HOME | DD

Description

These designs were a challenge for me.

I'm trying to capture the essence of these old-school monsters for this project. But there are some aspects of that which I don't really care for.

For example, the hobgoblins of original DnD represented a fantasy version of the Huns or the Mongols. Terrifying invaders from the Eurasian steppe who posed a serious threat to the pseudo-European kingdoms of Gygax's fantasy world.

The artists knew as much about Asian history as they did about European history, so the drawings of these characters were an odd mix of Asian cultures, mostly falling back on Japanese samurai, which meant they came across not as invading Huns, but as generic negative Asian stereotypes, with features that wouldn't have looked out of place in WW2 anti-Japanese propaganda posters.

There's a lot I could say on this topic. Mostly about how moral panic about racism usually misses the point. I'm going to limit myself to saying that I've tried to make these characters a little more westernized, so that they are more like generic fantasy monsters than invaders from the far east. I've kept a little nod to their origins, by keeping the half moon on their helmets.

And like all my monsters, I've tried to make them look more mischievous than evil. IMHO, the root of many of our problems is a childish black-and-white morality. By creating a myth of pure goodness, we project evil onto existing aspects of the world.
"What is normal to the spider is Chaos to the fly."

Description

These designs were a challenge for me.

I'm trying to capture the essence of these old-school monsters for this project. But there are some aspects of that which I don't really care for.

For example, the hobgoblins of original DnD represented a fantasy version of the Huns or the Mongols. Terrifying invaders from the Eurasian steppe who posed a serious threat to the pseudo-European kingdoms of Gygax's fantasy world.

The artists knew as much about Asian history as they did about European history, so the drawings of these characters were an odd mix of Asian cultures, mostly falling back on Japanese samurai, which meant they came across not as invading Huns, but as generic negative Asian stereotypes, with features that wouldn't have looked out of place in WW2 anti-Japanese propaganda posters.

There's a lot I could say on this topic. Mostly about how moral panic about racism usually misses the point. I'm going to limit myself to saying that I've tried to make these characters a little more westernized, so that they are more like generic fantasy monsters than invaders from the far east. I've kept a little nod to their origins, by keeping the half moon on their helmets.

And like all my monsters, I've tried to make them look more mischievous than evil. IMHO, the root of many of our problems is a childish black-and-white morality. By creating a myth of pure goodness, we project evil onto existing aspects of the world.
"What is normal to the spider is Chaos to the fly."