The Other Appendix N

Because I know that nobody reading this right now has ever read the D&D 5.0 Dungeon Master's Guide, that also means you almost certainly don't know about one of its best treasures: APPENDIX D: DUNGEON MASTER INSPIRATION (page 316).

This is separate from the "Inspirational Reading" list included in the Player's Handbook, itself based on the classic "Appendix N" from the 1st Edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. While that list consists entirely of works of fantasy fiction, the DMG's list is instead a collection of resources that the 5E development team thought might be helpful for you to hone the skills of dungeon mastering. And I gotta say, I quite like this list.

I've transcribed the full page below, with some thoughts of my own at the end.

First, the transcript

Quoted from DMG 316:

HERE ARE SEVERAL INSPIRING WORKS THAT CAN help you become a better storyteller, writer, performer, and mapmaker. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but a collection of titles picked out by playtesters and the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS creative team. For more inspirational reading, see appendix E of the Player's Handbook.

Atlas Games. Once Upon a Time: The Storytelling Card Game.

Bernhardt, William. Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life.

---. Perfecting Plot: Charting the Hero's Journey.

---. Story Structure: The Key to Successful Fiction.

Bowers, Malcolm. Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names.

Browning, Joseph & Suzi Yee. A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe.

Burroway, Janet. Writing Fiction.

Cleaver, Jerry. Immediate Fiction.

Cordingly, David. Under the Black Flag.

Egri, Lajos. The Art of Dramatic Writing.

Ewalt, David M. Of Dice and Men.

Gygax, Gary. Gary Gygax's Living Fantasy and the rest of the Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds series.

---. Master of the Game.

---. Role-Playing Mastery. 

Hindmarch, Will. The Bones: Us and Our Dice.

Hindmarch, Will & Jeff Tidball. Things We Think About Games.

Hirsh, Jr., E.D. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy.

Ingpen, Robert. The Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were.

Kaufmann, J.E. & H.W. Kaufmann. The Medieval Fortress.

King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

Koster, Raph. A Theory of Fun for Game Design.

Laws, Robin D. Hamlet's Hit Points.

Lee, Alan & David Day. Castles.

Macaulay, David. Castle.

Malory, Sir Thomas. Le Morte d'Arthur.

McKee, Robert. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting.

Mortimer, Ian. The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England.

O'Connor, Paul Ryan, ed. Grimtooth's Traps.

PennyPress. Variety Puzzles and Games series.

Peterson, Jon. Playing at the World.

Robbins, Ben. Microscope.

Schell, Jesse. Game Design: A Book of Lenses.

Snyder, Blake. Save the Cat.

Swift, Michael and Angus Konstam. Cities of the Renaissance World.

Truby, John. The Anatomy of Story.

TSR. Arms and Equipment Guide.

---. Campaign Sourcebook/Catacomb Guide.

---. The Castle Guide.

Walmsley, Graham. Play Unsafe: How Improvisation Can Change the Way You Roleplay.

Wilford, John Noble. The Mapmakers.

Writers Digest. The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference.

Observations

There's definitely a firm Trad pattern going on here, which is to be expected with WotC D&D. While 5E took plenty of influence from the OSR, their body of literature remains confined almost entirely to online spaces, especially blogs. This sort of list only concerns itself with things one might buy in a bookstore, a domain dominated by Trad.

Most of these recommendations fall into a few categories.

The first of these is, of course, advice on writing and storytelling. That's the really Trad stuff. We see plenty of classics, like Snyder's Save the Cat!, King's On Writing, and Truby's The Anatomy of Story. Personally, I am not at all interested in how learning more about the Hero's Journey could influence the way I DM, but just seeing these titles was a good reminder that I often underestimate how well-realized the Trad philosophy is.

Next is the actual gaming resources. Because this hobby has been producing its own texts for quite awhile now, and yet a lot of DMs haven't been taking advantage of that! No surprise seeing Robin Laws and Jon Peterson, but I also appreciate seeing some Gygax and TSR books still being recommended. Also stoked to see a couple actual games included. I somehow still haven't yet played Ben Robbins's Microscope, but I am a long-time fan of Atlas Games' Once Upon a Time.

Then we have the history stuff. I love seeing this, not only because this is my own personal favorite source of DMing inspiration, but also because I just generally want more people to engage with actual historian-written texts. But putting inspiration aside, I have also found that few things are more practically helpful at the table than participants just being genuinely knowledgeable about a lot of relevant subject matter. One of the best resources to improve your game is, for lack of a better world, "real life lore."

Here we get some bangers like Mortimer's The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England and Cordingly's Under the Black Flag. I'm surprised at just how many of these titles focus specifically on the subject of castles. But probably the most fascinating inclusion to me is John Noble Wilford's The Mapmakers, a book about the history of cartography. A how-to map drawing book I would understand, but I'm really curious why they think my DMing would improve by learning about early efforts to chart the Amazon or the development of time zones or whatever.

But there is one entry on this list that is far and away the most intriguing inclusion, and I can't stop thinking about it.

What the fuck is Le Morte d'Arthur doing on here??

It is the only work of fiction found on this list. Every other fantasy novel or poem or whatever that the 5E team wanted to recommend was instead placed into the Player's Handbook list. This could just be an oversight, obviously. But I keep coming back around to thinking "what if there's something about this one story that would specifically benefit the DM more than the players?" Anyone participating could learn something from reading Dying Earth or Elric of Melniboné, but only Sir Malory can offer us insights on running D&D.

-Dwiz