tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post3437750247610073020..comments2024-03-25T00:18:14.319-07:00Comments on Against The Wicked City: Ghoulstorm part 1: ghouls from A-FJoseph Manolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-39442840965626708982020-12-12T03:59:11.383-08:002020-12-12T03:59:11.383-08:00Thanks! I can't claim full credit for the futu...Thanks! I can't claim full credit for the future ghouls: I got the idea of cannibal raiders from an exhausted future returning to raid and eat the past from Morrison's 'Seven Soldiers of Victory'. The Future Ghouls are a more tragic and desperate bunch than Morrison's utterly evil Sheeda, though. Joseph Manolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-4398534977745923372020-12-11T19:13:40.488-08:002020-12-11T19:13:40.488-08:00I love all of these, but the future ghouls are eas...I love all of these, but the future ghouls are easily my favorite. The idea of a bunch of highly sophisticated folk from the future descending into the past to feed upon their ancestors, wielding weapons and carrying they have lost the ability to use or understand is such an evocative idea. It carries with it so much pathos and mystery. The best monsters are always those with a hint of tragedy and these provide that nicely. Yami Bakurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17266174008401745128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-68314449674941574252020-12-05T14:39:09.444-08:002020-12-05T14:39:09.444-08:00Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Every single one of these ...Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Every single one of these is terrific. The knights and the revellers are my favourites.Cat Or Batnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-17776019715682083402020-12-05T13:01:36.958-08:002020-12-05T13:01:36.958-08:00It's funny - normally I'm all about sympat...It's funny - normally I'm all about sympathetic takes on monsters, but with ghouls, evidently not so much. It's probably because I tend to see them as pitiable addicts, so one might sympathise with their plight, but that doesn't justify their actions while under the influence. <br /><br />If their all-corpse diet is just a food source like any other, rather than an unholy all-consuming hunger, then you could absolutely have ghouls who were creepy but not at all evil. Indeed, you could even have people who rationally and ethically sought out tranformation to ghouldom, reasoning that eating dead people is a pretty small price to pay for immortality. After all, the people you're eating are already dead, and think how much good your extended lifespan would let you do for the living...<br /><br />Of the ones I've written here, fae ghouls, ghoul gourmets, and mystic ghouls would probably be best-suited to non-antagonist roles. They're all still clearly monsters, but at least they're monsters you can get along with!Joseph Manolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-73796557453190399262020-12-04T10:00:55.556-08:002020-12-04T10:00:55.556-08:00Xylophone ghouls, the most musical of them all!Xylophone ghouls, the most musical of them all!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-5942368044925773502020-12-04T09:59:53.576-08:002020-12-04T09:59:53.576-08:00This sounds so much Mork Borg. I think I like chiv...This sounds so much Mork Borg. I think I like chivalric ghouls the best, but all are good.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-61754084139563635502020-12-03T14:32:43.644-08:002020-12-03T14:32:43.644-08:00All these are very much ghouls as unambiguously ev...All these are very much ghouls as unambiguously evil adversaries.<br /><br />I also have a soft spot for more morally ambiguous ghouls - after all, other than the kuru business, is eating the already-dead really so bad? There's a whole continuum of takes there, from the ancient, morbid, disgusting, creepy, but not necessarily evil civilisation to the shadowy, sibilant things in the shadows that demonstrably /mostly/ eat corpses that are already dead, and perhaps they're nothing to do with the fact that there are more disappearances round here than usual, and there are really good reasons not to pick a fight with them if you can live with yourself afterwards...Jacobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11292062128781092862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-37498909034836417232020-12-02T19:04:08.080-08:002020-12-02T19:04:08.080-08:00I too, think ghouls are pretty great.I too, think ghouls are pretty great.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00694362417308874455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-2722556144072234442020-12-02T11:59:01.453-08:002020-12-02T11:59:01.453-08:00Wonderful!Wonderful!red_kangaroohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04557117448147974364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-90304472709389343512020-12-02T07:42:26.074-08:002020-12-02T07:42:26.074-08:00I listened to the audiobook myself, for similar re...I listened to the audiobook myself, for similar reasons.<br /><br />I think you'd like it very much! I realized my description sounds very Victorian, but the setting is more of a late sword & sorcery empire.Tom Kilianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17086235205146158319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-92125260496096410262020-12-02T03:55:28.180-08:002020-12-02T03:55:28.180-08:00I guess standard 'reproduce via ghoul fever in...I guess standard 'reproduce via ghoul fever infection' ghouls would be xenogenic by definition. Xanthous ghouls would be OK visually, though they'd need a shtick other than just colour-coding. I actually have some xyloid ghouls (though I call them 'wood ghouls') coming up in part 2. Xenodochial ghouls could be grimly hilarious, like the world's creepiest AirBnB hosts, who just genuinely want you to have a good stay despite all the corpses in the closet. <br /><br />Xenomoph ghouls would totally work, though! Joseph Manolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-52700038028783597752020-12-02T01:26:52.585-08:002020-12-02T01:26:52.585-08:00Xenomorph ghouls, aka WH40K/Space Hulk symbiont-cu...Xenomorph ghouls, aka WH40K/Space Hulk symbiont-cults.Klaus Gerkenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04364552750137989056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-64963607742544893682020-12-01T17:42:20.809-08:002020-12-01T17:42:20.809-08:00Your ghouls could be xyloid or xanthous or xenogen...Your ghouls could be xyloid or xanthous or xenogenic or xenotropic or, the most unusual for the typically xenophobic ghouls, xenodochial.Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17718188146918003275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-74709268862238433152020-12-01T14:18:50.233-08:002020-12-01T14:18:50.233-08:00I'd never heard of that! I think I'd rathe...I'd never heard of that! I think I'd rather do two substantial posts than 26 tiny ones, though. And I don't think I'll be able to come up with any ghouls that start with X. (X-TREME ghouls, maybe? Imagine the embarrassment of being killed and eaten by one of those!)Joseph Manolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-44433057156428281832020-12-01T14:15:53.939-08:002020-12-01T14:15:53.939-08:00I haven't! Reading of any sort is a bit of a f...I haven't! Reading of any sort is a bit of a fading memory for me at this point, but I'll add it to the list!Joseph Manolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-49171858451530795332020-12-01T09:10:47.972-08:002020-12-01T09:10:47.972-08:00Cannibalism does go with nearly all D&D monste...Cannibalism does go with nearly all D&D monsters...more than some might even imagine (just thinking about the cannibal halflings from Dark Sun).<br /><br />You should have saved this series for the April A-Z Challenge.<br />; )JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-26481614413881661172020-12-01T08:08:34.388-08:002020-12-01T08:08:34.388-08:00Have you read Brian McNaughton's "The Thr...Have you read Brian McNaughton's "The Throne of Bone"? It's a series of interconnected stories set in a crumbling necropolis-city infested with a ghouls, complete with grave-robbing as a grey-market profession, morbid and/or degenerate nobles, investigative professors, mercenary necromancers, and several gameable factions. Any game adaption would probably be a sort of WFRP where the answer to the mystery is always "more ghouls".<br /><br />It's also, fair warning, very gross in places.Tom Kilianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17086235205146158319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-83890126418770531962020-12-01T02:54:16.467-08:002020-12-01T02:54:16.467-08:00And this is only part 1!
It did occur to me that ...And this is only part 1!<br /><br />It did occur to me that I'd basically written ghoul versions of most of the classic D&D monsters. It's funny how often 'what if X, but also a ghoul?' gives rise to something viable. I guess cannibalism goes with everything!Joseph Manolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-392427526916288536.post-78644353574312099082020-12-01T02:41:30.775-08:002020-12-01T02:41:30.775-08:00All hella evocative. I expected 10, reached 10 and...All hella evocative. I expected 10, reached 10 and was pleasantly surprised to find there was more. Then I expected 20, so imagine my delight when I found the extra three past that!<br /><br />You could make a whole setting of nothing but these ghouls, honestly. Annon #8107https://www.blogger.com/profile/16869484989966434932noreply@blogger.com