Appendix N for Legend - Recommended Reading

[Prime_Evil]

One thing missing from the Legend rulebook is a recommended reading list for newcomers interested in the literary sources that inspired the game.

Ever since Appendix N was published in the the 1st Edition AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide back in 1979, I've always loved seeing these lists in rulebooks as their presence indicates that the designers love the fantasy genre. The earliest versions of RuneQuest included a reading list different from that provided by AD&D, placing a greater emphasis on authentic medieval sources and modern archaeological evidence. I suppose that this reflects the difference between the two game systems better than almost anything else.

As you can imagine, I was delighted to see that RQ 6 included a recommended reading list. Even though I don't agree with all of the included choices, I love the fact that Loz and Pete made an effort to list the fantasy that inspires them. (Actually...the list of movies is more interesting as the emphasis on the works of Ray Harryhausen and neglected classics such as Thief of Baghdad gets a big thumbs up from me).

So what books would you include on a recommended reading list for Legend? Would it be different to the list from RQ 6? If so, in what way and why?

 

[Prime_Evil]

For what it's worth, here's a rough draft of my own personal list. For convenience, I've broken it down into several sections and have marked works of particular importance with an asterisk:

Modern Fantasy Works

• Abercrombie, Joe – First Law Trilogy; Best Served Cold
• Adams, Robert – Horseclans Series
• Ahmed, Saladin - Throne of the Crescent Moon
• Anderson, Poul - The Broken Sword*; Three Hearts and Three Lions; Hrolf Kraki's Saga.
• Bellairs, John - The Face in the Frost
• Brackett, Leigh – Erik John Stark series; Skaith Trilogy, et al.
• Bujold, Lois McMaster – Paladin of Souls; The Curse of Chalion
• Cherryh, C.J. – Morgaine trilogy; Ealdwood series
• Cook, Glen – Black Company series*
• Croggon, Alison - Pellinor series
• De Camp, L. Sprague - Novarian Tales (The Falliable Fiend, The Goblin Tower, et al)
• Donaldson, Stephen R. – Thomas Covenant series (esp. the first three books)
• Downum, Amanda – Necromancer Chronicles (The Drowning City, The Bone Palace et al).
• Dunsany, Lord - The Gods of Pegana; The King of Elfland's Daughter; The Charwoman's Shadow.
• Gemmell, David – Drenai series
• Holdstock, Robert – Mythago Wood series
• Howard, Robert E. – Conan Series*; Solomon Kane series*; et al.
• Kay, Guy Gavriel – Tigana; Sailing to Sarantium.
• Lee, Tanith – Flat Earth Series; Birthgrave trilogy; Secret Books of Paradys; The Castle of the Dark; Companions on the Road, etc.
• Le Guin, Ursula – Earthsea series (A Wizard of Earthsea*, The Tombs of Atuan*, The Farthest Shore*, et al.)
• Leiber, Fritz – Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series*
• Lovecraft, H.P. – Call of Cthulhu* and associated works; Randolph Carter Series (esp. Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath*)
• Lynch, Scott – Gentlemen Bastards series (The Lies of Locke Lamora; Red Seas Under Red Skies, et al).
• Martin, George R R – A Song of Fire and Ice
• Merritt, Abraham – The Moon Pool*; The Face in the Abyss*; Dwellers in the Mirage*, et al.
• Mieville, China – Bas-Lag Trilogy (esp. Perdido Street Station and The Scar)
• Moorcock, Michael - Elric series*; Hawkmoon series*; Corum series*
• Moore, C.L. – Jirel of Joiry series (esp. Black God's Kiss)
• Norton, Andre – Witch World series*
• Sapkowski, Andrzej - The Witcher series
• Saunders, Charles – Imaro series*; Dossouye series
• Smith, Clark Ashton – Averoigne series*; Zothique series*; Hyperborea Series*; Xiccarph series*; et al.
• Tolkien, J.R.R. – The Hobbit*; The Lord of the Rings*; The Silmarillion*
• Vance, Jack - Dying Earth Series* (The Dying Earth; Eyes of the Overworld, et al)
• Wagner, Karl Edward – Kane series
• White, T. H. – The Once and Future King
• Wolfe, Gene – Book of the New Sun (esp. Shadow of the Torturer and Claw of the Conciliator)
• Zelazny, Roger – The Chronicles of Amber; Lord of Light.

Historical Novels

• Chadwick, Elizabeth – William Marshal series, et al.
• Cornwell, Bernard – The Warlord Chronicles, the Saxon Series, Azincourt, Stonehenge
• Davies, Lindsey - Falco series
• De Camp, L. Sprague - An Elephant for Aristotle
• Graves, Robert – I, Claudius
• Cornwell, Bernard – Grail Quest series*; Saxon series; Warlord Chronicles; Azincourt; Stonehenge
• Howard, Robert E. – The Sowers of the Thunder
• Peters, Ellis – Brother Cadfael series*; Brothers of Gwynedd Quartet (writing as Edith Pargeter)
• Renault, Mary – The King Must Die*; The Bull from the Sea, et al.
• Scarrow, Simon – Cato and Marco series.
• Sutcliff, Rosemary – The Eagle of the Ninth*; The Lantern Bearers*; and many others.
  [*] Treece, Henry – The Great Captains; The Dark Island; Swords from the North, et al.

Children's Fiction

• Cooper, Susan – The Dark is Rising sequence; Seaward
• Flanagan, John - Ranger's Apprentice series; Brotherband series.
• Garner, Alan – The Weirdstone of Brisengamen; The Moon of Gomrath.

Ancient and Medieval Sources

• Beowulf (Seamus Heaney translation)
• Homer - The Illiad and the Odyssey (Robert Fagles translation)
• Sir Thomas Malory - Le Morte D'Arthur
• Njal's Saga (I like the old Magnus Magnusson translation)
• Tain Bo Cuailnge (Thomas Kinsella translation)
• The Mabinogion (Sioned Davies translation, but the Patrick K. Ford translation is also very good).

 

[warlock1971]

I would definitely include Raymond Feist's Riftwar series in this, already pretty awesome list. After all Midkemia was created as a gaming world, initially for D&D but then later the players used RuneQuest, AFAIK.

I would also add the Erickson-Esselmont books, they are similar in certain ways to the Grey Company books but with more Magic present.

 

[Bifford]

Add in:

Fantasy - Katherine Kerr : Deverry series
Fantasy/Animal based - William Horwood : Duncton series / Wind in the Willows sequels
Suspense/Darker Fantasy - William Horwood : Deptford Mice/Histories series
Horror/Fantasy - Robin Jarvis : Any
Horror - Clive Barker : Any (Imajica is the best though)

Ancient England - Bernard Cornwall - Stonehenge

 

[Prime_Evil]

I agree with Katherine Kerr's Deverry series - it's a while since I read them, but I recall that they definitely have the right 'feel'.

I like William Horwood, but haven't included any animal-based fantasy in the list. The problem is that once you start doing that, there's a vast range of excellent children's literature that deserves inclusion - starting with The Wind in the Willows itself. (I's argue that the chapter entitled The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is *still* one of the finest descriptions of encoutering the supernatural in English literature).

I'm not really familiar with Robin Jarvis's work, although some friends of mine like it a lot.

Clive Barker is an odd one - I like sone of his work, but find it terribly uneven. When he's good, he's excellent. But there's an awful lot of meh mixed in with the good stuff.

Raymond E. Fiest's Riftwar saga probably does deserve inclusion. Looking over the list again, I realize that I've been a bit rough on the major works from the epic fantasy boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s. While some of the books from that era were enjoyable but ultimately forgettable (e.g. David Eddings), there were some works of lasting merit amongst them (e.g. Robin Hobb's early works). The problem is that I read a lot of epic fantasy during that era and it's hard for me to judge it objectively. Also, I'm not convinced that this kind of epic fantasy suits the 'feel' of Legend / Runequest. I don't think the d100 tradition is necessarily tied to the 'grimdark' movement where antiheroes stalk through a gritty setting where everyone is a complete bastard, but I do think it is more grounded in realism than the d20 / D&D tradition (which tends to be quite abstract and cinematic at higher levels).

There probably are a few important books that I've missed - E.R. Eddison's Worm Ouobouros (the pseudo-Elizabethan language is difficult, but beautiful once you get used to it), M. John Harrison's Viriconium series, Patricia A. McKillip's Riddle-Master of Hed, and Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. I'd probably also include some of Conn Iggulden's works in the historical fiction section. And I can't believe I missed John Buchan's historical novels - The Blanket of the Dark and Witch Wood both deserve a place on the list (although the style is a bit dated). Maybe Rafael Sabatini and Harold Lamb also deserve a mention.

 

[auyl]

I'd also include Steven Erickson's Malazn series. Reading through it right now and it is quite excellent, along with Gail Z. Martin's Chronicles of the Necromancer and Tad Willaims Shadowheart series. All of these are quite good and I would say recommended reading.

 

[Prime_Evil]

Yes...Steven Erickson's Malazan series deserves a nod. I'm cautious about including too many recent works in the list because there simply hasn't been enough time to see them in context, but Erickson's work deserves a place in the canon.

I haven't read Gail Z. Martin's Chronicles of the Necromancer, but I've ouicked them up in the bookshop a few times. Maybe I'll pick them up in ebook format if they're available.

Now here's a thought - would it be worth adding links to the various books mentioned on Amazon or other online booksellers (Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, etc) so that people can track them down easily. Would this be a useful resource for anybody?

 

[DamonJynx]

I would also include Edgar Rice Burrough's, John Carter - Mars novels.

To me, Legend and its ilk, are so perfectly suited to the, historical, pulp and S&S genres, I wonder why folk even try to adapt D&D/Pathfinder to suit them. Morten did a great job with Xoth and Darren's conversion work is excellent but I can't help feel Xoth would've been so much better written exclusively for D100, particularly Legend, or MRQII as it would've been at the time.

 

[Prime_Evil]

I would also include Edgar Rice Burrough's, John Carter - Mars novels.

Another one I overlooked!

I love ERB - not just the John Carter / Barsoom novels, but the Venus novels, the Pellucidar series, etc.

I did include Leigh Brackett's Erik John Stark series and would probably also include C.L. Moore's Northwest Smith stories if we're going to include some Planetary Romance...

To me, Legend and its ilk, are so perfectly suited to the, historical, pulp and S&S genres, I wonder why folk even try to adapt D&D/Pathfinder to suit them. Morten did a great job with Xoth and Darren's conversion work is excellent but I can't help feel Xoth would've been so much better written exclusively for D100, particularly Legend, or MRQII as it would've been at the time.

D&D simulated pulp fantasy quite well in its earliest iterations because Gygax actively preferred Swords & Sorcery to the high fantasy of Tolkien and his imitators. However, as the game became a commercial success it was sanitised of elements deemed controversial - demons, devils, drug use, overt sexuality, gambling, etc. Furthermore, the system began to privilege the good vs evil alignment axis over the law vs chaos alignment axis. By the time that 3E / Pathfinder came along, it had drifted a long way from its roots.

Incidentally, Sasquatch Game Studio are working on a Swords and Sorcery setting called Primeval Thule that looks pretty good - you can get the free players guide here:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/129630/Primeval-Thule-Travelers-Guide?manufacturers_id=6416

The Xoth conversions are great, but if the setting was written for a D100 game from scratch some of the adventures might be a bit different - because of the way that Combat Actions work in MRQ II / Legend, being outnumbered is far more deadly in those games than in the various d20 games. A couple of the combat encounters in the Xoth books need to be toned down a bit to avoid a TPK.

It looks like RQ 6 is concentrating on swords & sorcery play judging from the tone of the examples in the core rulebook and the adventures published so far. Legend seems to be aiming at a more generic style of play in the hope of luring disaffected d20 players over to the dark side.