Out of Appendix N, what is the cream of the crop?

>>54163236
I'm a sucker for good Lovecraft and Dunsany. For the former, At the Mountains of Madness, The Shadow Out of Time, The Colour Out of Space, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath are good stories. For the latter, I recommend check out The Book of Wonder.

Howard's Conan stories have an interesting setting, but they also share the common weaknesses of the pulp genre, including an uninteresting protagonist, and a sort of matter-of-fact detachment that prevents me from getting too immersed. Still not bad, and definitely worth a read for their influence though, just don't expect high art.

The Elric Saga also has had a large influence (even if it's less foundational than Conan), and I find it a bit easier to sink into than Conan, even if it shares some of the same qualities. The prose is nothing special, but some of it reads like a good RPG adventure. There are a bunch of Elric novels, but at least to start out with, you want the core stuff, which should be numbered (Elric of Melnibone. Sailor on the Sea of Fate, Weird of the White Wolf, Vanishing Tower, Storm Bringer, Bane of the Black Sword).

I found Hiero's Journey to be a bit dull and juvenile. It's okay, but if you want weird, post-collapse shit, I recommend Philip Jose Farmer's Dark Is The Sun (though that's crazy far future). The other stuff of Farmer's I've started to read didn't interest me much, however.

The little bit of Brackett I read seemed to have the same immersion problem as Conan, but without the pivotal influence of the latter. Same thing with the John Carter books: interesting world, but boring stories, for the most part.

Three Hearts and Three Lions is interesting mostly for its influence on D&D, but other than that, I found it unremarkable. Jack Vance's stuff is meandering but wonderfully unpredictable with tons of inventive shit. Some of his stories are worth it just for their footnotes, but the actual storytelling is meh.

>>54163743
I've not read enough Lieber to really have an opinion. Lord of the Rings has a great setting, but story-wise, it's vastly overrated. The Hobbit's pretty cool though. And I think that's about all I'm qualified to comment on...

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>>54163236
Posting Appendix N so everybody knows what you're talking about. It was the list of "inspirational reading" given in the back of the 1st edition AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide. I can't remember if other editions had anything similar.

>>54163785
>most of those are utter crap
>even those which are good/passable are treated in d&d in superficial, skin-deep way
>not knowing what et al even means

>>54164140
There's Vancian magic from Vance. The law/chaos alignment system is derived from Three Hearts and Three Lions. Intelligent weapons that can dominate their users comes from Elric. Various beasties come from different places. Halflings are pretty much straight ripped from Tolkien (they were originally even called hobbits), while others maybe just had a veneer of Tolkien. I'm not sure what the main influence was for the elves, though faerie folk appear in numerous works (including Three Hearts and Three Lions). The thief was probably influenced by Grey Mouser. The influences here seem more than cosmetic to me.

>>54164311
Thief was half grey mouser, half cugel the clever.

Gnoles are a dunsany invention

>>54163785
>Dunsany, Lord

>>54164716
I read The King of Elfland's Daughter, and thought that while it started out cool, it lost direction and just kind of meandered around for the second half. I've not read any other novels by him, so I don't know if he's just better at short stories or what, but The Book of Wonder was comparatively spectacular.

The Book of Wonder: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7477

raymond e feist: betrayal at krondor

I really liked Pellucidar, I could only get through so much "White man is so smart and super awesome" and I'm not even a SJW. Three Hearts and Three Lions also holds a special place in my heart.

>>54164140
>>not knowing what et al even means
He does. It means "and others" and can refer to books. The usage you are thinking of refers to people but that is a not a requirement for the phrase.

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>>54163236
The best are:

>Lord Dunsany (Book of Wonder)
>Howard (Red Nails)
>Leiber (Ill Met in Lankhmar)
>Moorcock (Stormbringer)
>Vance (The Eyes of the Overworld)
>Zelazny (Nine Princes in Amber)

Many of the others are mediocre or very niche.

>>54164716
Only recently discovered Dunsany after reading through everything Clark Ashton Smith who I'm thinking might be the best of the Weird Tales dudes.

Also recommending Glen Cook - PI Garret for setting and Black Company for grit.

Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. Read them now, Swords against Deviltry.

>>54167209
>Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser
I liked the stories I read, but I feel like this board overhypes them.