Never mind me, just passing through.
Tag: Creatures
Feb 17
Worldbuilding Wednesday 2/17/21: Fairy Tales II
The plasticity of fairy tales is demonstrated by these illustrations of Beauty and the Beast from over the years. In the original fairy tale, the Beast is never explicitly described, so artists had to use their imaginations. From the top left, going clockwise, he’s a spotted hyena, a wolf-boar, a very weird walrus-mole hybrid, and …
Feb 15
Questing Beast
Jan 04
Now That’s a Reindeer!
Extinct prehistoric deer Sinomegaloceros, which boastged a triceratops-like frill over its head.
Dec 17
Rogue Reindeer
Since it’s near Christmas, let’s look at the world of fantastical reindeer. This caribou man, opposite, was included in an AD&D manual as a decorative illustration. He wasn’t listed as a monster with his own stats, which was too bad. (He’s definitely Quebecois because of the hairy chest.) A homebrew gamer did decide to go …
Dec 16
Worldbuilding Wednesday 12/16/20: Christmas Characters
Santa, and Father Christmas and Sinter Klaas before him, is the penultimate character representing Christmas spirit, but he has many helpers. In Germany, there’s his evil counterpart Krampus, and since 1823 (when A Visit from St. Nicholas — better known as The Night Before Christmas — was first published) his reindeer. In the twentieth century …
Dec 06
Revolting Reindeer
Reindeer are the only cervines (members of the deer family) to be domesticated by humans. As such, they enjoy a cozy, familiar status like chicken, ducks, pigs, and domestic pets do. But, like Santa whose sled they haul each December, they have a darker side despite their cheer and competence. Let’s take these odd toys …
Oct 26
Can’t a man have a little privacy?
Japanese demons, or yokai, invade the personal space of this very aghast male bather.