Appendix N is a list of books and authors which informed the creation of

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 Rule ...

. The term now covers a loose literary aesthetic of pulp fantasy and planetary romance.

History

The Advanced Dungeons and Dragons ''

Dungeon Master's Guide The ''Dungeon Master's Guide'' (''DMG'' or ''DM's Guide''; in some printings, the ''Dungeon Masters Guide'' or ''Dungeon Master Guide'') is a book of rules for the fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons''. The ''Dungeon Master's Guide'' co ...

'' (1979) was a book written by

Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering tabletop role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax creat ...

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 The ''Player's Handbook'' (spelled ''Players Handbook'' in first edition ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' (''AD&D'')) is the name given to one of the core rulebooks in every edition of the fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') ...

(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 Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their cheap nature. ...

of the 1930s.

Impact on D&D

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 Wizards of the Coast LLC (WotC or Wizards) is an American game Publishing, publisher, most of which are based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science-fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail game stores. In 1999, toy ...

(notable exceptions including the Beholder and the

Mind Flayer In the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, illithids (commonly known as mind flayers) are monstrous humanoid ''aberrations'' with psionic powers. In a typical ''Dungeons & Dragons'' campaign setting, they live in the moist caverns ...

). 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 Lyon Sprague de Camp (; November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American author of science fiction, Fantasy literature, fantasy and non-fiction literature. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, both novels and works of ...

Fletcher Pratt Murray Fletcher Pratt (25 April 1897 – 10 June 1956) was an American people, American List of science fiction authors, writer of history, science fiction, and fantasy. He is best known for his works on naval history and the American Civil War an ...

Robert E. Howard Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936) was an American writer who wrote pulp magazine, pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He created the character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sor ...

Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. Along with Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock, Leiber is one of the fathers of sword and sorcery. Life ...

Jack Vance John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. He also wrote several mystery novels under pen names, including Ellery Queen. Vance won the World Fantasy Award for Life Ach ...

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

, and A. Merritt over the others. The impact of J.R.R. Tolkien is also evident in races such as the

Halfling Halflings are a fictional race found in some fantasy works. They tend to be depicted as physically similar to humans, except about half as tall and not as stocky as the similarly sized dwarves. Halflings are often depicted as having slightly p ...

(originally

Hobbit Hobbits are a fictional race of people in the novels of J. R. R. Tolkien. About half average human height, Tolkien presented hobbits as a variety of humanity, or close relatives thereof. Occasionally known as halflings in Tolkien's writings, ...

), the division of elves, the ubiquitous

orc An orc (sometimes spelt ork; ), in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy fiction, is a race of humanoid monsters, which he also calls "goblin". In Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', orcs appear as a brutish, aggressive, ugly, and malevol ...

, and the Ranger character class (after

Aragorn Aragorn () is a fictional character and a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. Aragorn is a Ranger of the North, first introduced with the name Strider and later revealed to be the heir of Isildur, an ancient King of ...

), 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 Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, particularly of science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has wo ...

and their precursors in

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 an ...

’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

’s Conan stories, although this remains the subject of debate among 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 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 t ...

and the

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 subter ...

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

, 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 ''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 ...

reference book included statistics for nonhuman characters from the

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, t ...

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 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 ...

, Dragon, Dwarf, Elf, Ent, Goblin, Hobbit, Orc, and

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 ...

from the game, but eventually all but Hobbit, Ent and Balrog were ruled as public domain.

Works listed in Appendix N

Works cited but not formally listed include

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, nota ...

books, medieval bestiaries and fairy tales. The original list did not feature

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 ...

, 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

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. ...

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. ...

August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. He was the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. He made contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the Lovecraftian horror, cosmi ...

Lord Dunsany Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957), commonly known as Lord Dunsany, was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. He published more than 90 books during his lifetime, and his output consist ...

* H.P. Lovecraft *

Andre Norton Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen na ...

* Stanley Weinbaum *

Manly Wade Wellman Manly Wade Wellman (May 21, 1903 – April 5, 1986) was an American writer. While his science fiction and fantasy stories appeared in such pulps as '' Astounding Stories'', '' Startling Stories'', ''Unknown'' and '' Strange Stories'', Wellman i ...

Jack Williamson John Stewart Williamson (April 29, 1908 – November 10, 2006) was an American list of science fiction authors, science fiction writer, one of several called the "Dean of Science Fiction". He is also credited with one of the first uses of the t ...

Series

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

: "

Pellucidar Pellucidar is the fictional internal surface of a Hollow Earth invented by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs for a series of action adventure stories. In a crossover event, Tarzan, who was also created by Burroughs, visits Pellucidar. The ...

" series; "

Barsoom Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs. The first Barsoom tale was serialized as ''Under the Moons of Mars'' in pulp magazine '' The All-Story'' from February to Jul ...

" series; "

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

" series *

Lin Carter Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft (for an H. P. Lov ...

: " World’s End" series *

Philip José Farmer Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy fiction, fantasy novels and short story, short stories. Obituary. Farmer is best known for two sequences of novels, t ...

: " The World of the Tiers" series; et al. *

Gardner Fox Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (May 20, 1911 – December 24, 1986) was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. He is estimated to have written more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC ...

: "Kothar" series; "Kyrik" series; et al. * R. E. Howard: " Conan" series *

: "

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are two sword-and-sorcery heroes appearing in stories written by American author Fritz Leiber. They are the protagonists of what are probably Leiber's best-known stories. One of his motives in writing them was to hav ...

" series; et al. *

Pratt Pratt is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include: A–F * Abner Pratt (1801–1863), American diplomat, jurist, politician, and lawyer * Al Pratt (baseball) (1847–1937), American baseball player * Andy Pratt (baseball) (bor ...

: " Harold Shea" series *

, " Hawkmoon" series (esp. the first three books) *

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

: " Lord of the Rings" trilogy *

Roger Zelazny Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American fantasy and science fiction writer known for his short stories and novels, best known for '' The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nominatio ...

: "

Amber Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...

" series; et al.

Books

: 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 ''Lest Darkness Fall'' is a 1939 alternate history science fiction novel by the American author L. Sprague de Camp. ''Lest Darkness Fall'' is similar in concept to Mark Twain's '' A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'', but the treatme ...

; The Fallible Fiend; et al. * De Camp & Pratt: The Carnelian Cube * Sterling Lanier: Hiero's Journey * A. Merritt: Creep, Shadow, Creep;

Moon Pool A moon pool is an equipment deployment and retrieval feature used by oil platforms, marine drilling platforms, drillships, diving support vessels, fishing vessels, oceanography, marine research and underwater exploration or research vessels, and ...

; Dwellers in the Mirage; et al. *

: Stormbringer; Stealer of Souls; * Andrew J. Offutt: Editor of Swords Against Darkness III *

: Blue Star; et al. *

Fred Saberhagen Fred Thomas Saberhagen (May 18, 1930 – June 29, 2007) was an American science fiction and fantasy author most famous for his ''Berserker'' series of science fiction short stories and novels. Saberhagen also wrote a series of vampire novels in ...

: Changeling Earth; et al. * Margaret St. Clair: The Shadow People; Sign of the Labrys * J. R. R Tolkien:

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ...

The Eyes of the Overworld ''The Eyes of the Overworld'' is a Picaresque novel, picaresque fantasy literature, fantasy fix-up novel by American writer Jack Vance, published by Ace in 1966, the second book in the Dying Earth series that Vance inaugurated in 1950. Retitled ...

;

The Dying Earth ''The Dying Earth'' is a collection of science fantasy/fantasy short fiction by American writer Jack Vance, published by Hillman in 1950. Vance returned to the setting in 1965 and thereafter, making it the first book in the ''Dying Earth'' ser ...

; et al. *

: Jack of Shadows

Legacy and cultural impact

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 Planetary romanceAllen Steele, ''Captain Future - the Horror at Jupiter''p .195/ref> (other synonyms are sword and planet, and planetary adventure) is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy in which the bulk of the action consists of a ...

weird fiction Weird fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction originating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Weird fiction either eschews or radically reinterprets traditional antagonists of supernatural horror fiction, such as ghosts, vampires, ...

. 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 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 The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

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.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , last=Gygax , first=Gary , title=Advanced Dungeons & Dragons , date=1979 , isbn=0-935696-02-4 , page= {{cite book , last=Dragons , first=Dungeons & , title=Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook (Core Rulebook, D&D Roleplaying Game) , publisher=Wizards of the Coast , publication-place=Renton , date=2014-08-19 , isbn=978-0-7869-6560-1 , page= {{cite web , title=What is Appendix N? , website=Goodman Games , date=March 26, 2018 , url=https://goodman-games.com/blog/2018/03/26/what-is-appendix-n/ , access-date=September 18, 2024 {{cite web , last=Games , first=Goodman , title=Adventures On the Purple Planet...and Beyond! Project Update: Artistic Inspirations for the Purple Planet , website=BackerKit , url=https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/goodman-games/return-to-the-purple-planet/updates/3587?ref=bk-noti-project-update-3587 , access-date=September 18, 2024 {{cite web , title=Appendix N Book Club , website=Appendix N Book Club , date=January 29, 2024 , url=https://appendixnbookclub.com/ , access-date=September 18, 2024 {{cite web, url=http://www.dyingearth.com/files/gary%20gygax%20jack%20vance.pdf, title=JACK VANCE & THE D&D GAME, last1=Gygax, first1=Gary, website=Dying Earth Roleplaying Game Site, publisher=Pelgrane Press, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610173333/http://www.dyingearth.com/files/gary%20gygax%20jack%20vance.pdf, archive-date=June 10, 2015, url-status=dead, access-date=May 23, 2015 {{cite web , title=Frequently Asked Questions :: d20srd.org , website=The Hypertext d20 SRD (v3.5, 5e & Pathfinder d20 System Reference Document) , url=https://www.d20srd.org/faq.htm , access-date=September 18, 2024 {{cite web , title=Dragon Magazine : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive , website=Internet Archive , date=October 23, 2016 , url=https://archive.org/details/DragonMagazine260_201801/DragonMagazine095/page/n13/mode/2up?view=theater , access-date=September 18, 2024 {{cite book , last=Schick , first=Lawrence , title=Heroic Worlds , publisher=Prometheus Books , publication-place=Buffalo , date=1991 , isbn=0-87975-653-5 , page= {{cite web , last=Baird , first=Scott , title=Lord Of The Rings' Complicated Legal History With Dungeons & Dragons , website=ScreenRant , date=May 2, 2020 , url=https://screenrant.com/lord-rings-dungeons-dragons-dnd-race-controversy-lawsuit/ , access-date=September 18, 2024 {{cite web , title=EN World: RPG News & Reviews , website=enworld.org , date=October 7, 2012 , url=https://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-4.html#post1026737 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007050950/https://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/57832-gary-gygax-q-part-iv-4.html#post1026737 , archive-date=October 7, 2012 , url-status=dead , access-date=September 18, 2024 {{cite book , last=Moorcock , first=Michael , title=Elric: the Fortress of the Pearl , date=2013 , isbn=0-575-11343-X , page=240 {{cite book , last=Goodman , first=Games , title=Dungeon Crawl Classics Softcover Edition , isbn=0-9974738-3-5 , page=442 {{cite book , last=Clair , first=Margaret St. , title=Sign of the Labrys , publisher=Courier Dover Publications , date=2016-11-16 , isbn=978-0-486-80410-1 , page= {{cite web , title=2016 Hugo Awards , website=The Hugo Award , date=December 29, 2015 , url=https://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2016-hugo-awards/ , access-date=September 18, 2024 {{cite book , last=Johnson , first=Jeffro , title=Appendix N , date=2017-06-28 , isbn=978-952-7065-18-1 , page= {{cite book , last=Bebergal , first=Peter , title=Appendix N , publisher=MIT Press , publication-place=London, England , date=2021-02-23 , isbn=1-907222-74-X , page= {{cite book , last=Ward , first=James Michael , last2=Kuntz , first2=Rob , last3=Dee , first3=Jeff , title=Deities & Demigods, publisher=TSR , publication-place=Lake Geneva, WI : ew York?, date=1984-01-01 , isbn=0-935696-22-9 , page= {{cite web , last=Ralya , first=Martin , title=Reading Appendix N: The project, the appendix, and the goal – Yore , website=Yore – Martin Ralya's blog about TTRPGs, miniatures, &c. / Established 2009 , date=August 28, 2012 , url=https://www.martinralya.com/other-stuff/books/reading-appendix-n/reading-appendix-n-the-project-the-appendix-and-the-goal/ , access-date=September 18, 2024 Dungeons & Dragons lists Lists of books Lists of writers