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Post by Admin Pete on Oct 12, 2016 11:02:53 GMT -5
What are some of the books that would be in your own personal Appendix N, here are a few that come readily to mind for me:
Books
Weird Tales, Edgar Allen Poe
Spirits of the Dead, Edgar Allen Poe, Really all things written by Poe
All by Robert E. Howard
Elric novels, Michael. Moorcock
All Books by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Cthulhu novels, H. P. Lovecraft
Hobbit and LotR Trilogy and his other fantasy writings, J.R.R. Tolkien
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Post by The Disoriented Ranger on Oct 17, 2016 8:26:29 GMT -5
Discworld Novels, Terry Pratchett
Malazan Book of the Fallen series, Steven Eriksen
Garett P.I. and The Black Company books, Glen Cook
Drenai series, David Gemmell
Guardians of the Flame series, Joel Rosenberg
The High House and The False House, James Stoddard
Alice in Wonderland/Alice behind the Mirrors, Lewis Carroll
Also just from the top of my head ... Tolkien should be on this list, too, of course.
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Post by hengest on Oct 17, 2016 17:17:25 GMT -5
The Neverending Story, Michael Ende
And of course Tolkien all the way...I would argue that even in a non-fantasy, utterly un-ME campaign, the ref would do very well to be familiar with Tolkien's work.
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Post by The Disoriented Ranger on Oct 18, 2016 3:20:12 GMT -5
The Neverending Story, Michael Ende And of course Tolkien all the way...I would argue that even in a non-fantasy, utterly un-ME campaign, the ref would do very well to be familiar with Tolkien's work. darn, of course  The Neverending Story needs to be in there, too! |
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monk
Prospector
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Post by monk on Oct 19, 2016 0:00:58 GMT -5
I really like Clark Ashton Smith, particularly the Hyperborea and Zothique stories, as well as the Earthsea books by LeGuin. Neither made it into appendix N, but they're both in the Inspirational Source Material in Moldvay's Basic. CAS is probably why I don't have Clerics in my campaign, but do have Thieves.
Gene Wolf's New Sun books were a huge inspiration to me when I began running my megacity/megadungeon campaign. The factions and descriptions of life amongst the ruins are great.
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Post by Admin Pete on Oct 19, 2016 19:55:28 GMT -5
I just remembered these:
Robert Louis Stevenson was one of the earliest author's I ever read.
I have not thought about him for a while. I remeber reading Treasure Island and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. After that the Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane and then The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Now those were some good books.
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Post by Mighty Darci on Oct 19, 2016 22:57:57 GMT -5
My dad read Treasure Island to me and he also read The Count of Monte Cristo to me.Then he made up more stories that were not in the books.
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Post by ripx187 on Oct 20, 2016 17:31:55 GMT -5
Joe Abercrombie: The First Law series was excellent. All of the characters which are the heroes in this book would be villains in other books. A great Character Study for interesting and entertaining bad guys. I read the original trilogy, the story is still being written, but the first three are a complete and very epic story.
R. Scott Bakker: The Prince of Nothing trilogy. Splendid world-building, jam packed with ideas for the reader to lift and apply to their own games. It is about an enormous army traveling on foot to reclaim their holy city from a powerful and dangerous enemy. It is very logical, brutal, and inspiring. I really like his magic system too, it's very simple but effective. Shedding our modern moral baggage is something that I'm really looking into right now, and this specific title really fits the bill.
Richard Adam: Shardik A fast read about a primitive culture that believes that a bear is their god, and god says to kill a more advanced society. Man, this one features barbarians too? What is it about these guys that we find so fascinating? Anyway, this is a great look at shamanism is action, and has simple but very effective world building techniques that anybody can do.
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Post by Admin Pete on Oct 20, 2016 18:21:55 GMT -5
I have read Joe Abercrombie: The First Law series and found it to be excellent.
That did make me think of another author - Elizabeth Moon and all of the Paksenarrion books. They are IMO fantastic!
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Post by The Disoriented Ranger on Oct 22, 2016 7:06:04 GMT -5
All right, I got two more worth mentioning: Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman (a mystic megadungeon under London and it even spawned it's very own little, author approved rpg!) Metro 2033 (series), Dmitri Alexejewitsch Gluchowski (life in the metro under Moscow after radioactive fallout, with mutants abound and very strange factions, takes the whole dungeoncrawl business very serious, very dark, maybe more Mutant Future/Gamma World?) |
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Post by hengest on Oct 22, 2016 9:32:28 GMT -5
Down Town by Polykarpus and King. I have never heard anyone else mention this book, but it enthralled me as a kid. A kind of wacky, everything-perverted megadungeon based on New York hidden under New York.
Not sure how it would hold up to an adult reading, but for a kid...
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monk
Prospector
Posts: 90
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Post by monk on Oct 22, 2016 20:09:22 GMT -5
Down Town by Polykarpus and King. I have never heard anyone else mention this book, but it enthralled me as a kid. A kind of wacky, everything-perverted megadungeon based on New York hidden under New York. Not sure how it would hold up to an adult reading, but for a kid... This sounds right up my alley.  |
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Post by Admin Pete on Oct 23, 2016 0:02:55 GMT -5
Down Town by Polykarpus and King. I have never heard anyone else mention this book, but it enthralled me as a kid. A kind of wacky, everything-perverted megadungeon based on New York hidden under New York. Not sure how it would hold up to an adult reading, but for a kid... This sounds right up my alley. I want to check that out too! |
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Post by hengest on Oct 23, 2016 14:17:26 GMT -5
Looks like it's "Polikarpus".
And it seems it can be had for a few bucks. I would be interested to hear what you all think of it if you check it out.
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Post by Von on Nov 15, 2016 3:53:16 GMT -5
kaptainvon.wordpress.com/appendix-n/I'll link to the page rather than copy/paste it here as it changes on an irregular basis (when I read something new and mindblowing, or remember something I thought I'd forgotten).
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Post by ripx187 on Dec 2, 2016 17:28:40 GMT -5
Thought of a new one, "Camping & Survival" by Paul Tawrell, a nice fat, and well organized book that goes a lot deeper than we need it too, but breaks down and describes all of the different terrain types in a way that puts you there.
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Post by dragondaddy on Dec 22, 2016 23:00:05 GMT -5
Silmarillion and LoTR by J.R.R. Tolkien
Death's Master by Tanith Lee (Actually pretty much anything by Tanith Lee)
Conan by Robert E Howard
Conan by L Sprague D. Camp and Lin Carter
Conan by J. Steven York
The White Company and Sir Nigel, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant)
The Guardians of the Flame Trilogy by Joel Rosenberg
Quag Keep by Andre Norton
Witchworld series by Andre Norton (Also for Traveller)
Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey (Also for Traveller)
Kothar and the Wizard Slayer by Gardner F. Fox
Parzival by Wolfram Von Eschenbach
Magician by Raymond E. Feist
Raiders of Gor by John Norman (Actually any of the Gor series)
Thieves World Anthology by Robert Lynn Aspirin and Lynn Abbey.
Janissaries series by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven
pretty much anything by Fritz Lieber
pretty much anything by Michael Moorcock
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Post by Admin Pete on Dec 23, 2016 11:49:12 GMT -5
Silmarillion and LoTR by J.R.R. Tolkien Death's Master by Tanith Lee (Actually pretty much anything by Tanith Lee) Conan by Robert E Howard Conan by L Sprague D. Camp and Lin Carter Conan by J. Steven York The White Company and Sir Nigel, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant) The Guardians of the Flame Trilogy by Joel Rosenberg Quag Keep by Andre Norton Witchworld series by Andre Norton (Also for Traveller) Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey (Also for Traveller) Kothar and the Wizard Slayer by Gardner F. Fox Parzival by Wolfram Von Eschenbach Magician by Raymond E. Feist Raiders of Gor by John Norman (Actually any of the Gor series) Thieves World Anthology by Robert Lynn Aspirin and Lynn Abbey. Janissaries series by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven pretty much anything by Fritz Lieber pretty much anything by Michael Moorcock Just for those who don't know, the Gor books are not for children. They were kind of marketed just as sword and planet and for the most part the first five books were that way and then they went downhill from there and I stopped reading. |
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Post by oldskolgmr on Oct 25, 2021 0:40:00 GMT -5
My list:
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien,
Bone by Jeff Smith (even though it's a comic/graphic novel),
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke,
Sabriel by Garth Nix,
The first five books of Rodger Zelazny's Amber series,
The Books of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe,
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance.
Those capture the oddities of being a voluntold Hobbit Burglar, a lost shmoo-person, many great magicians, a torturer, a prince, and sundry other characters.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Oct 26, 2021 0:15:06 GMT -5
My list: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Bone by Jeff Smith (even though it's a comic/graphic novel), Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, Sabriel by Garth Nix, The first five books of Rodger Zelazny's Amber series, The Books of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, The Dying Earth by Jack Vance. Those capture the oddities of being a voluntold Hobbit Burglar, a lost shmoo-person, many great magicians, a torturer, a prince, and sundry other characters. Sabriel by Garth Nix - I have to find these and read them. |
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Post by oldskolgmr on Oct 26, 2021 16:45:32 GMT -5
The Abhorsen series by Garth Nix is hard to find. They are classified as Young Adult fiction/sci fi/fantasy. I'm very lucky that the local library system where I live has (had?) them all. The Internet Archive's Open Library has the first three, as ebooks and audio books. Library membership is free (and they have a lot of hard to find titles). Warning!! Searching the site can be quite difficult at first. I usually search by Author, then select the title I'm looking for, and then to get the Useful list I click on the author's name (as a hotlink). Here's the link Enjoy! Internet Archive Open Library |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Oct 26, 2021 20:07:50 GMT -5
The Abhorsen series by Garth Nix is hard to find. They are classified as Young Adult fiction/sci fi/fantasy. I'm very lucky that the local library system where I live has (had?) them all. The Internet Archive's Open Library has the first three, as ebooks and audio books. Library membership is free (and they have a lot of hard to find titles). Warning!! Searching the site can be quite difficult at first. I usually search by Author, then select the title I'm looking for, and then to get the Useful list I click on the author's name (as a hotlink). Here's the link Enjoy! Internet Archive Open LibraryThanks for the link. It has been awhile since I went looking at Half Price books, but I have found some good adult fiction in the so-called Young Adult classification. Some authors are artificially limiting their audience with that classification. But others are there because they are so bad they could not compete in the regular area. |
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Post by Slinger on Aug 5, 2022 18:22:17 GMT -5
Bump, if this gets more complete, it should be compiled and posted.
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The Neverending Story needs to be in there, too!
