Appendix N+ Book Reviews
I thought that since I’m hoping to make the Nappendixia Campaign very much in the spirit and image of all the great literature of Appendix N, that a series of book reviews of recently read Appendix N and adjacent materials describing my impressions on the books I’ve read read would be an appropriate way to communicate this both on my blog and on the campaign’s Discord server. I’ll be giving my impressions of where I see the N source materials inform the AD&D 1e rules, and try to give insight as to where and what Appendix N material is inspiring my own (our own) campaign world. There is so much great Appendix N material out there, and I do not claim to have read it all, nor do I claim to be highly knowledgeable of all areas and authors of Appendix N. My foundation authors, the ones I read heavily as a kid and a young adult are Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, and Michael Moorcock. For whatever reasons, these were the ones I found most interesting, were most discussed and recommended by friends, and were somewhat findable in either used book stores or mall bookstores of the time. I have since come to acquire quite a robust Appendix N collection, and am making my way through it energetically, but there is much I have not read. I have read very little Fritz Leiber, and have only just recently read Poul Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions, so these reviews will not be me espousing my great literary knowledge on the topic, but more a document of my personal exploration into the body of works. Just sort of framing ahead of time what kind of reviews I’m aiming for, and what my background knowledge is.
Jack Vance- Dying Earth series, books The Dying Earth 1951, and Eyes of the Overworld 1966
The basics- The Dying Earth series is an amazing collection of tales of wizards (and thieves) making their way through a world both whimsical and strange and having remnants of an older more advanced sci-fi type culture that has mostly died out but has left a few odd remnants about. It is an amazing portrait of mad wizards ruling chaotic city states and using magic to harass and compete with other wizards and characters in the world. I’m definitely sorry that I discovered Jack Vance later in life, because I think so far more than any other Appendix N author, once you know Jack Vance you start to look at AD&D through different eyes. It really seems to be a heavy inspiration to so much of early D&D especially the magic side of the game. A lot of this stuff is elementary to Appendix N people, but I’ll be clear so anyone just getting into it can hear and understand. D&D magic is Vancian magic, it’s all spelled out in his books, beset by three basic principles that not all other literary worlds that have magic abide by. In Vancian magic, and in D&D magic, all spells are consistent recipes, wizards cannot just produce random or spontaneous projections of magic. Magic missile is a spell, it behaves the same no matter what wizard casts it, it is a universally known spell recipe in the world. In Vance he describes in several places how there are only so many spells in the Dying Earth world. He says that there used to be more but many were lost over time, and spells are highly coveted by wizards and rarely shared and always for a price. In Vancian magic spells also must be memorized or prepared ahead of time, and when cast they leave the casters memory until the time can be spent to rememorize. And finally the power of wizards is finite, you can only memorize so many spells, and weaker wizards can memorize fewer spells until they can increase their power, exactly mirroring how things work in D&D. Also what great to see in these Jack Vance stories is what does a world look like where the major power players are all wizards? In the AD&D rules, only clerics, fighters, and wizards can fully access the stronghold rules and rule domains. More often fantasy worlds and game worlds envision domains run mostly or entirely by high level fighters, with armies, castles and patrols being the means of domain management, but I think it much more likely that left to its own devices, a fantasy world would evolve as powerful wizards being the top dogs and using high level spells to take out their non-magical competition and the world devolves into wizard oligarchs moving the worlds chess pieces magically via their wizard towers. It’s quite a cool and unique world, and one that as I read just continued to blow me away with creativity and ideas. I keep a “Vance ideas list” as I read his stuff and write down little snippets of ideas I get while reading Dying Earth. Pacing wise, some of the stories meander, unlike most pulp which is terse and fast paced. I don’t dislike the pacing, but I did take a break from reading the last 2 books in the series just because there are so many books and authors I want to explore. I have the 4 book series bound together. It has a space station on the cover, so it's a little deceptive. Other than mentions of the old high tech world, this series reads like old fantasy. Just another of many many examples of modern printings of Appendix N books that just totally get it wrong in terms of cover art. When collecting Appendix N always look for used printings from the 80’s and earlier, the artwork is so much better. Anyway, this is must read, I’d put it at the absolute top of Appendix N must read, (albeit from someone who hasn’t read everything, yet)
Robert E. Howard- Sowers of the Thunder 1932-1933
I’ve read a lot of Howard’s Conan and Kull stories, and a bit of his spear and fang stories, but this is my first look at Howard historical fiction, and it’s glorious. It’s the same great Howard prose- direct, sparse in adjectives yet vividly descriptive, but applied to new characters set in an ancient historical setting. Several of the stories are set in the fictional mideast, and Howard creates both great characters and settings representative of fictional Turks, Persians, and Huns. Several of these stories feature a western European type character of some heroic merit far from his homeland in the mideast or eastern European setting. This is a common theme throughout a lot of pulp fantasy across many eras- John Carter Type superheroic unflawed static characters that are often hotly criticized in more modern, Campbell-influenced, and some would say marxist influenced modern fiction that is critical of strong unflawed male characters, and instead favors and proliferates weak or damaged characters that have an “arc” or rise to greatness, often through means largely not their own. That debate is for another time and place, but several of these stories are about the theme of the heroic western European as a stranger in a foreign land where he must match wits with the strong men of the area, sometimes in alliance, sometimes in opposition. I did not ever read into these stories some kind of uplifting of the white man and denigrating of foreign nationalities. In fact I found these stories to be much more about men of great courage and honor, negotiating each other and their different customs with respect even when in direct conflict rather than glorifications of nationalism or racism. One of the story's main characters is a fictional Irishman, deposed from a small kingdom and wandering foreign lands as a nomad. At no point did this character come off as haughty or belittling of foreigners. In a lot of ways these stories read as historical buddy action movies, two mismatched characters who seem to have nothing in common work together against insurmountable odds, it’s classic high adventure stuff, well paced and action packed. These stories are a great new angle on Howard if you like me only mainly know him through Conan and Kull. The Howard historical fiction is the hotness- definitely try to pick up this book in the pictured edition, it’s got some amazing line art illustrations throughout the whole book, it adds some beautiful images to some great Howard fiction.
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