> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> << As has already being pointed out, even the cover of "Slayer's Guide to
> Hobgoblins" is in (most likely unwitting) contravention of copyright, by
> clearly building on artwork from the MM, portraying a creature
> from the SRD. >
> >
>
>   <LOL> Says who?

I suggested it, based on a comparison of the artwork in the MM to the
artwork in the Slayer's guide, and gave detailed examples of why I thought
so.  There are a thousand ways to draw such a creature, and they chose one
that is remarkably similar to the one in the 3e MM.  If anyone cared to push
it, I suspect they'd be ordered to prove that it wasn't derivative.  I'm not
saying they can't.

I find it interesting that Hobgoblins are portrayed as they are anyway...the
English myth for a Hobgoblin is nothing like what appears in D&D.
Hobgoblins in myth are often characterized as benign and mischievous, and
only became vicious if they were righting some wrong.  It has been proposed
that the character "Puck" in Shakespeare's Midsummernight's Dream was a
traditional English Hobgoblin.

It is extremely common in mythology for creatures to change in form and
temperament over the centuries.  The Cockatrice and the Basilisk are
actually the same myth, but told from medieval and Roman times respectively.
Same goes for the Germanic myth of Kobolds, which seem to me to be a lot
more like the "Korred" from 2e than the lizard-like dog-faced things we have
in the MM.  I haven't investigated all that many sources yet, so if anybody
knows where the TSR interpretation came from I'm all ears (woodelf?).

So basically somebody converted the Hobgoblin and Kobold to their current
form, and it is not the traditional form.  I can't say who did, but it has
some pretty far-reaching implications if it was TSR.

-Brad

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