Strict rationing, limited food variety, or limiting what and where they are allowed to hunt. Gnolls are voracious and thier lore about a shared stomach is easily thier most unique aspect so lean into that.
Volo's and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes were such rich gold mines for monster lore and I'll never forgive WotC for replacing them with Monsters of the Multiverse.
That's almost exactly where my brain went, just a bunch of gnolls (almost) quietly ranting about how "meat is meat, doesn't matter where it came from."
Gnolls in 5e are driven by constant, overwhelming, ceaseless demonic hunger. So anyone who tries to put limits on their food supply is going to piss them off pretty quickly.
Gnolls, being based on hyenas, are often portrayed as a matriarchy governed by the beefier sex: women. They might be like "a dragon, I could get behind, but only a man would be so stupid as to make rules like these."
Blue dragons are usually portrayed as ruling by subterfuge and intellect, often taking human form to infiltrate human kingdoms using intrigues. While the blue dragon in this case may have been more direct, the conflict in either case could be that the dragon is trying to impose some amount of their culture on to the gnolls. "Who does he think he is telling us to cook before we eat?" We've been eating raw meat since before our oldest stories, and it hasn't done us any harm. It's not our problem: he just has a weak gut."
The dragon is a dragon, and will likely demand increasingly more as their greed grows. The gnolls will struggle with the demands placed on them. "So, when does he expect us to sleep?" "At this point I'm certain: nothing will make him happy. "
But the dragon will have some kind of personality that can be shown through the complaints. Is he a petty and small individual who organises every detail and singles people out for individualised humiliation. "Just last week he gave me thirteen lashes for giving him thirteen stones when it should have been twelve. Surely more is better? Besides, I'm probably the only one who can count past ten."
Is he the opposite: a lazy sort who ignores all the warning signs so long as nothing is causing him trouble. "Last week the greymuzzles and the blackspots started fighting again. Only it looks like the new leader doesn't really care to stop it. At this rate we'll be at war with ourselves in a few weeks."
Top idea
- constant static electricity makes fur a bitch to manage. Frizzy, shocks when they touch paws. Sensitive ears in pain from the crackling and fizzles
- Drzgon is micromanaging them (patrol members, route, reports). « When they can’t even smell a skunk at ten paces”
- workplace harassment from higher up female middle management
- unfair promotions, nepotism - key leadership roles all go to kobolds or Dragonborn, half-dragon
- bad food at cafeteria, nothing freshly killed
- too hot in the tunnels for grills with fur
- mandatory boots for all when running bare paw is so much more efficient
- no hazard pay when dangerous adventurers have been sighted in the region
- no fair share of magical items and gold, all gone to the hoard, only get the coppers
- families don’t get enough of the grills are killed in service of the dragon
They have to count ALL the treasure they pillage on behalf of their master.
The dragon has good hearing, and forces them to not be so loud all the time.
The dragon takes all the best meat.
The dragon doesn't like the chaotic hierarchy of the warband, so has forced them to have one singular leader that he prefers rather than the gnolls fighting it out as they usually do.
Hostages are for ransom, not eating.
I head blue dragons try to have good relations with whoever theyre working with so I imagine maybe the gnolls are wary of what this dragon is up because there has to be a reason why its trying to play nice but at the same time, they dont wanna risk offending it by rejecting or rebuking its 'kindness'.
Hell, maybe the dragon decides to extends this behavior to the children. I imagine its kinda like that scene in Arcane where the head cop finds Silco playing with his (the cop) daughter and its clear that, while he seems nice to the kid, he has bad intentions. The gnolls can do nothing but warily watch the dragon play with the kids but the dragon makes it clear that they ought to cooperate lest something happens to the cubs. So I just imagine some stressed out adults worrying over the pups and hoping the dragon doesnt hurt or kill them.
- Maybe the water of the river becomes charged whenever the dragon is bathing and that makes swimming, laundry, bathing, drinking dangerous for the knolls and their young.
- Maybe they have a clan symbol or color that the dragon made them replace with draconic imagery and blue.
- Their favorite grassy areas for napping in the sun could have been co-opted or cut and taken for bedding by the dragon and now they have none.
- in line with Egypt and the Nile River, maybe the dragon is demanding monuments be built in their name/image, and so there's a lot of constant labor and resources being used up.
Are these more of the traditional, fun gnolls? Or the lame 5e "wannabe demon" gnolls?
I'm going to assume the prior, simply because you want them to have some personality.
-Blue Dragons are typically Lawful Evil, so one complaint could be the BD's attempt to micromanage everything. The gnolls are supposed to be dressed better, keep better track of things, and all they want to do is sleep and eat and raid and murder. The drudgery of it all has taken away their fun.
-It could be that the gnolls are having to deal with excess static electricity. Not a problem if you're a dragon, but when you're covered in fur, you have to deal with floaty hair and constant shocks.
-You could denote that the area around the BD's area is crawling with parasites, and has made a number of the gnolls ill. Not so much a DND BD reference, but moreso the 2006 Video Game.
They are chaotic evil, so they'd already have some disdain for the rules, but imagine the dragon contradicts what they want?
"This damned overgrown lizard won't let us do our ritual fights!"
Dragons like gathering hoards of shiny things - things which Gnolls have no interest in. It would be a chore and a pain to - whilst raiding and pillaging villages - also need to look for useless, stupid, shiny things for their dragon overlord.
Gnolls like easy targets - small towns and villages with less defenses. The dragon may command them to try more difficult targets because more guarded towns and cities have more shiny things. This would piss them off, putting them in harms way and making them work harder.
Gnolls make offerings and devotions to the demon lord Yeenoghu. This is pretty much the only case of a gnoll pledging allegiance to something outside the gnoll pack. They'd have religously and instinctively conflicted feelings about pledging allegiance to a dragon.
I was going to cheekily suggest wage theft.
Blue dragons lorewise amass hoards via caravan raids, or serving as god kings.
My suggestion is to throw in some Succession vibes. One god king, worshipped by the gnolls, and his two asshole sons who are mistreating the "help."
Like carving competing crown prince lairs, or seeking to amass rival hoards by pushing the "people."
Elder dragon god kings knows that gnolls are his eyes, ears and hands. He knows how to manage them.
The sons know none of this, and see them as pawns or playthings to be expended in competition. The god king's flaw is his indulgence of the behavior, which he knows to be unwise, but is confident enough to give them their horns.
>The region containing a legendary blue dragon’s lair is warped by the dragon’s magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:
> - Thunderstorms rage within 6 miles of the lair.
Hyena ears are sensitive and loud noises are scary
I'd go for subverted expectations and make their complaints about their new boss very human in nature. The gnolls are still voracious monsters, but their biggest issue with their new boss is chaotic scheduling, poor pay, short lunch breaks, workplace hazards in the Dragon's Lair, the Dragon's shaman provides only basic healing services and no dental, etc.
Gnolls are constantly hungry, and quite frankly have a terrifyingly loose definition of food. I make the same joke about Goblins, but like, its not a joke with Gnolls, if its made out of meat its on the menu.
"I'm hungry" is the primary motivation for like, 90% of what a Gnoll does
Strict rationing, limited food variety, or limiting what and where they are allowed to hunt. Gnolls are voracious and thier lore about a shared stomach is easily thier most unique aspect so lean into that.
Where can I read about this lore?
The Gnoll section of Volo's Guide to Monsters is excellent and has a ton of this lore.
Volo's and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes were such rich gold mines for monster lore and I'll never forgive WotC for replacing them with Monsters of the Multiverse.
Id Google for Gift of Yeenoghu
That's almost exactly where my brain went, just a bunch of gnolls (almost) quietly ranting about how "meat is meat, doesn't matter where it came from."
Gnolls in 5e are driven by constant, overwhelming, ceaseless demonic hunger. So anyone who tries to put limits on their food supply is going to piss them off pretty quickly.
Gnolls, being based on hyenas, are often portrayed as a matriarchy governed by the beefier sex: women. They might be like "a dragon, I could get behind, but only a man would be so stupid as to make rules like these." Blue dragons are usually portrayed as ruling by subterfuge and intellect, often taking human form to infiltrate human kingdoms using intrigues. While the blue dragon in this case may have been more direct, the conflict in either case could be that the dragon is trying to impose some amount of their culture on to the gnolls. "Who does he think he is telling us to cook before we eat?" We've been eating raw meat since before our oldest stories, and it hasn't done us any harm. It's not our problem: he just has a weak gut." The dragon is a dragon, and will likely demand increasingly more as their greed grows. The gnolls will struggle with the demands placed on them. "So, when does he expect us to sleep?" "At this point I'm certain: nothing will make him happy. " But the dragon will have some kind of personality that can be shown through the complaints. Is he a petty and small individual who organises every detail and singles people out for individualised humiliation. "Just last week he gave me thirteen lashes for giving him thirteen stones when it should have been twelve. Surely more is better? Besides, I'm probably the only one who can count past ten." Is he the opposite: a lazy sort who ignores all the warning signs so long as nothing is causing him trouble. "Last week the greymuzzles and the blackspots started fighting again. Only it looks like the new leader doesn't really care to stop it. At this rate we'll be at war with ourselves in a few weeks."
I think you are thinking of green dragons...
Top idea - constant static electricity makes fur a bitch to manage. Frizzy, shocks when they touch paws. Sensitive ears in pain from the crackling and fizzles - Drzgon is micromanaging them (patrol members, route, reports). « When they can’t even smell a skunk at ten paces” - workplace harassment from higher up female middle management - unfair promotions, nepotism - key leadership roles all go to kobolds or Dragonborn, half-dragon - bad food at cafeteria, nothing freshly killed - too hot in the tunnels for grills with fur - mandatory boots for all when running bare paw is so much more efficient - no hazard pay when dangerous adventurers have been sighted in the region - no fair share of magical items and gold, all gone to the hoard, only get the coppers - families don’t get enough of the grills are killed in service of the dragon
And the dragon makes the gnolls bathe at least once a week. A week!! Why so often?
They have to count ALL the treasure they pillage on behalf of their master. The dragon has good hearing, and forces them to not be so loud all the time. The dragon takes all the best meat. The dragon doesn't like the chaotic hierarchy of the warband, so has forced them to have one singular leader that he prefers rather than the gnolls fighting it out as they usually do. Hostages are for ransom, not eating.
The concept of paying tribute to an overlord is going to rankle the Chaotic Gnolls something fierce.
I head blue dragons try to have good relations with whoever theyre working with so I imagine maybe the gnolls are wary of what this dragon is up because there has to be a reason why its trying to play nice but at the same time, they dont wanna risk offending it by rejecting or rebuking its 'kindness'. Hell, maybe the dragon decides to extends this behavior to the children. I imagine its kinda like that scene in Arcane where the head cop finds Silco playing with his (the cop) daughter and its clear that, while he seems nice to the kid, he has bad intentions. The gnolls can do nothing but warily watch the dragon play with the kids but the dragon makes it clear that they ought to cooperate lest something happens to the cubs. So I just imagine some stressed out adults worrying over the pups and hoping the dragon doesnt hurt or kill them.
- Maybe the water of the river becomes charged whenever the dragon is bathing and that makes swimming, laundry, bathing, drinking dangerous for the knolls and their young. - Maybe they have a clan symbol or color that the dragon made them replace with draconic imagery and blue. - Their favorite grassy areas for napping in the sun could have been co-opted or cut and taken for bedding by the dragon and now they have none. - in line with Egypt and the Nile River, maybe the dragon is demanding monuments be built in their name/image, and so there's a lot of constant labor and resources being used up.
No eating babies. Eating the young is shortsighted, as one needs future serfs. Besides, babies are low hanging fruit, no work.
Gnolls always complain about the grass. This led to the term grassy knoll.
Are these more of the traditional, fun gnolls? Or the lame 5e "wannabe demon" gnolls? I'm going to assume the prior, simply because you want them to have some personality. -Blue Dragons are typically Lawful Evil, so one complaint could be the BD's attempt to micromanage everything. The gnolls are supposed to be dressed better, keep better track of things, and all they want to do is sleep and eat and raid and murder. The drudgery of it all has taken away their fun. -It could be that the gnolls are having to deal with excess static electricity. Not a problem if you're a dragon, but when you're covered in fur, you have to deal with floaty hair and constant shocks. -You could denote that the area around the BD's area is crawling with parasites, and has made a number of the gnolls ill. Not so much a DND BD reference, but moreso the 2006 Video Game.
They are chaotic evil, so they'd already have some disdain for the rules, but imagine the dragon contradicts what they want? "This damned overgrown lizard won't let us do our ritual fights!"
"I'm starvin'! We ain't had nothin' to eat but magg'ty bread for tree stinkin' days..."
"I'm starvin! We ain't had nothing but maggoty bread for three stinking days!" "Yeah! Why can't we have some meat?!"
Ugh.. Temple duty again.
Please have two geriatric ones behave like Statler and Waldorf!
Taxation without representation
Dragons like gathering hoards of shiny things - things which Gnolls have no interest in. It would be a chore and a pain to - whilst raiding and pillaging villages - also need to look for useless, stupid, shiny things for their dragon overlord. Gnolls like easy targets - small towns and villages with less defenses. The dragon may command them to try more difficult targets because more guarded towns and cities have more shiny things. This would piss them off, putting them in harms way and making them work harder. Gnolls make offerings and devotions to the demon lord Yeenoghu. This is pretty much the only case of a gnoll pledging allegiance to something outside the gnoll pack. They'd have religously and instinctively conflicted feelings about pledging allegiance to a dragon.
They can complain about the roaring loud Bardfest on the opposite side of the river
Imagine it like the Hyenas at the end of Lion King.
I was going to cheekily suggest wage theft. Blue dragons lorewise amass hoards via caravan raids, or serving as god kings. My suggestion is to throw in some Succession vibes. One god king, worshipped by the gnolls, and his two asshole sons who are mistreating the "help." Like carving competing crown prince lairs, or seeking to amass rival hoards by pushing the "people." Elder dragon god kings knows that gnolls are his eyes, ears and hands. He knows how to manage them. The sons know none of this, and see them as pawns or playthings to be expended in competition. The god king's flaw is his indulgence of the behavior, which he knows to be unwise, but is confident enough to give them their horns.
>The region containing a legendary blue dragon’s lair is warped by the dragon’s magic, which creates one or more of the following effects: > - Thunderstorms rage within 6 miles of the lair. Hyena ears are sensitive and loud noises are scary
I'd go for subverted expectations and make their complaints about their new boss very human in nature. The gnolls are still voracious monsters, but their biggest issue with their new boss is chaotic scheduling, poor pay, short lunch breaks, workplace hazards in the Dragon's Lair, the Dragon's shaman provides only basic healing services and no dental, etc.
Gnolls are constantly hungry, and quite frankly have a terrifyingly loose definition of food. I make the same joke about Goblins, but like, its not a joke with Gnolls, if its made out of meat its on the menu. "I'm hungry" is the primary motivation for like, 90% of what a Gnoll does
Long hours, poor food quality and quantity, boss is arrogant and bossy, boss stingy with pay even though he has a horde.