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Appendix N: The Literary History of Dungeons & Dragons by Jeffro Johnson
fantasy
non-fiction
history
appendix-n
Warhammer 40,000
Games Workshop - 2017
No forgiveness. No respite. There is only war.The Dark Millenium takes a horrific toll upon Mankind's realm, for the galaxy is beset by the flames of war. In this nightmare future, Humanity faces utter damnation. The galaxy has split along its length, torn by apocalyptic acts of violence to disgorge the horrors of the warp. Every one of the Imperium's million worlds is beset by Chaos incarnate. Scenting blood, warmongering alien races descend to conquer even as the enemy within rises up, utter disaster stayed only by the daily sacrifice of untold billions. Only the armies of the Immortal Emperor stand between Humanity and midnight-black oblivion. Foremost amongst them are the Space Marines of the Adeptus Astartes, dauntless champions forged anew as the ultimate protectors of Mankind.You can enter this universe of horrors, today, if you dare. But remember this is a a more terrible era than ever before, and there is no peace amongst the stars...The Games Workshop hobby allows you to collect, build, paint and play within worlds of boundless creativity and imagination. Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop game for two or more players, where you control an army of Citadel Miniatures representing the Imperium of Man or one of its many enemies. As well as telling the story of the Dark Millenium, this books provides all the rules you need to fight a variety of battles in this dystopian setting, and has essential information about collecting, painting and gaming with Citadel Miniatures.(publisher's description)
Explorer's Guide to Wildemount
Matthew Mercer - 2020
The Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty are carving up the lands around them, and only the greatest heroes would dare stand between them. Somewhere in the far corners of this war-torn landscape are secrets that could end this conflict and usher in a new age of peace--or burn the world to a cinder.Create a band of heroes and embark on a journey across the continent of Wildemount, the setting for Campaign 2 of the hit Dungeons & Dragons series Critical Role. Within this book, you'll find new character options, a heroic chronicle to help you craft your character's backstory, four different starting adventures, and everything a Dungeon Master needs to breathe life into a Wildemount-based D&D campaign...- Delve through the first Dungeons & Dragons book to let players experience the game as played within the world of Critical Role, the world's most popular livestreaming D&D show.- Uncover a trove of options usable in any D&D game, featuring subclasses, spells, magic items, monsters, and more, rooted in the adventures of Exandria--such as Vestiges of Divergence and the possibility manipulating magic of Dunamancy.- Start a Dungeons & Dragons campaign in any of Wildemount's regions using a variety of introductory adventures, dozens of regional plot seeds, and the heroic chronicle system--a way to create character backstories rooted in Wildemount.Explore every corner of Wildemount and discover mysteries revealed for the first time by Critical Role Dungeon Master, Matthew Mercer.
H.P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life
Michel Houellebecq - 1991
P. Lovecraft, the seminal, enigmatic horror writer of the early 20th century. Houellebecq’s insights into the craft of writing illuminate both Lovecraft and Houellebecq’s own work. The two are kindred spirits, sharing a uniquely dark worldview. But even as he outlines Lovecraft’s rejection of this loathsome world, it is Houellebecq’s adulation for the author that drives this work and makes it a love song, infusing the writing with an energy and passion not seen in Houellebecq’s other novels to date.
Dungeon Master's Guide
David Zeb Cook - 1989
Whether you're running a single adventure or masterminding a complete fantasy campaign, the Dungeon Master's Guide is an absolute necessity. The 2nd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide puts all the information you need right at your fingertips - in a fresh, new format, fully indexed for your convenience. Here you'll learn all there is to know about magical spells and items, as well as monsters, combat, travel, NPCs, treasure, encounters, awarding experience, and more!
The Complete Psionics Handbook
Steve Winter - 1991
The psionicist is a completely new character class for AD&D games, both for player characters and NPCs. Explore inner space! Now you can really put mind over matter with The Complete Psionics Handbook.
The Lost Code
Kevin Emerson - 2012
Located inside the EdenWest BioDome, the camp is an oasis of pine trees, cool water, and rustic charm.But all at Camp Eden is not what it seems.No one will know this better than 15-year-old Owen Parker. A strange underwater vision, even stranger wounds on Owen’s neck, and a cryptic warning from the enchanting lifeguard Lilly hint at a mystery that will take Owen deep beneath Lake Eden and even deeper into the past. What he discovers could give him the chance to save the tattered planet. But first, Owen will have to escape Camp Eden alive…
Critical Failures
Robert Bevan - 2012
The next minute, they're in a horse-drawn cart surrounded by soldiers pointing crossbows at them. Tim now has the voice and physique of a prepubescent girl. Dave finds that while he lost a foot or two in height, he somehow acquired a suit of armor and a badass beard. Julian's ears have grown ridiculously long and pointy. And Cooper... well Cooper has gotten himself a set of tusks, a pair of clawed hands, and a bad case of the shits. He also finds that he's carrying a bag with a human head in it - a head that he had chopped off when they were still just playing a game.Shit just got real, and if they want to survive, these four friends are going to have to tap into some baser instincts they didn't even know existed in their fast-food and pizza delivery world.It's fight, flight, or try to convince the people who are trying to kill them that they don't really exist.Meanwhile, a sadistic game master sits back in the real world eating their fried chicken.
Time Travel: A History
James Gleick - 2016
Gleick's story begins at the turn of the twentieth century with the young H. G. Wells writing and rewriting the fantastic tale that became his first book, an international sensation, The Time Machine. A host of forces were converging to transmute the human understanding of time, some philosophical and some technological the electric telegraph, the steam railroad, the discovery of buried civilizations, and the perfection of clocks. Gleick tracks the evolution of time travel as an idea in the culture from Marcel Proust to Doctor Who, from Woody Allen to Jorge Luis Borges. He explores the inevitable looping paradoxes and examines the porous boundary between pulp fiction and modern physics. Finally, he delves into a temporal shift that is unsettling our own moment: the instantaneous wired world, with its all-consuming present and vanishing future.
Starfinder: Core Rulebook
James L. SutterJason Keeley - 2017
Will you delve for lost artifacts in the ruins of alien temples? Strap on rune-enhanced armor and a laser rifle to battle undead empires in fleets of bone ships, or defend colonists from a swarm of ravenous monsters? Maybe you'll hack into the mainframe of a god-run corporation, or search the stars for clues to the secret history of the universe or brand new planets to explore. Whether you're making first contact with new cultures on uncharted worlds or fighting to survive in the neon-lit back alleys of Absalom Station, you and your team will need all your wits, combat skill, and magic to make it through. But most of all, you'll need each other.This massive 528-page hardcover rulebook is the essential centerpiece of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game, with rules for character creation, magic, gear, and more—everything you need to play Starfinder as either a player or Game Master! The next great adventure in science-fantasy roleplaying takes off here, and the Starfinder Core Rulebook is your ticket to a lifetime of adventure amid the stars!Inside this book, you'll find:- All of the rules you need to play or run a game of Starfinder.- Seven character classes, from the elite soldier and stealthy operative to the physics-hacking technomancer and mind-bending mystic.- Character races both new and classic, from androids, insectile shirrens, ratlike ysoki, and reptilian vesk to the dwarves and elves of the distant future.- An in-depth exploration of the Starfinder setting, including its planets, gods, factions, and threats.- Hundreds of weapons, spells, technological gadgets, magic items, and other options to outfit any character.- Complete rules for starships, including customization and starship combat.- Rules and tips on using Pathfinder RPG content with Starfinder.Cover art by Remko Troost
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary
Jason BulmahnSean K. Reynolds - 2009
Within this tome you'll find fire-breathing dragons and blood-drinking vampires, vile demons and shapechanging werewolves, sadistic goblins and lumbering giants, and so much more! Yet not all the creatures in this book are enemies, for some can serve lucky heroes as allies or advisors, be they summoned angels or capricious nymphs. And it doesn't stop there—with full rules for advancing monsters, adapting monsters to different roles, and designing your own unique creations, you'll never be without a band of hideous minions again!The Pathfinder RPG Bestiary is the must-have companion volume to the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. This imaginative tabletop game builds upon more than 10 years of system development and an Open Playtest featuring more than 50,000 gamers to create a cutting-edge RPG experience that brings the all-time best-selling set of fantasy rules into the new millennium.The Pathfinder RPG Bestiary includes:- More than 350 different monsters.- Dozens of monstrous variants to modify creatures and keep players on their toesNumerous lists of monsters to aid in navigation, including lists by Challenge Rating, monster type, and habitat.- Extensive rules for creating effective and balanced monsters.- Rules for advancing monsters by hit dice, template, or class level.- Universal monster rules to simplify special attacks, defenses, and qualities like breath weapons, damage reduction, and regeneration.- More than a dozen feats tailored especially for monsters.- Suggestions for monstrous cohorts.- Two dozen additional animal companions.- More than a dozen different wandering monster encounter tables.... and much, much more!Cover art by Wayne Reynolds
Troika! Numinous Edition
Daniel Sell - 2016
Troika! Numinous Edition is the new edition of our popular Troika! RPG, a complete science-fantasy RPG full of critically acclaimed writing, built-in wonder and room for everyone at the table to go wild!Inside the book you will find; a full automated character creation system that generates exciting starting points for players to build upon; weighty lists of spells and enemies to encounter; a baked-in plane-hoping setting which draws you into the world and allows you space to build upon its sturdy foundations.Lavishly illustrated by Jeremy Duncan, Dirk Detweiler Leicthy, Sam Mameli, and ENnie award winning Andrew Walter
The Dictionary of Imaginary Places: The Newly Updated and Expanded Classic
Alberto Manguel - 1980
Here you will find Shangri-La and El Dorado; Utopia and Middle Earth; Wonderland and Freedonia. Here too are Jurassic Park, Salman Rushdie's Sea of Stories, and the fabulous world of Harry Potter. The history and behavior of the inhabitants of these lands are described in loving detail, and are supplemented by more than 200 maps and illustrations that depict the lay of the land in a host of elsewheres. A must-have for the library of every dedicated reader, fantasy fan, or passionate browser, Dictionary is a witty and acute guide for any armchair traveler's journey into the landscape of the imagination.
The Girl Who Was on Fire: Your Favorite Authors on Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games Trilogy
Leah WilsonCara Lockwood - 2011
From the trilogy's darker themes of violence and social control to fashion and weaponry, the collection's exploration of the Hunger Games reveals exactly how rich, and how perilous, protagonist Katniss' world really is.• How does the way the Games affect the brain explain Haymitch's drinking, Annie's distraction, and Wiress' speech problems?• What does the rebellion have in common with the War on Terror?• Why isn't the answer to "Peeta or Gale?" as interesting as the question itself?• What should Panem have learned from the fates of other hedonistic societies throughout history and what can we?The Girl Who Was On Fire covers all three books in the Hunger Games trilogy.
Delta Green: Countdown
John Tynes - 1999
As our darkened globe spins through the eternal night, the lasting legacy of the human race is nothing but a scream - drowned out by the road of the destiny devouring us all. This is your last chance to show the cosmos what it means to be human: The will to fight.Delta Green: Countdown blows the doors of the world of Delta Green, reaching wider and digging deeper to map the terrain of the twisted pulp apocalypse we call the dawning of the 21st century. Brace yourself for the final world order: The Insects from Shaggai, alien parasites subverting the leadership of a nation; PISCES, the UK's attempt to harness the unknown; The Army of the Third Eye, terrorists fighting a bloody battle against alien invaders; GRU SV-8, a band of desperate operatives fighting darkness in the ruins of Russia; The Skoptsi, occult fanatics with an eight-hundred-year legacy; The OUTLOOK Group, where Majestic-12 tests its elite; Phenomen-X, a syndicated TV news show that pokes its camera in all the wrong places; Tiger Transit, a former CIA airline now in the clutches of a Tcho-Tcho drug cartel: The D Stacks at the American Museum of Natural History, where Dr. Jensen Wu classifies the unclassifiable; The Keepers of the Faith, traditionalist ghouls fighting the lean and hungry Heretic ghouls beneath the streets of Manhattan: and The Hastur Mythos, a twisted skein of surreal destruction weaving its way through humanity. Plus: new skills, new spells, new Mythos tomes, rules for psychics, a microbiologist's dossiers on paranormal lifeforms, profiles of international intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, dozens of useful NPCs, two scenarios, a short campaign, and more.
Eberron Campaign Guide: A 4th Edition D&D Supplement
James WyattScott Fitzgerald Gray - 2009
This exciting world is complete with soaring cities, viscious wars, and a gritty mean-streets style that harkens back to the traditions of film noir.The Eberron campaign setting is updated into the 4th edition D&D family with the Eberron Campaign Guide. Featuring all of the character elements from the core rulebooks, this updated version of the Eberron world is a must for any gamer that likes the magic-as-technology, film noir, high-adventure campaign setting that was chosen from over 15,000 game submissions.