Sure, if we wanted to we could spend a lifetime talking about the various made-up animals of fictional worlds—the Sarlacc, the Garthim, Tribbles. This is going to be a quick compendium of the animals that were around for the first fictional tales, the ones that keep popping up over the millennium. Yes, you’ve seen these magical creatures before, but I’m going back to the original historical accounts of these creatures as first defined and try to ignore later information.

Here’s the criteria for this list:

• These are nonsentient critters. If the creature has been primarily treated as having some sort of intelligence I would no longer consider it an animal, but a race. Perhaps later we’ll do animal-like sentient creature that players can use as characters. Also excluded are demons, spirits, and fey.
• These are going to all be considered wild. Absolutely, GMs reading this article should think about whether or not a creature listed here can become a domesticated animal; nothing stopping you. For now, I’m just going to list those that are not considered in the care of people or deities.
• They should be able to reproduce. This takes out the one-of-a-kind legends, like , Behemoth, Pegasus, or Grendel. There should at least be more than one and they should be able to breed in some way.
• This is not about cryptids. There are hundreds of cryptids (hidden animals) out there, and these would include Bigfoot, Chupacabra, globsters, and lake monsters. Since cryptozoology is a relatively new study, this will also be a later article.

This is about the legendary monsters that have been seen in art and discussed in folklore since ancient times.

Ahuizotl: A doglike creature with smooth slippery black skin. It has small pointed ears, raccoon- or monkey-like hands, and a long tail with another hand on the end of it. It’s a swimmer that lives in watery caverns and is said to make a cry like a baby to draw people close to the water. It is known for taking the eyes, teeth, and nails of the human victims they drown, leaving the body whole but shiny, as though it had been beaten with rocks.

Size: Small. 1.52 meters (5 feet) tall maximum, not including tail
Base Animal: Dog
Likely Origins: Otter
Found: Deep freshwater
Location: Central and South America, Aztec Communities

Special Ideas: Well, it eats the eyeballs, but actually extracts the internal organs through various orifices; ancient Aztecs didn’t check for these things, but that’s why the body looks newly beaten. The nails and teeth it uses to help build its home; or to gather together to attract a mate.

Al-Mi’raj: A creature from Muslim works that was said to exist on an island in the Indian Ocean. It was an overly large yellow rabbit with a two-foot long, black unicorn-like horn in its forehead. It looked harmless but was ferociously territorial and would kill all comers. It was also carnivorous and could devour victims much larger than itself. The people of the island were so terrified they turned to witchcraft.

Size: Small, 1.52 meters (5 feet) long maximum
Base Animal: Rabbit
Likely Origins: Rabbit ill with disease
Found: Grasslands, forests
Location: Jezîrat al-Tennyn, an island in the Indian Ocean

Special Ideas: It’s an overly large horned bunny that viciously attempts to skewer people who try to approach it. What’s not to love. If the characters defeat it, people come out and praise them and treat them as heroes. Just make sure the rabbit has an awesome dodging skill and puts the strength of its back legs into any attack. Afterwards? Rabbit stew.

Basan: A giant chicken-like creature that breathes “ghost-fire.”

Size: Large. 6.09 meters (20 feet) tall
Base Animal: Chicken
Likely Origins: Unknown
Found: Mountains
Location: Iyo Province (Ehime Prefecture)

Special Ideas: Before the players start laughing, sic this thing on them at full chicken throttle. Anyone that’s ever been in a barnyard with chickens has fled in terror when one starts chasing you down. When it pecks, it’ll do so at impossible speeds. And a peck from this thing should either grab someone and hoist them… or split their body in two. It can kick out with its clawed feet as well and will scratch at someone trying to hide in the brush. And then poop on the person. Do not mock the giant chicken; it will mess you up.

Basilisk: A legendary reptile in both Greco-roman and European areas, the basilisk is alleged to be hatched by a cockerel from the egg of a serpent or toad (the cockatrice is the “egg” of a cockerel incubated by a serpent or toad). Considered the king of serpents due to a crownlike appendage on its head, it can kill in a single glance. The basilisk is the size of a small snake, maximum 12 fingers (48 inches) in length. It leaves a large trail of venom as it travels, and its burrow is recognized by scorched grass all around it. Contact poison and breath vapor causes grass to scorch and breaks stones. It was thought by Pliny that the natural repellent for the basilisk was the effluvium of a weasel—throwing the weasel into the hole kills the basilisk.

Size: Small. Under 4 feet (1.2 meters)
Base Animal: Reptile/Amphibian
Likely Origins: King Cobras and their enemy, the mongoose.
Found: Grasslands, Scrublands
Location: Pliny stated they lived in Cyrene, Libya (Greek Colony in North Africa)

Special Ideas: These creatures are not exactly breed-able but its birth is repeatable so it’ll have to do. The name is recognizable; however, the tiny size of a true basilisk may not be. A GM could decide to make them just incredibly venomous for more realism.

Bunyip: A creature from Aboriginal Australian mythology. Most accounts describe it as a water creature, some say it looks like a large starfish. Other common descriptions include a doglike face, horselike tail, flippers, walrus-like horns or tusks, and a duck bill. In 1845 an Aborigine described his eyewitness account: uniting the characteristics of bird and alligator, it has a head like an emu with a longer bill, but at the end are two projections on either side with serrations like the boned of a stingray tail. The body and legs are like an alligator’s with strong hind feet and much longer forefeet. The extremities all have sharp claws. It swims like a frog but walks on land on its hind legs, standing up to thirteen feet in height. It usually squeezes its victim to death in a bear hug.

Size: Medium. 4.0 meters (13 feet)
Base Animal: Uncertain… reptile or a very lost walrus/seal
Likely Origins: Seal or ancient prehistoric marsupial
Found: Freshwater wetlands, swamps, billabongs, creeks, rivers, water holes
Location: Throughout Australia.

Special Ideas: A bunyip would be the essential grizzly or Kodiak bear for the southern swamps. When you need a creature to just come out of the water and take a swipe at somebody from a standing position, the bunyip rocks. Then, after the adventurers kill it, they find the rest of the pack. And momma’s angry.

Catoblepas: Another animal described by Pliny, it has the body of a buffalo and a head like a pig. Its back is covered with scales to better protect it from predators and its head always points downward. It is said its gaze or its breath can turn people to stone or kill them. Another author, Claudius Aelianus expounded on the beast, stating its eyes could not kill but its breath could thanks to the large amount of poisonous plants this herbivore ate.

Size: Large. 1.7 meters (5.6 feet) at the shoulder, 3.4 meters (11.15 feet) long, 500–900 kg (1102–1984 lbs)
Base Animal: Cow
Likely Origins: Wildebeast
Found: Dry grasslands
Location: Ethiopia

Special Ideas: A toxic cow-like creature, with a face as ugly as sin. Maybe the charaters are starving when they find this one. Boy, I hope so.

Dragon: Dragons are probably the most famous of the legendary creatures. There are two distinctive types of dragons: those from European, Greek, and Middle Eastern traditions and those from China, Korea, and Japan. The Asian Dragon is intelligent or spiritlike in every example I could find, therefore it is not an animal and not included here. European dragons are generally serpentine. Generally called a dragon or wyrm, it is interesting to note the earliest descriptions of dragons in the Middle East and Eastern Europe were more similar to Asian dragons and as legends headed west, they altered significantly. The European dragon is a winged creature that lives in underground lairs. They are usually considered evil, except for Welsh dragons. Beowulf says his dragon has a venomous bite and breathes fire. Dragons usually have four legs (those with two legs are called wyverns) and leathery wings. Often they have multiple heads, up to ten. Their blood is poisonous and their breath, when not breathing fire, foul. Later depictions indicated they were intelligent, but earlier forms of intelligent dragons were actually shapeshifting demons.

Size: Large, between 4.0–6.0 Meters (13 and 20 feet) long
Base Animal: Serpent or Reptile
Likely Origins: Dinosaur fossils
Found: European Dragons generally in underground caverns
Location: Throughout Europe and the Middle East

Special Ideas: As untrainable, unintelligent beasts, dragons could be used to introduce players to a new style of gaming. Tasked with slaying the local dragon in a new town, the PCs could head off figuring on negotiations or anticipating treasure. Instead they get an animal, one that attacks as a territorial hungry predator rather than an angry or malevolent thinking beast.

Emela-ntouka: The name means “Killer of Elephants” in the Lingala language from Central Africa. It is described as a dinosaur-like creature the size of an African Bush Elephant, with brownish-gray skin, a heavy tail and short stump legs, and an appearance similar to a rhinoceros, including a single horn on its snout. It is semi-aquatic and an herbivore.

Size: Large 3.2 to 4.0 m (10 to 13 feet at the shoulder, 4,700–6048 kg (10,000–13,330 lbs)
Base Animal: Dinosaur
Likely Origins: Semi-aquatic rhinoceros or living dinosaur
Found: near swamps and lakes
Location: Congo River Basin in the republic of Congo, Cameroon, and Zambia

Special Ideas: A land of the dinosaurs has certainly been done before, especially in the Congo, but certainly a deep jungle region where the wildlife had stalled is still considered possible today, so why not prehistoric versions in a fantasy setting? The Killer of Elephants was based off the protoceratops, experts believe, and there are many more examples of living dinosaur reports involving other species, like the pterosaur and the stegosaurus. Give them some territory that they insist on keeping.

Griffon, Gryphon, Griffin: A creature thought to have the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. The gryphon has ears that are somewhat elongated, like a horse. Generally the forelegs are like a bird’s; one with lion’s forelegs could be called an opinicus. Early depictions have the gryphon without wings (called an alce or keythong). A hippogriff was said to be the offspring of a gryphon and a mare.

Size: Medium, 3.0–3.3 meters (10–10.8 feet long), 300 kg (661 lbs)
Base Animal: Without wings, lion. With wings, half-lion, half-eagle
Likely Origins: Fossilized remains of protoceratops.
Found: No particular designation
Location: Earliest depictions at Knossos On Crete. Persia and other portions of Central Asia likely.

Special Ideas: They are birds of prey and bolt their food like one of those scary baby owls. Their attacks include both talons from the fore-claws and rabbit kicks from the back. In addition, they can see you coming from really far away.

Kelpie: Questionable as to whether this is an animal or a spirit, but signs indicate it’s more like an animal and it can breed. The water horse lives in rivers, seas, and lochs. Normally with a horse-like front and a fish-like back half, they can shape change to a horse, pony, or mute humanoid, although all appear wet with seal-like skin. As a horse or pony the kelpie is able to be ridden but its skin becomes adhesive and the person is pulled into the water with the water horse. After the victim is drowned the creature eats it. Some, like Scotland’s each uisge have been known to favor cattle and sheep. A story goes that after killing an each uisge it dissolved into a jelly-like substance. Other names include Orkney’s nuggle, Shetland’s shoopiltee, njogel, or tangi, Isle of Man’s cabbyl-ushtey or glashtin, Wales’ Ceffyl dŵr, Scandinavia’s Bäckahästen or brook horse, Norway’s nøkken, and Iceland’s and the Faroe Islands’ nykur or nennir. Even the Chinese have a similar creature, called the water monkey.

Size: Medium. 1.63 m (5.4 feet) at the shoulder), 380–550 kg (840–1200 lbs)
Base Animal: Horse
Likely Origins: Kelpie
Found: lochs and the sea
Location: Northwestern Europe

Special Ideas: The water horse’s illusion abilities could be more like that of an octopus or cuttlefish, especially if the creature is gelatinous. Spectacles are harder to come by in some fantasy stories; the illusions do not have to be perfect. Since this breed of animal has been named by nearly every country in the region, one would have to believe it is prolific. Therefore if you decide to use one kelpie, use a bunch, and if they kill one, it gives off a scent that causes other kelpies in the region to become overly aggressive.

Kraken: Generally described as the size of a floating island, the real danger being the vortex it causes when it quickly descends into the depths. Kraken were always distinct from sea serpents. It was believed the kraken digested its food over a long period of time and the fish would gather around its body where it lay on the sea floor. The Norse have similar creatures, called the hafgufa and lyngbakr, both described as giant spider-like creatures. The Japanese have Akkorokamui, which is more octopus-like, red, and up to 110 meters long. The Japanese also have the Isonade, which was a giant shark-like monster off the coasts of western Japan.

Size: Giant, 110 m (120.3 yards) long, give or take
Base Animal: Octopus or squid, shark
Likely Origins: Giant Squid, volcanic activity causing trails of bubbles and currents.
Found: sea
Location: Coastal waters of Norway, Iceland

Special Ideas: Having the PCs find a floating island is a great way to introduce the kraken to a game setting. Using the Nordic type of kraken allows the GM to produce a water spider-like nightmare that’ll terrify the players.

Makara: Hindu legendary aquatic creature that is essential an antelope-like creature in the fore parts, and a fish in the latter. Some depict it with an elephant’s trunk or elongated crocodile snout. This sea creature is not the same as a kelpie due to the fact it does not have any illusion ability and seems to be more seal-like than gelatinous. Several stories indicate the makara attacks passers-by like a crocodile, pulling them into the water.

Size: Medium, 3.2 meters (10 feet) long, 230 kg (500 lbs)
Base Animal: stag, fish
Likely Origins: crocodile or Gangetic Dolphin
Found: the sea and the river Ganges
Location: India

Special Ideas: It doesn’t say that this creature eats its victims. Could be simply it grabs a human or goat as it passes and drowns it so that smaller fish or even microscopic critters will come and the makara feasts on them. That would make it a learned behavior and one that can be remedied without killing the creature (by supplying its preferred food in abundance. Of course killing it has its benefits too: surf & turf, anyone?

Manticore: The manticore is a Persian mythological creature, a lion- to horse-sized man-eater, with the body of a red lion, a humanoid head with three rows of teeth in each jaw, and a trumpet-like voice. The tail is more like a scorpion’s and can shoot venomous spines. It devours its food whole.

Size: Medium. 4.2 m (13.8 feet) long, 454–550 kg (500–1200 lbs)
Base Animal: lion
Likely Origins: Tiger or other catlike creature
Found: grasslands, dry lands around Persia
Location: Persia

Special Ideas: It’s a good critter to sneak up on a party in open savannahs, or attacking a village at night. If the GM allows the beast to be able to shoot venomous spines from its tail, there should be a limit to how many can be shot before the manticore needs to process keratin or whatever to make more. The GM doesn’t have to worry about a shooting mechanism; the manticore could dislodge one with a whiplike flick of the tail. He’s probably be allergic to the venom as well, so would only ever use the spines in an emergency and never for bringing down food.

Mušḫuššu: “Splendor Serpent.” Depicted on the Ishtar Gate, it seems to be a scaly dragon-like creature with hind legs like an eagle and feline forelegs. It has a long neck and tail, horns on its head with a crest, and a serpentine tongue.

Size: Medium, 4.57 meters (15 feet), 1.8 meters (6 feet) tall at the shoulder, 550 kg (1200 lbs)
Base Animal: dragon
Likely Origins: dinosaur
Found: Unknown
Location: Babylon

Special Ideas: This is a small dragon and there wasn’t indication it was a vicious meat eater. Might be interesting having an herbivore or insectivore dragon-like creature, kinda like a chameleon or iguana on steroids. Not really a dangerous creature to humans but it could snap when irritated and break a person in two.

Rompo: It has the head of a jackrabbit, a skeletal body, human ears, the front arms of a badger, and the hind legs of a bear. It is said to only feed on human corpses and croons softly as it eats.

Size: 1.2–1.83 m (4–6 feet) long, 76 cm to 1 m (2.5–3 feet) at the shoulder, 68–113.4 kg (150–250 lbs)
Base Animal: Unknown
Likely Origins: Unknown, Bear maybe
Found: Near human settlements
Location: India and Africa

Special Ideas: The “crooning” is really disturbing. Even if it turned out to be a type of dog that got a taste for human, the attacks would be more of an ambush. It can probably climb trees, providing for “drop-bear” scenarios. It is unclear whether this is a predator or a carrion-eater.

Rukh, Roc: This is a legendary giant eagle, often thought to be white. Marco Polo swore its quills were twelve paces long and the bird was capable of picking up an elephant. A Roc-like bird appeared in the Vedic tales of India, and the Jewish legends talk of a giant bird called Bar Juchne, whose egg crushed a whole bunch of cedars and flooded 60 villages.

Size: Huge. 18-30.48 m (60-100 feet) tall, 36.57–61 m (120-200) foot wingspan.
Base Animal: Bird
Likely Origins: Giant Eagle of Madagascar, Elephant Bird or Egg, Palm fronds as quills
Found: varied
Location: Arabia or the China Seas

Special Ideas: Anything this big would have to eat VORACIOUSLY just to survive. Or live in a world where there are other giant critters. There’s a great though: have the players being attacked by the giant chicken and the chicken get grabbed by a roc from out of no where. This bird should be able to fly practically into orbit and still be able to see the adventurers’ shoe sizes.

Sandwalker: A gigantic nocturnal crab the size of a horse, with a bird’s beak and scorpion’s tale. The Arabians believed it would steal and eat camels in the night.

Size: Medium to large: 4.2 m (13.8 feet) in diameter, 550 kg (1200 lbs)
Base Animal: Crab
Likely Origins: Crab?
Found: Deserts
Location: Arabia

Special Ideas: The punch line here is that there is no such thing as a desert crab. There are two solutions for beating up naysayers and PCs. One is that there are crabs living in the Red Sea, which is adjacent to Arabia and the crabs are coming from there. The other is that this is talking about a giant desert crab SPIDER. And it’s hungry for camel.

Sea Serpents: Sea serpents were threats to travel for most ancient seafaring nations, including Norway, the Mediterranean nations, and the Near East. Sea serpents figured frequently in Scandinavian folklore. Generally, descriptions indicate a large snake-like creature, up to 200 feet in length and 20 feet wide and are often depicted as black-scaled with red eyes. An eyewitness indicated the sea serpent he saw had a small head and a wrinkled body with large fins and a tail. It was as long as his ship.

Size: Huge. Up to 61 meters (200 feet) long. Up to 6 m (20 feet) in diameter
Base Animal: Snake
Likely Origins: Whales or oarfish, driftwood, squid
Found: oceans and seas or along the shorelines in rifts and caves
Location: Nordic Seas, Mediterranean, Atlantic

Special Ideas: Ever see a garter snake give live birth? Well it would be absolutely horrific to have a ball of writhing washing up near shore and the babies all be ten-foot long ribbons of hungry sea serpent. Sea serpents probably wouldn’t spawn eggs; wher would you nest them? So go for the high squick factor of a live birth and make it a once-ever-few-years/decades event. People can warn of the swarm ahead of time. Or not.

Sharabha: In Hindu mythology, the sharabha was an eight-legged animal that was lion-like with bird features. Very strong, it was considered an edible beast. In later literature it was more like a horse or deer the size of a camel, with eight legs and huge horns. Some places report it was black in color.

Size: Medium, 1.83 m (6 feet) long, 1 m (3 feet) at the shoulder, 113.4 kg (250 lbs)
Base Animal: Lion
Likely Origins: Unknown
Found: Mountains and hills
Location: India

Special Ideas: A sharabha hunt might be a great way to spend the afternoon at a new country. The huge horns and extra strength make it compatible with boar-hunting, plus it’s got extra height and more legs to lash out with. Being edible it is likely an herbivore so may react like a deer, bolting should the PCs get too close. A wild herd of these things should spark the hunter’s instinct in a character or two. Give them trichinosis.

Unicorn: Basically a horse with a horn growing out of its forehead, although traditionally the unicorn also had a billy-goat beard, a lion’s tail, and cloven hooves. The Greeks believed the unicorns lived in India. The earliest depictions state it is like a wild ass with a long horn colored red, white, and black. All early depictions state the unicorn is a pure, good beast. It is believed all its strength comes from the horn and the horn is very valuable. A similar animal seen in Sudan is the abada.

Size: Medium. 1.47 m (58 inches) at the shoulder. 350 kg (771 lbs)
Base Animal: Horse
Likely Origins: Horse, narwhal horns, goat, rhinoceros
Found: Likely grasslands, forests, or mountains, although there does seem to be associations with the sea
Location: India, Far East

Special Ideas: Why make them rare? Have an area where they are as common as cattle, fighting each other for breeding rights, horns and skeletal remains strewn everywhere across the plains. Or make it so the only way the horn works for other people is if you put it in your forehead. Worth a bit less then.

Zhenniao, Zhen, or Poisonfeathers Bird: These poisonous birds were believed to exist in Southern China during ancient times. It was said to have a purple abdomen and green-tipped feathers. Its neck was long and it had a scarlet beak. It was thought to have become poisonous by eating poisonous viper heads. Some reports state it was gooselike in shape. Its poison, Zhendu, was used for assassinations and its only antidote was rhinoceros horn.

Size: Small. 60–89 cm (24–35 inches), 0.5–3kg (1.1–6.6 lbs)
Base Animal: Bird
Likely Origins: May have existed; there are other birds with poisonous feathers.
Found: mountainous forests
Location: China

Special Ideas: Seems like you’d welcome these birds around if they like eating viper heads. Just make sure the feathers don’t get into the wrong hands, because the Zhen practically oozes poison. Or make it a poison that deteriorates over time after it is molted. That way, unless an assassin was lucky in finding a fresh feather, he or she would have to get a feather from the bird without inadvertently poisoning himself. And you wouldn’t want to kill the bird because you may need poison at a later date.