Appendix N
It is unlikely that you, dear reader, have stumbled upon this blog without being familiar with the concept, but in case you aren’t. Appendix N organically appeared in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guide, and was a list of books and authors that influenced the creators of Dungeons & Dragons.
Some day I hope to write at least a paragraph about each item explaining how it’s influenced me and my games, today is very much not that day.
Books
- The Old Kingdom by Garth Nix.
- The Hobbit && Lord of The Rings
- Dune
- The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
- Earthsea
- Specifically The Tombs of Atuan
- The Arthurian mythos
- Specifically King Arthur and his knights by Sir James Knowles I was given a copy for my 5th birthday and my father read it to me multiple times.
- The Powder Mage Trilogy
- The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan
Movies
TV Shows
Video Games
- Darkest Dungeon
- Morrowind
- Diablo
- Baldur’s Gate (1 & 2)
- Dungeons of Dreadrock
- Red Faction: Guerrilla
- Thief
- Planescape: Torment
- Dark Souls / Elden Ring
- Caves of Qud
Roleplaying Games
Just so many.
- His Majesty the Worm
- Blades in the Dark
- Burning Wheel
- Songbirds 3e
- D&D
- Cairn
- I played in a game ran by the creator at ArcaneCon and had a blast.
- Electric Bastionland
- Mausritter
Game Types:
- Mothership Month 2025 Wargame: OVER/UNDER
- Braunstein
- West Marches
- Open Table
- Play by mail
- Inside the 40 Year-Long Dungeons & Dragons Game - 2022 WIRED
Settings
- Planescape
- Dark Sun
- Birthright
- Ravenloft
- My older brother gave me a copy of the 3rd edition book published by Sword and Sorcery Studios, some of the attempts to make the mechanics of D&D work for the setting had a bigger impact then the setting itself.
Adventures
- A Rasp of Sand
- Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
- White Plume Mountain
- The Black Egg - Dungeon 106
- The Sunless Citadel
- Caverns of Thracia
- Gradient Descent - Mothership
- I have not played it but I have read it.
Boardgames
- Oath
- War of Whispers
- Clank!
- Betrayal at House on the Hill
- HeroQuest
- My older brother had a copy when I was young, and I have fond memories of trying to play it with my younger brother in the basement of our then house.