In the world’s oldest role-playing game, derros have been
reliable, flexible underground threat: subterranean savages similar to morlocks,
degenerate dwarves, and dwarf-human crossbreeds. Pathfinder has reconceived them as degenerate former fey—a
nice retouch that certainly works for the Golarion setting (especially since
duergar, morlocks, and dark folk have the degenerate dwarf, human, and halfling
ground covered). Whatever race you
decide derros are, you at least know what’s in their heads: madness. Every encounter with derros should be a
mixture of horror and pity—an encounter with creatures trapped by their own
insane logic and evil urges.
A derro scientist wishes
to conquer his fear of the sun by studying the fears of his victims. While stealthy at first, he and his
juju zombie assistants eventually abduct enough citizens that the human
authorities begin to investigate.
Meanwhile, the emotions his experiments provoke have drawn the attention
of a chaos beast and several bugbears.
The dwarf prince
Lugar seeks to wed the human crown knight Fianna. The dwarven clans are in uproar over the affair, but won’t
say why, even to Lugar. Fianna’s
nation is bemused but wary, and her liege will be insulted if the marriage is
stalled. Only the dwarven elders
know the truth behind their obstinacy: that every child of a dwarf-human
marriage has grown into a mad derro. Meanwhile, as the wedding plans and the political
negotiations drag on, a series of strange fungal poisonings threatens to send
the situation into further chaos.
A pech sage thinks he
can cure the derro race of their madness through a combination of ancient
fey magic and divine miracles. Even as he tentatively begins to share
his theories, powerful derro savants move to thwart him, convinced that they
can use the same magic to permanently correct the insanity of the misguided
pech and svirfneblin apostates.
—Pathfinder 70
James Jacobs delivers plenty more on derros in Classic Horrors Revisited. Also, if you can find it, check out
Roger Moore’s legacies of the Suel Imperium in Dragon Magazine 241.
A victim of my Florida
vacation, this entry is finally up!
Hooray!
The derro have an interesting background. They may be the only non-Lovecraftean 20th century monster found in D&D that didn't originate there. (Arguably the displacer beast, too.) It's a shame Gygax is not longer around to find out if he liked the Shaver mysteries first time around, or just thought it'd be cute to borrow for D&D.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...that's a good point! Maybe the oozes too, if you count The Blob. :-) I guess a lot of other modern monsters don't feel mythic enough.
DeleteOf course, I'd amend that to non-Lovecraftian and non-Tolkienian, since the very core of our hobby comes from Mr. J.R.R.