Blog Archives
sRETROSPECTIVE: The Dolphins of Altair by Margaret St. Clair
Monday , 22, August 2016 Appendix N 2 CommentsLong and long ago, I witnessed first hand the final echoes of the eighties Satanic panic. It wasn’t D&D, rock lyrics, or daycare centers that had my modest sized Bible Belt town up in arms in this late stage. It was New Age Teaching Techniques IN OUR SCHOOLS. The local newspapers were running articles about […]
10 Things About 5th Edition Tunnels & Trolls that are Old School
Thursday , 18, August 2016 Appendix N, Tabletop Games 3 CommentsThe only people its creators had to worry about offending was the legal department at TSR. There are no rules for demi-human special abilities such as elves with keen hearing, dwarves that can very nearly smell gold, and hobbits that are good at stealth. All of this sort of thing is covered by the “verbal […]
This fascinating new site aims to test the last year’s claims about kids these days being unable to get excited about classic science fiction. Here’s the deal: I’ve rounded up a pool of younger people who have agreed to let me expose them to classic works of science fiction and assembled a list of older works […]
Nearly a decade ago, I remember this guy holding forth on rpgs at a friend’s house. I took an instant dislike to him. In the first place, I kind of got the drift that he’d maybe take a dim view of the sort of vintage games I like. He was also threatening to take my […]
I want to point out a very common criticism I get. There’s something off about it and I’ve answered parts of this before… but I find it curious that it crops up from people in entirely different domains and from people on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Here are the two latest examples if […]
SUPERVERSIVE: Pan, Stone Henge, and the Gods of the Copybook Headings
Tuesday , 9, August 2016 Appendix N, Superversive 7 CommentsIn reading through Appendix N, one of the things that most struck me was how Pan has all but dropped from the literary conversation over time. In Lord Dunsany’s day, that third tier Greek god was something of a rock star. He was so captivating, he was even fundamental to one of the era’s most […]
This is a fascinating piece of fiction for a good half dozen reasons. Certainly, any Traveller fan worth his salt will be hooked by the second page: “I’m glad I never trained as a scout,” remarked Second Officer Walgrave. “Otherwise I might be sent down upon strange and quite possibly horrid planets.” “A scout isn’t […]
Defining Fantasy Role-Playing Games the Tunnels & Trolls Way
Thursday , 4, August 2016 Appendix N, Tabletop Games 12 CommentsGamers are a tough crowd in general, but role-players are particularly hard to get along with. The number of shibboleths and sacred cows in the rpg scene, the emperors with no clothes, the punditry and smack talk, the number of ways to give and take offense, the outright character assassination and demagoguery that goes down– […]
David Pulver on How RPG Settings Killed the SFF Canon
Tuesday , 2, August 2016 Appendix N, GURPS 7 CommentsDavid Pulver is among the most prolific role-playing game designers around, and when his name appeared side by side with Steve Jackson and Sean Punch on the covers of the Fourth Edition GURPS core books, his status as one of the leading developers in the field was secured. He also witnessed first hand the trends […]
If Castalia House has only managed to whet your appetite for commentary on old style science fiction and fantasy, then this is your lucky week. Not just one, but two new “Appendix N” series are underway! One is by long time book reviewer H.P. who blogs at Every Day Should be Tuesday. Here’s what you […]
Creating an Oriental Adventures Setting with Appendix N
Monday , 18, July 2016 Appendix N, Game Design, Tabletop Games 10 CommentsThe most critical element of role-playing game design is the reduction of friction. If it is not addressed sufficiently, the game will not be played. Now, this is not an issue quite so much for people that treat rpg’s as a new form of literature or for whom the primary design goal is to sell […]
Marc Aramini on Classics, Critics, the New Wave, and Seventies Culture
Monday , 30, May 2016 Appendix N 3 CommentsSpacefaring, Extradimensional Happy Kittens has an excellent interview with Marc Aramini up today. It’s wide-ranging, covering how Marc’s book on Gene Wolfe’s stories came to be, why people would want to read Wolfe in the first place, and how Aramini’s criticism has received a dearth of acknowledgement in the wider scene. There’s a lot of […]