Sunday 2 September 2012

Reading Appendix N: Overview

So, I got a new camera from my son and his girlfriend this year for my birthday.  So, of course, my thoughts immediately ran toward cataloguing my Appendix N collection.  This proved a bit more difficult than I expected, though, for a number of reasons.  The first is that some of my collection is not at home.  Some of it is on loan to friends and family, especially to those I am trying to interest in the DCC rpg.  Other books are at work.  A few more are in a back room and are currently a little difficult to reach.

So, this is an incomplete view of the Appendix N books I have.  Nonetheless, here we go!










That last picture was taken because, as soon as I had cleaned up from taking pictures of all the others, sure enough a group of Appendix N books appeared sitting close by.

I am still wondering where I set The Moon Pool and some of my Lord Dunsany books, which do not appear in these pictures.  And, of course, as I was scouting my bookshelves for Appendix N books, I saw many books that I thought should appear in Appendix N, but do not (either because they were post-publication of the 1e Dungeon Master's Guide, or because they were not books Gary Gygax selected for whatever reason).  I might later do a photo-spread of these as well.  I am also aware that some might not include a few of these books in Appendix N -- some of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels are not fantasy, for example, although they all have elements that are worth including in a DCC adventure, IMHO.  YMMV.

In any event, I have now read about 3/4 of the books on display, and I am currently working my way through the remaining quarter....as well as seeking out some notable books that are missing from my collection.  In subsequent "Appendix N" posts, I'll be looking at these books individually or in related groups.


5 comments:

  1. As a book collector I must thank you for a very satisfying dose of book porn. Wonderful. :-)

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  2. that's a beautiful collection, with some great covers I've never seen before. Still, thinking about the cost, I'm glad I discovered appendix N as a kid, when I had no money. Thank god for learning about inter-library loans as a very young person!

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  3. May I ask what your personal Appendix N favourites are? (I've only recently found your blog. Excellent stuff, easily among the best blogs on RPGs.)

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    1. I have always been a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard, but the more Appendix N reading I have done, the harder it is to pick favourites. Jack Vance, Manly Wade Wellman, and Leigh Brackett are well worth the effort of tracking down. Philip Jose Farmer's "The Unreasoning Mask" offers an excellent example of how to use Patrons in DCC. I could keep going. There is a lot of good stuff in Appendix N. I guess my favourite Appendix N authors are whichever ones I am reading at the moment.

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    2. My Appendix N collection is about three times this size now, by the way.

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