Gorgons in D&D

[Jack Daniel]

You know, the multiplicity and confusion of different monsters and races from folklore has always ticked me off about D&D. It's always sometimes felt like D&D was trying to come up with as many variations on creatures as possible, just for the sake of variation itself (or to fill pages in monster books). It's just as annoying as seeing palette-swapped copies of monsters in computer RPGs.

Of course, some of this has to go all the way back to Tolkien. Norse mythology makes no distinction (or very muddy distinctions) between dwarves, trolls, and dark elves, but Tolkien needed separate races of dwarves, trolls, and moriquendi in his mythology. On the other hand, there is really no distinction in Tolkien between goblin, hobgoblin, and orc, something that D&D artificially imposed (after throwing kobolds and bugbears into the mix too), just so that there would be lots of low-level humanoid races for the PCs to go slaughter.

Personally? I'd rather just conform to the mythology. (It also cheeses off those rules-lawyer players who like to read the Monster Manual and think they know everything about everything.) So, here's what I do in my campaigns:

- Gorgons get called "catoblepas." Medusas get called "gorgons."
- There is no distinct "nymph" monster. Dryads, naiads, nereids, and so forth are all kinds of nymphs.
- There is but one race of goblins, called "goblins" by men and halflings and "orc" by elves and dwarves. Kobolds, goblins, orcs, hobgoblins... all just various sizes/ages/roles of one race of beasties. (Bugbears are a different story. They're uruk-hai.)
- Trolls? Weak to fire and acid? Rubbery and regenerative? Hah! Bring burny weapons to a troll-fight, and your sorry PCs are going to get smushed and eaten. Trolls are big rock-skinned monsters, stronger than ogres, with high ACs and DR/adamant to account for the fact that their hides are too tough to be pierced by ordinary weapons. Of course, they also avoid sunlight, lest they get turned to stone by its rays. ...And, oh yeah, since "drow" is just a Celtic form of the Germanic word "troll," don't go looking for sexy purple-skinned elves in a drow cave. Again, that sort of thing will lead to your PCs getting smushed and eaten by something very big and ugly.

 

[D'karr]

You know, the multiplicity and confusion of different monsters and races from folklore has always ticked me off about D&D.

Yes because mythology itself is not filled with multiplicity and confusion...

 

[gizmo33]

. ...And, oh yeah, since "drow" is just a Celtic form of the Germanic word "troll," don't go looking for sexy purple-skinned elves in a drow cave. Again, that sort of thing will lead to your PCs getting smushed and eaten by something very big and ugly.

The tricky thing is that you seem to be both relying on and trying to punish metagame knowledge. It's a difficult issue as a DM, to be sure. The PC in your world has probably heard of "drow" before, with the proper definition (according to your campaign). After all, the PC grew up there. Otherwise, the confusion is caused by the player's real world knowledge. In my campaign, the word "sword" might apply to a kind of pasta noodle. That might lead to some hilarious stories but I'm not sure it's fair to the players to not suspect that their PCs know some things about the world.

In most games I've played in, if I relied on the DM for every bit of knowledge that my character acts on, my character would be in a coma the whole time. "King, what's that mean? Adventure? What's that? Is it customary to get paid for an 'adventure'? Is gold valuable in this world? Does gold have a density equal to feathers? Are coins intelligent?"

 

[Huw]

And the third Gorgon Sister is Euryale--Who has her own D&D cameo as a card in the Deck of Many Things.

You missed Stheno, the second sister.