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

[Reynard]

D.A.R.Y.L. is too much of a kids drama, Logan's Run is Traveller/Aliens, and while Running Man could fit in there it's just a bit too tame for Cyberpunk — not to mention that it came out around the same time as the first edition so too new to have an impact.

First Cyberpunk was published in 1988, and at the time Pondsmith hadn't read Neuromancer yet so that wasn't even in the inspirations at the time. Walter Jon Williams was the main inspiration.

It occurs to me that cyberpunk is one of the few genres that SHOULD be redefined and given new foundational media every decade or less. Especially now that it is upon us in a very real way.

 

[Mannahnin]

It occurs to me that cyberpunk is one of the few genres that SHOULD be redefined and given new foundational media every decade or less. Especially now that it is upon us in a very real way.

It's kind of necessary, yeah. "Twenty minutes into the future" (or not much farther off) is a big part of the genre.

 

[nyvinter]

It occurs to me that cyberpunk is one of the few genres that SHOULD be redefined and given new foundational media every decade or less. Especially now that it is upon us in a very real way.

Yes and no. It's always been a House of Horror mirror on the present day. The fear of Japanese mega-companies, the uneven distribution of technology, the feeling of a city sprawl. All of that Neuromancer stuff were about the 80s.

Just as the current cyberpunk literature is very Torment Nexus and gender exploration while being written by diverse authors and not quite as homogeneously as the first wave. With a sprinkle of ironic neon nostalgia.

Cyberpunk as a genre constantly redefines itself because it's so tied into the now with the veneer of "20 minutes into the future" as opposed to "world of tomorrow!" And the only reason why it was declared "dead" was because the first wave moved on and people couldn't deal with the early 90s feminist second wave of cyberpunk that replaced the betamax noir of the 80s.

So it doesn't have to be redefined because it already does this by default.

 

[JLowder]

Linkie please?

This is the issue the piece ran in. The magazine is terrific. I was a subscriber from the first issue, where they ran something from Michael Moorcock. Issue 5 – New Edge Sword & Sorcery

 

[Reynard]

So it doesn't have to be redefined because it already does this by default.

I don't think it does it by default. i think there is a lot of cyberpunk that holds too tightly onto the Nueromancer roots and 80s and 90s version of the corprate dystopia and technoshock. Authors, designers, etc have to make a conscious effort to bring it into the now, and many don't.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Logan's Run is Traveller/Aliens

There is no space travel or aliens in Logan’s Run!

It’s a post-apocalyptic society in which there is no work, and therefore no reason for people to live beyond reproductive age.

Ahead of its time in the 70s, very topical now.

 

[Distracted DM]

Controversial opinion: I'm not sure if Appendix N was ever relevant, as it mostly features solo (or maybe duo) protagonists, & 99% of D&D experiences involve a balanced group of archetypes.

It became relevant to me when I started caring about TTRPG history- and reading into it, reading stuff like Moorcock and Howard, definitely lit a fire in my imagination. I also just like knowing the history of things.
Relevant? Yes, it can be. But it's certainly not necessary.

 

[nyvinter]

There is no space travel or aliens in Logan’s Run!

My brain keep thinking it's the same movie as Outland! My bad.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

My brain keep thinking it's the same movie as Outland! My bad.

Outland is High Noon in space!

 

[nyvinter]

I don't think it does it by default. i think there is a lot of cyberpunk that holds too tightly onto the Nueromancer roots and 80s and 90s version of the corprate dystopia and technoshock. Authors, designers, etc have to make a conscious effort to bring it into the now, and many don't.

I agree if we talk about cyberpunk movies and games, but the literary genre is — pun intended — sprawling and far less nostalgia-based. And if they use the genre tropes they tend to do so very knowingly rather than as a reflex. However, looking at today I don't think we can separate "corporate dystopia and technoshock" from the world we have. Least of all the same week as Google said they're removing even more of the open web results from their "search" engine, and <removed three paragraphs due to topical political content>.

Jonathan Lethem's Gun, with Occasional Music would not have been written ten years earlier. Just as Cameron Reed's The Fortunate Fall. (The first is an acquired taste, the second is recommended reading.)

36 Streets by T.R. Napper is an action novel about memory, identity, and power. A very much 2020s take on Gibson which doesn't mean copying all the stuff he did.

I've not read Lavanya Lakshminarayan's The Ten Percent Thief yet but people I trust have said very good things about it, and how it talks about caste and AI.

Outland is High Noon in space!

Yes. It and Firefly is very Traveller to me.