Not a Dead Communist

The 1E Monster Manual includes several monsters that are essentially animate traps of one kind or another - floors that try to eat you, cei...

The couatl has its basis in Mesoamerican mythology, although it's arguable how much it resembles the original. The name is apparently in...

The roper is another of the "does what it says on the tin" monsters that are original to D&D. Alongside such creatures as trap...

The origins of the D&D umber hulk are not clear. It predates what we'd now call 1E, first appearing in the Greyhawk supplement, and ...

The bulette is a creature original to D&D. Like the owlbear, it's based on a plastic toy from Hong Kong, in its case probably meant ...

The strige is a creature of Roman myth, derived from the earlier Greek strix . It was said to be a nocturnal bird, albeit one that hung ups...

The mythic origins of griffons lie in Ancient Greece, if not earlier - a combination of the king of the beasts and the king of the birds. Th...

In Greek mythology, the gorgons were three monstrous sisters whose visage turned people to stone. Detailed descriptions vary, although the...

Actually a photoshopped jaguar... Like their supposed enemies, the blink dogs , displacer beasts have been present in every version of t...

In Basic Edition, blink dogs were said to resemble dingos Blink dogs are a relatively well-known creature for the D&D game, being en...

No, I'm not very good with Photoshop... Owlbears are arguably the most distinctive of the "mundane" animals of the standar...

Yesterday, after watching some early episodes of season six of Game of Thrones , my thoughts turned to dire wolves. Clearly the dire wolve...