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Caedwyr
Seeker
87 Posts |
 Posted - 02 Apr 2008 : 18:25:09
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quote:
Originally posted by CrennenFaerieBane
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jus cuz teh drow r liek teh best raece evar, iz no reazon 2 haet teh guiz. Driztt iz teh gratest!!!11!!one!!1!
Ow, that hurt to write.
C-Fb
No kidding. When "riting" my response I took three times as long as I had to constantly go back and "uncorrect" myself.
As a race of villains I don't mind them, though it bothers me when they are portrayed inconsistently. When I first encountered FR novels I read several by a number of authors that featured the Drow. From one book to the next the entire race was portrayed from being everything from elite super warriors to bumbling cannon fodder for a group of new adventurers.
I guess what I object to mostly is how often they are used as caricatures that don't really add anything to the story. This isn't an issue with Drow per say, just that they've been used as such more often than most other groups.
As presented in a number of Salvatore books as well as a number of excellent sourcebooks they can be a wonderful race for villains when venturing underground or as a group that raids a settlement and then disappears.
I liked Elaine Cunningham's look at their society in some of the earlier Liriel novels. It gave much more depth and a sense of a real lasting culture than had been shown in what I had read previously.
Edit: Corrected a typo. |
Edited by - Caedwyr on 03 Apr 2008 01:12:00 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36798 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2008 : 19:41:29
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I like the drow as a race; they make excellent villains, and are a great dark reflection of elves.
As others have said, though, the overexposure and fanbois go a long way towards squashing any liking of the drow. I don't blame WotC for wanting to cash in on the drow, but I do blame them for going over the top with it. Looking at WotC's releases for the last few years, one might think that drow were either a dominant race or even the only race.
There's nothing wrong with keeping them in the spotlight, but the way WotC has done it has been problematic for 2 reasons: it has created an anti-drow backlash (mainly because of rabid fanbois and overexposure), and perhaps more importantly, the constant focus on the drow has kept there from being a focus on much of anything else.
So for me, it's not as much the over-use of drow in and of itself that is the issue, but the over-use of drow to the expense of other potential products/storylines that has irked me. |
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Drakul
Senior Scribe
USA
367 Posts |
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Marc
Senior Scribe
657 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2008 : 20:23:16
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| I hate the drow only cause the other potentially more interesting stuff doesn't get any or much less attention |
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2008 : 00:34:09
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| I feel similar to many above. It's because I like the drow that I dislike what's been done to them by certain publishers, authors and fans. The ideas of hating them, or being loyal to them, are ridiculous category errors. |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31727 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2008 : 00:42:26
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quote:
Originally posted by Mace Hammerhand
As I said before, I like the drow, Drizzt, Liriel, Pharaun (who is one of my most favorite characters!).
I must admit, I did enjoy the character of Pharaun from the WotSQ books -- he's actually the only drow, besides Liriel, that I've had any interest in.
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31727 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2008 : 00:47:40
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| And I think both Wooly and Faraer have ably covered how I feel about the drow, at present, as well. The over-exposure aspect of the race, which can indeed be partly attributed to the methods some fans and authors/designers use to underline the drow, has been impressed enough. As I've said many a time, 2002 was supposedly the "Year of the Drow" for WotC -- and yet, since that time, it's almost felt like every year afterward was related to some kind of drow-theme. It can become tiresome. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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BlackAce
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
358 Posts |
Posted - 04 Apr 2008 : 22:12:30
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| Ditto. |
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Zanan
Senior Scribe
Germany
942 Posts |
Posted - 05 Apr 2008 : 22:19:36
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I think I need to think about the meaning of "overexposed" with regards to the drow a bit longer. If anything, they most likely hate being "overexposed" nearly as much as they hate their surface kin.
The drow are, IMHO, one of the finest tools a DM can use in his or her setting, an evil that can be omnipresent and yet so elusive. If they would finally get a decent enough deity going along with their already decent alignment, they could strike terror into the hearts of many player generations. If they need a deity at all, that is. As you can gather by the aforesaid ... I like my drow as the "evil monster" race. And I use them sparingly enough as well.
BTW, many people simply assume that novel quantity is a marker for in-setting power or appearances. Which is, of course, not the case, as we all know.
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Cave quid dicis, quando et cui!
Gæð a wyrd swa hio scel!
In memory of Alura Durshavin.
Visit my "Homepage" to find A Guide to the Drow NPCs of Faerûn, Drow and non-Drow PrC and much more. |
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Mace Hammerhand
Great Reader
Germany
2296 Posts |
Posted - 05 Apr 2008 : 22:21:39
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I just hate caraway... and that I can avoid
even by throwing up  |
Mace's not so gentle gamer's journal My rants were harmless compared to this, beware! |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 05 Apr 2008 : 22:55:45
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I'm actually looking forward to the Pathfinder "Second Darkness" Adventure Path, because I want to see how they use the drow as villains in there. James Jacobs has said that they are really pushing to make them as degenerate and evil as they ever have been portrayed.
I remember back in my 1st and 2nd edition games, my players used to cringe if a plot even remotely had anything to do with the drow, because they knew it would be nasty and dangerous to get involved in. They had a "kill on sight" standing order for drow. |
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Mace Hammerhand
Great Reader
Germany
2296 Posts |
Posted - 05 Apr 2008 : 23:32:50
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| Which is basically how I handle drow in my game, still...even the PC drow priestess of Eilistraee has to play her ass off every time she is "discovered"...fun stuff |
Mace's not so gentle gamer's journal My rants were harmless compared to this, beware! |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36798 Posts |
Posted - 06 Apr 2008 : 01:20:36
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quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
I remember back in my 1st and 2nd edition games, my players used to cringe if a plot even remotely had anything to do with the drow, because they knew it would be nasty and dangerous to get involved in. They had a "kill on sight" standing order for drow.
That's how it should be, for drow. |
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Zanan
Senior Scribe
Germany
942 Posts |
Posted - 06 Apr 2008 : 12:16:43
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quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
I'm actually looking forward to the Pathfinder "Second Darkness" Adventure Path, because I want to see how they use the drow as villains in there. James Jacobs has said that they are really pushing to make them as degenerate and evil as they ever have been portrayed.
Well he/they did not want my material and reading the above, I don't know whether to be glad about that. A blood-soaked carbon copy of the Greyhawk drow is not something I had in mind. |
Cave quid dicis, quando et cui!
Gæð a wyrd swa hio scel!
In memory of Alura Durshavin.
Visit my "Homepage" to find A Guide to the Drow NPCs of Faerûn, Drow and non-Drow PrC and much more. |
Edited by - Zanan on 06 Apr 2008 12:18:07 |
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Halaster Blackcloak
Acolyte
USA
7 Posts |
Posted - 11 Apr 2008 : 08:12:21
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I've loved the drow ever since I first laid eyes on them. Some of my favorite villains, and my all time favorite villain race. I don't hate Drizzt, although I quickly tired of RA Salvatore's formulaic writing of Drizzt and stopped reading it after the second trilogy. And while I never liked anything that came after 2E, I really liked that pic of Pharaun from the cover of the novel. Wicked character design!
In one of the games I played back in '83 or '84, the DM let me and a friend play a pair of drow, since we were both so enamored of the race. It was hard to play an evil character like that, and that particular campaign didn't last long, but man, was it fun!
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Halaster Blackcloak
Creator of Undermountain
Faithful Old-School Grognard
Visit the new Back In Print Project Website:
http://www.undermountain.org/bip.html |
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And now I ask: Why the hate at Drow?
