TOMB TAPPER

TOMB TAPPER

"Tappers are tall and humanoid, with very hard, blue-gray skin and great claws which can dig through solid rock. They are sometimes called “the Faceless” due to their featureless heads."

"Tappers have gigantic mouths in their abdomens. These jaws can crush rock, from which Tappers extract mineral sustenance."

Ed Greenwood, Dragon Magazine #41

TROLL

TROLL

"Troll hide is a nauseating moss green, mottled green and gray, or pulrid gray. The writhing hair-like growth upon a troll's head is greenish black or iron gray, The eyes of a troll are dull black."

Gary Gygax, Monster Manual

NITRODJINN

NITRODJINN

"The nocturnal creature of desolate areas known as the Nitrodjinn is a rare and strange being. Each creature is invariably associated with an atomic energy source such as a reactor or large battery, from which it appears to draw its 'life force.' Each being manipulates the local weather conditions to produce a thick fog for a 100-meter radius around the atomic power source."

"In ultraviolet light or when seen without the surrounding fog, this being appears to have a vaguely humanoid torso with four arms and a featureless head. The lower half of the body is a long serpentine form stretching along the ground all the way back to the power source."

Roger Moore, Dragon Magazine #75

WINGLESS WONDER

WINGLESS WONDER

"The Wingless Wonder is a comical beast that resembles a walking egg (which it has also been called). It stands rather unsteadily on two weak legs that have rubbery, sticky bases, and it has two small arms which it flaps constantly (hence its name). Its mouth is atop its head, surrounded by a fringe of tentacles which are are extendable to 12 feet. Most of these creatures eat only fruits and vegetables and have nine such tentacles. A rare (20% of all Wonders) type is omnivorous and has 12 tentacles."

"Wonders are blue-green in color with purplish undersides. Their skin, which is covered by fuzz, is delicate and does not heal quickly."

"The creatures are apparently bisexual. When a solitary Wonder encounters another of its species, the two will intertwine their tentacles and chitter excitedly in chorus for 2 rounds. This appears to be a mating contact."

Ed Greenwood, Dragon Magazine #40

EYE OF THE DEEP

EYE OF THE DEEP

"It is possible that this monster is a relative of the beholder, for There are remarkable similarities between the two species. The eye of the deep dwells only at great depths of the ocean, floating slowly about, stalking prey. It has two huge crab-like pincers to seize its victims and a mouth full of small sharp teeth, its primary weapons, however, are its eyes. The creature has a large central eye which emits a blinding flash of light to dazzle and stun those in its ray. The eye of the deep also has two smaller eyes on long stalks with which it is able to create an illusion; or, acting independently, the small eyes are able to cast hold person and hold monster spells respectively."

Gary Gygax, Monster Manual

SHAPELESS LIVING THING

SHAPELESS LIVING THING

"80-Shapeless living thing forming nucleus of ancient building."

H.P. Lovecraft, Commonplace Book

SITTER

SITTER

"106-A thing that sat on a sleeper’s chest. Gone in morning, but something left behind." 

H.P. Lovecraft, Commonplace Book

SLIMY ENORMOUS FROG

SLIMY ENORMOUS FROG 

"As I fled from that accursed castle along the bog’s edge I heard a new sound; common, yet unlike any I had heard before at Kilderry. The stagnant waters, lately quite devoid of animal life, now teemed with a horde of slimy enormous frogs which piped shrilly and incessantly in tones strangely out of keeping with their size. They glistened bloated and green in the moonbeams, and seemed to gaze up at the fount of light. I followed the gaze of one very fat and ugly frog, and saw the second of the things which drove my senses away."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Moon-Bog

STRANGE PREHISTORIC CREATURE

STRANGE PREHISTORIC CREATURE

"100-Subterranean region beneath placid New England village, inhabited by (living or extinct) creatures of prehistoric antiquity and strangeness."

H.P. Lovecraft, Commonplace Book

DISTORTED BIRD

HORRIBLY DISTORTED BIRD

"He dreamed of great birds that fought and tore, birds with horribly distorted human aspects; he dreamed of monstrous beasts; and he dreamed of himself in strange roles."

H.P. Lovecraft & August Derleth, The Lurker At the Threshold

BEAST IN THE CAVE

BEAST IN THE CAVE

"Its hair was snow-white, a thing due no doubt to the bleaching action of a long existence within the inky confines of the cave, but it was also surprisingly thin, being indeed largely absent save on the head, where it was of such length and abundance that it fell over the shoulders in considerable profusion."

"From the tips of the fingers or toes long nail-like claws extended. The hands or feet were not prehensile, a fact that I ascribed to that long residence in the cave which, as I before mentioned, seemed evident from the all-pervading and almost unearthly whiteness so characteristic of the whole anatomy. No tail seemed to be present."

"They were black, those eyes, deep, jetty black, in hideous contrast to the snow-white hair and flesh. Like those of other cave denizens, they were deeply sunken in their orbits, and were entirely destitute of iris. As I looked more closely, I saw that they were set in a face less prognathous than that of the average ape, and infinitely more hairy. The nose was quite distinct."

"The creature I had killed, the strange beast of the unfathomed cave was, or had at one time been, a MAN!!!"

H.P. Lovecraft, The Beast In the Cave

THING WITH NO BODY

THING WITH NO BODY

"But I had to shut my eyes again when I realised how many of the things were assembling—and when I glimpsed a certain object walking solemnly and steadily without any body above the waist."

H.P. Lovecraft & Harry Houdini, Under the Pyramids

DARK YOUNG

DARK YOUNG OF SHUB-NIGGURATH

"'Ever Their praises, and abundance to the Black Goat of the Woods. Iä! Shub-Niggurath!Iä! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!'"

H.P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer In Darkness

"That's as close as I can come. The mouths was like leaves and the whole thing was like a tree in the wind, a black tree with lots of branches trailing to the ground, and a whole lot of roots ending in hoofs. And that green slime dribbling out of the mouths and down the legs was like sap!"

"It came crawling up the hillside to the alter and the sacrefice, and it was the black thing of my dreams-that black ropy, slimy, jelly tree-thing out of the woods. It crawled up and it flowed up on its hoofs and mouths and snaky arms. And the men bowed and stood back and then it got to the alter where they was something squirmin on top, 

squirming and screaming."

Robert Bloch, Notebook Found In a Deserted House

SHAPELESS ELEMENTAL

SHAPELESS ELEMENTAL

"Odours of incense and corruption joined in sickening concert, and the black air was alive with the cloudy, semi-visible bulk of shapeless elemental things with eyes."

"In an instant every moving entity was electrified; and forming at once into a ceremonial procession, the nightmare horde slithered away in quest of the sound—goat, satyr, and aegipan,  incubus, succuba, and lemur,  twisted toad and shapeless elemental, dog-faced howler and silent strutter in darkness—all led by the abominable naked phosphorescent thing that had squatted on the carved golden throne, and that now strode insolently bearing in its arms the glassy-eyed corpse of the corpulent old man."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Horror At Red Hook

"Elementals-The unseen intelligences who inhabit the four elements, of the finest essence of which thy are composed."

Lewis Spence, An Encyclopedia Of Occultism