#stirges

[morganerpost]

Hazzad vs. Horrible Bugs, which will be unnamed. Ink, Markers, white gel pen on cardstock.

[oldschoolfrp]

“Attack of the Stirges” (David Sutherland, Strategic Review V1 N5, TSR, December 1975) Sutherland redrew part of this scene for the “stirge” entry in the 1977 AD&D Monster Manual

[jakestabletop]

Stirges, blood-sucking insectoid bat-like creatures soon to be familiar to visitors in Waterdeep (Otherworld MIniatures)

[welcometoyouredoom]

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[oldschoolfrp]

Two stirges hungry for blood, searching for warm bodies.  (David Sutherland from the AD&D Monster Manual, TSR, 1977.  See also from the same volume.)

[oldschoolfrp]

Stirges first appeared with this description in Gygax and Kuntz's Dungeons & Dragons: Supplement I Greyhawk in 1976.  Holmes used similar wording in his basic rules in 1977: "Large bird-like creatures with long proboscises, rather like feathered ant-eaters."  That same year the AD&D Monster Manual gave us David Sutherland's illustrations of big bat-mosquito hybrids with feathers reminiscent of the Eraserhead poster, and they have been bat-mosquitoes ever since.

[oldschoolfrp]

Stirges, man.  Low hit dice, but if enough of them latch on and start draining blood you're in trouble.  (David Sutherland from the AD&D Monster Manual, TSR, 1977.)

[mymorningsketch]

Monster Manual Week:

The dreaded STIRGE!

This week for my morning sketches, I’m drawing creatures from the 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual (1977) – one of the first role-playing game books I ever owned.

First up is a monster I’ve always found especially terrifying (despite its low level): the Stirge. They usually attack in groups (of 3-30) and, as the Monster Manual explains, “they lay in wait for warm-blooded creatures, swoop down, and when their long, sharp proboscis is attached, the blood of the victim is drawn through to be eaten” (shudder).

You can see the original Monster Manual illustration (by David C. Sutherland III) of the Stirge (along with later versions) at Bogleech.

Buy this sketch.