D&D General Is Appendix N Still Relevant to D&D?

[SothFan]

To some degree, but I think D&D created the idea of the dungeon as you see it in other media. Before that it was King Solomon's Mines and The Mummy.

Are Wonderland and Oz not dungeons?

 

[VashVet]

Halflings are more known from Lord of the Rings, as well as magic swords (Elric), rings, trolls, orcs, goblins, elfs, dwarfs, etc.

Right, there’s a whole bunch of variously identifiable things from other sources but then there are things that becomes uniquely D&D representations. For instance, Beholders. Mind Flayers. Drow. You can certainly find their origins elsewhere but the actual in game representations become distinctly D&D’s.

 

[Tonguez]

That last bit is interesting, insofar as pulp didn't usually include a lot of dungeon-crawling.

In some ways, having de-emphasized dungeon crawling allows D&D to be more pulpy sometimes.

Abraham Merritt's The Moon Pool, REHoward Conan in Red Nails (also Tower of the Elephant and God in the Bowl), ERBurroughs At the Earths Core, HRHaggards 'She', even Lovecrafts At the Mountains of Madness. All involve Dungeoncrawling.

They feature exploring vast underground lost worlds, some with advanced civilizations and monstrous races/creatures including snakemen, psionic powers and aberrant monsters worshipped as gods.

They were a direct influence on The Dwellers in the Forbidden city, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, the whole D-Series and the entire Underdark as a concept.

 

[SothFan]

vast underground lost worlds,

Time Machine and Journey to the Center of the Earth as well.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Abraham Merritt's The Moon Pool, REHoward Conan in Tower of the Elephant, Red Nails and God in the Bowl, ERBurroughs At the Earths Core, HRHaggards 'She', even Lovecrafts At the Mountains of Madness.

Multiple Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser adventures feature recognizable dungeon crawls and even societies living in subterranean cities.

Probably an equal split between those with overland adventures and urban stuff. Probably the most D&D of the Appendix N stuff I've read, IMO.

 

[bloodtide]

That last bit is interesting, insofar as pulp didn't usually include a lot of dungeon-crawling.

Well, pulp going back as far as it goes does have the adventure-crawl. And it's often in some sort of constructed underground area full of traps and monsters. It was common for such characters like Doc Savage. So, it was there.

dungeon delving was invented for D&D. Which is why, I think, D&D should always support it.

Well, maybe not invented it.....but made it well know and popular. The whole tomb dungeon filled with traps and monsters goes way back. A lot of stories were about a group of people exploring an unknown dangerous place far from civilization. The whole "hidden or underground Lost World" was very popular.

 

[Reynard]

Are Wonderland and Oz not dungeons?

No? I mean,people might describe them that way IN RETROSPECT, but they weren't that as presented.

 

[Reynard]

I just watched the video of Joseph Goodman talking about Appendix N and it reinforced my belief that I made the right decision buying Mutant Crawl Classics.

 

[Parmandur]

Much to my chagrin, after 40 years I still find myself calling back to Dragonlance tropes when I build settings and campaigns. I don't mean to, but it was foundational to young Reynard so it is hard to shake.

Here's the thing: Dragonlance is not super-amazing as a story or anything, very workmanlike, but it is a thorough synthesis of a lot of pre-existing tropes into a gameable format. It might just do a better job of embodying "Appendix N" than most prior D&D products.

 

[Parmandur]

It doesn't. But in "Jewels of Gwahlur," there's a scene where Conan enters a room searching for the treasure that reads like an old school D&D game with him searching for secret doors and alcoves. I only just read it about 8 years ago and it completely cracked me up. But I'm guessing the wargame DNA in D&D might be why dungeon crawlers were so popular.

That and Moria.