D&D General Who coined the phrase "murder hobo"

[Gadget]

I'm quite sure the phrase pre-dates this site and the lead up to 3E's release. I was probably first popularized and became a part of fan vocabulary in the old news-group/messageboards of yore.

 

[Ancalagon]

The key to understand is knowing the meaning of "hobo"

A hobo is not just a homeless beggar. A hobo is a wandering *worker * - going from place to place, doing small jobs for a bit of cash.

A murder hobo is therefore a wandering provider of violence. A petty sell sword, if you will.

 

[der_kluge]

What are murder hobos and where did the phrase come from?

The discussion was around the use of the traditional 10-foot pole. Early D&D games were full of dungeons traps, and paranoid characters would use a long pole to check for pits, poke treasure chests (in case of mimic beasts) and try to push doors open.

www.geeknative.com

 

[LordEntrails]

Wiktionary claims it came from UseNet.

Early '80's sounds about right. I know it goes back to when I was playing AD&D about that time. Don't remember if it was 1e or 2e or maybe even OD&D.

What are murder hobos and where did the phrase come from?

The discussion was around the use of the traditional 10-foot pole. Early D&D games were full of dungeons traps, and paranoid characters would use a long pole to check for pits, poke treasure chests (in case of mimic beasts) and try to push doors open.

www.geeknative.com

Yea, that's a poorly researched article. Interesting, but 2007 is decades too late.

I would look at some of the first Dragon and Dungeon magazines. I suspect the term will show up there pretty early on. Maybe even some of the original TSR pamphlets or the early Gen Con publications might mention the term.

 

[jgsugden]

I certainly did not hear it until well after 2000, and I've been playing D&D since the 70s.

 

[Eltab]

The term "murderhobo"could not come to the forefront until "homeless" took over the space used by "hobo" in the popular vernacular. The word "hobo" was vacant (except for its ghosts) available and awaiting a repurposing by about 1990.
(Yah, real precise and detailed, I know)

 

[der_kluge]

duplicate post.

 

[der_kluge]

Early '80's sounds about right. I know it goes back to when I was playing AD&D about that time. Don't remember if it was 1e or 2e or maybe even OD&D.

Yea, that's a poorly researched article. Interesting, but 2007 is decades too late.

I would look at some of the first Dragon and Dungeon magazines. I suspect the term will show up there pretty early on. Maybe even some of the original TSR pamphlets or the early Gen Con publications might mention the term.

Done. I re-installed my Dragon magazine CD archive, and did a search for "hobo", which yielded only one occurrence - issue 186, pg. 98, which referenced a "hobo" occupation for Call of Cthulhu.

 

[Azzy]

What are murder hobos and where did the phrase come from?

The discussion was around the use of the traditional 10-foot pole. Early D&D games were full of dungeons traps, and paranoid characters would use a long pole to check for pits, poke treasure chests (in case of mimic beasts) and try to push doors open.

www.geeknative.com

Huh. This fits the rough timeline that I first heard the term.

Also, I knew EvilSchemer from the Mekton/Cyberpunk 2020/Fuzion days of yore. Ah, tempus fugit and all that.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

"Murder Hobo" is OLD! I am really not sure HOW old, but I was playing in the 70's, so I probably heard it approximately around the time it made the rounds, and that was definitely in the early 80's or earlier. It was just one of those things that 'appeared'. I just don't recall from where, possibly some article in some publication? UseNet actually sounds like a VERY good possibility, as that was about the only way in the pre-Web days for stuff to get around, outside of print.
So, the more I think about it, the more I am confident that it was something derived from UseNet, and/or the BBS community, which were pretty synonymous in those days. I was in college in the early 80's and we did have access to UseNet. There was a LOT of RPG stuff on there! Actually quite a lot of it migrated into the greater online community since then, like most of the debates about alignment, and the discussions of RPG theory (ala Forge and such).