Red Sonja is a favorite of mine. She takes on Conan blade to blade at the end credits.

If you change Appendix N too much, it's no longer D&D.  While there may be a few novels you could add to the list, there's not many.  While I like GRR Martin, his stuff is not really evocative of D&D.

I'm going to throw in the Pirates of the Carribbean movies, for inspiration on nautical adventures.

Yeah, they are Disney, but they are also pretty well done if somewhat campy.

I'd also throw in:

Rune Soldier
The Weathering Continent
Slayers (all)
Legend of Crystania (both)
Ruin Explorers
Dragonslayer
LadyHawke
300

Just for good measure and to round things out.

Quote from: RPGPundit;562826That is, if there was a list of recommended reading for D&D, and it needed to be stuff that was reasonably in the popular culture (true classics that have stood the test of time are acceptable, 40 year old books almost no one at all has heard of are not), what would be the "must read" list for D&D as of 2012?

That's not really Appendix N, though.  Appendix N was an idiosyncratic list of sources that Gygax personally liked and felt would convey the appropriate tone and content he thought of as "D&D".

Using your criteria, for example, I wouldn't include Clark Ashton Smith. But if I were putting together an Appendix N, Clark Ashton Smith's name would rank fairly high on the list.

Quote from: Panzerkraken;562834I think that we're really looking for ADDITIONS to the list rather than creating a whole new list, so we should reasonably be looking for things that came out post-1980 that could be said to have had an impact on the gaming culture.

Following that guidance, I would say:

- Song of Ice and Fire (George R.R. Martin)
- Malazan Empire (Steven Erikson)
- Discworld (Terry Pratchett)
- Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)
- Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends (Weis/Hickman)
- Icewind Dale and Dark Elf Trilogies (Salvatore)
- Dragonriders of Pern Trilogy (Anne McCaffrey)
- Kane Stories (Karl Edward Wagner)
- Stardust (Neil Gaiman)
- Gateway (Frederick Pohl)
- Belgariard and Mallorean (David Eddings)
- Vlad Taltos Series (Steven Brust)
- Myth Series (Robert Asprin)
- Thieves World (ed. Robert Asprin)
- Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan)

And a couple that predate D&D but didn't make the original Appendix N:

- Clark Ashton Smith
- Dune (Frank Herbert)

I also suspect that China Mieville, David Gemmell's Legend, Glen Cook's Black Company, and Moon's Deeds of Paksennarion probably deserve a place, but I haven't actually read them. Similarly, I feel like Guy Gavriel Kay, Mercedes Lackey, Robin Hobb, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and possibly Jacqueline Carey may be getting overlooked due to my lack of familiarity.

I considered both Narnia, Oz, and His Dark Materials. Probably wouldn't hurt to toss 'em on the list, but they've never struck me as landing in the same zone as D&D fantasy. In this, I also took my cue from their absence (in the case of Narnia and Oz) from the original Appendix N.

Quote from: Melan;562852Finally, what a contemporary list needs is computer games, movies and TV shows, none of which existed in the fantasy genre when the list was first assembled. These changes in media consumption should be taken into account, although not slavishly.

I also agree with this.

Quote from: Justin Alexander;563061Moon's Deeds of Paksennarion probably deserve a place, but I haven't actually read them. Similarly, I feel like Guy Gavriel Kay

Paksennarion and The Fionnavar Tapestry are D&D books already (albeit with the serial numbers filed off) and do a pretty good job of evoking the mechanics of D&D within the story.  I personally think this makes them awful books, but they do strongly evoke D&D.

Quote from: CRKruegerAs far as the teen supernatural romance thing goes, all that playing googly eyes with vampires and werewolves goes back to Laurel K Hamilton doesn't it

LKH pretty much created the paranormal romance genre in its current form, yes.  The imitators are starting to feed on each other now in a Ourobourean, Pop Will Eat Itself kind of way, but she started the whole thing rolling.

Quote from: JRR;563013If you change Appendix N too much, it's no longer D&D.  While there may be a few novels you could add to the list, there's not many.  While I like GRR Martin, his stuff is not really evocative of D&D.

Get da fuck outta here!

Quote from: Philotomy Jurament;562832

• Greek Myths

Don't stop there. Norse myths, Anglo-Saxon myths, Germanic myths, Celtic myths, Slavic myths, etc, etc. Those have always been big influences on my D&D.

Quote from: Fifth Element;563148Don't stop there. Norse myths, Anglo-Saxon myths, Germanic myths, Celtic myths, Slavic myths, etc, etc. Those have always been big influences on my D&D.

Yep, yep. It's why I love CK Cherah and Ursala Andress, Tad Williams and Robert Jordan so much. I got the names wrong didn't I?

Quote from: Fifth Element;563148Don't stop there. Norse myths, Anglo-Saxon myths, Germanic myths, Celtic myths, Slavic myths, etc, etc. Those have always been big influences on my D&D.

Burt Njall's Saga often reads like a D&D campaign played by teens, right down to the player vs. player vendettas and the players who always have to sabotage every attempt at putting things back on track.

What about the other way around?

D&D has been such a big gorilla in the room with fantasy literature since about 1980. So it's conceivable to create an "Appendix Z" - works that have been influenced indirectly by D&D, rather than influencing it indirectly. ("Indirectly" rules out the franchise novels, naturally, but also such things as Andre Norton's Quag Keep.)

For example, I would say that the Discworld series sometimes stops to take a jab at the post-RPG idea of adventuring.

I will repeat any one who likes fantasy and hasn't read Joe Abercrombie is obviously insane.

BUY THIS BOOK TODAY -

Extract of The Heroes - http://www.joeabercrombie.com/books/the-heroes/extract/

Quote from: jibbajibba;563264I will repeat any one who likes fantasy and hasn't read Joe Abercrombie is obviously insane.

BUY THIS BOOK TODAY -

Extract of The Heroes - http://www.joeabercrombie.com/books/the-heroes/extract/

I concur completely.  In fact, just buy everything he's written, it's all great stuff.

Quote from: Panzerkraken;562831TSR published so many novels based on their various universes, I think that a lot of those would be good recommended reading.

Icewind Dale and Dark Elf trilogies

Dragonlance, Chronicles and Legends


Outside of that sort of thing...

David Eddings is always fun for me to read (even though he's like Heinlein in his characters)

Since Appendix N should be the very "best of" inspirational material, I think that would automatically discount every D&D novel ever written.  Serial mass-market garbage.

I don't know about Eddings, maybe.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Panzerkraken;562834I think that we're really looking for ADDITIONS to the list rather than creating a whole new list, so we should reasonably be looking for things that came out post-1980 that could be said to have had an impact on the gaming culture.

No, I think that there are things on the original list that are not relevant today, they are far too obscure to be useful for the list or have not stood the test of time.

Of course, other things on the list (Conan, Moorcock, Zelazny, Tolkien) should still be there.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Panzerkraken;563271I concur completely.  In fact, just buy everything he's written, it's all great stuff.

+1

He's at the top of my current favorite authors list.  This blog post of his sold me-

http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2011/02/15/bankrupt-nihilism/

"Think of a Lord of the Rings where, after stringing you along for thousands of pages, all of the hobbits end up dying of cancer contracted by their proximity to the Ring, Aragorn is revealed to be a buffoonish puppet-king of no honor and false might, and Gandalf no sooner celebrates the defeat of Sauron than he executes a long-held plot to become the new Dark Lord of Middle-earth, and you have some idea of what to expect should you descend into Abercrombie's jaded literary sewer."

:rotfl: