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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 7699631" data-attributes="member: 3285">Undead have become a standard trope in the fantasy genre, but when Dungeons & Dragons was first created the shambling corpses we know and loathe today were actually drawn from a wide variety of sources, including television, movies, and -- in at least one case -- co-creator Gary Gygax's personal experiences. This installment takes a look at the three Gs: ghasts, ghouls, and ghosts.[h=3]Ghoulish Origins[/h]The ghoul and ghast we know today are chiefly defined by their cannibalistic tendencies and, in the ghast's case, their stench. The two creatures morphed considerably from their source material.H.P. Lovecraft's influence on Gygax's work is well-known, but some of the details have blurred over time as D&D in turn has become influential on other literature.  Jon Peterson explains in <a href="http://amzn.to/23NsYmw" target="_blank">Playing at the World</a>:Ghouls are described in "<a href="http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/pickmansmodel.htm" target="_blank">Pickman's Model</a>" as being more akin to D&D's gnolls, canine-like carrion eaters:The origins of ghouls in D&D reaches <a href="http://quicklyquietlycarefully.blogspot.com/2012/08/ghouls-in-od-and-chainmail.html" target="_blank">all the way back to Chainmail</a>:Ghoul paralysis actually seems to be something of a transitive property from wights that was never removed. <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2012/03/back-from-dead.html" target="_blank">Delta theorizes</a>:Monsters & Treasures in the original boxed <a href="http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/59528/why-are-elves-immune-to-a-ghouls-paralyzing-touch" target="_blank">references Chainmail's ghouls</a>:Why are elves immune? One theory is that it's a holdover from Chainmail in <a href="http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2pc2o?Elven-Immunities-trait-and-ghouls-paralysis#12" target="_blank">an attempt to balance</a> the more expensive elf unit against cheaper undead units. Gygax clarified the ghouls/ghast relationship <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?215360-When-did-ghouls-become-undead/page2#ixzz468VnxWAJ" target="_blank">on ENWorld</a>, as well as a reference to their curious paralysis ability:Ghouls aren't the only curious critters who have strayed far from H.P. Lovecraft's original vision. [h=3]I'm Aghast![/h]Although D&D groups them together, ghasts are considerably different in Lovecraft's "<a href="http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/dq.aspx" target="_blank">The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath</a>":And later:In Lovecraft's writing, just about everything has a stench -- at one point a ghast's corpse is mentioned as being "noxious" but there's no particular attribute in Lovecraft's description of ghasts that should make them have such a smell.  Although ghouls and ghasts share the same ecosystem, they are not related -- a connection the Fifth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons formalized by bestowing a bonus to ghouls so that they can more easily resist turning in the ghast's presence.  It's also curious that gugs, four-armed giants with a mouth down the middle of their heads, weren't formally incorporated into D&D until <a href="http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/additionalMonsters/gug.html" target="_blank">Pathfinder</a>.Both the ghoul and ghast in Lovecraft's work shares the unholy appetite for corpses. The ghoul actually has more in common with the modern depiction of the zombie, who was likely influenced by its film counterpart. We'll discuss zombies in the next installment.[h=3]Ghost in the System[/h]Ghosts were the first undead monsters introduced to Dungeons & Dragons in The Strategic Review #3.  Their ability to age and possess victims were present in their debut. However, Gygax didn't consider them undead: Why the discrepancy?  It may well be that Gygax had his own ideas on the true nature of ghosts...based on personal experience.  Michael Witwer's book, <a href="http://amzn.to/22C9pva" target="_blank">Empire of Imagination</a>, retells Gygax's encounter with the supernatural:It wasn't the last brush with the supernatural for Gygax:These formative experiences, combined with his exploration of <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3345-The-Crazy-Origin-of-the-Dungeon" target="_blank">Oakwood Sanitarium</a>, likely influenced the appearance (or reappearance?) of the ghost in D&D.[h=3]Understanding the Undead[/h]It's perhaps no surprise that undead are peppered throughout Dungeons & Dragons.  Gygax certainly had enough personal experiences to imagine monsters lurking behind dungeon corners, as per Witwer:Gary wasn't the only contributor to undead canon -- Dave Arneson's group added its own iconic contribution. We'll look at the rest of the undead in the next installment.</blockquote>

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