I got my copy of Original Adventures Reincarnated 2: The Isle of Dread. I’ll try to find time in the weeks ahead to read it through thoroughly (323 pages isn’t easy when you have children and are trying to learn new Web technologies).
I noticed in the opening essays that both Lawrence Schick and Tom Moldvay (according to Lawrence Schick) were both big Appendix N readers. At the time they met Appendix N hadn’t been typed up yet by Gary Gygax but a large number of authors from that list are mentioned specifically as favorite authors of both men.
Following Jeffro Johnson’s blog, I’ve read a number of arguments where people advance the notion that Appendix N was just a list of favorite books/authors by Gygax. With each passing year, Jeffro’s argument that Appendix N was a common list of books among fantasy fans in the 1960s and 70s gains more and more support. It’s also interesting to see how two men (other than Gygax) who had a big influence on Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons were reading the same books. Saying that Appendix N was in the “DNA” of early D&D is sounding less and less silly.
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