tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post9133225887162305244..comments2024-03-28T14:05:25.134-07:00Comments on Sacnoth's Scriptorium: 'Inspirational Reading' (5th ed D&D PH)John D. Rateliffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12324926298336489295noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-10484894484725633322014-09-01T07:40:41.885-07:002014-09-01T07:40:41.885-07:00Offutt was simply incredibly prolific, and Swords ...Offutt was simply incredibly prolific, and Swords Against darkness was a very successful S&S anthology series in the 1970s. The whole series is very AD&D like, but I suspect SAD III is on the list because it includes Poul Anderson's seminal essay, "Thud and Blunder" which also appeared in Chaosium's Thieves World boxed set. He did do three Conan pastiche novels, but that barely touches his corpus of work. I highly recommend the Hanse stories, and especially the first novel, it's very different.Paul Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14620026998861471269noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-90592034969150370492014-08-29T21:28:17.837-07:002014-08-29T21:28:17.837-07:00Zenopus: Holdstock doesn't do much for me, I&#...Zenopus: Holdstock doesn't do much for me, I'm afraid, aside from the opening section of LAVONDYSS (before she goes into the woods), which I thought brilliant. I much prefer Hughart's BRIDGE OF BIRDS.<br /><br />Paul: I'm glad you like Offutt, but my own opinion of him, admittedly based on relatively few stories, is of someone who wrote R. E. Howard pastiche, and not that well, either. I much prefer the real thing.<br /><br />Yes, it's annoying that Wizards deleted the links to those CLASSICS OF FANTASY pieces. However people occasionally rediscover them online and post links, such as the following. Enjoy!<br /><br />http://www.isegoria.net/category/media/classics-of-fantasy/<br /><br />Allan: thanks for the information. I don't have that issue, and my copy of the DRAGON CD-Rom seems to have gone walkabout, but I did sort through some photocopies I made of items of interest from THE DRAGON's early issues back early on in my time at TSR (from the file copies kindly loaned me by the DRAGON's editor at the time), and sure enough there it is. Since others might want to see this earliest version of the list as well, think I'll put it up as a separate post. Thanks for drawing this to my attention. <br /><br />--JDR <br /><br />John D. Rateliffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12324926298336489295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-67564365221697227082014-08-29T14:15:28.990-07:002014-08-29T14:15:28.990-07:00For reference, John, Gary first published the Appe...For reference, John, Gary first published the Appendix N list in TD#4 (Dec 1976, page 29), and he was credited as the author of that article, too :D<br /><br />The lists are basically the same, although one author not in Appendix N appears in TD#4 (Algernon Blackwood, and, Gygax seems to have read less (or at least not recommended ones he'd read) in 1976: Anderson just lists Three Hears & Three Lions; MM just lists Stealer of Souls and Stormbringer, for example.<br /><br />Allan.grodoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11800184312511280050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-52881583590675887102014-08-29T11:23:48.661-07:002014-08-29T11:23:48.661-07:00I'm glad to hear about this. I do have to dis...I'm glad to hear about this. I do have to disagree regarding Andrew Offut. I believe his Swords against Darkness anthology series had a fair impact on the early development of D&D - at the least, all of those involved had read them and they informed that shared atmosphere of what an adventure should be like (D&D has always drawn more from short stories then novels, IMO). And Offut's Thieves World character, Hanse aka Shadowspawn, certainly was THE prototype theif for many gameers in the 1980s. I tried to review all of the Appendix N authors back when I had the 'Off the Shelf' column in KODT, and I did get through most of them. I discovered your legends of fantasy blog but the entries are all hard to find and often missing from WOTC's website. If you still have them, and could get permission to repost or publish them, I would love to read them all.Paul Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14620026998861471269noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-83784496463890561742014-08-29T10:39:23.504-07:002014-08-29T10:39:23.504-07:00For a post-D&D addition, they'd should'...For a post-D&D addition, they'd should've included Robert Holdstock's "Mythago Wood". The them of the environment interacting with a human's mind to bring myths to life seems appropriate to the whole process of creating adventures in D&D. Plus it's a great story.Zenopus Archiveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14069501995927451558noreply@blogger.com