#thoul

Mystara was a curious setting. Just as Planescape was introducing me to all the possibilities of D&D, here was a setting that seemingly codified all the generic D&D clichés into one setting (which is actually the Known World, created by Lawrence Schick and Tom Moldvay, and originally used as the setting of Basic D&D). I was intrigued, and that curiosity paid off, because Mystara, or at least the monsters that lived there, was damned weird.

The art amplifies the weirdness. Its soft pastels seem like something out of a children’s book, maybe one about King Arthur or some other similarly well-known fairy tale. The approach is familiar, but the execution is strange. Moss men? Giants with a third arm growing out of their chests? Brain collectors? A freakin’ floating ball that disintegrates everything it touches?

"Thouls are magical crosses between ghouls, hobgoblins, and trolls. In spite of their ghoulish blood, they are living creatures, not undead." Most thouls resemble hobgoblins and often live among them, serving as guards to hobgoblin kings and chieftains. They have a paralyzing touch like ghouls and a regeneration ability like trolls. (Arnie Swekel, Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix for AD&D 2e, TSR, 1994)

Wandering monsters in OD&D, from Dungeons & Dragons Vol 3: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures by Gygax and Arneson, TSR, 1974:

Each movement turn in the underworld is 10 minutes, at the end of which the referee rolls 1d6. A wandering monster encounter occurs on a "6." (Note the use of "referee" throughout the original rules. The term "dungeon master" was introduced in the California gaming scene and made its way back to Lake Geneva by 1975.)

Monsters are divided into 6 "monster levels" for purposes of determining the encounter type. The referee first rolls 1d6 to determine which monster level table to consult, then rolls a different die to determine the exact monster type. It is possible to encounter a level 4 monster like a group of ogres on dungeon level 1, or a level 2 monster such as zombies on dungeon level 3.

Many of the encounters are with NPCs, described by the titles of different classes and character levels -- Thaumaturgists, Myrmidons, Superheros.

The "Thoul" on the level 2 table was not mentioned anywhere else in the original OD&D set. Moldvay's Basic Set (1981) seems to be the first core book in any version of D&D to describe this "magical combination of a ghoul, a hobgoblin, and a troll."

Among the level 4 monsters we find "White Apes," the 6-limbed creatures of Barsoom in Burroughs' John Carter stories that also could occur in the wilderness, and which still exist in 5e as the girallon. (Edit: Stats & descriptions of these also are missing from these rules, leaving the referee to adapt them from literature. Moldvay included white ape stats in his 1981 Basic rules, though he did not describe them having extra arms.)

The "Balrogs" on the level 6 table are one of several references to balrogs, hobbits, ringwraiths, etc that TSR mostly removed from reprints after receiving notice from the Tolkien estate, though some mentions in tables were overlooked and remained through all printings.