D&D: The Real Life Origins of Famous NPCs
Some of D&D’s most iconic characters started out in someone’s own home game. Here’s where some of the most well-known NPCs came from IRL.
When players ventured into Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, they might have encountered Arkhan the Cruel, a servant of Tiamat, and the recent creation of Joe Manganiello. Arkhan, who debuted in Critical Role’s first campaign as an evil dragonborn paladin of Tiamat, is famous for stealing the Hand of Vecna. And those facts carried through in the adventure. The villainous Paladin was still in possession of the relic that catapulted him into the community’s hearts. That transition from a home game into the canon is a path that many famous characters have walked in D&D’s vaunted past. Characters like…
Melf
The iconic Male Elf, Melf, was one of the original D&D player characters. A member of the band of adventurers that would explore the ruins of Castle Greyhawk, Melf, sometimes called Prince Brightflame, was an archmage whose name you might recognize from the spells Acid Arrow and Minute Meteors. But he had his origins as Lucion Paul (aka Luke) Gygax’ home character. It should tell you a lot that one of the most famous incidents in Melf’s history is when he was forced to atone for crimes against nature by frolicking merrily every morning while singing:
When the sun in the morning peeps over the hill
and caresses the rosebuds on my windowsill,
my heart fills with gladness when I hear the trill
of the birds in the treetops around any old hill.
Tra-la-la, fiddle-dee-dee-dee,
it gives me a pain to dance and sing this, must I do it again?
Tra-la-la, fiddle-dee-dee-dee, there’s penance to do,
how happy I’ll be when it’s finally through!
Drawmij
Drawmij is another powerful archmage, one of the Council of Eight, who hangs out with Mordenkainen. Drawmij is the mage who invented the spell Drawmij’s Instant Summons and is also the hidden name of the player who invented the spell Drawmij’s Instant Summons, assuming that Alucard is a great way to hide a name. Drawmij is none other than Jim Ward, spelled backward, but times were simpler then. And Jim Ward contributed so much more than the spell to D&D, including Deities & Demigods, but his character lives on in PHBs throughout the editions.
Tenser
Jim Ward isn’t the only one to get in on the whole ‘using your name as your character’ as Tenser–whose Floating Disc is the boon of adventurers throughout the multiverse, and whose Transformation helps a very specific subset of wizards–is an anagram for Ernest, as in Ernest Gygax, who along with sister Elise is one of the first two D&D PCs.
Bigby
What is it with powerful wizards living on to become a part of D&D canon? This time we have Bigby, the world’s handiest wizard. Originally conceived of as a foil and enemy of Mordenkainen by Rob Kuntz, Bigby was Mordenkainen’s servant (so long as he was kept magically charmed). At least until such time as Mordenkainen convinced Bigby to leave behind his evil ways, at which point he was played by Gary Gygax, who loved to play wizards, including…
Mordenkainen
Mordenkainen, of Tome of Foes fame, as well as the Mordenkainen series of spells, which include a Faithful Hound, a Magical Watch Dog, a Sword, a Magnificent Mansion, and Lucubration, which is not to be mixed up with lubrication. Mordenkainen was one of Gary Gygax’ characters. Under Gygax, Mordenkainen flourished in the home campaign of Greyhawk where he rose to be the master of a circle of eight wizards–much of which happened over the course of a game.
So the next time you’re looking to keep some continuity going, look for one of your characters and put them out there. You never know when they’ll be a part of history.
Happy adventuring!
