Recently I learned about some neat takes on fantasy standards. I love it when people reinterpret goblins, trolls, elves, dwarves, and the like.
One such take that is completely available online is the dwarves of the Dwimmermount campaign, as covered in gamemaster James Malizewsk's Grognardia blog. Here's a link to all of his posts about dwarves. In a nutshell, his dwarves are more like earth elementals than demihumans; they are all male, and they reproduce by carving sons for themselves, taking their time to do it...you keep carving and decorating your son statue with gems, and if you keep at it long enough, he might just wake up. He might also come out a monster. It's wild and wonderful and interesting.
I've also been reading about the Paizo D&D book Classic Monsters Revisited, which takes on goblins, ogres, bugbears and others and gives them a lot of personality. You can find some of this information online; for example, here's some information about goblins. I found enough in this review of the book to make me want to get a copy. You can actually still get this book in paper or pdf format from Paizo.com.
That idea about the dwarves carving their children is fantastic. The fact that they're all male is still pretty ridiculous, but I think that's what makes it magical.
ReplyDeleteDoug
I know! Why are they male? How are you male if there is no female? But man, the idea is evocative.
ReplyDelete