[Comments] Appendix N.: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons

[Fillyjonk]

Welcome to March Hello! This thread is for discussing Appendix N.: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons with afterword by Ann Vandermeer Publisher's Description 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 related periodicals that helped to define the modern role-playing game, Appendix N offers a collection 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. All are welcome to join this chat. We were inspired to choose this selection by @bothers, and going forward, please pop your ideas for future months right into the chat! You do not have to read all the stories. We will stop being careful about spoilers on MARCH 15, so reader beware! Before that, use spoiler buttons, and feel free to spark discussion about the collection or individual stories. You can OF COURSE say, I do not have time to read all of N, but I WANT TO TALK ABOUT LOVECRAFT! and incite story-specific chatter. LET's READ!

[lostcheerio]

Hooray!!!

[Wynamoinen]

I’m here!

Hot takes so far, at about 40% off the way through the book:

1) Fafhrd and Grey Mouser just verified my instinct that Greyhawk is the most tedious of “official” D&D worlds.
2) Vancian magic gets a bum rap among internet nerds, at least relative to how the magic is portrayed by Vance.

[Fillyjonk]

I am anxious to read that --- my book is not here yet.

I LOVED Fafhrd and Grey Mouser as a third grader---worried about how it may have aged.

[Wynamoinen]

I'm wondering if it's not Citizen Kane syndrome. It's hard to see how innovative Citizen Kane is, since so much of modern cinema is derived from it. Kane feels like part and parcel of the media, but to a large extent it created the modern form of the media. The Grey Mouser story just felt like someone narrating their two-person party's D&D adventure. But that was done before D&D was a thing!

[AnotherDragoon]

I'm only a few pages past the introduction but am looking forward to the Jack Vance story. I've always wanted to but hesitated to dive into the Dying Earth. I'm hoping this will tip the scales on way or the other on checking out the collection from my library.

[bothers]

I've had the book, here, right on my coffee table, directly by my elbow for... a period of time. So far I've put my bookmark in place where the introduction starts, but not yet actually read anything.

I might be an outlier here, but I've never read a single one of these authors other than Lovecraft. It is with great trepidation that I dip my toes in - I'm expecting a relatively high volume of "yikes" moments. I see I'm not the only one

[lostcheerio]

I read the first two stories today.

[bothers]

What if Sargoth, Sarnath, and Sacnoth turn out to be a group of Sarlacc triplets?

I've only read as far as the introduction. I find the special DM box text section at the start quite charming - the editor's clearly had a lot of nerdy fun putting this compilation together. What's with the map in the inside cover? Does it have a hidden meaning that I am once again too unsophisticated to figure out?

[AnotherDragoon]

Turns out it was the indomitable Katee Sackhoff all along!

I think the graph paper map is just an homage and extra layer to the nerdy fun. But, then again, I'm not very sophisticated myself.

[Fillyjonk]

MY BOOK CAME! Going to go by the bookstore and pick it up

I intend to browse in NO order---what do people want to talk about I will read those first.

[bothers]

I read the first two stories last night! The first two have done nothing for me, as I'm guessing is the case for Cheerio too, given the enthusiasm in that last status report

The first one (How Sargoth Laid Siege to Zaremm), very short, reminds me vaguely of Vathek by William Beckford, though being mercifully much shorter doesn't get quite so deep into the weeds of orientalism. I think I remember the introduction saying that it's a pastiche of Lord Dunsany, who I've never read but who features towards the end of the compilation. Seems like a mock parable of sorts.

The second one (Tale of Hauk) goes on for far longer than I think it really had to.

 

Struggling to understand what the point was of the bit introducing Gydha at the start? I thought the story was going down the route of "coloniser/invader abducts local woman who takes supernatural revenge on not only him but his entire male lineage" (which could have been quite fun!) but it... just... doesn't.

Everyone lives happily ever after, so why even spend those words to bring her up in the first place?

[lostcheerio]

The first two were kind of biblical in tone and narrative distance.
The third one, Fafhrd and the Mouser, is just kind of smug.

I can definitely see root material for D&D.

 

I guess I was hoping either or both of the female characters would temper the thumping drone of masculinity, but ultimately, no. Only the dull thud of masculinity itself could temper plodding insistence of masculinity.

NOT MY FAVORITE STORY.

[lostcheerio]

Let's try writing a little adventure on the map inside the cover.

[bothers]

Ooh, yes! Taking inspiration from each of the stories! I think that's what the map is kind of doing, on reflection.

 

Encounter One
The heroes reach the famous, unconquered city of Sacknott. The front gates are closed, and a tollbooth stands off to one side with an elaborate sign in far too many different fonts laid against its front that says,

WELCOME
TO THE
FAMOUS
UNCONQUERED
CITY OF SACKNOTT

Tickets: 500gp

Inside the tollbooth is a large troll in a cheap, gimmicky wizard outfit who explains in a bored voice that group discounts are available for parties of over ten adventurers, apply in writing at least six months before your planned visit, terms and conditions apply.

Dotted along the walls of Sacknott are a series of fierce-looking gargoyles, each with a brass plaque below giving its name and vital statistics. If pressed on the matter, the troll will roll her eyes, slouch unenthusiastically from her booth and put on a threadbare wizard hat from which the faded stars and moons have mostly unravelled. Taking a clipboard from the wall, she will walk, ponderously, from one statue to the other and laboriously read aloud the tourist information from her documents.

At the tour's conclusion, wherin the party learns that the gargoyles magically come to life if anyone attempts to sack the city, the tolltroll will return heavily to her booth and flip the sign around so that it says "AWAY FOR LUNCH". She will sit in her booth eating a sandwich the size of a man's head and staring fixedly at the adventurers. If the party tries to talk to her, she'll tap the sign in silence without breaking eye contact.

The party's task is to find a way past the troll and into the city without triggering the gargoyles.