Appendix N

"All of the above authors, as well as many not listed, certainly helped to shape the form of the game. For this reason, and for the hours of reading enjoyment, I heartily recommend the works of these fine authors to you."

— Gary Gygax, 1979

Appendix N: Inspirational and Educational Reading is a section at the back of the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide (1e) (1979), p.224 listing authors and works which influenced the creation of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

List of authors

Gygax cites the following authors in particular as having shaped the form of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Of these, he lists the most notable as L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt, Ronald E. Howard, Jack Vance, H.P. Lovecraft, and A. Merritt.

Poul Anderson

Gygax cites Anderson's works Three Hearts and Three Lions, The High Crusade, and The Broken Sword.

John Bellairs

Gygax cites The Face in the Frost.

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Gygax cites the Pellucidar series, Mars Series, and Venus series.

Lin Carter

Gygax cites the World's End series.

L. Sprague de Camp

Gygax cites Lest Darkness Fall, Fallible Fiend, et al; as well as collaborations with Fletcher Pratt: the Harold Shea series and Carnelian Cube.

P.J. Farmer

Gygax cites The World of the Tiers series, et al.

Gardner Fox

Gygax cites the Kothar sseries, and Kyrik series, et al.

Robert E. Howard

Gygax cites the Conan series.

Sterling Lanier

Gygax cites Hiero's Journey.

Fritz Leiber

Gygax cites Fafhrd & Gray Mouser series, et al.

A. Merritt

Gygax cites Creep, Shadow!, Moon Pool, Dwellers in the Mirage, et al.

Michael Moorcock

Gygax cites Stormbringer, Stealer of Souls, and the Hawkmoon series, especially the first three books.

Andrew J. Offutt

Gygax cites Swords Against Darkness III, an anthology of which Offutt was an editor.

Fletcher Pratt

Gygax cites Blue Star, et al.

Fred Saberhagen

Gygax cites Changeling Earth, et al.

Margaret St. Clair

Gygax cites The Shadow People and Sign of the Labrys.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Gygax cites The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, whose influence on Dungeons & Dragons is clear.

Jack Vance

Gygax cites The Eyes of the Overworld, The Dying Earth, et al.

Roger Zelazny

Gygax cites Jack of Shadows, the Amber series, et al.

Other influences

In addition to the listed authors, Gygax cites the rambling fantasy tales told by his father, comic books (including EC Comics), movies (science fiction, fantasy and horror), fairy tales (including Brothers Grimm and Andrew Lang), historic reference books on mythology and medieval bestiaries.

Reception and influence

In 2019, Tim Kask spoke highly of the authors included in Appendix N, describing them as still some of the best swords & sorcery fiction, and judging their influence on Dungeons & Dragons to be significant. However, he admitted that much excellent fantasy has been published since then which would equally useful to a modern audience:

"When we published this, when we compiled it, we did it as an aid to game masters everywhere that were desperately looking for ideas to steal, to amalgamate, to modify, to incorporate, to do a borg on, and make their own adventures. So we were saying, 'Hey, we really like these books! We think you will too.' Now, today—have you read the Potter books? Fine. Adapt it to D&D. Easily done."

"Appendix N gives us a common ground to understand what those of us that were involved in the creating read as our source material that we mined for ideas. It's hardly any magic item in there that we didn't read about somewhere else or read something like it and then modify it, hardly. There probably are some, but hardly."

The inclusion of Appendix N encouraged subsequent editions of Dungeons & Dragons to include lists of recommended inspirational reading.