Balrog?

[thedungeondelver]

Aha! Found it! OD&D balrog stats (from an old Dragonsfoot post):

The MONSTER MANUAL entry appears, then, to be an amalgam of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and SUPPLEMENT III: ELDRITCH WIZARDRY entries.

(I didn't know about the prior entry in D&D, thanks for pointing that out TF.)

 

[Aaron L]

Yes it was, as is Errtu of Drizzt fame.

And Wendonai.

 

[BroccoliRage]

Aha! Found it! OD&D balrog stats (from an old Dragonsfoot post):

Awesome, T. Foster! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Gentlegamer]

The Balrog was the very first monster with "Magic Resistance," IIRC.

 

[Nathan P. Mahney]

T. Foster, you are The Man.

 

[mythusmage]

Keep in mind that the balrog as presented in LotR was unique to that work. Thus it was protected under copyright laws of the time. Much as were hobbits and ents. Since Tolkien used older sources for his work it's possible that "balrog" comes from such a source. Gary's mistake was using the Tolkein balrog instead of adapting an earlier version.

 

[Nathan P. Mahney]

Don't think I'd call it a mistake. I'm sure one of Gary's goals at that point was to attract sales from Tolkien fans, and it wouldn't have helped to have a Balrog that little resembled what people were expecting. The legal troubles were unfortunately inevitable, but in retrospect didn't seem to harm sales none.

 

[RFisher]

But, does it have wings? (^_^)

 

[mythusmage]

Don't think I'd call it a mistake. I'm sure one of Gary's goals at that point was to attract sales from Tolkien fans, and it wouldn't have helped to have a Balrog that little resembled what people were expecting. The legal troubles were unfortunately inevitable, but in retrospect didn't seem to harm sales none.

Not so. He included some elements from Tolkien because his players asked for them. To be quite honest, he was doing D&D for a circle of friends, and their friends. Thing is, friends kept multiplying. In conversation he has said that he was quite surprise it took off the way it did. Had the success been planned for it would be a very different game.

 

[thedungeondelver]

But, does it have wings? (^_^)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!