APPENDIX N: The Literary History of Dungeons & Dragons by Jeffro Johnson, Castalia House, June 28th, 2017
This is a book that I’ve been meaning to get to for a while though I’m not necessarily the target audience. I have never played Dungeons & Dragons though I have played tabletop or pen-and-paper role-playing games a few times. The two times I can recall were both one-off and separated by years so I don’t have the experience or understanding of these games that is generally assumed by the author. Thankfully, these games also had tremendous influence on computer role-playing games (CRPGs) and RPGS in general as I’ve written about before. Many of the systems used in video games are based on these pioneering board games. This lack of experience with the actual tabletop game naturally limits the words that follow so I want to be upfront about this.
What could understandably be considered an odd title is named after the actual ‘Appendix N’ of Gary Gygax’s Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons that was published in 1979. This appendix lists a number of titles and authors that influenced the tabletop game. Jeffro Johnson set out to read these works and write commentary on them which were originally published on his blog. These posts were later collected and published as the work under review here in 2017.
One more thing before continuing is that in 2021 there was another book published cheekily with the same title and a much inferior cover. From what I can see, this is simply a collection of a number of these influential works covered by Johnson in his.
I will begin with my two biggest criticisms. The minor one is that I feel the title is somewhat misleading. Having read it, I would have subtitled it, ‘The Literary Inspiration for Dungeons & Dragons’. This is less a history than a series of reviews and commentary on these various works interspersed with how various aspects are or were used in the tabletop game. There are also frequent suggestions for how game masters might implement these aspects in their own games today. This leads into the major criticism which is that this book still reads very much like it was put together from a series of blog posts. It could have used a lot more editing as there are multiple times throughout where it is obvious there was once a hyperlink attached to the text. Some other quibbles are with how the book is structured. As an example, there are three works by A. Merritt (Abraham Merritt). These appear in Chapters 11, 12 and then 16 where he is given his full name instead. It would have been better to have grouped all works by the same author together even if they weren’t grouped this way in the actual ‘Appendix N’. It would have just been neater overall and made for a more presentable book.
Lastly, this is less of a criticism of the work and more a suggestion for what could be done in a revised edition. At the end of the book are a few reviews of other tabletop games and an interview (via email), with the game designer Ken St. Andre. It would have been helpful to have included some context for the reviews as I initially thought ‘Appendix A’ was written by Alexander Macris when it was just reviewing his first Adventurer Conqueror King System (ACKS) game. A more helpful appendix would be a table that breaks down how the various works influenced the design of specific aspects of Dungeons & Dragons such as the magic system, quest design, character classes etc. This information is certainly found within the pages but it would have been helpful to have it neatly presented at the end as it could potentially serve a practical purpose for game designers, masters and players.
Beyond the influence these authors and works covered within had on Dungeons & Dragons, the achievement of Jeffro Johnson’s work is mostly in sharing this list of works that John C. Wright notes in the introduction:
nearly anyone alive in those days (as I was) and was familiar with fantasy or science fiction reading of the time (as I was) [if they were] asked to compile a list of the essential books and authors would, no doubt, have issued nearly the same list.
Even having done my own little adventures into lost science fiction and fantasy over the years, I was still not familiar with half of these authors. I have most recently discovered Fritz Leiber and Jack Vance and had heard the names L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter. But Poul Anderson and the aforementioned A. Merritt? Not at all. Shortly before I finished reading this I just ordered one of the works, The High Crusade by Poul Anderson which appears to be out of print. This is unfortunately also true of many of the titles listed within though as Johnson and Wright point out, were once well-known. So simply as a reference for great science fiction and fantasy novels and authors, this gets a strong recommendation. Funnily, the chapters on the authors I was familiar with such as Robert E. Howard and J.R.R. Tolkien were the least interesting for me.
Perhaps the most controversial but not inaccurate conclusion that comes out of this is that Tolkien’s influence on Dungeons & Dragons is overstated. One might initially balk at this but just think about the way magic is represented in The Lord of the Rings and consider how little resemblance it has to the magic system in Dungeons & Dragons. Simply re-reading Tolkien with such thoughts in mind should make this even more apparent. Johnson usually points out exactly what each work influenced in the systems created for the tabletop game and where their influence was less apparent, how ideas within could be used in games. Similar with Tolkien, Johnson points out how far the creation has departed from the creator in the works of Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. I’ve made similar observations particularly with Conan who quite differs from popular depictions as does the ‘Cthulhu Mythos’ from Lovecraft’s short stories.
As mentioned, this is really aimed at people who play tabletop games but there is still a lot of value for those simply interested in expanding their knowledge of science fiction and fantasy works. Many of these works are no longer published or even available in libraries and have mostly been replaced by increasingly inferior works. And many of these inferior works barely even pass for the genre they are supposed to be written. It has come to the point where simply finding these works is an adventure in and of itself but one well worth embarking on. This adventure is certainly helped along with Jeffro Johnson’s enthusiastic and engaging introductions to these works found within the pages and for that alone, it gets my recommendation.