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I quite enjoy the "Ecology" article that comes our way each month, with its game mechanics, modified beasties, occasional deities, and spells and feats tied to the creature. And then there's the taste of "real history" every so often. To this latter piece, I would like to see it made a staple of the "Ecology" articles by way of some small side bar.
I simply want to know where the creature "really" came from - be it myth, lore, or the pages of some historical edition of DnD. The Rust Monster, I believe, was the last one that had any "real history" to it, and I quite enjoyed reading of its origins. But I'm making my way through the "Ecology of the Elemental Weird" right now and would seriously like to know how the concept of this creature actually came to be - be it by myth or someone's creative genius.
So, how about it? Can we start to see more real-life histories of creatures?
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I quite enjoy the "Ecology" article that comes our way each month, with its game mechanics, modified beasties, occasional deities, and spells and feats tied to the creature. And then there's the taste of "real history" every so often. To this latter piece, I would like to see it made a staple of the "Ecology" articles by way of some small side bar.
I simply want to know where the creature "really" came from - be it myth, lore, or the pages of some historical edition of DnD. The Rust Monster, I believe, was the last one that had any "real history" to it, and I quite enjoyed reading of its origins. But I'm making my way through the "Ecology of the Elemental Weird" right now and would seriously like to know how the concept of this creature actually came to be - be it by myth or someone's creative genius.
So, how about it? Can we start to see more real-life histories of creatures?
Yeah ditto that
i support this idea!
I'd normally support your suggestion, but I'd like to play Devil's Advocate for a moment. Most of the Ecology articles are submitted by freelance writers, which is to say average D&D players like you and I. If you and I don't know where a particular monster came from, then the author of a given article probably doesn't either. This means that Dragon must either reject a submission because the author doesn't know enough about the creature's origins, or the staff must undertake the research themselves to track down the necessary information. In either case, that seems to be a lot of effort for a 2- or 3-paragraph sidebar. I don't mean to sound harsh, I just want to provide another viewpoint.
I've long wondered how any freelancer is supposed to get an Ecology published. How much "real history" does one need to know? How much can be extrapolated or fabricated? Just how many 1e supliments do I need to own?
I never thought to ask before now, but I'm curious all the same.
Usually there's at least a grain of "real-world" history in each D&D beast, but sometimes they are simply the fevered dreams of the immagination. In those cases I can understand excluding the historical sidebar. Weirds however DO have some roots in history, and I am also surprised said past wasn't touched on. The word "weird" comes from "wyrd" the Anglo-Saxon/Nordic term for "fate", which they believe was akin to a well which fed the universe (which was percieved as a tree). Full info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyrd
I too enjoy reading about the origins of various D&D creations, be it Dragotha or the lowly wight. I think it's far more interesting than advice on how to scale the monster or how to add templates to it, for example. The connection to real-world myth, books or stories is what puts meat on the bones of a creature, like explaining how the common D&D troll comes from the book Three Hearts and Three Lions, by Poul Anderson. Historical trivia like that perks up my jaded players' interest, that's for sure.
I've long wondered how any freelancer is supposed to get an Ecology published. How much "real history" does one need to know? How much can be extrapolated or fabricated? Just how many 1e supliments do I need to own?
I never thought to ask before now, but I'm curious all the same.
Now I'm not sure when my article will find its way into print, sometime next year the last I heard. But to answer your question perhaps, that's why I chose a critter whose origin was exclusive to D&D and whose origins in which books etc I already knew. And any real world inspiration was of fairly recent origin as well, and not as important necessarily as the D&D spinoff.
But if I were to write about a critter who came from an edition before I started playing, the first thing I'd do would be to pick the brains of other players for resources to reference, and then from there for some reading for real world origins if they existed. And depending on the critter in question, it might be worth emailing the original writer from their D&D appearance to see if they had anything to chip in on inspiration, etc.
To put another spin on the "real" history thoughts mentioned here, I would like to know what game settings the "game" histories are meant for. Sometimes, with creatures like wights, driders or rust-monster, where the ecology is more descriptive rather than pinning down the creature's precise origin and history something like this isn't all that necessary--but I really wonder with entries like the one for the Ettercap (where they decended from a single deviant demon worshiping cult of druids) or the Hags (decended from a fallen goddess of beauty) if the explanation is Greyhawk specific, or whether there are supposed to be a dozen or so identical cults with identical histories in every setting.
It really seems that when the history gets that specific, that the monster should really be specific to just that one setting (like the Spawn of Kyuss, for example, which would be really silly in a setting with no Kyuss).
I love the articles. They're a big part of why I buy Dragon nowadays, but sometimes I wonder how they apply cross-setting.
Its true, its true. I guess if dieties can interlop into other campaign settings (the elven pantheon seems to be practically nomadic in their inability to stay put) then I suppose monsters could spread just as easily. Heck, ettercaps in X might just be planar refugees from Y, but they teach their origins to their young as if they had never left.
Still, I yearn for an ecology of the tarasque. Don't try to even tell me you don't.
Actually, I already know it. You can find it on the web. Rather, you can find the tarasque's designer's notes on what it's purpose and creator was.
Anybody else know, or do I have to start giving hints?