Long before the hyena man made his appearance in the Monster Manual, Gnolls were being encountered and bested by hardy adventurers. The White Box Gnoll is described in Volume 2, Monsters & Treasure as "A cross between Gnomes and Trolls", hence the name. Gnolls are a bit tougher than Hobgoblins (big hairy Goblins) having 2 full hit dice (as opposed to 1+1 for Hobgoblins). Presumably they look something like a mixture of Gnome features and Troll features. The illustration from Vol. 2 shown above seems to confirm this. Gnomes are described as short and bearded like dwarves, Trolls as greenish, rubbery and thin. They lack the regenerative power of the Troll, but the bigger Gnolls fight as 6+3 hit dice monsters just like Trolls. Obviously they are weapon users (unlike Trolls who rely upon their claws).
The Monster Manual of the Advanced game alters the Gnoll's appearance to resemble hyena men, otherwise much of the description is similar. They retain a greenish hue to their skin. Game statistics including Armor Class and Hit Dice remain the same. They even speak Troll as if perhaps the relationship with Trolls remains, but is unstated. They are clearly depicted as slavers in the Monster Manual and are generally found below ground often in competition with and/or cooperation with Hobgoblins, Orcs, Bugbears, Ogres and Trolls. They keep hyenas and hyenadons as pets.
In Volume 2, Monsters & Treasure there is an obscure reference to a "Lord Sunsany" who is credited with the theory that Gnolls are a cross between Gnomes and Trolls, but he "did not really make it all that clear". I wonder which came first, the name or the monster. A quick search reveals that Gnoles appear in stories by Lord Dunsany, "How Nuth Would Have Practiced His Art Upon The Gnoles" and Margaret St. Claire, "The Man Who Sold Rope To The Gnoles". Is "Lord Sunsany" actually Lord Dunsany?
Immersion in the game and our willingness to suspend disbelief and treat the imaginary world as real in order to more fully enjoy the game can lead us to think of its troupes as realities. So how would a dwarf-like race of Gnomes cross-breed with Trolls, a traditional enemy of the dwarves and presumably the Gnomes. In Volume 1, Men & Magic Dwarves and Gnomes are listed on both the Law and Neutrality lists while Trolls and Gnolls are certainly Chaos creatures. I would think this alone would make them enemies. Of course this may not preclude violent interbreeding.
Magic is another possible explanation for the Gnoll. Chaos magic users may have experimented with various racial combinations and be responsible for combining Gnome and Troll DNA to create the race of Gnolls. I rather prefer this "magical" explanation.
The somewhat primitive and amateurish drawing of the Gnoll in White Box gives me the impression of a rather large, stooping fiend, with an evil, teeth baring grin and bulging eyes. I can easily picture the Gnoll as a formidable adversary for a low level character. How ever the referee interprets the Gnoll's heritage, Gnolls provide yet another bad guy race to flesh out for your campaign, distinct from Orcs, Hobgoblins, Ogres, Bugbears and the rest of the humanoids. That's where the fun comes into play, using our imagination to create something uniquely ours, then sharing it with friends.
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