Greetings!

Do you like Bugbears? Beyond their often derided status as level cannon fodder beyond Orcs, have you thought about Bugbear's culture, and a deeper positioning within the campaign milieu?

What have you done with Bugbears? Do you use them as presented in the Monster Manual, or have you changed them in some manner?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I've generally written bugbears as bigger more fae cousins of goblins.  Common abilities would include invisibility in darkness, transformation into a mist of darkness, and even teleportation between areas of darkness.  These are probably learned as spells rather than being natural abilities.   While bugbears don't aquire any nourisment from fear, many of their spells draw on the fear of their victims.   They tend to target adults and leave children to grow and reproduce.  They often terrorize the children and justify their bloody deeds with moralistic lectures.  Unlike goblins, most bugbears aren't city dwellers.  The bugbears dwell in the darkest forests and mountains of fae and emerge to terrorize and consume humans.  Bugbears prefer caves and rough cabins to houses and live in small family units though they are solitary hunters.  Bugbears gather in dark glades on special occasions like lunar eclipses and new moons to establish claims to their hunting grounds and dance and mate.

In my old Known World/Karameikos campaign bugbears were one of the few races that were an extremely hostile race that even other humanoids did not like working with due to their penchant for treachery, murder, arson and jaywalking. Sometimes all at once! We never used them as cannon fodder and most PCs eventually learned to be very wary if they encountered any as it usually meant a brutal ruthless fight was going to erupt sooner or later.

I played them up as somewhat like a more wicked minded Yeti or Sasquatch. Exactly what they were or where they came from no one knew. They seemed to just not like anyone that wasnt a bugbear. At all. And were a serious threat raiding out from wherever they dwelt. Which tended to be caves and dungeons taken from other humanoids. They were not stupid though and were known for their deceptive traps and tricks. They were prevalent mostly in central Karameikos with possible connections to Black Eagle Barony.

Also inspired by Keep on the Borderlands I had that Bugbears really did not like kobolds and if you wanted to get kobolds to help you, or at least stop poking you with daggers, just mention bugbears were in the area or show that you'd recently killed some for extra negotiation points. Lizardmen were one of the few races that could handle them and if you wanted to see some motivated lizards just point them in the general direction of a bugbear colony.

An early 5e campaign I was in had a goblinoid nation similar to the early Roman Empire, just after the Roman Republic.  It had been expanding and conquering for decades to only recently survive a series of civil wars and political conflict.  In response an emperor for life was appointed who then seized control of the senate.

The hobgoblins were the "civilized" people while goblins were the slave/under class.  Set aside from the main capital city was a smaller, self-governed, city-nation full of bugbears which was basically the Sparta equivalent.  It was focused on military training and physical development.

The PCs ended up having to try to negotiate with them as there was a large battle about to happen and whoever got the bugbears on their side was pretty much going to end up winning.

Big fan of bugbears (once I got past the ridiculous OD&D art of them! Pumpkin heads? C'mon!).

I have them pretty much allied with other goblinoids, but not really living with them. Bugbears are very much surface-dwellers, they don't hang out in the underworld. Mine inhabit a large, mostly marshy area, where their long legs and large feet are pretty adaptive. They are mostly nomadic hunters and foragers, although they do trade and transport weapons, slaves etc. across the swamps for their underworld cousins. Bugbears are super-inimical to humans, a big threat as raiders, especially to the (human) marshland villagers, although the human villagers are mostly also nomadic (boat-people fishers), who don't have permanent settlements and have ways of avoiding and evading raiders.

I've used bugbears as the heavy component of the Union of Greater Goblinoid Socialist Republics. The hobgoblins are mostly party leaders (although exceptional goblins and bugbears can be as well), the goblins are the proletariat (along with many bugbears and hobgoblins who have lost status), and the bugbears are the frontier sentinels or heavy foot soldiers of the state. Mainly I came up with this because it seemed to be the natural, logical evolution of a group of related humanoids whose primary threat comes from organized human and demi-human civilizations.

(Yes, this has led to the introduction of the Babushka Bugbear.....)

Quote from: jeff37923;1127457I've used bugbears as the heavy component of the Union of Greater Goblinoid Socialist Republics. The hobgoblins are mostly party leaders (although exceptional goblins and bugbears can be as well), the goblins are the proletariat (along with many bugbears and hobgoblins who have lost status), and the bugbears are the frontier sentinels or heavy foot soldiers of the state. Mainly I came up with this because it seemed to be the natural, logical evolution of a group of related humanoids whose primary threat comes from organized human and demi-human civilizations.

(Yes, this has led to the introduction of the Babushka Bugbear.....)

Greetings!

Very interesting, Jeff! You know, in ancient Pagan cultures of the Finns, the Baltic tribes, and the Russians, bears were viewed as special, blessed animals. I think I read where hunters would pray to the gods, on behalf of the bears, asking them to forgive them for killing the creatures, but they needed the meat and the bear's fur to survive. Bears are hugely important animals throughout the northern cultures, and also apparently, like way back, the creatures were not somewhat rare like nowadays--they were everywhere, in large numbers! Some tribes viewed the bears as being especially wise, as well as strong and unflinchingly courageous and fearless.

I can't say I am thrilled with Bugbears as presented in the Monster Manual. From way back, Bugbears were always shown as being, well, bear humanoids, with some weird insect-like attributes or features, something very odd looking. I never really understood how Bugbears are considered to be "Goblinoids". I've always viewed them as being a distinctive race of their own, unrelated to Goblinoids. If Orcs and Gnolls can find ways to be allied with Goblins, Hobgoblins, as well as Ogres and Trolls, I think Bugbears can find reasons to make alliances with such barbarian humanoids, beyond being racially related to the Goblinoids, you know?

I think Bugbears also incorporate some weird mystical aspects as well from mythology, and can offer I want to say a different "canvas" of a kind of creature to both fight against players, and otherwise interact with the players in non-violent relationships, potentially including trade or some kind of alliances on occasion. Furry Bugbears I think are just pretty cool, and they can have some distinctive society and tribal culture that makes them different from the Orcs, Gnolls, Goblins, and Hobgoblins.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: Zirunel;1127446Big fan of bugbears (once I got past the ridiculous OD&D art of them! Pumpkin heads? C'mon!).

I have them pretty much allied with other goblinoids, but not really living with them. Bugbears are very much surface-dwellers, they don't hang out in the underworld. Mine inhabit a large, mostly marshy area, where their long legs and large feet are pretty adaptive. They are mostly nomadic hunters and foragers, although they do trade and transport weapons, slaves etc. across the swamps for their underworld cousins. Bugbears are super-inimical to humans, a big threat as raiders, especially to the (human) marshland villagers, although the human villagers are mostly also nomadic (boat-people fishers), who don't have permanent settlements and have ways of avoiding and evading raiders.

Greetings!

I love the Bugbears, too! *Laughing* They are cool and interesting! You have a marsh culture of Bugbears? oooh! That offers some interesting possibilities! Do Bugbear shamans make alliances with alligators, giant dragonflies, and giant snakes? Bugbears paddling around the marshes in special, flat-bottomed boats, a lantern hanging from a pole...Bugbears armed with large axes and spears, watching for intruders...*laughs* Bugbears make a strong threat in your campaign, huh Zirunel?

Are they heavily involved in trading slaves?

What kind of religion do your Bugbears have?

I can just imagine how Bugbears would love eating humans and other humanoids...it would be very yummy for them!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Stephen King short story I read YEARS ago had a monster like race that had infiltrated human society.  They appeared as humans to people, unless the person has a specific margin of chemicals in their body from a specific level of smoking cigarettes (about 5-15 a day from what I remember), his description of the monster humanoids was to the letter a bugbear from my memory.   I wonder if gygax stole the image from King, or if King went looking through the AD&D monster manual.  Dungeon fantasy has a good take on bugbears IMO.  Deadly, cunning, and anti social.

The 10 o clock people.  Seems from the publish date King may have borrowed both the bugbear appearance from Gygax and the plot from John Carpenter.

Quote from: oggsmash;1127475Stephen King short story I read YEARS ago had a monster like race that had infiltrated human society.  They appeared as humans to people, unless the person has a specific margin of chemicals in their body from a specific level of smoking cigarettes (about 5-15 a day from what I remember), his description of the monster humanoids was to the letter a bugbear from my memory.   I wonder if gygax stole the image from King, or if King went looking through the AD&D monster manual.  Dungeon fantasy has a good take on bugbears IMO.  Deadly, cunning, and anti social.

I think you are misremembering that one. "Ten O'Clock People" from 93. I believe the aliens when revealed were barely human and had a sort of fleshy head with eyes that orbited around? But its been a few decades so may be misremembering. Its a rip off of a 1963 story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson (inventor of the propeller beanie!) which was the basis for the movie They Live.

I think you are mixing that King story up with the bugbear/goblin-like like creature from his book movie Catseye which had the critter in the more traditional goblin role.

An alternative use of the Bugbear would be to present it not as a race but as a singular supernatural entity since traditionally they were a sort of boogyman used to scare children.

I accuse Susan (Death's goddaughter), in the nursery, with the poker.

Quote from: Omega;1127480An alternative use of the Bugbear would be to present it not as a race but as a singular supernatural entity since traditionally they were a sort of boogyman used to scare children.

I think it was Pathfinder that had bugbear as goblins with a (fantasy equivalent ro a recessive gene) that manifested at puberty with some randomness. Hobgoblins never knew when any particular goblins would generate bugbear, so it kept them from going too far. Our something like that... Ben a long time since I looked at Pathfinder.

Quote from: Omega;1127479I think you are misremembering that one. "Ten O'Clock People" from 93. I believe the aliens when revealed were barely human and had a sort of fleshy head with eyes that orbited around? But its been a few decades so may be misremembering. Its a rip off of a 1963 story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson (inventor of the propeller beanie!) which was the basis for the movie They Live.

I think you are mixing that King story up with the bugbear/goblin-like like creature from his book movie Catseye which had the critter in the more traditional goblin role.

I could be misremembering, I remember the 10 o clock people monsters as huge heads, bat like ears,bulging eyes, hulking hairy bodies and fingers ending in sharp claws.  But my mind might have gone right to the image of a bugbear since my mind was tainted with the image from the 77 monster manual.