The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons & Dragons
Edited by Peter Bebergal
With an afterword by Ann VanderMeer
Cover art by Arik Roper
Interior illustrations and explorer’s map by Alex Crispin
148mm x 210mm
360pp
ISBN: 9781907222740
Paperback £15.99
“When the adventurers first arrive in the village, they can already hear whispers of the strange and terrible happenings in the ruins of the nearby hills…”
Drawing upon Gary Gygax’s list of “inspirational reading” in the original 1979 Dungeon Masters Guide, Appendix N presents a selection of short fiction and resonant fragments that shaped the world’s most popular role playing game.
Rippling flesh, fiendish beasts and chasmic horrors populate what were then entirely novel fantastic landscapes, which have lost none of their atmosphere, magic or otherworldly allure in our own embattled century.
Appendix N explores and contextualizes these ambitious lyrical excursions that set the adventurous tone and dank, dungeon-crawling atmospheres of fantasy roleplay as we know it today.
Featuring tales by Poul Anderson, Frank Brunner, Ramsey Campbell, Lin Carter, Lord Dunsany, Robert E. Howard, Tanith Lee, Fritz Leiber, H. P. Lovecraft, David Madison, Michael Moorcock, C. L. Moore, Fred Saberhagen, Clark Ashton Smith, Margaret St. Clair, Jack Vance, Manly Wade Wellman.