tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7239577512598038009.post3240002323849231876..comments2024-02-27T01:17:39.925-08:00Comments on The Nine and Thirty Kingdoms: Hybrids, Random or OtherwiseTalysmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02162328521343832412noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7239577512598038009.post-68851195595225882842014-05-02T15:47:59.217-07:002014-05-02T15:47:59.217-07:00Having just done a compilation of "forgotten&...Having just done a compilation of "forgotten" hybrid monsters from heraldry and folklore, I can say there are quite a few which aren't familiar to 99% of the population. Most break down into lion, tiger, or wolf crosses; cattle crosses; or goat/ram/stag crosses. Some are multiple crosses. There's an aspect of familiarity to them - it's really the same 10 or 12 creatures combined in different ways (the chimera, for instance, is goat + lion + snake). And sometimes things work out. A duck-antelope sounds weird, but what about a horse-rooster? It's a "real" thing in greek mythology, the hippalectryon. ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippalectryon <br />Sounds like a goof, but some of the amateur artwork is actually pretty cool: http://fantasy-faction.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2013-June-Hippalektryon-by-who-stole-MY-name-e1371038662376-300x217.jpgNathan Irvinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10748510598803702118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7239577512598038009.post-59829542722056274042014-04-30T14:18:35.031-07:002014-04-30T14:18:35.031-07:00Honestly, I believe that most "classic" ...Honestly, I believe that most "classic" mix-and-match fantastic creatures are acceptable in our eyes only because of some kind of "grandfather clause".<br />Some, as you said, are thematically coherent like the griffin, others are litterary jokes (like the hippogriff or the peryton), and some seem totally random (the chimera: a lion, a dragon and... a goat? Catopeblas: a gaze-killing buffalo which can't make eye contact?).<br /><br />So, you can always use mythological beasts: they "click" in our minds, but mostly because of the venerable polish of centuries of litterary and heraldic tradition. <br /><br />The owlbear is a borderline case, like the gelatinous cube: they also enjoy some "grandfather clause", because said grandfather is Gary Gygax himself, but I'm not sure they are so thematically coherent , and newcomers to the game are fast to mock them.porphyre77https://www.blogger.com/profile/07620350717226228078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7239577512598038009.post-31983481794481390122014-04-29T21:58:05.908-07:002014-04-29T21:58:05.908-07:00Glad you're back!Glad you're back!Lumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09490249051095856396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7239577512598038009.post-89544292670053428282014-04-29T18:46:10.138-07:002014-04-29T18:46:10.138-07:00That seems to fit my experience. When I was rolli...That seems to fit my experience. When I was rolling up a ton of random animal mashups, the majority of them just didn't seem to work but I would have been hard pressed to explain why. The ones I liked best seemed to have the function/theme right, like my skunkbats- both verminous and the bat wings give the skunk cannon a horrible mobility. As an aside, I never found the owl bear a very good match myself, I'd be much more afraid of a regular bear (or giant owl). Good to have you back.Telecanterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238356788092725244noreply@blogger.com