The Origin of the Gnoll (again)

[RigaMortus]

Yeah, when I was in high school and on summer break and had no job or responsibility, my friends and I would play from morning til night, every day of the week. I'd say around 12 to 14 hours a day. One of my friends pretty much moved in for the duration of summer vacation, going home only to pick up more clothes

Ahhhhh, those were the days.

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On a totally un-related note...

Another friend of mine, whom I didn't meet until my senior year in HS, told me that his mom threw away all his original DnD books because... well I won't go into it. Let's just say he grew up in a nice Christian family

But as he got older, his mom got more accepting of his hobby and he continued to play Dnd as well as many other RPGs. He got me into Rifts (I never knew there were other RPGs out there besides DnD at the time) and later he helped play test Magic: The Gathering. So needless to say, he helped feed my M:tG addiction too, but I'm all better now. Amazing what 12 step programs can do these days

Sorry for the ramble, but you gnome how it is when work is dead.

 

[Aeolius]

Re: Dog Men

On a related subject, I wanted to ask about Kobolds.

In the spirit of how we massacred the gnome...

what do you call a half-elemental (air) kobold? a blowbold

what do you call a half-elemental (water) kobold? a flowbold

what do you call an arctic kobold? a snowbold

what do you call a kobold with wings? a crowbold

what do you call a yeast golem fashioned in the shape of a kobold? a doughbold

what do you call a kobold with the ability to enlarge? a growbold

what do you call a kobold with the ability to reduce? a lowbold

what do you call a kobold who's not in a hurry? a slowbold

what do you call a bioluminescent kobold? a glowbold

what do you call a kobold with a high INT? a knowbold

what do you call an invisible kobold? a nobold

what do you call him when he reappears? a showbold

what do you call a kobold with oars? a rowbold

what do you call an artificial kobold? a fauxbold

what do you call a kobold on a string? a yoyobold

what do you call a kobold with a needle and thread? a sewbold

what do you call a kobold with big feet? a toebold

what do you call a despairing kobold? a woebold

what do you call a professional kobold? a probold

what do you call an equal exchange of kobolds? quid pro quobold

what do you call a dead kobold? john doebold

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Re: Dog Men

OK -- my celebrity worshipping instincts have now been brought under control.

As a celeb I am on a par with Itsak (sp?) of the Jug is with the deities in Fritz Leiber's yarns about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser

On a related subject, I wanted to ask about Kobolds. Although my original Monster Manual is in storage, I recall the 1E Kobolds being dog-men; in 3E they appear to be lizard-men. Is

my memory playing tricks on me? If not, why the change?

Your memory memory serves you well. Dave Sutherland (DCS IIII) depicted kobolds as being dog-like of visage in his illos for the OAD&D MM. What likely caused the alteration is that I had them as scaley and green skinned. That was meant to convey a sort of demon-impish nature to these humanoids, not any reptillian heritage. Such is life when other's interpret things...

The reason I am thinking about this right now is that I just finished reading a 9th century manuscript for school in which a theologian was being consulted about whether dog-men had souls. He was of the opinion that they did because they wore clothes, a clear sign that someone possesses a soul if ever there were one.

The document inspired me to involve some dog-men in one of the campaigns I'm running but I've been unable to find a readily-adaptable demi-human race -- it now appears that the closest one is the gnoll.

Wearing clothes does conver intellect and the sense of shame that according to the Bible came when Adam and Eve fell from Grace. That would certainly cause a early medieval theologian to consider that such creatures were children og God, possed of souls

Cheers,
Gary

 

[mistergone]

"People I Would Most Like To Game With At Least Once" List

Gary
Vin Diesel
Snoop Dogg (heh, why not? I don't even think he games, but wouldn't that be funny if he showed up at the gaming table)

That's hilarious. Add Christopher Walken in there, and that would be a good gaming group. Hahaha, oh man, how surreal would that be? Imagine all four of them showing up to your house every other Friday night to game? I wonder if Snoop would bring his posse? "Roll my dice, yo, fo' shizzle." Would he have gold-plated dice? What kind of characters would they play? It would be even funnier if they played something very different from what one would normally expect. Someone told me once that he played in a game with Mr. Gygax at a Con or something and Gary was playing a swedish gnome. Ah, comedy.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

[snip]

... Someone told me once that he played in a game with Mr. Gygax at a Con or something and Gary was playing a swedish gnome. Ah, comedy.

Likely that was Louhi Sharpnose, my newest OAD&D PC, created about four years back. He is a Frusti, not a Swede

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

Re: Re: Dog Men

As a celeb I am on a par with Itsak (sp?) of the Jug is with the deities in Fritz Leiber's yarns about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser

I don't know, he might be pretty well known. Last week I referred to my friend David Torma as "Torma of the Jug" for no apparent reason.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Re: Re: Re: Dog Men

I don't know, he might be pretty well known. Last week I referred to my friend David Torma as "Torma of the Jug" for no apparent reason.

Well great! Fritz was a great guy, and I hope his writing remains around for a long time

One of my cherished possession comes from a friend of his, Dr. MacKnight. That worthy gentleman gave me his copy of THE BOY'S OWN BOOK, 1870 Edition--my own original copy from a distant cousin is an 1890 Edition.

Cheers,
Gary