Dr Simon Reads... Appendix N. Part One: Poul Anderson

Dr. Simon Reads Appendix N: Introduction

This is a new series that will feature sporadically, in which I explore classic fantasy and science fiction works. You will either know what I mean by “Appendix N”, or you will have no clue.

In the original Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide, Gary Gygax provided a large number of appendices, from random smells to reputed magical properties of herbs and gemstones. Appendix N was a bibliography of works that inspired him. Back in 1982 when I first got hold of this book, there were only a couple of items on there that I’d read, and only a few other authors that I’d even heard of. Many years later, after, much reading, I returned to Appendix N expecting to have added greatly to the works on there that I’d read; but actually, there were still very few. Many of the authors were obscure or out of print authors of, for want of a better expression, golden age pulp; the kind that feature in Amazing Stories and the like.

Now, thanks to the magic of eBooks, a lot of these works are now available again without scouring second-hand bookshops (although this is an enjoyable experience in itself), and also often for ridiculously low prices. With that, I have begun to fill in the gaps in my reading, and publishing my thoughts and observations on here. One of the things that I’m particularly looking out for are obvious inspirations on the Dungeons and Dragons game, as well as elements that were not used but would make good insertions.

Due to the variable size of not only each individual work but the number of recommended works for each author, this will not have any kind of regular schedule.

Oh, and I’m aware that in the 5^th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons, the Appendix N bibliography was expanded and updated as Appendix E of the Player’s Handbook. I’m sticking to the older, shorter list for now. Maybe in the future…

The list begins with Anderson, Poul.

Poul Anderson

Checking Poul Anderson’s bibliography, he was a deeply prolific author; I don’t think that the three suggestions given in Appendix N is even going to scratch the surface!

Born 1926, died 2001, Anderson was an American with Scandinavian parents, and spent some of his life in Denmark (suggesting an autobiographical element to the character of Holger Carlsen, below). Seven Hugos and three Nebula awards, and what looks like a massive bibliography spanning from the 1940s up until pretty much his death, covering science fiction and fantasy, with not a few stories straddling the divide. Appendix N recommends three of Anderson’s works as a sampler, and presumably those that inspired D&D most directly.

Three Hearts and Three Lions

The plot for this book is fairly simple, following the adventures of a real-world person sucked into a fantasy world. Holger Carlsen, the story’s protagonist, is a Danish-born engineer educated in America, who heads back to Denmark to help fight against the Germans in World War II. During a skirmish between Danish partisans and attacking German soldiers, Holger is knocked unconscious and wakes up in a strange place. Nearby is a white charger, strangely friendly, and a suit of armour that fits him suspiciously well. The shield with the armour bears the heraldry of the three hearts and three lions of the title.

It turns out that Holger is in a world with a mediaeval civilisation, but also one caught in a looming war between hostile supernatural forces and the human lands of “Christendie”. Everyone mistakes Holger for a legendary hero, the knight of three hearts and three lions, and much of his internal conflict stems from Holger fearing that any moment he will be discovered as a fraud. Nonetheless, circumstances seem to conspire so that Holger keeps having to play the hero.

This reminds me very much of a Basic D&D (or perhaps Expert, since it involves wilderness travel). Aided by a friendly dwarf and a swanmay ( a human girl with a magic cape that allows her to take the form of a swan) Holger passes from one situation to another, simple episodic problems taken from folklore. A witch tries to trick him, elves try to entice him into their under-hill realm to dance away a hundred years, a nixie tries to drown him, in a nearby town a werewolf haunts the night. Each problem is overcome within a chapter, and apart from the underlying quest for a magic sword and the increasing friction between Law and Chaos there is no particular connection to them. Although simple, it’s a fun romp, and Anderson has a good way of really bringing old folklore beliefs to life. D&D-wise, the battle between Law (Christendie) and Chaos (the bad faerie folk) is another reason that Basic D&D comes to mind, and the final battle features a troll straight out of D&D (or, rather, D&D features trolls straight out of Anderson), that regenerates unless fire is used.

It ends rather abruptly – I had a feeling that the other two books listed in Appendix N were continuations of a trilogy, but it turns out they’re not. Possibly somewhere with Anderson’s prodigious catalogue of work there are other adventures of Holger Carlsen. The journey, however, is a fun one and I like Anderson’s writing style. It reminds me of Jack Vance, with some understated humour. I also liked the parallels between the fantasy world and the real world, with the evil forces of Chaos massing in the east being a magical equivalent to Nazi Germany (and possibly Stalinist Russia). It lies there as an allegory without ever becoming too overt. A good start so far.

The Broken Sword

This is very different in tone to the previous Poul Anderson book (Three Hearts and Three Lions). It’s a tale of tragedy set in 7^th century Northumberland, in a world where elves and trolls exist but are not seen by ordinary mortals. As a terrible war between the two races rages, the few humans in the tale see only dreadful winter storms and strange noises at night.

Caught up in all of this, and precipitating the whole thing, are the family of a man named Orm, who deals an ill-judged insult to witch and suffers a curse on himself and his family. Orm’s son is taken by an elf lord and swapped for a savage changeling, part troll and part elf, who grows up to be a murderous berserker whose rage slays most of his own family. Meanwhile, Orm’s true son is raised as an elf-lord, and eventually the two brothers end up on opposite sides of a war, which is only a fraction of the greater war between the Aesir and the Jotun of Norse mythology. Celtic gods make an appearance too, although their powers are waning and they are not much more potent than the elves.

In tone and in the events that transpire this book reminds me partly of some of Tolkien’s work, especially the tale of Turin in the Silmarillion, and also of much of Michael Moorcock’s work – the demonic sword of the title that must kill when drawn and is fated to turn upon its owner brings to mind Stormbringer, whilst the elements of Celtic mythology remind me of the second book of Corum, and the whole “doomed hero” motif is a favourite of Moorcock’s (I also discovered that Moorcock cites this story as an inspiration for Elric and Stormbringer, so I guess that comes full circle).

It shouldn’t be surprising. Anderson draws upon the same Norse, Celtic and Teutonic myths that both of the other authors did, and these are lavish with the brevity of humanity in the face of supernatural powers. Tempered, usually, by the idea of grabbing love when possible as the only bright spot in a terrible world, but of course this often, as it is here, is also tinged with tragedy, with the hapless Freda unwittingly committing incest, nearly going mad with the knowledge, losing her lover/brother to death and finally also losing her child by unwittingly promising him to Odin as payment. Yes, it’s a barrel of laughs, this story.

But if you can stand the unrelenting grimness, Anderson does a wonderful job of evoking a storm-ridden world where the elves and trolls are slaves to their wild passionate natures; if you want a good example of what it means to be “fey”, this is a good place to look (another work that this reminds me of is Julian May’s Many Coloured Land, also drawing on Celtic myth, only this time the elves and trolls are in reality halves of an alien race far in Earth’s past. It’s not in Appendix N, but should also be read, I think).

Because Fate plays such a powerful role in the narrative here, there’s less, perhaps, to extract for gaming purposes but if you want your elves to be more traditional folk-lore elves this is a good source of inspiration. It’s also a good place to get ideas for setting fantasy adventures in the “real” world of the past as it blends real geography and history (such as the heughs of Northumberland and Viking raiders) with fantasy elements.(and the effect Christianity has on the creatures of faerie). It also has some gripping descriptions of winter storms, spray-blown seas, forboding glacial fjords and other dark and wintry imagery.

The High Crusade

The last of the three Anderson books recommended in Appendix N, and thankfully this is lighter fare than The Broken Sword, closer in tone to Three Hearts and Three Lions. As with The Broken Sword Anderson places it in a very real time, giving an excellent sense of the era through the behaviours of his characters, but once again introduces a fantasy element. Or rather, in this case, science fiction element.

The inhabitants of a fictional Lincolnshire town are getting ready for the knights of the local lord to head off to Jerusalem on the Crusades. However, before anyone has a chance to go anywhere a strange metal tower descends from the skies into the town. An angelic visitation? Or are the strange pig-faced blue creatures that exit it demons? They’re certainly hostile but despite superior weaponry they are poor fighters against a bunch of riled up mediaeval Englishmen, and soon to everyone’s surprise the English have rousted the “demons” and are in control of their strange tower-like craft.

Yes, of course, it’s an alien invasion, a mediaeval version of Cowboys and Aliens. Thanks to the treachery of the last remaining alien, (who are called Wersgorix), the entire town, fighting men, peasants, women and children, end up being transported to a distant planet with no navigational tools for returning. So they take the fight to the Wersgorix, once again to everyone’s surprise.

The story is told from the point of view of a humble priest, one Brother Parvus, and what’s fun is how the undauntable Sir Roger and his men waste little time in superstition and fear. They are men of war, and they recognise war machinery no matter what the technology. Some concepts are difficult for them to grasp, not least the atheism of the Wersgorix, but politics it would seem are the same no matter the planet and so through alliances, bluffs, threats and shows of strength, Sir Roger and his men are able to take on a technologically superior alien empire.

It’s humorous without getting too camp – Anderson as always is excellent at getting into the psychology of a person from a different time. When some of Sir Roger’s men mistakenly use an atomic weapon in a siege catapult and end up utterly flattening a town that they were merely trying to capture, for example, the farcical nature of the story shows its true colours.

Although there are a few rare examples in gaming of mixing fantasy (or at least mediaeval) with science fiction, usually this is a simple intrusion of high tech into a fantasy world (the classic Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, for example). But there’s a whole genre setting to be explored here, particularly in the extra story that accompanies my Kindle version, a Grail tale told by later generations that reveals a culture that has star-faring ships but still maintains a mediaval Christian mindset. Rather than setting like Spelljammer, where space-faring with fantasy creatures happens in a fantasy way, I love the idea of a fantasy culture that has taken over the trappings of high tech, but adapted it to their particular set of values. There’s a rich seam to be mined there, I think. That, and some of the other alien races are inventive and probably worth nicking and/or adapting, for SF or fantasy.

Okay, that was a brief taster of Poul Anderson and I’d definitely seek out more of his work, time permitting. Within those three books there are very different authorial voices, but in each case Anderson writes with a verve and immediacy that pulls the story along. He’s parsimonious in description, evoking atmosphere without becoming too verbose about it. Sometimes the characters feel subservient to the story – it’s the events that linger rather than the characters in general – but there are some where their overblown attitudes can be entertaining (as with Sir Roger) or disturbing (as with Skafloc and Valgard in the Broken Sword).