Appendix N The Literary History of Dungeons Dragons eBook Jeffro Johnson
Download As PDF : Appendix N The Literary History of Dungeons Dragons eBook Jeffro Johnson 
APPENDIX N The Literary History of Dungeons & Dragons is a detailed and comprehensive investigation of the various works of science fiction and fantasy that game designer Gary Gygax declared to be the primary influences on his seminal role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons. It is a deep intellectual dive into the literature of SF/F's past that will fascinate any serious role-playing gamer or fan of classic science fiction and fantasy.
Author Jeffro Johnson, an expert role-playing gamer, accomplished Dungeon Master and three-time Hugo Award Finalist, critically reviews all 43 works and authors listed by Gygax in the famous appendix. In doing so, he draws a series of intelligent conclusions about the literary gap between past and present that are surprisingly relevant to current events, not only in the fantastic world of role-playing, but the real world in which the players live.
Appendix N The Literary History of Dungeons Dragons eBook Jeffro Johnson
As a fan of Mr. Johnson's writing, I was asked to write an introduction to this book. An introduction that was eventually cut. So, lacking a use for it, here it is:With this book we are coming out a dark age. Jerry Pournelle has said “The definition of a Dark Age is that we no longer remember what we once could do.” It’s not just that we have lost capability but, not knowing that we ever had capability that makes it dark. Of course, the term “Dark Ages” has fallen out of current fashion. It seems judgmental and unscientific to call that time after the fall of Rome and through the end of the Viking Age “dark” as if it were lesser in some way. But, I’m not an academic and history is not science. And, Rome was sacked. The aqueducts did stop running. Latin was forgotten, by all but a few specialists, to be replaced by the babble of dozens of local tongues. It’s dark because the records of that time are sparse – fewer people wrote and the people who did write, wrote on fewer topics.
Appendix N is just a reading list. But, a reading list tailored to a topic. The topic being inspirational works for playing the original role-playing game – Dungeons and Dragons. The list was intended to inspire players on adding variety to their game. And, to give players examples that explain why the game was made the way it was made.
Jeffro Johnson set himself the task to read all of Appendix N in the context of its stated purpose. He found what he was looking for: clear evidence for many of the foundational rules of Dungeons and Dragons hidden in plain sight in the text of old fantastic adventure writing. But, he also found more – the nucleus of an earlier canon of fantastic literature. In that canon he discovered greater variety, subtlety, strangeness and a broader sophistication of theme than found in the general run of fantasy writing today. And, he found some damned fun stories.
So, for us, what has been forgotten? To a large degree, we have forgotten the scope that fantasy fiction can obtain when allowed unfettered freedom of imagination. We have forgotten that fantasy fiction can be just as edgy and daring when addressing the best of human nature rather than the worst. In fact, we have forgotten that literature can and should encompass all things. Or, even more, that literature should also encompass impossible things – especially fantastic literature.
Why hadn’t he found these stories before? Stories by many of the past’s grand masters who are oddly obscure today? Why aren’t stories like these books being written today? Jeffro discusses the why in this book. So read it. My answer, we had forgotten that stories like those in Appendix N could be written. We had, in fact, forgotten the techniques that made them work. The popular prose of today will not do. Tolstoy’s War and Peace addresses the grand debate of history – can an individual change history or is an individual just a leaf in the wind of the grand forces of history? Tolstoy sides with the forces beyond man’s control and, in that, I guess, he agrees with one prominent Appendix N author – H.P. Lovecraft with his inhuman cosmic aliens dwarfing all of humanity. But, other Appendix N authors fall on the other side of the debate – Robert E. Howard’s Conan who rises from a callow barbarian thief to king. And, then, threading the needle, there is Edgar Rice Burroughs’s John Carter who is involuntarily transported to an alien planet to earn a crown through individual heroism but, also to find love. So, there, in the pages of the books of Appendix N, you find my opinion. These books are obscure today due to impersonal economic and historic forces but, also because powerful people in publishing made decisions to make them so. And, it was a dark age because fewer people wrote and the people who did write, wrote on fewer topics.
The dark ages never truly ended until the renaissance – a time when people made the conscious choice to seek out what had been forgotten. Jeffro sought what was forgotten. Go read what he found. Then go find the books of Appendix N and read them. Support those writers of today who are rediscovering the techniques showcased in the books of Appendix N. Or, better still, sharpen your quill and try your hand. It will be like coming from the darkness into a light.
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Appendix N The Literary History of Dungeons Dragons eBook Jeffro Johnson Reviews
I was excited to read (or in this case, hear) an in-depth analysis of how Appendix N literature influenced D&D, and you do get that.
But the author laments that a lot of more "modern" fantasy is bad because it "forces political agendas into the story," while forcing their own political views into their analysis.
The author unironically, seriously uses the term "gook" to refer to Vietnamese (when using the Star Trek TOS as an example of a political agenda being "forced" into "modern" sci-fi and fantasy)
The author also espouses that using a woman as just a reward for male character's success makes for better writing. They literally say that Arwen not being important or even very present in LotR, and is just a reward for Aragorn to get at the end, is GOOD storytelling.
If you don't mind racial insensitivity and patriarchal ideas of what is good, then by all means, you'll probably enjoy this exploration of the literature that influenced D&D.
If you do mind that kind of stuff, then I wouldn't really recommend getting this.
I've been mulling it over for a week now on how to write a review for this. I'm still not sure I can do it justice but I'll try.
This author has hit on the exact essence of what made early Dungeons and Dragons great. The things he highlights in each tale is the exact reason I love each story. Gygax and Company had access to a rich and wonderful set of books that we are not lucky enough to have today.
Publishers don't take risks like they used to. Only now with the renaissance of self publishing are we seeing the odd and eldritch return to print. This tome is vital in understanding the story element design choices that made D&D great. The disregard for convention, the raw wildness of the ideas.
Jeffro has collected the proverbial cherry from the topeach of these sundays and then encourages you to dig your spoon in deep.
Wow. A great read. Possibly the best nonfiction I have read in the past year. Jeffro Johnson writes a great review of the books of Appendix N and how they related to and helped shape Dungeons and Dragons. A great nostalgic read for me, and a great guide for anyone who didn't grow up with these books.
Mr. Johnson understands and writes as well as anyone who didn't live during the 60's and 70's possibly could. The few areas he misses (Jack of Shadows particularly, I don't think he quite understands this was a Young Adult novel, I first read it in the High School library) are things no one who wasn't there would possibly know.
I think he perhaps underestimates the influence of LotR on D&D, but he does understand that there were a myriad of other sources and gives proper credit to a lot of authors who deserve better than they have been treated.
I own many of these books, and I wish there was a way to get them back into publication in form so they could once again be read and appreciated.
I want to thank Mr. Johnson for this fine retrospective on much of the fantasy genre. A fine job and I unreservedly recommend this book. Do not plan on reading it in a couple of days, it deserves for you to take your time, reflect on what is being said, and then take it up again. You will be richer for the experience.
As a fan of Mr. Johnson's writing, I was asked to write an introduction to this book. An introduction that was eventually cut. So, lacking a use for it, here it is
With this book we are coming out a dark age. Jerry Pournelle has said “The definition of a Dark Age is that we no longer remember what we once could do.” It’s not just that we have lost capability but, not knowing that we ever had capability that makes it dark. Of course, the term “Dark Ages” has fallen out of current fashion. It seems judgmental and unscientific to call that time after the fall of Rome and through the end of the Viking Age “dark” as if it were lesser in some way. But, I’m not an academic and history is not science. And, Rome was sacked. The aqueducts did stop running. Latin was forgotten, by all but a few specialists, to be replaced by the babble of dozens of local tongues. It’s dark because the records of that time are sparse – fewer people wrote and the people who did write, wrote on fewer topics.
Appendix N is just a reading list. But, a reading list tailored to a topic. The topic being inspirational works for playing the original role-playing game – Dungeons and Dragons. The list was intended to inspire players on adding variety to their game. And, to give players examples that explain why the game was made the way it was made.
Jeffro Johnson set himself the task to read all of Appendix N in the context of its stated purpose. He found what he was looking for clear evidence for many of the foundational rules of Dungeons and Dragons hidden in plain sight in the text of old fantastic adventure writing. But, he also found more – the nucleus of an earlier canon of fantastic literature. In that canon he discovered greater variety, subtlety, strangeness and a broader sophistication of theme than found in the general run of fantasy writing today. And, he found some damned fun stories.
So, for us, what has been forgotten? To a large degree, we have forgotten the scope that fantasy fiction can obtain when allowed unfettered freedom of imagination. We have forgotten that fantasy fiction can be just as edgy and daring when addressing the best of human nature rather than the worst. In fact, we have forgotten that literature can and should encompass all things. Or, even more, that literature should also encompass impossible things – especially fantastic literature.
Why hadn’t he found these stories before? Stories by many of the past’s grand masters who are oddly obscure today? Why aren’t stories like these books being written today? Jeffro discusses the why in this book. So read it. My answer, we had forgotten that stories like those in Appendix N could be written. We had, in fact, forgotten the techniques that made them work. The popular prose of today will not do. Tolstoy’s War and Peace addresses the grand debate of history – can an individual change history or is an individual just a leaf in the wind of the grand forces of history? Tolstoy sides with the forces beyond man’s control and, in that, I guess, he agrees with one prominent Appendix N author – H.P. Lovecraft with his inhuman cosmic aliens dwarfing all of humanity. But, other Appendix N authors fall on the other side of the debate – Robert E. Howard’s Conan who rises from a callow barbarian thief to king. And, then, threading the needle, there is Edgar Rice Burroughs’s John Carter who is involuntarily transported to an alien planet to earn a crown through individual heroism but, also to find love. So, there, in the pages of the books of Appendix N, you find my opinion. These books are obscure today due to impersonal economic and historic forces but, also because powerful people in publishing made decisions to make them so. And, it was a dark age because fewer people wrote and the people who did write, wrote on fewer topics.
The dark ages never truly ended until the renaissance – a time when people made the conscious choice to seek out what had been forgotten. Jeffro sought what was forgotten. Go read what he found. Then go find the books of Appendix N and read them. Support those writers of today who are rediscovering the techniques showcased in the books of Appendix N. Or, better still, sharpen your quill and try your hand. It will be like coming from the darkness into a light.
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