How the flying fudge did anyone in the design departments look at that and go "yup, that resembles a gorgon from Greek mythology."?!
Yes I know you've Medusa for the race but Medusa is a Gorgon it'd be like turning Hobbits into Goblins, but then saying "don't worry, you've Froddo for the race."
Whatever that thing is, it's not a gorgon.
Actually it is, and has been since 1974. Just because the name doesnt fit earth greek mythology of the name gorgon doesn't make it any less of a gorgon.
In the fictional worlds of D&D a gorgon in a bull like creature that turns things into stone with its breath. A medusa is a snake like creature with snakes for hair that turns creatures into stone with their gaze. In my world I can call Medusas gorgons and gorgons Stone Bison. D&D may have borrowed from other mythologies, but it has its own.
Don't worry, you can use the old gorgon with other name: Khalkotauroi
The original word, Gorgon, from gorgós, that means dreadful.
The name of the flower doesn´t mind, if the smell it is the same.
Yunru wrote:
FarBeyondC wrote:
Yunru wrote:
Marandahir wrote:
Yunru wrote:
Yes, we can use different names, for example the lamia from 4th ed is very different from previous ones.
LuisCarlos17f wrote:
I always looked at it as:
Gorgon Medusa = Terrible Medusa
Gorgon Bull - Terrible Bull
I use Gorgon as a adjetive for other homebrew monsters.
Good article by Wes schneider in OoftaMeg's post. I came across the same information (about Edward Topsell's bestiary) a few years ago and it made me feel better about the so-named D&D monster. I'd like to point out the links at the bottom of Wes' article are freakin' awesome! I wish I had those (or the primary sources) years ago!
But I think that the take away from this is that medieval bestiaries are, um... fanciful. 
MechaPilot wrote:
Did you know that "Hobgoblin" is supposed to mean friendly/good goblin?
It is based on the same mythological figure as the character Robin Hood is to give you a good idea of how it is supposed to act.
Yunru wrote:
Actually even in older Greek mythology the Gorgons had a variety of looks, not all of them were the same. They didn't always have snake-hair, or even any tie to snakes. The only thing they generally had in common was it was three sisters, one of them mortal (and only mortal because Perseus killed her while the other two were never killed).
As others pointed out there was even mideival bestiaries that described a bull gorgon that came from ancient Greece (Pliny) as gorgos/gorgon just means terrible. Medusa became the common name for the gorgons by the 80's with D&D playing no part because most were only familiar with Medusa the gorgon from the tales of Perseus and the original Clash of the Titans. If you look at many video games teh snake woman is called a medusa not a gorgon usually.
Another example is Pegasus. He was a winged horse named Pegasus, not the name for winged horses.
The unicorn of today is just a horse with a horn, while the original included goat and lion features as well.
Salamander is an amphibian named after fire elemntal spirits from Greek mythology, and its that mythological interpretation that is the bases for D&D salamanders.
Vampires in D&D are based around more modern interpretations of vampires with a heavy influence from Bram Stoker's Dracula. Most European folklore vampires are closer to a mix of what D&D calls ghouls and revenants.
Elves in D&D are a mix of Tuatha-de-Danan, Tolkein elves, and Norse alfs. The pixie and sprites are closer to most European/celtic elves.
Rust monsters, owlbears, hook horrors, and a few other creatures came from a set of plastic "dinosaur" toys that were popular in the late 70's. I know as I had them, and years later playing D&D for the first time I thought they looks familar and an article last year confirmed the origin was indeed those toys.
D&D has always been a mix of mythology, pop culture, fantasy literature, and random inspiration. They're not trying to be "historically accurate" or "mythologically accurate" as those are just inspiration but they want D&D to be it's own thing. Try playing a JRPG and you'll see some really odd interpretations of mythological monsters, often with no apparent connection, just taking a recognizable name and placing it on a random monster design.
Wel one poblem with gorons is that we have 1 example that is discribed in detail being medusa.
The word Gorgon is based on the greek word for dreadfull and the creatures thst it has been used to to discriver is very varied, probebly to varied to base a single Dnd creature on.
Stheno medusas sister was discribed as : a scaly head, a boar's tusks, bronzed hands, a protruding tongue, glaring eyes and a snake around the waist as a belt
Shasarak wrote:
Grazel wrote:
MechaPilot wrote:
Shasarak wrote:
MechaPilot wrote:
Shasarak wrote:
What campaign setting is ancient Greece in again?
The Ancient Greek Campaign setting?
Tempest_Stormwind wrote: