It has been leaked that the forthcoming Volo's Guide to Monsters will have rules for playing Aasimar, Bugbears, Firbolgs, Goblins,Goliaths, hobgoblins, Kenku, Kobolds, Lizardfolk, Orcs, Tabaxi and Tritons. Setting aside my current movement towards even finding elves a bit problematic as a playable race, I can see the case for things like Aasimar, Kenky and Goliaths. But bugbears? Goblins? Hobgoblins? I've even seen complaints that gnolls weren't included. What? These are monsters . I guess it comes out of an assumption that I've grown to wholesale reject - A naturalistic approach to critters. Ie, that gnolls or bugbears are just another intelligent species like any other, albeit one more violent then most.  In other words, they are not really monsters. This approach, populised I suppose by the WoW/Eberron approach to orcs as Noble Savages, to me roundly defeats much of the Raison d'Etre for D&D adventuring - Namely that it is ok to kill these cr...

Kobolds wrap up this little mini series on humanoids. Not because they merit a special place or anything. Really, it's just that they didn' fit into the previous two and they have just enough going for them to be mentioned anyway. I should say in advance: It's not a generous treatment. Kobolds, as the lowest hit die humanoid on the block, get the dumpster treatment. With goblins feyed up, made a bit more spooky and capable, Kobolds are the ones left to fill another niche. A quick look at the  wiki page for Kobolds  shows that kobolds play a very different role than goblins: They are house spirits, mining spirits, sailing spirits, performing menial chores for humanity. In other words, they are a race connected with civilization far more so than the mythic wilderness. And generally, in the garbage end of the hierarchy. Intelligent rats. They are basically sapient vermin. Kobolds in Erce are found in every major city in the west. They live in sewers and slum...

This is a followup to  Giving Humanoids a Raison d'être , where I cover the Goblins Bugbears, Ogres and trolls. Or simply: Trolls. Let's throw in hill giants, ogre magi (Onis) and hags for good measure. The humanoids discussed in the previous entry were, in a sense, write-ups of  Gygaxian Naturalist  critters. In this article, the remaining ones will be those of a decidedly more mythic  bend. I've compiled them all under the label: Trolls. I've never loved the D&D troll. As a critter, it is a fine piece of work. Everybody fears and loathes regeneration. But trolls, at least as a Scandinavian, has unavoidable mythic connotations to me that Poul Anderson's strange concoction does not meet in any shape or form. The D&D 'troll' is wonderful Chaos Beast no doubt, but it is not mythic. And trolls are mythic. Instead, I've stripped the D&D troll of its rank and title and assigned it to some others critters of mythic origin who could really...

Another issue frequently blogged about in the D&D and OSR blogosphere is the neverending variety of humanoids in D&D and their vague distinctions. Goblins,hobgoblins,bugbears,orcs,gnolls,kobolds,orogs,etc. It seems Gygax basically made a critter for each minor increment of hit dice - Their differing roles otherwise being trivial. I've struggled myself with this as well - What really distinguishes orcs from hobgoblins? What is the point of having kobolds and goblins? I think I have landed at what I feel is satisfactory writeup for the various humanoids that makes them distinct and gives me a reason to have them in the world. Partly because I've identified what I think is one of the main issues with the various humanoids - It is never clearly defined how they relate differently to humanity. I found that once I started thinking about these races having a history and then focusing on their ecology as they impact humanity, gave me inspiration to start writin...