Appendix N: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons

by Peter Bebergal (Editor), Ann VanderMeer (Afterword)

Overview

An anthology investigating the influences behind Dungeons & Dragons, the most popular modern role-playing game.

 

Drawing upon the original list of “inspirational reading” provided by Gary Gygax in the first Dungeon Master's Guide, published in 1979, as well as hobbyist magazines and related periodicals that helped to define the modern role-playing game, Appendix N offers a colletion of short fiction and resonant fragments that reveal the literary influences that shaped Dungeons & Dragons, the world's most popular RPG. The stories in Appendix N contextualize the ambitious lyrical excursions that helped set the adventurous tone and dank, dungeon-crawling atmospheres of fantasy roleplay as we know it today.

Featuring tales by Poul Anderson, Frank Brunner, Ramsey Campbell, Lin Carter, Lord Dunsany, Robert E. Howard, Tanith Lee, Fritz Leiber, H. P. Lovecraft, David Madison, Michael Moorcock, C. L. Moore, Fred Saberhagen, Clark Ashton Smith, Margaret St. Clair, Jack Vance, and Manly Wade Wellman. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781907222740
Publisher:	Strange Attractor Press
Publication date:	02/23/2021
Pages:	340
Sales rank:	66,754
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Peter Bebergal is a writer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His writing on speculative and fringe cultures have been published by the Believer, the Times Literary Supplement, the New Yorker, Boing Boing, and the Paris Review. He is the author Strange Frequencies: The Extraordinary Story of the Technological Quest for the Supernatural, Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll, and Too Much to Dream: A Psychedelic American Boyhood.

Table of Contents

Introduction Peter Bebergal vii

Key to Upper Level

1 How Sargoth Lay Siege to Zaremm Lin Carter 3

2 Tale of Hauk Poul Anderson 7

3 Jewels in the Forest Fritz Leiber 31

4 Empire of the Necromancers Clark Ashton Smith 71

5 Turjan of Miir Jack Vance 81

6 A Hero at the Gates Tanith Lee 99

7 Tower of the Elephant Robert E. Howard 115

Secret Chamber

8 Song of Swords Fred Saberhagen 145

Key to Lower Level

9 Dreaming City by Michael Moorcock 151

10 The Doom that Came to Sarnath H. P. Lovecraft 185

11 Tower of Darkness David Madison 193

12 Straggler from Atlantis Manly Wade Wellman 217

13 The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles Margaret St. Clair 245

14 Pit of Wings Ramsey Campbell 251

15 Black God's Kiss C. L. Moore 267

16 The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth Lord Dunsany 299

Key to Secret Passage

17 Sword of Dragonus Frank Brunner 319

Afterword Ann VanderMeer 327

Notes on the Stories 331

Appendix N: Inspirational and Educational Reading 335

Acknowledgements 337