Ghouls
Reflections on Dungeons & Dragons: The Ghoul Class
Dear Readers, here I lay upon the altar of your imaginations the final installment of our reflections on D&D series—upon which we based our Motivations in Roleplaying Game Economies series. It is the story of a doomed Magic-User and the subsequent creation of a Ghoul class for Dungeons & Dragons: Basic Set. I hope you enjoy this account of unfortunate death and fortunate service to darkness.
Let me tell you the tale of a character named Ghuldo. While he was a ghoul, like all ghouls, Ghuldo was not always so. No one is born a ghoul. In his case, he was once a man—a magic-using man named Ludo. And, like all men, he died. But unlike most, he was returned to us transformed into a horror.
That Is Definitely not in the Rules
Ludo died in a copse of trees on the Borderlands, bitten by a spider the size of his head which, ironically, had dropped onto that selfsame head from above. After dispatching his arachnidal slayer—and watching Ludo’s head bloat blue with poison—his friends were bereft. Ludo was beloved among them, a wrestler who had forsaken the ring for the true words of power found in books.
Grieving—desperate—they hatched a plan, gathered up Ludo’s corpse and carried him to the temple of Orcus they had discovered in the Caves of Chaos just a few days previous. There, afraid but determined, they laid his body on the altar…and prayed to the dark god beyond the purple pulsing light of the gate to the Abyss.