I’ve been chipping away at Appendix N since 2012 (although I’d read a number of Appendix N works prior to that, just not as Appendix N works), and my thinking on how to approach it has changed over the years. As I was logging a recent finished book, Michael Moorcock’s excellent The Stealer of Souls, […]
Doing a comprehensive survey of Appendix N Read More »
I had no idea SJG had done a licensed sourcebook for Andre Norton‘s excellent Witch World series. It feels awesome to crack open a book from 1989 — my salad years as a gamer — that I’d never heard of until recently, based on a universe I enjoy, for a game system I enjoy. I’ve
Any attempt to read Appendix N is necessarily going to involve some interpretation. If Gary just listed an author’s name and nothing else, how many of their works should you read? And which ones? How literally do you take “et al”? If Gary listed a book in the middle of the series, do you backtrack
Some thoughts on reading Appendix N Read More »
Since I decided to get back to reading Appendix N back in October 2024, I’ve had a great time tracking down old paperbacks and reading books. The mental shift to this being something I can do as much or as little of as I like, however I like, has been great. I’m currently chipping away
Ticking along on Appendix N Read More »
I took stock of all of my Appendix N reading to date, which entailed a mix of staring off into space, combing my shelves, and blowing the dust off my long-dormant Goodreads account. Of the 29 authors in Appendix N (well, 28 plus an editor), I have: I made it further than I thought back
Cataloging my Appendix N reading Read More »
Back in 2012, as my interest in old-school D&D was returning and flourishing, I started a project to read all of Gary Gygax’s famous Appendix N. I came up with a detailed plan, researched and assembled a 100-book Appendix N reading list that included recommendations for those authors whose works Gary didn’t note by title
Returning to Appendix N (vewy vewy quietly) Read More »
This past weekend I worked in a bit of painting time. Somehow painting my first Blood Angels model feels more like the official start of my army than any of the preceding steps — buying, assembling, priming, and basing. Audiobook as painting soundtrack I’m listening to the audiobook of Guy Haley’s Dante (paid link), narrated
WIP it good: painting Sergeant Karios Read More »
There are a lot of things to love about Twilight: 2000 (paid link) but one of my favorites is its hook (one of the best hooks in RPG history): The PCs, all soldiers, are stuck in the middle of Poland after five years of global war, including exchanges of nuclear and biological weapons, and then, “As
Twilight: 2000 and its amazing hook Read More »
Space pirates! I buy 99% of my RPGs only in PDF these days, but when a product as special as the Pirates of Drinax (paid link) ) campaign for Mongoose Traveller (paid link) comes along, my heart goes pitter-patter and I have to make an exception. It’s a sandbox campaign with a fantastic hook: The
Space Pirates of Drinax: a gorgeous Traveller sandbox Read More »
neuzd offers a dandy Traveller system generator for 1st edition Mongoose Traveller (paid link), and it’s free. What makes it so dandy? For starters, it’s dead simple: click link, get system. The abbreviations for bases and trade codes appear on every output screen (you’ll have to reference the rules, or the web, for the UWP and
Mongoose Traveller system and sector generator Read More »
