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Remember back in the early 80s when everyone was playing a pack of blink dogs as their PC? "My Life as a Werebear: D&D Monster Character Classes" article from White Dwarf #17 (Feb/Mar 1980), written by Lewis Pulsipher with art by Tom Wham, discussed using monsters as player characters and then gave examples for the blink dog, lammasu, stone giant, and werebear. You can really pack in the adventure for a howling good time… on THAC0 Thursday!! Hat tip to @oldschoolfrp
Just another Thaco Thursday.
First appearing in The Strategic Review #3 (1975) before receiving art and a more detailed write-up in the Monster Manual (1977), the Shambling Mound grew its way onto early D&D and has kept its tendrils in the game ever since. Many assume the inspiration was DC's Swamp Thing or Marvel's Man-Thing, but Gary Gygax is on record that Shamblers were inspired by an earlier comics character The Heap from Airboy Comics (in turn thought to be inspired by Theodore Sturgeon's It! short story). They may seem slimy, but stick around and before you know it you'll be engulfed by their surprisingly electric personality. A bog standard entry… on THAC0 Thursday!!
Man, oh, man… here are examples of monster entries (BX, AD&D 1E, AD&D 2E) for that most terrible of tyrants, that most calamitous of creatures, that most bellicose of beings: Men. Men have been an integral monster to D&D from its very inception and assumedly will be there through the game's end. Woe to those unwary PCs who run into this monster under its various and practically limitless guises. Plus a chance for psionics! Just lie down and die, stalwart adventurer, just lie down and die. Two-legged terrors… on THAC0 Thursday!!
Before TSR published a Dungeons & Dragons character sheet the fan community stepped in, with the first fan-created sheet appearing in Stephen Tihor's Haven Herald fanzine in May 1975 and Alarums & Excursions publishing Jack Harness's character sheet in July. Soon after Wee Warriors released the first commercially available D&D character sheets with the Character Archaic, which was distributed but not published by TSR. In 1977, TSR finally published its first character sheets. Important record keeping… on THAC0 Thursday!!
LJN Toys Ltd. released this bad boy (the only playset sold in their AD&D toy line) under license with TSR in 1983, complete with traps and a flying throne. Fangs for the memories… on THAC0 Thursday!!
This THAC0 Thursday absolutely has to be dedicated to James M. Ward, whose recent passing surprised and saddened the RPG community. Among many accomplishments in the industry, James created Metamorphosis Alpha (the first published science fiction RPG) which was released from TSR in 1976. He wrote the game after urging Gary Gygax to make a sci-fi version of D&D, to which Gary replied "I don't have time, but why don't you do it?" Challenge accepted! He was also instrumental in the creation of Gamma World, which many think of as the planet-based Metamorphosis Alpha. James M. Ward: An RPG legend gone, an RPG legend remembered… on THAC0 Thursday!!
First appearing in the AD&D 1E Monster Manual (1977), the Otyugh (and its larger, more ill-tempered cousin the Neo-otyugh) is not only one of the D&D monsters with the most debated pronunciation ("oh-tee-ugg"? "oh-ty-yoog"? "at-yugz"?, "ochu"? Bless you?) but is also one of the most bizarre. It looks as strange as it's name, eats poop (heck, it will happily live in poop), garbage (yep, will happily live in a garbage heap), and carrion, and for some reason is mildly telepathic. The origins of this monster are unknown, although several have speculated it was inspired by a dianoga, the Death Star garbage monster in the original Star Wars movie (these theories are unconfirmed and the timing of Star Wars's release compared to the MM release date give it a very slim window). The otyugh and the neo-otyugh are also known as types of gulguthra (or "dung-eater"). A foul but fun entry… on THAC0 Thursday!!
