D&D invented demons, devils and daemons to fill spaces in the alignment grid. While the conflict between the lawful devils and the chaotic fiends did make for an interesting spectacle, the daemons (or yugoloths in later editions) were pretty boring since their entire shtick was being mercenaries for the other two. The distinction was also undermined by the demons and devils lacking any kind of unifying aesthetic or motif. In fact, all three were created using the same random number tables in Appendix D.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Demons in Mongoose Publishing
In 3.x/d20/OGL, demons or "fiends" were divided into a number of subtypes or races such as "demons" and "devils." In the original Dungeons & Dragons setting these were called baatezu and tanar'ri, but of course those names are closed content. Not to be deterred, some publishers developed substitutes. Mongoose Publishing in particular published numerous books dealing with demons. These weren't consistent with one another due to different writers, but they build on recurring ideas.
Encyclopaedia Arcane: Demonology (reprinted and updated in Encyclopaedia Arcane Compendium, Volume I) introduced the concept of demonic broods, families of demons descended from demonic royalty and named for their founder. These included the baate, tanar and tzaretch (the latter in a web enhancement). The baate and tanar are clearly substitute names for the demons and devils from the SRD.
The Slayer's Guide to Demons further stipulates that the suffix "ka" is appended to brood names, since the name consists of the name of their founder and the "ka" suffix means brood. Therefore, the tanar'ka are literally the brood of Tanar, the insectile van'g'ka are the brood of Van'g, the shadowy jar'taska'ka are the brood of Jar'taska, and the disembodied nuyul'ka are the brood of Nuyul. (I prefer to write the names as vang'ka and jartas'ka because the excessive apostrophes are unnecessary and caca is Spanish for "excrement".)
The Book of the Planes, The Book of Hell, The Planes: Zahhak, and The Planes: Feuerring all went on to explore parts of the lower planes. The Book of the Planes introduced a generic lower plane named Infernum. Initially it referred to the lower planes generally, but when expanded on in The Book of Hell it became the first layer of the lower planes from which the other lower planes were accessible. The Book of Hell introduced the concept of "noble devils," houses, corruption points, "iliaster" harvested from the damned, etc. The Planes: Feuerring explored some of the geography of Infernum, particularly the titular "ring of fire" separating it from other planes. The Planes: Zahhak detailed a minor lower plane ruled by despair (named for a dragon in Persian myth).
All of this musing on demons reached its peak in the custom campaign setting Infernum. Infernum introduced demons as player characters, recycling many concepts introduced in the prior books like breeds, houses, iliaster, etc. These were spread across three volumes: Book of the Damned, Book of the Tormentor, and Book of the Conqueror. The setting was based very closely on Dante's Inferno, in that it aimed to depict the Hell of Christian mythology rather than generic fantasy.
Encyclopaedia Arcane: Demonology (reprinted and updated in Encyclopaedia Arcane Compendium, Volume I) introduced the concept of demonic broods, families of demons descended from demonic royalty and named for their founder. These included the baate, tanar and tzaretch (the latter in a web enhancement). The baate and tanar are clearly substitute names for the demons and devils from the SRD.
The Slayer's Guide to Demons further stipulates that the suffix "ka" is appended to brood names, since the name consists of the name of their founder and the "ka" suffix means brood. Therefore, the tanar'ka are literally the brood of Tanar, the insectile van'g'ka are the brood of Van'g, the shadowy jar'taska'ka are the brood of Jar'taska, and the disembodied nuyul'ka are the brood of Nuyul. (I prefer to write the names as vang'ka and jartas'ka because the excessive apostrophes are unnecessary and caca is Spanish for "excrement".)
The Book of the Planes, The Book of Hell, The Planes: Zahhak, and The Planes: Feuerring all went on to explore parts of the lower planes. The Book of the Planes introduced a generic lower plane named Infernum. Initially it referred to the lower planes generally, but when expanded on in The Book of Hell it became the first layer of the lower planes from which the other lower planes were accessible. The Book of Hell introduced the concept of "noble devils," houses, corruption points, "iliaster" harvested from the damned, etc. The Planes: Feuerring explored some of the geography of Infernum, particularly the titular "ring of fire" separating it from other planes. The Planes: Zahhak detailed a minor lower plane ruled by despair (named for a dragon in Persian myth).
All of this musing on demons reached its peak in the custom campaign setting Infernum. Infernum introduced demons as player characters, recycling many concepts introduced in the prior books like breeds, houses, iliaster, etc. These were spread across three volumes: Book of the Damned, Book of the Tormentor, and Book of the Conqueror. The setting was based very closely on Dante's Inferno, in that it aimed to depict the Hell of Christian mythology rather than generic fantasy.
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
A brief guide to mind flayer substitutes
So Mind Flayers are considered product identity by Wizards of the Coast and third-party publishers cannot mention them. Months ago I posted a brief post about how my setting would replace them with several races that worship the big Cthulhu himself, but in this post I would like to discuss substitutes in an out-of-character fashion.
Fantasy physics and real world biology
I have written before that I have a preference for pre-modern science in my fantasy settings, mostly because very few settings do aside from Exalted and RuneQuest. My homebrew in progress has an animistic cosmology, morally ambiguous law/chaos conflict, spontaneous generation, four humors, diseases caused by evil spirits, and no binary distinction between magic and mundane skillsets. In contrast, D&D and its derivatives are the poster child for gratuitous biology explanations.
Sources for dream-related monsters
Dream-related monsters are a favorite of mine.
- Creature Collection II: Dark Menagerie by Onyx Path Publishing features the dreamfolk, dreamwrack and dreamwraith monsters.
- Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary by Atlas Games features the dreamkind family of monsters.
- The Mind Unveiled by Dreamscarred Press features the Qael family of monsters.
- Dream-related monsters are probably found in many other bestiaries, such as Nightmares & Dreams Creature Collection by Samurai Sheepdog or Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Occult Bestiary by Paizo Inc.
I will be writing more about dream monsters when I discuss the plane of dreams in the future...
Addendum: artistic inspirations:
Addendum: artistic inspirations:
- http://www.yerkaland.com/language/en/
- https://www.deviantart.com/claudiobergamin/art/H-P-Lovecraft-s-Silver-Key-334969114
- http://rayagolden.blogspot.com/2009/05/been-while.html
- https://www.deviantart.com/valentina-remenar/art/D-R-E-A-M-S-398472986
- https://hobbismo.com.br/sonhos-e-pesadelos-no-rpg/world_of_dreams_by_frankhorlw-d5yjju7/
Children of Chaos
The slaad are an iconic element of Dungeons & Dragons, but unfortunately they are closed content. Not to be discouraged, publishers have devised multiple substitutes.
Reinventing the Plane of Air
This post collects some random ideas I had in the past for reinventing the plane of air. These are unfinished notes right now, but I hope anyone who reads this can be inspired to have adventures on the plane of air, or as I like to call it: "Cloud Cuckoo Land."
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