tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post6742941779761457803..comments2024-03-26T15:35:56.004-04:00Comments on Delta's D&D Hotspot: Ghouls Through LiteratureDeltahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-79006097292529792162015-11-02T10:11:43.556-05:002015-11-02T10:11:43.556-05:00Cool, I like it! Creepy.Cool, I like it! Creepy.Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-63833997786688209322015-11-02T10:11:24.369-05:002015-11-02T10:11:24.369-05:00That's interesting!That's interesting!Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-60593168279932891282015-10-30T13:21:17.093-04:002015-10-30T13:21:17.093-04:00I used ghoul personalities based on Gaiman's &...I used ghoul personalities based on Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book", where they dressed in and took the names of their first victims and could be rather social, when not trying to eat you. It gave them a different flair from the other undead in the game. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-12841127551488565042015-10-29T15:19:57.848-04:002015-10-29T15:19:57.848-04:00The GURPS fantasy setting had ghouls who were sort...The GURPS fantasy setting had ghouls who were sort of like vampires -- needed brains to survive, but not necessarily evil and that's why the prey on corpses in graveyards -- to avoid killing people, which would attract attention and persecution. But they were never human, and are not undead, they are a race of their own. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-1015104257665872392015-10-29T11:01:17.665-04:002015-10-29T11:01:17.665-04:00Indeed, that's not a terrible approach.Indeed, that's not a terrible approach.Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-33989215208598962422015-10-28T11:09:46.920-04:002015-10-28T11:09:46.920-04:00As with many things, I like the BFRPG approach:
...As with many things, I like the BFRPG approach: <br /><br />1) those hit by either bite or claw are subject to paralysis (with save)<br /><br />2) ghouls typically don't eat their kills fresh, preferring to "age" them at least a few days (implying intelligence)<br /><br />3) any character hit by a bite (only) has a 5% chance of contracting ghoul fever. Those afflicted who fail a save will die. Those afflicted who die rise as ghouls after a day. <br /><br />So the ghouls store their dead before eating them, ~5% of which will rise as ghouls before being eaten. Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04701068052580688441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-53324224767346486192015-10-28T00:54:46.541-04:002015-10-28T00:54:46.541-04:00That's an interesting thought.That's an interesting thought.Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-8277041279568804102015-10-28T00:53:18.067-04:002015-10-28T00:53:18.067-04:00Sure, but that's seems like a rare situation (...Sure, but that's seems like a rare situation (world-building wise), which doesn't seem to support a possible "pandemic". Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-61994767709042848332015-10-28T00:51:16.621-04:002015-10-28T00:51:16.621-04:00That's good stuff -- well thought out!That's good stuff -- well thought out!Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-58351232388445952902015-10-28T00:49:34.288-04:002015-10-28T00:49:34.288-04:00Fascinating!Fascinating!Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-12047453709137551692015-10-28T00:48:52.300-04:002015-10-28T00:48:52.300-04:00Ha!Ha!Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-466147722619763602015-10-28T00:48:03.557-04:002015-10-28T00:48:03.557-04:00I like those observations.I like those observations.Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-48034847323633727042015-10-27T23:49:50.794-04:002015-10-27T23:49:50.794-04:00In that case would ghasts be ghouls with intact di...In that case would ghasts be ghouls with intact digestive systems? Could explain the stench and the greater strength. Don't want to elaborate any further than that 'cos it's nawsty...BigFellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03052419088140204154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-42940069463275081522015-10-27T21:12:41.434-04:002015-10-27T21:12:41.434-04:00"the supposed pandemic spread doesn't see..."the supposed pandemic spread doesn't seem to make sense; if ghouls entire raison d'être is the consumption of dead bodies, then that seems to directly contradict the possibility of anything physically remaining of their victims to possibly arise as new ghouls"<br /><br />My solution is that ghouls strongly prefer to feast on entrails. This is both a reason that their partly-eaten remains are still combat-capable, and a reason that they are forever hungry.jedavishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08586249502818922886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-56787027551489338292015-10-27T18:47:34.171-04:002015-10-27T18:47:34.171-04:00the supposed pandemic spread doesn't seem to m...<i>the supposed pandemic spread doesn't seem to make sense; if ghouls entire raison d'être is the consumption of dead bodies, then that seems to directly contradict the possibility of anything physically remaining of their victims to possibly arise as new ghouls</i><br />If the ghouls are totally victorious, yes. <br />But now imagine that the PC party prevails against the ghouls. Halas! Poor Wulfgrid didn't make it. Now sure, we can't have his corpse laying here in a dark dungeon with all those monsters laying around, no sir! Lets the henchmen carry the body, abnd we should bring him back for a Raise dead, or at least a decent burial! Shouldn' xe ? porphyre77https://www.blogger.com/profile/07620350717226228078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-20453227871752486762015-10-27T15:17:26.107-04:002015-10-27T15:17:26.107-04:00On a practical note, the way I run ghouls is a fus...On a practical note, the way I run ghouls is a fusion of the Lovecraftian and the Gygaxian. They can paralyze, but only with their claws - and I only give one claw attack per round. I give the bite some bonus damage if it's used on a paralyzed opponent to incentivize using it instead of a claw attack on subsequent rounds, and I also give a free bite attack after hitting with claws - regardless of saving throw results - to give them a little more oomph, but not nearly as much as the triple-attack routine of yesteryear. While I must note that it's not quite the same monster hit die system as the older editions, I will say that for a 5th Edition game that I recently started I've bumped their hit points up a notch as well, both making them as tough as I envision and bumping them up to a CR 2 monster. If I were still playing AD&D, I probably would use 3 HD, though.<br /><br />With that and my previous post in mind, I run them as intelligent humanoids - not undead, but rather aberrants, as I classify all Lovecraftian creatures. The only exception I make is that starving ghouls - such as those stuck in a dungeon environment where other humanoids are either too scarce or too powerful for the ghouls to secure a reliable food source - will go feral. As for creating more ghouls, I'm in agreement that it doesn't make much sense for corpse-eaters to reproduce from uneaten kills. Influenced by this, along with them not being undead, I simply rule that they can breed - though I'm currently wavering over whether I want interbreeding with humans to be optional, mandatory, or impossible.<br /><br />As I said before, I also focus on them as primarily scavengers, and associated with the Great Old One Mordiggian. This carves out a separate niche from hunting/stalking type cannibals, which fall under the auspices of wendigo/Ithaqua.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14285793254382192231noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-4722415937698888432015-10-27T13:19:18.896-04:002015-10-27T13:19:18.896-04:00One thing to add about Lovecraftian ghouls is that...One thing to add about Lovecraftian ghouls is that they're not necessarily feral or stupid. In The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, the ghouls are quite helpful to the protagonist thanks to the influence of his friend-cum-ghoul Richard Pickman.<br /><br />It is true that Pickman had trouble speaking English in his ghoulish appearance, but an important tidbit is that for every hour that passes in the waking world, a week or more passes in the Dreamlands. It may have been a hundred years or more since he last spoke to anyone in English - plenty of time for language attrition to occur! So it's not that ghouls are mentally lacking, simply that few can communicate with humans, and in any case most people find them and their diet (which, as an aside, is mainly scavenged corpses from graveyards - not fresh kills) repulsive.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14285793254382192231noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-44987829178465803722015-10-27T12:50:13.886-04:002015-10-27T12:50:13.886-04:00The mechanism was never described, but men could i...The mechanism was never described, but men could indeed transform into ghouls in Lovecraft. Specifically, the painter Richard Upton Pickman from the story Pickman's Model later appears in the Dream Cycle as a full ghoul. Sort of a spokesman among them, in fact, and he actually helps out the protagonist in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14285793254382192231noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-15469898942032004552015-10-27T12:07:45.020-04:002015-10-27T12:07:45.020-04:00In the FFC, Richard Snider talks about how he ran ...In the FFC, Richard Snider talks about how he ran ghouls. In his game, there is no paralysis but any killed by a ghoul becomes a ghoul. So they are close to modern fast zombies. <br /><br />I believe that Richard was also the originator of level draining. Hedgehobbithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17606283586332210195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-17311329647988757782015-10-27T01:01:53.442-04:002015-10-27T01:01:53.442-04:00That'll learn 'em. ;-)That'll learn 'em. ;-)BigFellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03052419088140204154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-88645300465020803462015-10-27T00:26:17.083-04:002015-10-27T00:26:17.083-04:00Turn 'em or burn 'em. :-)Turn 'em or burn 'em. :-)Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-18230605837719517982015-10-27T00:17:37.636-04:002015-10-27T00:17:37.636-04:00To paraphrase something I read about the wendigo l...To paraphrase something I read about the wendigo legend:<br /><br />werewolf - What you get when a werewolf bites a person. <br />vampire - What you get when a vampire bites a person. <br />wendigo - What you get when a person bites a person. BigFellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03052419088140204154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-34237743600163765292015-10-27T00:11:15.356-04:002015-10-27T00:11:15.356-04:00Frikkin' ghouls...
Other notable literary/me...Frikkin' ghouls... <br /><br />Other notable literary/media representations:<br /><br />The Nehwonian Ghoul, which is essentially a cannibalistic human offshoot with transparent soft tissues and visible skeletons who consume other races for aesthetic reasons. (Could essentially be a re-skinned berserker for the DM to use as a spoiler for clerics (if they exist in one's game). <br /><br />The Fallout Ghoul: from the video game series. Mutated humans who are effectively immortal but whose bodies decay grotesquely over time if they don't take care of themselves. Apparently they can be perfectly rational and reasonable, even kindly, but depending on radiation exposure they can regress into a feral state. As for the D&D angle, it's merely a shift from a mindless claw/claw/bite to a more ambiguous, potential negotiation. Easily done by any DM worth their dice. Relatively civilized dead guys could make an interesting addition to a dungeon ecosystem, especially as possible allies with the tension of them potentially going all bitey if the PC's aren't polite enough. Could make a nice lower level sentient undead encounter since they don't have quite the power curve that your usual smart corpses have. <br /><br />Through everything, turn, turn, turn. Or set them on fire, turn, turn, turn... Or get out your holy water, if you've got it... BigFellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03052419088140204154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-1625403732559559322015-10-26T23:00:47.971-04:002015-10-26T23:00:47.971-04:00@ DS:
Pretty sure that was Dunsany.@ DS:<br /><br />Pretty sure that was Dunsany.JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-21034726105483029192015-10-26T19:16:39.295-04:002015-10-26T19:16:39.295-04:00I seem to recall that in either Lovecraft's or...I seem to recall that in either Lovecraft's or Dunsany's stories, that men who lived among ghouls in the graveyards and started eating corpses became ghouls themselves.Desert Scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13862907749003106864noreply@blogger.com