Platinum
So, have you ever wondered why Japanese kobolds look like dogs while American kobolds are little tiny dragon people?
Platinum
like, https://images.plurk.com/60kAbgDxlGriMuGcNe1lNB.png https://images.plurk.com/4uCe97jLP2fZWAEva9rYL3.png https://images.plurk.com/8fWTIxAymcfLOU3Fenzwg.png
Platinum
vs https://images.plurk.com/1fYvjBtLf46GcPRXGvX6bi.png https://images.plurk.com/4az5aS6zy8SuCZcoqklj1E.png https://images.plurk.com/3RRO0X7Rnx2fTDs0jpwR2V.png
Zita
weren't kobolds originally described as doglike and more dragonlike kobolds are kind of a 3rd edition thing?
Platinum
common knowledge will tell you that this is because of a mistranslation/misunderstanding of the first edition Monster Manual, where they somehow turned "smell like wet dogs" into "are dog people"
Platinum
Yep.
Platinum
Though it's a touch different than just that much.
Platinum
So, kobolds as we know them today have their roots, like a few of D&D's classic monsters, in Gary Gygax and David Arneson's gaming tables. They first pop up in their Chainmail game as a variant of goblin.
Platinum
https://images.plurk.com/6kfsDyMqbCH1XLwreVGGk9.png
Platinum
(This was 1972, of course.)
i stay silly :3
i like the little dragon dude kobolds
Spookitty
Apparently the atomic element Cobalt is named for kobolds. Just a random fact.
Platinum
that's kinda cute. Then again, kobolds are creatures of mythology that long predate tabletop RPGs, but I'm not getting into that here, ahaha
Platinum
Up in '74, we got D&D published (the edition now popularly referred to as OD&D), and they were just slightly weaker goblins.
https://images.plurk.com/IDuaaRT55Ot1NDhBiHAwd.png
It's Nick
This is fascinating
Platinum
In 1977, they'd appear in two books! One was the original Homes set for basic D&D, the other was in AD&D 1E's Monster Manual
Platinum
Under Holmes: https://images.plurk.com/53H788NTHzAwdx5XgbbatK.png https://images.plurk.com/4b983TrJYHP11jLBUGn0kh.png
Platinum
No pictures, but they're 'dwarflike', which is an interesting thing that's never followed up on in any future editions.
Zita
dwarf-like really is one that didn't carry through
Platinum
But the Monster Manual gives us a picture and description for the first time!
https://images.plurk.com/72JXpKRPSXJfWrjtMvZs1D.png https://images.plurk.com/3noZ3XrEr0xfh6gICejIME.png https://images.plurk.com/3sZVx8VhWorwly986Q11FD.png
Platinum
they do look a little doggy in their snouts, but otherwise, they're pretty clearly lizard people.
Zita
the genesis of the snoot
Platinum
it is for booping
Platinum
In 1981, they released another version of Basic D&D, the Moldevay version. And in this, well. It's pretty clear where the Japanese got their imagery.
Platinum
https://images.plurk.com/60T0i5UhaOTvFVQB6r4wkv.png
Platinum
(I'd have to do more research, but, honestly, I get the picture that when a lot of Japanese people talk about playing D&D back in the 80s, they were playing Basic D&D, not AD&D. We know for a fact that Record of Lodoss War, which really shaped a lot of Japanese fantasy for a while, was based on Basic D&D.)
Platinum
They'd revise Basic D&D again in 1983 and 1991, but there would be no pictures and the description would be identical to Moldvay's 1981 Bx set.
Platinum
In 1986 or so, AD&D would get its 2nd Edition, which meant more Kobolds! And, in a truly funky case, even though the text-based description would be the same, we'd get two wildly different artistic interpretations.
Platinum
https://images.plurk.com/5FrPdkfv6KBQLrB6fNNyCr.png https://images.plurk.com/6RrSnHtGvq05sLqDgcN1Ii.png
Platinum
https://images.plurk.com/4QKLeJc5b1MB1ow4oqMpqa.png and https://images.plurk.com/18lGdZEgeih2Go9uIz8Dou.png
Platinum
You can clearly see where D&D would lean for future releases. I don't know what's up with that second design.
Platinum
(The reason kobolds hate gnomes, btw, is purely religious. The gnomish god once caused a cave-in on the kobold god, trapping him underground.)
Platinum
Kobolds are clearly meant to be reptilian in first edition, so I don't know why they're more ratlike in 2E, but they've been so inconsistent so far that you can't really attach logic to it.
Platinum
Things would change a bit in 3E.
Platinum
https://images.plurk.com/30nqMOsbvldjrt17zEFHt5.png https://images.plurk.com/4nTrFFGosNeFWa6UtVGsAr.png
It's clearly based on the first 2E drawing, but explicitly reptilian like the 1E art.
Platinum
(A bit I forgot to mention about 1E is that they were mentioned as hatching from eggs in that edition, which carried over to 2E as well. Clearly reptilian, right?)
Platinum
Them speaking draconic in 3E is the first hint of a connection to dragons (though there might've been a 3E splat that explain kobolds have draconic ancestry, I'm pretty sure 4E is the first time that was made explicit.)
Platinum
So, 4E. Now they're explicitly tiny dragon people.
https://images.plurk.com/3xe0OvNyo0sYPAbjxnYYLX.png https://images.plurk.com/4S6wijNGvKUk2T8TxxdykP.png They'd also get *three whole pages* in the 4E Monste...
Platinum
ugh
Platinum
https://images.plurk.com/11QJtIOUZc8CIaU0PW89hY.png
Platinum
they'd also get three whole pages in the 4E Monster Manual! Way to go kobolds! Even if most of that is just giving stats and tactics to various kobold classes...
Zita
i think the 3rd ed draconomicon canonized the connection but i'd have to look
Platinum
I just looked at it and, yeah, they've got kobolds worshiping dragon gods and such
Platinum
https://images.plurk.com/3Uss7BH7pZMuocwdc98qUv.png
Platinum
as an aside, Pathfinder had their own lizardy take
https://images.plurk.com/24pN62FdBRjCSuPDwmXzS1.png
Zita
man you know what i wonder how hard pathfinder went on "kobolds are little dragon guys"
Zita
because pathfinder had that good pile of years where they were the alpha D&D
Platinum
Yeah, Pathfinder explicitly lays out that kobolds were descendants of dragons.
Platinum
They worship dragons and dragons tolerate them like embarrassing pets who aren't quite housebroken.
Platinum
Most of them don't have powers, but occasionally one's born with a breath weapon.
Platinum
Anyhow, 5E keeps up the dragon thing, but with one important throwback to that one Basic D&D illustration from the 80s
Platinum
And 1E, of course.
Platinum
That'd be...
Platinum
https://images.plurk.com/2WI7rfoV04vEipBEI40fhM.png
a boopable snoot.
Zita
critical snooter lore
Zita
https://images.plurk.com/ioliZq7F144LKDF0FJYrJ.png
July, July
The Pathfinder one is definitely something.
Platinum
Yeah, Pathfinder 2E redesigns them a bit
https://images.plurk.com/27jegXl86kbWwUbZ8UMRZw.png
Zita
kobolds with ears good
Rogal Dorn
lizard friends
Rogal Dorn
I do like the japanese ones because anime dog people are good tho
Rogal Dorn
says the korone inugami fan
Platinum
yubi yubi
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