Ogres around the world

[tantric]

I'm collecting information on ogres as a cross cultural mythological archetype. I know the DF ogres (The Half-Ogre, Smiting Him Hip and Thigh), some European mythology, Bantu waZimwi and Japanese Oni. Anyone have any good ogre links? Would GURPS Fantasy Folk - Ogres appeal to you?

[Astromancer]

RuneQuest looked at the folktales of Cornwall and Britany and they came up with an Ogre from those stories. In the Brythonic Celtic areas Ogres tended to look like normal humans and could easily hide amoung and live with ordinary humans. But they were still superhumanly strong, magically talented, and given to canibalism.

So, the pretty barmaid the PC thought was a good contact has ST20 and has decided that the PC might be good for braising.

[tantric]

Cannibalism is the common trait. Some of the African types can pass for human (they have a second mouth in the back of their heads, I wonder if this was inspired by cutis verticus gyrata, which is really very strange - i encountered it in prison when everyone got their heads shaved). If I ever get to play in my own world, I will play an mZimwi, the suave, honor-bound but decidedly anthropophagic African ogres. But the Japanese Oni are really neat, and there is an Ogre Kingdom in Chinese myth. Hmm - it would really by GURPS Cannibals. That's actually got a ring to it....

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by tantric

I'm collecting information on ogres as a cross cultural mythological archetype. I know the DF ogres (The Half-Ogre, Smiting Him Hip and Thigh), some European mythology, Bantu waZimwi and Japanese Oni. Anyone have any good ogre links? Would GURPS Fantasy Folk - Ogres appeal to you?

The Sasquatch/Bigfoot is an evolution of a ogre-equivalent from coastal Indian folk-tales.

[tantric]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

The Sasquatch/Bigfoot is an evolution of a ogre-equivalent from coastal Indian folk-tales.

I would dispute that. I believe that the forest-man mythologem is separate from the cannibal-giant mythologem. For the coastal Amerinds I'd go with "Kwakwakalanooksiwae" because it is the *the* coolest word in my vocabulary. Kwakwakalanooksiwae is a kind of anti-Raven or Thunderbird. I would include the Wendigo.

The orang-hutan (forest-person) gets its own Fantasy Folk. In Bantu myth, they are the Agogwe, but it's kind of hard to distinguish between forest-men and gorillas.

These are on the Digital Wish List, I think, but I'm not sure anyone would really care? Would you pay for 16pts of Ogres or Yetis or whatnot? It'd be fun to write. In my very first AD&D game, my best friend played a half-ogre named Sue. He had several lists of random Odious Personal Habits (example vid).

[alexondria]

Is eating humans really cannibalism if they aren't human themselves?

[tantric]

Originally Posted by alexondria

Is eating humans really cannibalism if they aren't human themselves?

GURPS: Anthropophagi just doesn't have the same ring. Besides, the core idea of the myth is cannibalism and the horror of it - it would include a kind of Corruption you get from eating human flesh that turns into an addiction. You know, one really could fill 16 pages of stuff with this and keep it interesting.

[Gorkamorka]

The old viking Jötun or Þurs might fit. But they might also slide into giant territory.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Gorkamorka

The old viking Jötun or Þurs might fit. But they might also slide into giant territory.

...on the other hand there seems to have been a sort of continuum between the Jotunn at one end down to Nisse at the other, through all sorts of things, generally called trolls, some of which were relatively human but might still eat people...

[Astromancer]

Given how many Ogres are also shapeshifters (it's not universal, but it is common) to what degree are werewolves et al just a subset of Ogres?

How do we define Ogre?