NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Gnoll

Gnolls are a fictional race of humanoid creatures, usually described as anthropomorphic hyenas. They are strongly associated with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, but are neither original to nor exclusive to that game. Knoll Pharmaceuticals had been taken over by Abbott Laboratories Abbott_Laboratories on 30th June 2002, atleast in India and in most parts of Asia. ... Image:Neatharms. ... The Gnoll in Neath, south Wales is a joint rugby union and cricket venue. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Return to the Keep on the Borderlands is a 1999 adventure module for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, humanoid is a type of creature, or creature type. Humanoids are any creature shaped generally like a human (two arms, two legs, one head, or a humanlike torso, arms, and head), of Small or Medium size, with few or no supernatural or... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, humanoid is a type of creature, or creature type. Humanoids are any creature shaped generally like a human (two arms, two legs, one head, or a humanlike torso, arms, and head), of Small or Medium size, with few or no supernatural or... Genera Crocuta Hyaena Parahyaena Proteles Hyenas (or Hyaenas) are moderately large terrestrial carnivores native to Africa and Asia, and members of the family Hyaenidae. ... This article is about the role-playing game. ...

Gnolls in Dungeons & Dragons

Physical description

Gnolls appear as anthropomorphic hyenas. They are usually around seven feet tall and use armor made of horn, metal plates, and leather, and large weapons. Gnolls are generally depicted as savage, barbaric creatures that often practice cannibalism, and enjoy eating the flesh of other sentient species. Gnolls are not especially strong or intelligent, but they are cunning and, when pressed, will fight to death.

Subraces

Within the context of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, one notable subrace of gnoll is the flind (alternately spelled flynd), which is shorter, broader, and stronger than other gnolls; flinds are often found leading a tribe or settlement of gnolls. Flinds use a nunchaku-like weapon called a flindbar, which consists of a pair of metal rods linked together by a chain. This article is about the role-playing game. ... This article is about games in which one plays the role of a character. ... Many fantasy stories and worlds call their main sapient humanoid species races rather than species. ... The nunchaku (Chinese: é›™ç¯€æ£, shuÄng jiÃ© gÃ¹n; å…©ç¯€æ£, liÇŽng jiÃ© gÃ¹n Dual Section Staff; äºŒç¯€æ£, Ã¨r jiÃ© gÃ¹n Two Section Staff; Japanese: ãƒŒãƒ³ãƒãƒ£ã‚¯ nunchaku ; æ¢¢åæ£, shÅshikon Boatmans staff; åŒç¯€æ£, sÅsetsukon Paired sections staff; äºŒç¯€æ£, nisetsukon, also sometimes called nunchucks, numchuks, or chain sticks in English) is a traditional weapon...

Society

Gnolls, in the early days, were usually depicted as savage theocratic cannibals, with more numbers than sophistication. In recent years, however, gnolls are more and more often depicted as "noble savages," hyena-like scavengers, as opposed to monstrous killers. Additionally, in Monster Manual IV, it is revealed that gnolls possess a female-dominated society, comparable to the hyenas they are related to although this is also directly and repeatedly contradicted by other v3.5 sourcebooks released before and after Monster Manual IV, such as Races of the Wild. Monster Manual IV is an optional supplemental source book for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. ... Monster Manual IV is an optional supplemental source book for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. ... Races of the Wild is an optional supplemental source book for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. ...

Religion

Gnolls in most Dungeons & Dragons settings are worshipers of the demon lord Yeenoghu, who also rules over ghouls (which explains the gnolls' taste for humanoid flesh). Some gnolls also worship the evil Erythnul, god of slaughter. The gnolls' vile disposition is most likely due to the influence of their demonic patron. In the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, demon lords (also known as Abyssal lords in 2E AD&D) are demons who have gained great power and established a position of preeminence among demonkind. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Yeenoghu is a demon prince, the Demon Lord of gnolls. ... In the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game, ghouls are monstrous, undead humans who reek of carrion. ... In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Erythnul is the Oeridian god of Hate, Envy, Malice, Panic, Ugliness, and Slaughter. ...

The original deity of gnolls was known as Gorellik, but years of Yeenoghu stealing his followers has left Gorellik with little command of his people. In many campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Gorellik is the gnoll deity of hunting, hyenas, and hyaenodons. ...

Gnolls in general

Gnolls in folklore and literature

Gnolls are similar to the were-hyenas of African bushman folklore, and the tall dog men (Cynocephales) of early European travellers logs and bestiaries. Hyenas were associated with death because they dug up and ate human corpses. Bouda is an African tribe that has been attributed with having the power to shapeshift into hyenas. ... Cynocephalus St. ...

Lord Dunsany's 1912 short story, "How Nuth Would Have Practiced His Art Upon the Gnoles,"^[1] directly inspired the gnolls of Dungeons & Dragons. Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany (24 July 1878 â€“ 25 October 1957) was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist, notable for his work in fantasy published under the name Lord Dunsany. ... This article is in need of attention. ...

Margaret St. Clair (a.k.a. Idris Seabright) wrote a moderately well-known horror story "The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles." This story is a deliberate homage to the Dunsany story; the description of the gnoles' house and its location, and the gnoles' love of emeralds, are cleary influenced by Dunsany's story. Margaret St. ...

Gnolls in the Discworld series are small, matted and dirty enough to sprout fungi and grasses on their hides (and seem to relate to soil as trolls relate to rock), and act as street-cleaners in cities like Ankh-Morpork; as Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson puts it, they "pick up this, pick up that, maybe bang it against the wall until it stops struggling..." In the case of at least Stoolie, if not every gnoll on the Discworld, there seems to be a tendency to drop the vowels in words, reflecting a croaking sort of voice. Trolls in Terry Pratchetts Discworld novels, unlike the monstrous trolls of folklore and J.R.R. Tolkien, have been subverted into a moderately civilised race. ... Cover of an early edition of The Colour of Magic; art by Josh Kirby Discworld is a comedic fantasy book series by the British author Terry Pratchett set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which are in turn standing on the back of...

Wolflike creatures called gnawls exist in the novel The Scions of Shannara by Terry Brooks.

Gnolls in games

Gnolls are included in the Warcraft universe in the strategy game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, where it is said that 'if they ever stopped fighting amongst themselves they could form a formidable army' and in the MMORPG World of Warcraft in many of the mid-level areas. Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy computer game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment in 1994. ... Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, released by Blizzard Entertainment in 2002, is a real-time strategy computer game and the second sequel to Warcraft. ... An image from World of Warcraft, one of the largest commercial MMORPGs as of 2004, based on active subscriptions. ... World of Warcraft (commonly abbreviated as WoW) is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Blizzard Entertainment and is the fourth game in the Warcraft series, excluding expansion packs and the cancelled Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans. ...

Gnolls are featured prominently in the western part of the continent of Antonica in the MMORPG EverQuest and in EverQuest II. EverQuest (EQ) is a 3D fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that was released on March 16, 1999. ... EverQuest II (EQ2), based upon the popular EverQuest, is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and shipped on November 8, 2004. ...

Gnolls appear as minor enemies in Tales of Phantasia. Tales of Phantasia ) is a Super Famicom game in the RPG genre published by Namco and released in Japan in 1995. ...

Gnolls appear as level 1 creatures for the "Fortress" castle in Heroes of Might and Magic III. Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia (sometimes referred to as Heroes III, Heroes 3 or HoMM3) is a turn-based strategy game developed by New World Computing for Microsoft Windows and released by the 3DO Company in 1999. ...

Gnolls are in the game Kingdom of Loathing, as a civilised race of humanoids. Seal Clubber redirects here. ...

Gnolls appear in the MMORPG Lineage II under the name "Ol Mahum." Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne (Korean:ë¦¬ë‹ˆì§€ 2) is a fantasy massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for the PC, and a prequel to Lineage. ...

Gnolls are a player race in Maelstrom, a UK based live action roleplaying game. Maelstom's gnolls are represented as anthropomorphic hyenas and have a matriarchal culture marked by Swahili loan words. A live action role-playing game, or LARP as it is commonly known, is a form of role-playing game where the participants perform some or all of the physical actions of the characters they play the role of. ...

Gnolls In the Baldur's Gate RPG series are often hostile NPCs that travel around in packs and will attack the party on sight. Armed with Halberds, they are a low-level monster, but Gnolls magically summoned by a wizard in the player's party can have their abilities enhanced by the same spells used on the party, making them fairly decent backup in combat. Baldurs Gate is a computer role-playing game in a high fantasy setting, developed by BioWare and released in 1998 by Interplay Entertainment. ...

Master of Magic by Microprose allows Gnolls as a starting race. Master of Magic (MoM) is a turn-based fantasy strategic computer game published by Microprose in 1994 and developed by Steve Barcia (Simtex), who wrote the better-known Master of Orion. ... MicroProse Software, Inc. ...

Gnolls appear with the name "Hyena Men" in the fantasy tabletop wargame "Song of Blades and Heroes"

Creative origins

Gnolls are the literary descendants of Lord Dunsany's "gnoles", who were clever, evil and nonhuman. This connection is evidenced by Gary Gygax's description in the first edition of "Dungeons & Dragons" (1974): "A cross between gnomes and trolls (...perhaps, Lord Sunsany [sic] did not really make it all that clear) with +2 morale. Otherwise they are similar to hobgoblins..." With the 1977 publication of Gygax's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual gnolls were described in greater detail as hyena-men, a characterization that continues to the present. Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany (24 July 1878 â€“ 25 October 1957) was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist, notable for his work in fantasy published under the name Lord Dunsany. ... Ernest Gary Gygax, 2004 Ernest Gary Gygax (born July 27, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois) is best known as the author of the well known fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), co-created with Dave Arneson and co-published with Don Kaye in 1974 under the company Tactical Studies... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, gnomes are a humanoid race, and are one of the core races available for play as player characters. ... Trolls are fictional monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, hobgoblins are a larger, stronger, smarter and more menacing cousin of the goblin, but not as high up on the goblinoid hierarchy as bugbears. ... Current Monster Manual (v3. ...

References

TSR, Inc. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... Ernest Gary Gygax, 2004 Ernest Gary Gygax (born July 27, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois, son of a Swiss immigrant father and an American mother ) is best known as the author of the well known fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), co-created with Dave Arneson and co-published... Current Monster Manual (v3. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Ernest Gary Gygax, 2004 Ernest Gary Gygax (born July 27, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois) is best known as the author of the well known fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), co-created with Dave Arneson and co-published with Don Kaye in 1974 under the company Tactical Studies... David L. Arneson is an American game designer born in 1955. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... Roger E. Moore discovered roleplaying games in the late 1970s while writing gaming articles for various magazines while he was with the U.S. Army. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Paizo Publishing is a publishing company that specializes in magazines aimed at audiences interested in role-playing games and other gaming-related hobbies. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Current Monster Manual (v3. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ... The Complete Book of Humanoids was a sourcebook for the second edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... Skip Williams is a creator of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition. ... Jonathan Tweet is a game designer who has been involved in the development of the role-playing games Ars Magica, Everway, Over the Edge, Talislanta and the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons. ... Monte Cook is a professional game designer of some renown. ... Current Monster Manual (v3. ... Wizards of the Coast (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is a publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ...

External links

Categories: Dungeons & Dragons standard creatures | Dungeons & Dragons humanoids This article is about the role-playing game. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, there are 15 types of creature, also called creature types. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, aberration is a type of creature, or creature type. Aberrations generally all have bizarre anatomies, strange abilities, alien mindsets, or any combination thereof. ... In the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons, an animal is a creature type. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, construct is a type of creature, or creature type. Constructs are either animated objects, or any artificially constructed creature. ... Draconomicon image of the Chromatic and Metallic Dragons In modern fantasy fiction, dragons are often depicted as having many different races, each usually based on a particular color of their scales or an affinity with an element; much of this originated in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) role-playing game... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, elemental is a type of creature, or creature type. Elemental creatures are composed of one of the four classical elementals of air, earth, fire, or water. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, Fey is a type of creature, or creature type. Fey are usually humanoid in form, and are typified as having supernatural abilities and a connection to nature or to some other force or place. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, giant is a type of creature, or creature type. Giants are humanoid-shaped creatures of great strength and size. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, humanoid is a type of creature, or creature type. Humanoids are any creature shaped generally like a human (two arms, two legs, one head, or a humanlike torso, arms, and head), of Small or Medium size, with few or no supernatural or... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, magical beast is a type of creature, or creature type. Magical beasts are similar to animals in many ways, but usually have a higher intelligence, and possess supernatural or extraordinary abilities. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, monstrous humanoid is a type of creature, or creature type. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, Ooze is a type of creature, or creature type. This category includes such monsters as the gelatinous cube, slimes, jellies, deadly puddings, and similar mindless, amorphous blobs. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, an outsider is a type of creature, or creature type. Outsiders are at least partially composed of the essence (if not the material) of a plane other than the Prime Material Plane. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, plant is a type of creature, or creature type. Plant creatures are any type of creature composed of vegetable material which is not merely an ordinary plant. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, undead is a type of creature, or creature type. Undead creatures were most often once-living creatures, which have been animated by spiritual or supernatural forces. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, vermin is a type of creature, or creature type. Vermin can be any insects, arachnids, other arthropods, worms, and similar invertebrates, including giant versions of normal creatures. ... The following is a list of the chromatic dragons from the role playing game Dungeons & Dragons. ... The list of Dragonlance creatures attempts to list the races that can be found in the Dragonlance setting. ... The following is a list of the gem dragons from the role playing game Dungeons & Dragons. ... The following is a list of the metallic dragons from the role playing game Dungeons & Dragons. ... The following is a list of the planar dragons from the role playing game Dungeons & Dragons. ... The following is a list of the less common dragons in the role playing game Dungeons & Dragons. ...

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