I’ve played D&D since I was a teen and I’ve never, ever, encountered a xorn. I don’t think I’ve even seen one in a D&D video game. I think this is my favourite drawing of the alphabet.
mdf – Yeah, it was cool to see monsters that ranged from humanoid to quasi-human, to animal, to weird thingamabobber. Glad you noticed the teeth. When I was thinking about a being that ate rock, I thought what teeth would be strong enough?
RavenBlack – I never got into MUDs. I was gaming on my Commodore 64 more than my PC in their heyday.
threetoast – Wait, there was a second Dark Sun video game? I didn’t see that. I really enjoyed the Dark Sun and Al Qadim top-view adventures they made.
April 23rd, 2012 at 7:30 am
Very nice.
The Xorn was one of the things that made me fall in love with what was then AD&D when I first read the Monster Manual.
(The freakishness of the Intellect Devourer was another, but I digress…)
It was just so crazy-looking compared to the usual goblins, orcs, kobolds, etc. I’d known up to that point, playing Basic.
April 23rd, 2012 at 7:31 am
Forgot to add — like his diamond teeth. I’d never considered it, but it makes sense, with xorns being Earth-based creatures, and all.
April 23rd, 2012 at 9:34 am
On video games – there are Xorns-a-plenty in Nethack.
April 23rd, 2012 at 11:02 am
mdf – Yeah, it was cool to see monsters that ranged from humanoid to quasi-human, to animal, to weird thingamabobber. Glad you noticed the teeth. When I was thinking about a being that ate rock, I thought what teeth would be strong enough?
RavenBlack – I never got into MUDs. I was gaming on my Commodore 64 more than my PC in their heyday.
April 24th, 2012 at 7:04 pm
I think one or both of the Dark Sun video games had Xorns in it.
April 25th, 2012 at 9:11 am
threetoast – Wait, there was a second Dark Sun video game? I didn’t see that. I really enjoyed the Dark Sun and Al Qadim top-view adventures they made.
April 27th, 2012 at 7:10 pm
(For the record, Nethack is a dungeon crawler, not a MUD).
Anyway, I feel a bit dumb for thinking that ‘xvart’ was the inevitable choice here. This xorn is much more interesting.