Can someone please tell me what the Japanese version of Kobolds(dog-people) are based on, since they're not the goblin like fairies that they seem to take their name from? The closest thing I could find was Cynocephaly.
Can someone please tell me what the Japanese version of Kobolds(dog-people) are based on, since they're not the goblin like fairies that they seem to take their name from? The closest thing I could find was Cynocephaly.
1st and second edition D&D was huge in Japan, but the major overhaul in 3rd edition and beyond that reimagined and codified the race depictions for the present day English speaking audiences didn't do as well, so a lot of their Medieval fantasy stuff continues to use the earlier baselines. Hence the furry kobolds and orcs with pig snouts.
Look over some art from the AD&D era, you'll find that plenty of monster design stuff in JRPGs makes much more sense when you realize that they're still using those as reference material.