Recommended Reading and References

The following list is part of a handout I used at the game design workshop I ran at Gen Con 2001. While some items on the list (the writing books) are specifically for people who write games professionally, the others are excellent reference works for DMs running D&D campaigns.

Ask for these titles at your library, bookstore, or newsstand.

Fiction Writer's Workshop (Josip Novakovich)
The Beginning Writer's Answer Book (Polking)
The Art of Dramatic Writing (Reginald Bretnor, ed.)
The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations (Georges Polti)
Revising Prose (Latham)
All solid reference books on the craft and business of writing in general.

Medieval Life (John Guy)
How Would You Survive in the Middle Ages? (Fiona Macdonald)
The Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages (Norman Cantor)
Life in a Medieval Village (J. and F. Gies)
Life in a Medieval Castle (J. and F. Gies)
The Ancient Americas (Time-Life's Making of the Past series)
What Life Was Like... and Time Frame (Time-Life series)
Wizards and Sorcerers: From Abracadabra to Zoroaster (Tom Ogden)
Encyclopedia of Gods: Over 2,500 Deities of the World (Michael Jordan)
The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt (Ian Shaw and Paul Nicholson)
Helpful references for designers of medieval or ancient fantasy settings.

The Atlas of Ancient Archaeology (Hawkes)
Roman Architecture (Sear)
The Atlas Sacred Places (James Harpuri)
City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction (David MacAuley)
Pyramid and Cathedral (David MacAulay)
These will help you understand the layout of ancient temples, medieval castles, etc.

The Hero With a Thousand Faces (Joseph Campbell)
A World of Baby Names (Teresa Norman)
The Dictionary of American Family Names (Elsdon C. Smith)
Psychiatric Dictionary (Robert Campbell)]
The International Encyclopedia of Astronomy (Patrick Moore)
The American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine (Charles B. Clayman, ed.)
What's What: A Visual Glossary of the Physical World (David Fisher and Reginald Bragonier, Jr.)
Dictionary of Anthropology (Charles Winick)
AMA Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants (Kenneth E. Lampe)
The Parennial Dictionary of World Religions (Keith Crim, ed.)
Space Almanac (Anthony R. Curtis)
The Encyclopedia of Evolution: Humanity's Search for its Origins (Richard Milner)
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (John Bartlett)
A Dictionary of 19th-Century World History (John Belchem and Richard Price, eds.)
Timetables of History (Bernard Grun)
Harbrace College Handbook (of English grammar, John C. Hodges and Mary E. Whitten)
General reference works.