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Literary Origins of D&D Monsters
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<blockquote data-quote="Tav_Behemoth" data-source="post: 2551875" data-attributes="member: 18017"><p>Just came across a mention of the <a href="http://www.behemoth3.com/sword/creatures/showcreature.php?creature=Yeth%20Hound" target="_blank">Yeth Hound</a> in a 1896 short story, "Maker of Moons" by Robert W. Chambers (known nowadays mostly for <em>The King in Yellow</em>, which became part of the Cthulu Mythos):</p><p></p><p>"The Yeth-hounds are dogs without heads. They are the spirits of murdered children, which pass through the woods at night, making a wailing noise."</p><p></p><p>As it turns out, though, Chambers seems to have been making use of some prior mythology -- from the <a href="http://www.celticgrounds.com/chapters/encyclopedia/w.html" target="_blank">Encyclopedia of the Celts</a>:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This isn't the first time I've assumed an obscure fictional reference was the source of a D&D creature, only to find that an older legend inspired both -- there are striges in Thomas Burnett Swann's 1966 <em>Day of the Minotaur</em>, which much resemble stirges except for being the size of large insects, but Col. Playdoh said he didn't know Swann's novel & was inspired by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strix_(mythology)" target="_blank">Roman mythology</a>.</p><p></p><p>The classic list of literary origins of D&D is <a href="http://www.geocities.com/rgfdfaq/sources.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Not included are that the displacer beast is inspired by Couerl from A.E. Van Vogt's 1939 short story "Black Destroyer", which later became the <a href="http://vanvogt.www4.mmedia.is/voyagechapter.htm" target="_blank">first chapter</a> of the novel <em>Voyage of the Space Beagle</em>.</p><p></p><p>Also, of course, the rust monster and bulette started life as <a href="http://www.rpg-collector.com/Html/curiosites.htm" target="_blank">plastic toys</a> - Col. Playdoh confirmed that this was indeed the case, although he said they first appeared on the miniatures grid when someone else was DMing; will have to go back and recheck that thread to see who!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tav_Behemoth, post: 2551875, member: 18017"] Just came across a mention of the [url=http://www.behemoth3.com/sword/creatures/showcreature.php?creature=Yeth%20Hound]Yeth Hound[/url] in a 1896 short story, "Maker of Moons" by Robert W. Chambers (known nowadays mostly for [I]The King in Yellow[/I], which became part of the Cthulu Mythos): "The Yeth-hounds are dogs without heads. They are the spirits of murdered children, which pass through the woods at night, making a wailing noise." As it turns out, though, Chambers seems to have been making use of some prior mythology -- from the [url=http://www.celticgrounds.com/chapters/encyclopedia/w.html]Encyclopedia of the Celts[/url]: This isn't the first time I've assumed an obscure fictional reference was the source of a D&D creature, only to find that an older legend inspired both -- there are striges in Thomas Burnett Swann's 1966 [I]Day of the Minotaur[/I], which much resemble stirges except for being the size of large insects, but Col. Playdoh said he didn't know Swann's novel & was inspired by [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strix_(mythology)]Roman mythology[/url]. The classic list of literary origins of D&D is [url=http://www.geocities.com/rgfdfaq/sources.html]here[/url]. Not included are that the displacer beast is inspired by Couerl from A.E. Van Vogt's 1939 short story "Black Destroyer", which later became the [url=http://vanvogt.www4.mmedia.is/voyagechapter.htm]first chapter[/url] of the novel [I]Voyage of the Space Beagle[/I]. Also, of course, the rust monster and bulette started life as [url=http://www.rpg-collector.com/Html/curiosites.htm]plastic toys[/url] - Col. Playdoh confirmed that this was indeed the case, although he said they first appeared on the miniatures grid when someone else was DMing; will have to go back and recheck that thread to see who! [/QUOTE]
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