I always preferred Mystara's super-pale Shadow Elves instead of AD&D's Drow.

Quote from: S'mon;1135454My sword and sorcery settings definitely have evolution as a rule. It may be a little more Howardesque than IRL in terms of time scale, but it's there.

Well, I certainly hope you have man-eating apes. And of course: an ape cult.

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;1137343Well, I certainly hope you have man eating apes. And of course: an ape cult.

Of course you need an ape cult otherwise what would the man have to eat?

Quote from: RPGPundit;1137340I always preferred Mystara's super-pale Shadow Elves instead of AD&D's Drow.

Well of course. Makes them easier to spot in those shadows. :cool:

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;1137343Well, I certainly hope you have man-eating apes. And of course: an ape cult.

Yes and yes - multiple!

Quote from: RPGPundit;1137340I always preferred Mystara's super-pale Shadow Elves instead of AD&D's Drow.

My preference was Dragonlance where Dark Elf was any elf exiled from elven lands.

I ran with that and made my elves caste-based with Dark Elves being the "caste" of any elf that rejects its place in the Divine Order. And because elven souls reincarnate and are finite in number, any elf who rejects their place is a threat to the Divine Order and must be "recycled".

The more dark elves, the more cracks in the facade. The more cracks, the more elves who abandon their caste as the priest-kings put ever more demands on those left to maintain the lifestyle the elite had enjoyed in the Realm of Dreams before the Cataclysm trapped them in the mortal world. Thus the High Elves have established the office of the Inquisition to hunt and return Dark Elves to their proper place in elven society.

Needless to say most PC elves tend to be labeled Dark by dint of very few elven castes really catering to the adventurer lifestyle. It also solves the "D'rizzt Effect" by making just about every elf PC an exile by default.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1137340I always preferred Mystara's super-pale Shadow Elves instead of AD&D's Drow.

Mystara is the best game world ever seriously developed by TSR. They shit all over Greyhawk and Blackmoor after Gygax left and pushed Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance, encouraged the perception that Mystara/D&D was for kids and AD&D was so much better. The Gazetteer are some of the best RPG books ever published for a setting.

Quote from: Brad;1137385Mystara is the best game world ever seriously developed by TSR. They shit all over Greyhawk and Blackmoor after Gygax left and pushed Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance, encouraged the perception that Mystara/D&D was for kids and AD&D was so much better. The Gazetteer are some of the best RPG books ever published for a setting.

I agree, have you seen the welcome to mystara youtube series, its something i like to listen to while driving.

Quote from: Slambo;1137386I agree, have you seen the welcome to mystara youtube series, its something i like to listen to while driving.

Never hard of it, will search.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1137340I always preferred Mystara's super-pale Shadow Elves instead of AD&D's Drow.

100 percent agree.

Quote from: Brad;1137385Mystara is the best game world ever seriously developed by TSR. They shit all over Greyhawk and Blackmoor after Gygax left and pushed Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance, encouraged the perception that Mystara/D&D was for kids and AD&D was so much better. The Gazetteer are some of the best RPG books ever published for a setting.

The only people I recall shitting on Mystara and Basic were fans not TSR.

Quote from: Rhiannon;1137411100 percent agree.

How many official D&D settings actually had drow? I think it's just Ebberon, Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk, along with their derivatives and meta-settings (Al-Qadim, Spelljammer, Planescape). Ravenloft had them at first but retconned them into their own variety of shadow elves, Dragonlance dumped them after a handful of stray references in the very early days, and I don't believe Birthright or Dark Sun ever had them.

You may be right. I don't remember them in Birthright or Dark Sun. And 2e's Complete Book of Humanoids officially 'allowed' you to play orcs, goblins or whatever.

This 'evil only races' thing seems to be a bit of a mirage.

Quote from: Brad;1137385Mystara is the best game world ever seriously developed by TSR. They shit all over Greyhawk and Blackmoor after Gygax left and pushed Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance, encouraged the perception that Mystara/D&D was for kids and AD&D was so much better. The Gazetteer are some of the best RPG books ever published for a setting.

My experience differed. I was never able to get into Mystara. It just didn't click with me. OTOH, I have nothing negative to say about Mystara, either. De gustibus non est disputandum, I suppose.

Quote from: Rhiannon;1137417You may be right. I don't remember them in Birthright or Dark Sun. And 2e's Complete Book of Humanoids officially 'allowed' you to play orcs, goblins or whatever.

This 'evil only races' thing seems to be a bit of a mirage.

It is a mirage. But alot of people tenaciously cling to that hallucination even here on this forum even when repeatedly shown its not true or not how they keep claiming.