Gygaxian Monsters

[Griffith Dragonlake]

Just for fun, I thought I'd write up a list of monsters that as far as I can tell were created by Gygax and not borrowed from another source. Using this criteria, rust monsters are in (inspired by a cheap plastic toy) but the gorgon is out (the bull form appears in a late Medieval bestiary).

Aerial Servant [AD&D MM Gygax]
Ankheg, The [The Dragon # 5 Gygax]
Beholder [Greyhawk Terry Kuntz]
Black (or Gray) Pudding [OD&D Gygax & Arneson]
Bllink Dog [Greyhawk Gygax & Kuntz]
Brain Mole [Eldritch Wizardry Gygax & Blume]
Bugbear (the pumpkin-headed one)
Bulette [The Dragon # 1 Gygax]
Carrion Crawler [Greyhawk Gygax & Kuntz]
Cerebral Parasite [Eldritch Wizardry Gygax & Blume]
Chromatic Dragon [Greyhawk Gygax & Kuntz]
Displacer Beast [Greyhawk Gygax & Kuntz; inspired by A.E. van Gogt's the coeurl in Voyage of the Space Beagle]
Dragonne [AD&D MM Gygax]
Drow [AD&D MM Gygax]
Ear Seeker [AD&D MM Gygax]
Fungi, Violet [AD&D MM Gygax]
Gas Spore [AD&D MM Gygax]
Gelatinous Cube [Greyhawk Gygax & Kuntz]
Ghast [AD&D MM Gygax]
Gnoll [OD&D Name from Lord Dunsany; Hyena description added in AD&D MM]
Gray Ooze [OD&D Gygax & Arneson]
Green Slime [OD&D Gygax & Arneson]
Intellect Devourer [Eldritch Wizardry Gygax & Blume]
Invisible Stalker [OD&D Gygax & Arneson]
Kuo-Toa
Lammasu [Based on mythical lamassu]
Leucrotta [From Pliny's Natural History]
Lich [Greyhawk Gygax & Kuntz]
Lurker Above, The [The Strategic Review # 3 Gygax]
Mimic [AD&D MM Gygax]
Mind Flayer [The Strategic Review # 1 Gygax]
Neo-Otyugh [AD&D MM Gygax]
Ochre Jelly [OD&D Gygax & Arneson]
Ogre Mage [Greyhawk "more properly Japanese Ogres"]
Otyugh [AD&D MM Gygax]
Owlbear [Greyhawk Gygax & Kuntz]
Phase Spider [Greyhawk Gygax & Kuntz]
Piercer, The [The Strategic Review # 3 Gygax]
Pseudo-Dragon [AD&D MM Gygax]
Purple Worm [OD&D Gygax & Arneson]
Quasit [AD&D MM Gygax]
Remorhaz, The [The Dragon # 2 Gygax]
Roper [The Stategic Review # 2 Gygax]
Rot Grub [AD&D MM Gygax]
Rust Monster [Greyhawk Gygax & Kuntz]
Sahuagin [Blackmoor Arneson]
Shambling Mound, The [The Strategic Review # 3 Gygax]
Shrieker, The [The Strategic Review # 3 Gygax]
Slithering Tracker, The [The Strategic Review # 5 Gygax]
Stirge [possibly derived from the Roman owl-like nightbird striga]
Su-Monster [Eldritch Wizardry Gygax & Blume]
Thought Eater [Eldritch Wizardry Gygax & Blume]
Thoul [OD&D Gygax & Arneson undocumented 7HD]
Trapper, The [The Strategic Review # 5 Gygax]
Troglodyte [AD&D MM Gygax]
Troll (Gygax version) [Poul Anderson actually]
Type I Demon [Eldritch Wizardry Gygax & Blume]
Type II Demon [Eldritch Wizardry Gygax & Blume]
Type III Demon [Eldritch Wizardry Gygax & Blume]
Type IV Demon [Eldritch Wizardry Gygax & Blume]
Umber Hulk [Greyhawk Gygax & Kuntz]
Xorn [AD&D MM Gygax]
Yellow Mold [OD&D Gygax & Arneson]

 

[kenobi65]

Lammasu

Mesopotamian mythology.

Leucrotta

Indian or Ethiopian mythology

Troll [Gygax version]

Generally considered to have been taken, whole cloth, from "Three Hearts and Three Lions", by Poul Anderson.

 

[palleomortis]

Troglodyte?, really? Hmm, thought that was a common old school beast, didn't realize it had roots there, cool.

But now, how many did J.R. Tolkin invent?!?

(D&D was inspired and provocted by LOTR, wasn't it?)

 

[Glyfair]

Lammasu is from the Mesopotamian mythos.

Shambling Mound is a pretty direct copy of Marvel comics Man Thing, even down to the nose in the original Monster Manual picture (although it's somewhat more like the Swamp Thing & the Heap, because it lacks to "whoever knows fear burns at its touch" of the Man Thing)..

Ogre Mages are the japanese Oni under another name.

 

[kenobi65]

Troglodyte?, really? Hmm, thought that was a common old school beast, didn't realize it had roots there, cool.

The term is old; the D&D expression of the monster may be novel.

(D&D was inspired and provocted by LOTR, wasn't it?)

In part, but only in part (and many, including EGG himself, have argued that it wasn't a major inspiration). The magic system owes to Jack Vance and L. Sprague de Camp, and the influences of other authors such as Robert E. Howard, Fritz Lieber, Michael Moorcock, and Poul Anderson, among *many* others, can also be seen.

There's a bibliography in the back of the 1E DMG that lists these authors, among others, as "inspirational reading".

 

[GlassEye]

Ogre Mage = Oni

Drow = Svartalfar

 

[Abraxas]

Black Pudding = The Blob (1958 movie monster)
Ghast - may be derived from creatures in H.P. Lovecraft's "Dreamlands" - got this from wikipedia, am going to look up the reference when I get home to my lovecraft collection

 

[T. Foster]

Beholder -- invented by Terry Kuntz
Black Pudding -- invented by Dave Arneson (inspired by The Blob)
Sahuagin -- invented by Steve Marsh

 

[Scylla]

Stirge

This was based on the Strix (of Roman mythology).

 

[rossik]

so, no update from the OP?