I just saw this article over at Huffington Post that offers some alternatives to John Carter. Since I have started reading blogs devoted to "old school roleplaying" I have seen several references to "Appendix N". I had no idea what anyone was talking about. So I looked it up. Wonderful thing the internet. For those like me that don't know what "Appendix N" is, it is a section of the 1st edition AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide that lists authors and books that inspired Gary Gygax as he created D&D. Now, I've had a DMG since the early 80's. I don't specifically recall this list, but I'm sure I must have read it a few times way back when. I haven't read most of the material on this list, probably because much of it wasn't widely available. If it wasn't in stock at Waldenbooks or in the school library, it was out of my reach. However I did get to read Leiber, Moorcock, Tolkien, and Zelazny.
I've seen a few people post a list of things that would be in their personal version of Appendix N, but I'd like to see what others think should be in sort of "Appendix N Hall of Fame". It would be those books and authors that have been published since the D&D was created that should be added to Gary's original list. Criteria should include popularity, influence, similarity in themes to Gary's original list. For example, Terry Brooks Shannara series might be a good candidate. On the other hand, Mists of Avalon or Harry Potter probably wouldn't be good candidates because of how different they are from the material in Gary's list.
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