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Have the Drow been ruined?

Started by RPGPundit, December 27, 2012, 03:22:49 PM

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Imp

#60
December 29, 2012, 01:55:15 AM
Another take: the drow are elves. Just the same as any other elf. Elves, you see, live unbelievably long lives, and sometimes they get bored of frolicking in the meadows and strumming lutes and decide to head down to the deep underground for a spot of ultraviolence, reverse hair & skin color (to spook the lesser, dumber humanoids), and poison poison poison. And then after a few decades of that they get bored, switch back, and go back to dancing in the treetops and none of their peers care. 'Cause elves are kinda fucked up like that.

James Gillen

#61
December 29, 2012, 03:18:36 AM
Quote from: Imp;612590Another take: the drow are elves. Just the same as any other elf. Elves, you see, live unbelievably long lives, and sometimes they get bored of frolicking in the meadows and strumming lutes and decide to head down to the deep underground for a spot of ultraviolence, reverse hair & skin color (to spook the lesser, dumber humanoids), and poison poison poison. And then after a few decades of that they get bored, switch back, and go back to dancing in the treetops and none of their peers care. 'Cause elves are kinda fucked up like that.

I could buy this.

JG
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Reckall

#62
December 29, 2012, 03:41:54 AM
Quote from: Premier;612504You want an evil, scheming subterranean race? Sure thing, why not - but why do they have to be elves? Why does it have to be evil, scheming subterranear elves? Or evil, scheming subterranean dwarves (we have those, too)?

I'ts a Junghian thing.
For every idiot who denounces Ayn Rand as "intellectualism" there is an excellent DM who creates a "Bioshock" adventure.

The Traveller

#63
December 29, 2012, 04:13:04 AM
Quote from: Bill;612574I forgot about them.




"Nom"

Just say it.
Heh, thanks internet. They must win the "most difficult to visualise monster ever" award though, beating even Lovecraft's tentacled pyramid hatstands.
"These children are playing with dark and dangerous powers!"
"What else are you meant to do with dark and dangerous powers?"
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Quote from: that muppet vince baker on RPGsIf you care about character arcs or any, any, any lit 101 stuff, I\'d choose a different game.

TristramEvans

#64
December 29, 2012, 02:28:52 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;611994Let's start with the assumption that the Drow as Gary Gygax made them were once cool.  


That's not an assumption I can get behind.

TristramEvans

#65
December 29, 2012, 03:34:25 PM
Quote from: Imp;612590Another take: the drow are elves. Just the same as any other elf. Elves, you see, live unbelievably long lives, and sometimes they get bored of frolicking in the meadows and strumming lutes and decide to head down to the deep underground for a spot of ultraviolence, reverse hair & skin color (to spook the lesser, dumber humanoids), and poison poison poison. And then after a few decades of that they get bored, switch back, and go back to dancing in the treetops and none of their peers care. 'Cause elves are kinda fucked up like that.

"Before you go spend some time in the deep be sure to visit one of our elven super-tanning salons..."

Ladybird

#66
December 29, 2012, 03:52:35 PM
Quote from: Imp;612590Another take: the drow are elves. Just the same as any other elf. Elves, you see, live unbelievably long lives, and sometimes they get bored of frolicking in the meadows and strumming lutes and decide to head down to the deep underground for a spot of ultraviolence, reverse hair & skin color (to spook the lesser, dumber humanoids), and poison poison poison. And then after a few decades of that they get bored, switch back, and go back to dancing in the treetops and none of their peers care. 'Cause elves are kinda fucked up like that.

I like that.

IT works especially well for something like 40k Eldar - they do the entire Path thing, there's plenty of potential Paths in the Dark Eldar. Path of the Torturer, of the Slave...

It also lets you have a backstabbing, paranoid culture that survives - a full-on All Backstabbing, All The Time culture would collapse in on itself pretty quickly.

Having members of the species willingly sign up to be a ritually abused slave for a lifetime, as part of their personal development, also helps highlight that they are utterly alien to us and our way of thinking...
one two FUCK YOU

Lynn

#67
December 30, 2012, 03:14:53 AM
Quote from: Imp;612590Another take: the drow are elves. Just the same as any other elf. Elves, you see, live unbelievably long lives, and sometimes they get bored of frolicking in the meadows and strumming lutes and decide to head down to the deep underground for a spot of ultraviolence, reverse hair & skin color (to spook the lesser, dumber humanoids), and poison poison poison. And then after a few decades of that they get bored, switch back, and go back to dancing in the treetops and none of their peers care. 'Cause elves are kinda fucked up like that.

Interesting, but that's an explanation that would change how all elves would be perceived in general I would think. In a Warhammer or Lamentations of the Flame Princess flavored game, that would be very workable.

Id consider making them a type of Fey being that in one form looks much like an elf - maybe one of a variety of changelings that get swapped with elf babies (assuming D&D style and not Tolkein style elves). They look normal for the most part, until they reach that critical age.
Lynn Fredricks
Entrepreneurial Hat Collector

deadDMwalking

#68
December 30, 2012, 08:13:57 AM
In my home-brew, elves are still an immortal race.  Long before the dawn of man, some elves were captured and enslaved by the mind-flayers.  Over countless ages, they were twisted and perverted; eventually winning their freedom.  However, the surface and the light are anathema to them, and their true elven kin spurn them.  While the drow are wicked and vicious creatures, they believe that the elves betrayed them by not doing more to see them freed.  

Whether all the drow are ancient beyond reckoning or whether they continue to produce young remains something of a mystery.
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And when I say that you are a horse\'s ass, I mean that the objective truth is that you are a literal horse\'s ass.

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RPGPundit

#69
December 30, 2012, 04:52:07 PM
Quote from: One Horse Town;611998Sorry, i can't start with the assumption that they were cool to begin with.

I think that the Gygax-era Drow were pretty cool villains.

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jeff37923

#70
December 30, 2012, 05:14:17 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;611994Let's start with the assumption that the Drow as Gary Gygax made them were once cool.  Are they now ruined beyond redemption, due to the mistreatment of them in the FR and especially that emo mary-sue Drzzt?

RPGPundit

Yes.

Oh my fucking god, yes.
"Meh."

Simlasa

#71
December 30, 2012, 06:15:28 PM
My homebrew fantasy setting is pretty much free of elves/dwarves/orcs/dragons... but I do have an NPC 'race' based on the subterranean weirdos of Lovecraft's 'The Mound'... living in the realm of K'n-yan with their mutant-human cattle/slaves, weird mind powers, Cthulhu worship, decadent habits, and ability to dematerialize. They'd fit right into a Merritt story as well.
It was only recently that I realized any D&D fans I invite to my game are gonna read them as thinly disguised Drow.

Black Vulmea

#72
December 30, 2012, 09:03:26 PM
Quote from: Premier;612504Jews in Space.
I'm wondering how many people get that reference.
"Of course five generic Kobolds in a plain room is going to be dull. Making it potentially not dull is kinda the GM\'s job." - #Ladybird, theRPGsite

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ACS

Black Vulmea

#73
December 30, 2012, 09:06:47 PM
Quote from: Blackhand;612180No, it's not a great and powerful monster as it should be, that's why they've been consistently beefed up with every edition.
Y'know, I was about to respond to this, and then I saw who posted it, and I just shrugged and thought, why bother?

Quote from: RPGPundit;612985I think that the Gygax-era Drow were pretty cool villains.
Yep.
"Of course five generic Kobolds in a plain room is going to be dull. Making it potentially not dull is kinda the GM\'s job." - #Ladybird, theRPGsite

Really Bad Eggs - swashbuckling roleplaying games blog  | Promise City - Boot Hill campaign blog

ACS

Dog Quixote

#74
December 30, 2012, 09:35:07 PM
I tend to think these days, that evil elves in general are very difficult to make work.  (Or elves in general for that matter).

There is enough weirdness in the original conception of the Drow and the Underdark that you could possibly make them work even now, but you'd be fighting pre-conceptions uphill all the way.
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