Four years ago, we wrote about Appendix N: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons, the gorgeous collection of seminal sword and sorcery and dark fantasy fiction that Peter Bebergal put together. The inspiration behind the collection was Gary Gygax's infamous "Appendix N," the list of literature in the back of the original 1979 AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide that helped "shape the form of the game."
Peter's curation of his Appendix N collection included not only pieces from Gygax's list (and the later "Inspirational Source Material" list in the Red Box edition of D&D) but other, related authors and works which formed the early fantasy milieu from which D&D's creators drew their inspiration.
Now, Peter and Strange Attractor Press are back with Appendix N: Weird Tales From The Roots Of Dungeons & Dragons, a new, expanded edition of the book. This revised edition contains a new foreword by Arthur C. Clarke award-winning novelist Adrian Tchaikovsky, tales by A. Merritt and Andre Norton, a dark fantasy comic by Gardner Fox & John Giunta, and illustrations by revered master of the weird, Virgil Finlay, and Escape The Dark Castle's Alex Crispin, new cover art by Arik Roper (deluxe hardback only), and a trade paperback with printed fold-out dungeon map endpapers. The new edition even sports an enthusiastic cover blurb by comedian and beloved poster-nerd, Patton Oswalt.
While the book officially hits shelves on November 26th, folks can get copies now, including the very lovely limited hardcover edition direct from Strange Attractor Press. Hardcover orders include a set of two postcards featuring cover art by Arik Roper (while supplies last).
We caught up with Peter to ask him some question about what it's been like putting together this fascinating and important collection.
Boing Boing: What inspired you to write the original Appendix N, and what prompted this expanded edition?
Peter Bebergal: The first edition completely sold out and people were asking for a reissue. I and the wonderful fellows at Strange Attractor Press thought that the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons would be the perfect opportunity to do a second edition. And well, while we're at it, why not add a few more stories?
As for the first part of your question, I was always intrigued by the idea that while D&D's roots were in wargaming, the fantastical elements came from Gygax's love of literature. Looking over his list, I realized how many of these authors are no longer widely known in the RPG and fantasy communities. People have been playing for decades, and probably not many of them know that, for instance, the idea for casting a spell and immediately forgetting it comes from Jack Vance. It's easy enough to assume that Tolkien was an influence on the general milieu of the game, but how about Lovecraft? It was a blast going through Lovecraft's stories, for example, and wondering which ones in particular might have helped Gygax shape his vision of the game.
BB: Can you highlight some of the changes in the expanded edition? Are there any new authors or works you've included that weren't in the original?
PB: There are only a few women authors in Gygax's "Appendix N" and I wanted to try to get a little more representation in my collection. Andre Norton is one of our most important fantasy writers, but I had some issues getting rights to her stories the first time around. So, I was thrilled to be able to add one of her Witch World tales this time. A. Merritt is also an important figure in weird fantasy. His story, "The People of the Pit," was originally included as a separate chapbook in the limited hardcover of the first edition of the book. It made sense in the new edition to simply include it in the standard paperback. Lastly, Gygax mentions that comic books were a part of his reading diet, and it was likely he first read many of the stories in pulp magazine. I discovered that Gardner Fox had written a sword and sorcery tale about Crom the Barbarian that was illustrated by John Giunta, published in the rag Out of This World Adventures, in 1950. Adding this comic strip seemed like the perfect way to add another "Appendix N" author while giving a nod to the comic genre. (And it pairs nicely with another included comic, "Sword of Dragonus," by Franks Brunner.)
BB: How did you decide what new material to add? Were there any particular pieces that were challenging to include or exclude?
PB: There were a number of pieces I wanted to include that were much too expensive to license. There is a wonderful moment in T.H. White's The Once and Future King where Kay and Wart meet Robin Wood (ie. Hood) and Maid Marian. The boys join Robin and his gang in their attempt to rescue Friar Tuck from faeries in what is a delightful D&D-like adventure. But alas, they wanted an inordinate amount to excerpt this scene. In other cases, rights holders were impossible to locate or never responded. I also considered something by Egdar Rice Burroughs, who Gygax cites in a number of places as one of his greatest influences, but I couldn't find a portion of one of his novels that worked well out of context. (BTW: I want to add that if you haven't read The Once and Future King, you are missing out on one of the great antidotes to cynicism and disenchantment.)
BB: What was the most surprising discovery you made while researching the book?
PB: While there is some debate about this, I was surprised to discover that there isn't a lot in regards to the actual rules of the game that were drawn from these sources. Jack Vance's "rules of magic," as well as spells named after certain wizards from his Dying Earth series, are the most explicit. There are various critters and classes that have dotted lines to many of the tales, but overall, I think "Appendix N" tells us more about the game's aesthetics than the origin of the rules.
The other surprise was the mention of a number of science fiction authors, including Jack Williams and Stanley Weinbaum. I know other folks have written about the inclusion of these writers and why Gygax might have listed them. I think John O'Neill of the great website Blackgate.com did his own investigation into this question. He notes that while Weinbaum's most well-known story, "A Martian Odyssey," doesn't have any D&D-like qualities, "I think it actually does show how a good worldbuilder or Dungeon Master should think." This kind of analysis is helpful when trying to really understand what Gygax's "Appendix N" really is: The books and stories that populate some of the rooms in Gygax's brain. It is worth noting the one commenter who said maybe it was just a list of what Gygax had on his bedside table at the time.
BB: Were there any lesser-known authors or works that you were introduced to with this project and found particularly intriguing?
PB: One of the books Gygax lists is actually an anthology, Sword Against Darkness III, edited by Andrew J. Offutt. This book, and others in the series, made for a terrific opportunity to do a deep dive into the literature. It was here I discovered the sword and sorcery tales starring the barbarian Ryre by the great horror author Ramsey Campbell, whose story "The Pit of Wings" is one of my favorites in the collection. There is also David Madizon who sadly took his own life early in his career as an up and coming fantasy writer. His story "Tower of Darkness" is a standout tale in the collection.
BB: How do you think the works found in "Appendix N" shaped not only D&D but modern fantasy literature and RPGs in general?
PB: This is an important question. By the time of the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide, I think D&D was trying to strike a balance between the sword and sorcery of Conan and the more heroic fantasy that's baked into the actual game. In 1981, TSR released what would be one of the best-selling RPG products of all time, known colloquially as the D&D Basic Red Box by Thomas Moldvay. This is the version of D&D that you could buy at Toys R Us, and that prompted the D&D cartoon a few years later. In this Red Box edition, Moldvay included his own "Appendix N," called "Inspirational Source Material." This list includes LeGuin's Earthsea series and other young adult literature, as well as more in the way of heroic fantasy. And, if you look at the current "Appendix E" in 5th edition D&D, you can see the idea of what fantasy literature looks a lot like a D&D game and vice versa. Part of the reason I wanted to put together this collection was to remind folks to look back at the weirder, maybe even darker, stories that were part of the game's origins. Character's love hurling their magic missiles, but for Conan and the Grey Mouser, wizards were the bad guys. The only honor was among thieves!
BB: Has your perspective on these foundational works changed from when you first encountered them to now?
PB: Like many people, I hadn't read a lot of these stories before working on this project, and it was such a treat to read them for the first time. Fantasy fiction used to be pretty strange. Elric's sword is possessed by a demon! And take the tale of Jirel of Joiry in C.L. Moore's "Black God's Kiss." Our heroine has to traverse an otherworldly hell to save her kingdom from a warlord. She is a warrior of renown, but she almost never uses her sword in the story. She must rely on her wit and wiles. Like a great game of D&D (at least in my opinion), fighting is not always the way to survive.
