This book is truly an anthology; it contains the works of over two dozen different persons. It is based on collections of various types that have been posted to various Newsgroups on the Internet, primarily rec.games.frp.dnd and is predecessor, rec.games.frp. It also contains materials gleaned from the old central fantasy games archive, greyhawk.stanford.edu, now defunct. The contents of this book are meant for use with Advanced Dungeons&Dragons, but should server equally well in many other fantasy games, particularly those of the Dungeons&Dragons and Middle Earth Role Playing varieties. While I have attempted to update most of the entries for the new (2nd edition) Advanced Dungeons&Dragons game, not everything may have undergone the translation gracefully. I accept all responsibility for any inadvertent butchery that may have occurred. As a point in my favor, I would like to point out that a great deal of the material has emerged substantially enhanced with a much greater flavor (much of original material was, frankly, very sparse, often little more that stats). That said, I am greatly indebted to all those who have posted or ftp'd their creations out to the world as we know it (i.e. the Internet). For without the creativity of those souls, this book would be a poor excuse for a pamphlet. The appendices contain as complete an attribution as was possible given the state of the materials - if you notice anything that you think is incorrect or missing, please let me know. I have not knowingly left out anyone, and have attempted to delete any entries that have been drawn from previously published copyrighted materials (i.e. Dragon Magazine, the various AD&D reference books, et al.). I have included a magic table at the end of the book that includes items found in various copyrighted works; however, you will have to refer to those works for a complete description.
Submissions to this book are always welcome, as it is a work in progress. I recommend that you do not attempt to use this work as the sole means of distribution - I will put out revisions as time allows, but that is subject to the demands of the world. Please share your creations with the Internet at large through postings to the appropriate rec.games.frp.* newsgroup, or it one of numerous anonymous ftp sites. They'll thank you.
Sometime in the future, if I am truly adventurous, I may turn this and other fantasy information into a Web site. We'll just have to see.
| Erik Trimble | |
| June, 1994 |
This anthology was begun considerably before the copyright, trademark, and patent debate regarding the ownership by TSR of various AD&D items, concepts, and text. As a personal note, I do not subscribe to much of the claims and declarations that have come from TSR in the past year. I do respect their desire to prevent wholesale copying of material that was obvious written by TSR. I have therefore removed any any material that I have been able to determine was a blatant plagiarism from some published source. Sadly, much of the original text from greyhawk.standford.edu turned out to be stolen from some published source. I hope this does not reflect on the nature of those whose work truly is original and that I have been able to preserve and present in this anthology.
In order for this work to remain free and distributable to all those who might wish to use it, I expressly forbid it to be placed under any restrictions for redistribution, and also wish to state that any trademarks or other such copyrighted material have been expressly noted and are within the bounds of fair use and attribution, as under current law. (Working for a publishing house does have its small advantages.) Therefore, I do not want this text place upon ftp.mpgn.com or other such site which attempts to attach restrictions on the distribution and/or intellectual ownership of this anthology.
It is still my hope to create a fantasy Web site. With luck, I'll get to it this year.
| Erik Trimble | |
| Jan 1, 1996 |
There is now an official site for all this stuff. Look for it at http://www-white.media.mit.edu/~trims/ADnD (you're reading it now!)
| Erik - April 15, 1996 |
