If you don't know about it, the World of Warcraft: Traveler book series (which doesn't seem to have a page here) does this. A big theme of the series in general is exploring the cultures of even the mob races of Warcraft and showing them as people. Gnolls are among those, and a gnoll even joins the main characters for the second novel.
Maybe that could give you an idea of what you could do with it that they haven't either still.
Edited by Jokubas on Dec 4th 2018 at 11:08:26 AM
I was thinking how Gnolls are depicted as being stupid, since hyenas are stereotyped as that. The interesting thing is hyenas are actually smart creatures. And to counter that stereotype, it would be interesting to see the Gnolls as a species that is smart than it looks. They would matriarchal and a warrior/hunter society, but they would also much to the surprise of outsiders have emphasis on education and actually value scientists. Maybe Gnolls should have analogy connection with how many Africans were underestimated due to Europeans believing that they were more animalistic and primitive.
When official D&D stuff tries to give Gnolls nuance, here's what they do...
1) The Gnoll god, Gorellik, was a mostly benign hunting god who tried to impart on his creation, the Gnolls, the virtue of battle and only eating what you kill. He was dethroned by Yeenoghu who then took control of the Gnolls. He made them stupid, violent and cannibalistic. The purpose of the Gnolls' evil is that they are an extension of Yeenoghu's evil. Gnolls are capable of good but only when they escape from Yeenoghu's control. They are essentially an example of the danger that comes from devotion to a tyrant.
2) Loyalty to family is the highest virtue of the Gnolls. In fact, it's the only virtue they have. Writers who try to humanize Gnolls beef-up this aspect as being the saving grace of the Gnolls.
Another thing I will like to point-out is that there are differences between spotted and striped Hyenas. To elaborate... Spotted hyena's are not generally scavengers. They are also female-dominated and are known to be very vocal (with laughing and such). They are also known to be pretty intelligent by canine standards. Striped hyena's are scavengers, neither male nor female-dominated and generally pretty quiet. They are also not known to be pack animals in the same way that spotted hyenas are.
In Indian folklore, striped hyenas are often associated with magic, love and medicine. Gnosticism has a loose connection between hyenas and magic as well as the love goddess Venus. Through African and Middle Eastern folklore, spotted hyenas are portrayed universally negatively though some myths say that spotted hyenas are the physical incarnations of Jinn.
So, does any of this information help?
Digger has some great Gnoll characters, you may wish to research it.
Now everyone pat me on the back and tell me how clever I am!

I know it's been a trend for decades to depict races usually seen as evil with more nuance like Orcs and Drows. However, with Gnolls I rarely see more attempts to make them into a more nuanced and non-evil race. It also ties in with trying to avert the Heinous Hyena archetype as well.