Post by bodry on Dec 1, 2004 0:47:59 GMT -5
Hi! As I am one of the contributing authors (of some monsters) to the Nyambe book, I'm very happy to have discovered this websight. I thought I'd give out some of the sources and background on some of the monsters I developed for Nyambe.
Djok Demon: this one came from a common tradition across Africa and Asia about wild animals being possessed by generic 'spirits'. I thought it was kind of a neat idea to have an amorphous spirit roaming the land and possessing one animal after another to terrorize people. Plus, as you need a N'anga cleric of animal orisha to make the Djok manifest itself, that's an adventure in itself, getting one of them on your side...
Eloko: this one came from a book of African folklore. Atlas toned down the power of it's charm spell somewhat; I originally had it set so that if a person is charmed by an eloko, he will sit quietly and let the eloko(s) eat him little by little! If it happens to a PC, he'd better hope he has a buddy nearby....
Malata Plant: I just made this one up... wanted a big nasty jungley type plant monster for one adventure I ran.
Mokele M'Bembe: this one is pretty well known as a modern legend from the real Africa (although modern research seems to have figured out that the the creatures are actually rhinos told about orally, dating back to the bronze age or so). Bernard Heuvelmans wrote an extensive chapter in his "On the Track of Unknown Animals" on the Mokele, and he seemed to think is a sauropod... I just took that idea and ran with it....
Nommo: this comes from the infamous Sirius Mystery and the Dogon people, who have tales of fishlike beings of great power who gave them their culture. Atlas toned down the magical powers I originally gave them, but they are still pretty tough....
Samat: I invented these critters, basing them loosely on some Forgotten Realms hints of powerful reptiloids in prehistoric times. Atlas changed my original monster extensively, from a lizard man type to a snake monster, and made them the ancestors of the Yuan ti (neat idea). They also toned down their magical powers a lot; I originally had them as incredibly powerful mages, so bad that resurrecting them was a very very bad idea....
Barozi template: I originally had these as a type of lion only; Atlas changed it into a template. I took the idea from the famous Tsavo maneaters; the locals thought they were the reincarnated spirits of chiefs or witch doctors who were angry at the intrusion of the railroad...
Djok Demon: this one came from a common tradition across Africa and Asia about wild animals being possessed by generic 'spirits'. I thought it was kind of a neat idea to have an amorphous spirit roaming the land and possessing one animal after another to terrorize people. Plus, as you need a N'anga cleric of animal orisha to make the Djok manifest itself, that's an adventure in itself, getting one of them on your side...
Eloko: this one came from a book of African folklore. Atlas toned down the power of it's charm spell somewhat; I originally had it set so that if a person is charmed by an eloko, he will sit quietly and let the eloko(s) eat him little by little! If it happens to a PC, he'd better hope he has a buddy nearby....
Malata Plant: I just made this one up... wanted a big nasty jungley type plant monster for one adventure I ran.
Mokele M'Bembe: this one is pretty well known as a modern legend from the real Africa (although modern research seems to have figured out that the the creatures are actually rhinos told about orally, dating back to the bronze age or so). Bernard Heuvelmans wrote an extensive chapter in his "On the Track of Unknown Animals" on the Mokele, and he seemed to think is a sauropod... I just took that idea and ran with it....
Nommo: this comes from the infamous Sirius Mystery and the Dogon people, who have tales of fishlike beings of great power who gave them their culture. Atlas toned down the magical powers I originally gave them, but they are still pretty tough....
Samat: I invented these critters, basing them loosely on some Forgotten Realms hints of powerful reptiloids in prehistoric times. Atlas changed my original monster extensively, from a lizard man type to a snake monster, and made them the ancestors of the Yuan ti (neat idea). They also toned down their magical powers a lot; I originally had them as incredibly powerful mages, so bad that resurrecting them was a very very bad idea....
Barozi template: I originally had these as a type of lion only; Atlas changed it into a template. I took the idea from the famous Tsavo maneaters; the locals thought they were the reincarnated spirits of chiefs or witch doctors who were angry at the intrusion of the railroad...
