A Brief History of Gnolls: Anthropophagy and Emeralds from Wales to Wisconsin and Beyond traces the history of the title fantasy creatures in literature and gaming, from when they were first introduced more than a century ago up through the present. Features of this unique and intriguing volume include two entertaining quasi-academic essays by writer Paul Haynie that examine the literary history... [click here for more]
When designing a fantasy setting, the biology of our home world can provide a wonderfully rich resource for generating a new world and the creatures inhabiting it. But a world creator should not forget the fantasy aspect, or feel restricted to using Earth’s biosphere as an unyielding template, and otherwise excellent resources often suffer from just this flaw and apply real-world ecology to fantasy... [click here for more]