Snake men in REH's original work?

[Pharoah Kromium]

Maybe snakemen are popular because they are cool!

Yes, there is always that!
They're also good for providing ancient ruins and /or a villain with a real grudge against humanity. There was a good thread a while back with them involved in an "At the Mountains of Madness"-meets-"The Thing" adventure seed.

 

[The King]

Maybe snakemen are popular because they are cool!

yeah! cool-blooded. :lol:

 

[Strom]

Yuan-Ti
Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2004 4:58 pm    Post subject:
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Maybe snakemen are popular because they are cool!

It's that easy! I always loved the Lizard-men from the AD&D Monster Manual because they were just plain kick ass cool! Same could go for the Snake-men.

 

[The King]

Moreover, snake-men possess more magic abilities and are more subtle in their infiltration of the human society.

 

[Faraer]

'Khari' isn't de Camp's either, at least it isn't in 'Hyborian Names'.

One of the attractions for me of the Hyborian Age is that it answers to an aesthetic far different from empty, superficial, poisonous 21st-century ideas of 'cool'.

 

[The King]

'Khari' isn't de Camp's either, at least it isn't in 'Hyborian Names'.

One of the attractions for me of the Hyborian Age is that it answers to an aesthetic far different from empty, superficial, poisonous 21st-century ideas of 'cool'.

Then he must have found it in Howard's legacy because I don't believe that anyone else could have integrate the word in Howard's world.

 

[VincentDarlage]

Then he must have found it in Howard's legacy because I don't believe that anyone else could have integrate the word in Howard's world.

It could have come from any of the other pastiches, the Marvel comic books (esp. from Roy Thomas) or even from GURPS Conan, all of which made up stuff that became integrated into Howard's world. Roy Thomas, for example, invented Harakht the Hawk City in Stygia, which later found its way into pastiches and, I think, GURPS... The Khari could have been invented by anyone. If fans accept it, then it becomes integrated.

 

[Darkstorm]

GURPS Conan RPG is where the word Khari originally appeared. It has also appeared since then in at least one of the pastiche Conan novels put out by TOR (Conan and the Amazon, I believe).

I don't usually ascribe to using pastiche names in my essays unless they are generally helpful. Khari is much easier to read than "the proto-Stygian people of the East", repeated over and again.

Hope this clears it up.

 

[The King]

Thanks, I read indeed in Gurps Conan but didn't know it was invented there for the 1st time because S. de Camp wrote the intro.

 

[VincentDarlage]

GURPS Conan RPG is where the word Khari originally appeared. It has also appeared since then in at least one of the pastiche Conan novels put out by TOR (Conan and the Amazon, I believe).

Hope this clears it up.

Yes, it does. Thank you very much!

 

[ReptileJK]

This topic hasn't been touched in a while, so I figure I'll make mention of this well after the fact, for a reason I can't even understand :wink:

In the book: "An S. Peteresen's Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands" regarding HP Lovecraft's creations, the snake men make an appearance. I'm not sure if this is correct or not, but a friend of mine told me he was fairly certain these creatures don't exist in any HP Lovecraft Cthulu-related stories. However, he said he thought that they were in the book because Howard mentions them in some of his Cthulu stories? Not sure if that's correct or not. Used to have that Howard book of Cthulu stories, but lost it years ago.

Reptile
Oh yeah........SNAKE MEN ROCK!

 

[The King]

Creatures in the Call of Cthulhu RPG doesn't only refer to those invented by Lovecraft but by all who contributed one way or the other to the so-called Cthulhu mythos.
If you have the core book of Call of Cthulhu, there is an excerpt next to each monster's entry. The one for the serpent men is from the Seven Geases, a story by Clark-Ashton Smith.

 

[ReptileJK]

Creatures in the Call of Cthulhu RPG doesn't only refer to those invented by Lovecraft but by all who contributed one way or the other to the so-called Cthulhu mythos.
If you have the core book of Call of Cthulhu, there is an excerpt next to each monster's entry. The one for the serpent men is from the Seven Geases, a story by Clark-Ashton Smith.

Really? Interesting. I actually don't have any of the Cthulhu RPG stuff. I bought Creatures of the Dreamlands because I love the artwork. I'd like the find the other Cthulhu Field Guide, but it's out of print and ebay prices get alittle high sometimes.

So the first mention of them was in a story by Clark-Ashton Smith? Does Howard ever mention them in any of his Cthulhu stories?

Reptile

 

[The King]

Creatures in the Call of Cthulhu RPG doesn't only refer to those invented by Lovecraft but by all who contributed one way or the other to the so-called Cthulhu mythos.
If you have the core book of Call of Cthulhu, there is an excerpt next to each monster's entry. The one for the serpent men is from the Seven Geases, a story by Clark-Ashton Smith.

Really? Interesting. I actually don't have any of the Cthulhu RPG stuff. I bought Creatures of the Dreamlands because I love the artwork. I'd like the find the other Cthulhu Field Guide, but it's out of print and ebay prices get alittle high sometimes.

So the first mention of them was in a story by Clark-Ashton Smith? Does Howard ever mention them in any of his Cthulhu stories?

Reptile

I didn't read all of Howard's Stories but it could be possible as I had once ago an argument on the forum about who from Howard or Smith had invented first the serpent men.
But I think there is a difference between the serpent men (from the Cthulhu stories) and the serpent that speaks from the Kull stories because the latter one is an intelligent race trying to infiltrate the human society (cf. The shadow kingdom).

As for the Cthulhu RPG, you can find it adapted to the d20 system or use the basic system (with percentages) from Chaosium's 6th edition.

 

[ReptileJK]

Thanks...

 

[Needles]

From the top then Lovecraft used a variation on the serpant men in a story called the Nameless City. They are a very technologically advanced race also. I doubt highly that they are entirely cold blooded as they operate underground. As for who invented what the point is moot because both Lovecraft & Howard were penpals for years. They borrowed each others items & story ideas all the time. Anyhow they're some really interesting villlians. More to come soon :!: :?: :!: Unless your part of my players >>>>> In which case your so in trouble.