in the film; she died before it went into production. In 1956, her book ''The Long Tomorrow (novel), The Long Tomorrow'' made her the first woman ever shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and, along with C. L. Moore, one of the first two women ever nominated for a Hugo Award. In 2020, she posthumously won a Retro Hugo for her novel ''The Nemesis From Terra'', originally published as "Shadow Over Mars" (''Startling Stories'', Fall 1944). Early life and education Leigh Brackett was born ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961) was an influential American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction stories and poetry, and an artist. He achieved early recognition in California (largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling) for traditional verse in the vein of Algernon Charles Swinburne, Swinburne. As a poet, Smith is grouped with the West Coast Romantics alongside Joaquin Miller, Sterling, and Nora May French and remembered as "The Last of the Great Romantics" and "The Bard of Auburn". Smith's work was praised by his contemporaries. H. P. Lovecraft stated that "in sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Clark Ashton Smith is perhaps unexcelled", and Ray Bradbury said that Smith "filled my mind with incredible worlds, impossibly beautiful cities, and still more fantastic creatures". Additional writers influenced by Smith include Leigh Brackett, Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, Fritz Lieber, George R. R. Martin, and Donald Sidne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EC Comics
E.C. Publications, Inc., (doing business as EC Comics) is an American comic book publisher. It specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the '' Tales from the Crypt'' series. Initially, EC was founded as Educational Comics by Maxwell Gaines and specialized in educational and child-oriented stories. After Max Gaines died in a boating accident in 1947, his son William Gaines took over the company and renamed it Entertaining Comics. He printed more mature stories, delving into horror, war, fantasy, science-fiction, adventure, and other genres. Noted for their high quality and shock endings, these stories were also unique in their socially conscious, progressive themes (including racial equality, anti-war advocacy, nuclear disarmament, and environmentalism) that anticipated the Civil Rights Movement and the dawn of the 1960s counterculture. In 1954–55, censorship pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warg
In the Philology, philologist and fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fiction, a warg is a particularly large and evil kind of wolf that could be ridden by Orc (Middle-Earth), orcs. He derived the name and characteristics of his wargs by combining meanings and myths from Old Norse and Old English. Wolves in folklore, religion and mythology#Germanic, In Norse mythology, a ''vargr'' (anglicised as warg) is a wolf, especially the wolf Fenrir that destroyed the god Odin in the battle of Ragnarök, and the wolves Sköll and Hati Hróðvitnisson, Hati, Fenrir's children, who perpetually chase the Sun and Moon. In Old English, a ''wearh'' is an outcast who may be strangled to death. Through Works inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien, Tolkien's influence, wargs have featured in Fantasy (genre), fantasy books by authors including George R. R. Martin, and in media such as video games and role-playing games. Etymology and origins The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey states that Tolkie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balrog
Balrogs () are a species of powerful demonic monsters in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. One first appeared in print in his high-fantasy novel ''The Lord of the Rings'', where the Company of the Ring encounter a Balrog known as Durin's Bane in the Mines of Moria (Middle-earth), Moria. Balrogs appear also in Tolkien's ''The Silmarillion'' and Tolkien's legendarium, his legendarium. Balrogs are tall and menacing beings who can shroud themselves in fire, darkness, and shadow. They are armed with fiery whips "of many thongs", and its early drafts speak frequently of the whips of fire. ''The Lays of Beleriand'' describe Morgoth's prisoners tortured by Balrogs with scourges; and the Balrog in Moria (''The Fellowship of the Ring'', "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm") is armed explicitly with a "whip of many thongs" or strands. and occasionally use long swords. In Tolkien's later conception, Balrogs could not be readily vanquished—a certain stature was required by the would-be hero. Only Dr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American Horror fiction, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, to identify the settings, tropes, and lore that were employed by Lovecraft and his literary successors. The name "Cthulhu" derives from the central creature in Lovecraft's seminal short story "The Call of Cthulhu", first published in the pulp magazine ''Weird Tales'' in 1928. Richard L. Tierney, a writer who also wrote Mythos tales, later applied the term "Derleth Mythos" to distinguish Lovecraft's works from Derleth's later stories, which modify key tenets of the Mythos. Authors of Lovecraftian horror in particular frequently use elements of the Cthulhu Mythos. History In his essay "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", Robert M. Price described two stages in the development of the Cthulhu Mythos. Price called the first stage the "Cth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deities & Demigods
''Deities & Demigods'' (abbreviated ''DDG''), alternatively known as ''Legends & Lore'' (abbreviated ''L&L'' or ''LL''), is a reference book for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game (D&D). The book provides descriptions and game statistics of gods and legendary creatures from various sources in mythology and fiction, and allows dungeon masters to incorporate aspects of religions and mythos into their D&D campaigns. The first ''Deities & Demigods'' was published in 1980 by TSR, Inc. while another book called ''Deities and Demigods'' was published in 2002 by Wizards of the Coast, which acquired the ''D&D'' brand with their purchase of TSR in 1998. The original 1980 edition was the first print appearance of various fictional non-human deities, such as Corellon Larethian, Moradin, Gruumsh, and others, many of which have become standard features of the D&D game and its derivatives. These deities were the creation of Jim Ward. Later printings of ''Deities & Dem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Underdark
The Underdark is a fictional setting which has appeared in '' Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing campaigns and ''Dungeons & Dragons''-based fiction books, including the Legend of Drizzt series by R. A. Salvatore. It is described as a vast subterranean network of interconnected caverns and tunnels, stretching beneath entire continents and forming an underworld for surface settings. ''Polygon'' called it "one of ''D&D''s most well-known realms". Use in campaign settings The Underdark featured prominently in the campaign settings '' World of Greyhawk'' and the '' Forgotten Realms''. The concept of a dungeon that spanned a planet was first introduced by Gary Gygax in his D-series of game modules and at the end of the G-series. The Underdark was described in detail in the 1986 manual '' Dungeoneer's Survival Guide'', by Doug Niles. It was also part of the '' Eberron'' campaign setting, in which it was called Khyber and was home to evil beings driven deep into the caverns at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drow
The drow ( or ) or dark elves are a dark-skinned and white-haired subrace of Elf (Dungeons & Dragons), elves connected to the Subterranea (geography), subterranean Underdark in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy roleplaying game. The drow have traditionally been portrayed as generally evil and connected to the evil spider goddess Lolth. However, later editions of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' have moved away from this portrayal and preassigned Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons), alignment. More recent publications have explored drow societies unconnected to Lolth. Creative origins The word "drow" originates from the Orcadian dialect, Orcadian and Shetland dialect, Shetland dialects of Scots language, Scots, an alternative form of "Trow (folklore), trow", which is a cognate with "troll". The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives no entry for "drow", but two of the citations under "trow" name it as an alternative form of the word. Trow/drow was used to refer to a wide variety of evil sprites ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
