D&D 5E Any authors you think should be in Appendix E but are not?

[MarkChevallier]

I'd imagine it would be hard not to include someone who's books have become iconic representations of D&D for so many people who were teenagers when the first Drizzt novels came out. Some of those folks are game designers now, so I can see how it would rank. Much like how the Dragonlance Chronicles sit up on the list as well - they're classics of the game fiction genre now, no matter what you might think of them as literature. I'm somewhat surprised that they didn't include Gygax's Gord books in there - they're not high literature, and they certainly aren't to everyone's tastes, but I would think they'd rank.

You're right; I never really enjoyed them but I did enjoy the cheesy Dragonlance books when they came out. In retrospect, they were pretty awful too but I overlooked that because of my familiarity and affection for them as they partly formed my view of fantasy. RA Salvatore will probably be the same for others.

On the other hand, there are plenty of actually good fantasy novels in there, and I hope no-one begrudges me wishing there were a few more instead of the fantasy-factory type novels. (I admit to the possibility of good fantasy tie-in novels while remaining ignorant of an actual example.) Where is Jack Vance's Lyonesse? And they really, really should have included Joe Abercrombie.

 

[pkt77242]

Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, a brilliant 10-book series.

Regards.

^This. They have George RR Martin but not Erikson, curses.

Also I have really enjoyed R Scott Bakker's books (The Prince of Nothing series) and Mark Lawrence's books (The Broken Empire Series).

 

[pkt77242]

You're right; I never really enjoyed them but I did enjoy the cheesy Dragonlance books when they came out. In retrospect, they were pretty awful too but I overlooked that because of my familiarity and affection for them as they partly formed my view of fantasy. RA Salvatore will probably be the same for others.

On the other hand, there are plenty of actually good fantasy novels in there, and I hope no-one begrudges me wishing there were a few more instead of the fantasy-factory type novels. (I admit to the possibility of good fantasy tie-in novels while remaining ignorant of an actual example.) Where is Jack Vance's Lyonesse? And they really, really should have included Joe Abercrombie.

I thought they did include Abercrombie?

 

[MarkChevallier]

I thought they did include Abercrombie?

Sadly, no. Just checked again in case I'd gone temporarily blind.

 

[trentonjoe]

:.-

Robert Bevan. He ain't pg but he is hysterical. The Critical Failures series is sandboxing at its "finest"

 

[Savage Wombat]

They're clearly not trying to lure in Harry Potter fans, unless they were hidden somewhere else on the list.

 

[random.brown]

John C. Wright, for his Awake in the Night Land anthology set in William Hope Hodgson's Night Lands.

Great stuff!

 

[Dragonblade]

David Eddings would be good. Silk is the archetypical Rogue PC in my opinion.

Also Raymond Feist is missing. His Midkemia books (Riftwar saga, etc.) and world were actually based off an AD&D campaign.

Oh and Michael Stackpole!

 

[Mercurius]

There are just too many to list. I mean, what are the criteria? Fantasy books that are in any way vaguely D&Dish? That would be thousands of novels.

The main charm of the original appendix is that it was Gygax's own - stuff that he said influenced him in creating D&D (and presumably Arneson). I can't remember if Lord of the Rings was in the original appendix, but Gary seemed to have a strange distaste for Tolkien, to the point where he downplayed his influence in a way that spoke of some kind of hang-up with Tolkien on his part. But is this list Gygax + Mearls? Whose influences does it represent?

Anyhow, with the caveat above--that the list can only ever be non-inclusive and very subjective--I think Erikson's Malazanseries should be on that list as it came from an RPG campaign (GURPS, I think). Another would be R Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series. I'm currently reading Robert V Redick's Voyages of the Chathrand series, which has a D&Dish vibe.

What about M John Harrison's Viriconium books or Karl Edward Wagner's Bloodstone? Or Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books? I would also have included Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster series. There are just so many, and any list is highly subjective.

 

[pkt77242]

Sadly, no. Just checked again in case I'd gone temporarily blind.

Oops, that means I was reading into the list what I thought should be there. Damn, add him to my earlier list then. Thanks