The Ebon Tide

[Magi_Siani]

The Tavern is IN Ford Keep, in the center of town along the river Selintan. It's a day's journey away from GREYHAWK. The Tavern is across the street from the Baron's Keep so yeah, there'd be hordes of troops.

As to drow, the rules are clear enough and that will suffice. Oerth drow are not to be played in there. If I happen to run across someone claiming to be one an IC response would be to laugh and call them either good yarners or liars depending on mood. A note OOC would be to notify the player that it isn't allowed or possible.

Oerth folk will not tolerate drow outside the tavern, and won't bother to find out where they come from first. And the soldiers are right there in the town. Siani allows drow from other realms *inside* the tavern since some of them are not of evil alignment.

Given their nature, no Oerth drow would ever be found in the tavern anyway, so that would put the lie to anyone claiming to be one in there in the first place.

That's how it is gang. I won't hound people on the subject, but if I find people saying that's what they are openly I'll correct them. If it continues it's a setting violation of the CoC. There are plenty of drow from other worlds to be played.

Siani

 

[Magi_Trelian]

I'm not Siani so I don't have the definitive answer. But I believe it's because in the Greyhawk campaign setting it's considered that due to cultural culling on top of their nature, that Oerthian drow are not merely evil but INSANELY evil, fanatically paranoid and rabidly aggressive. If played "correctly" they would be both unwilling and incapable of disguising themselves.

Siani is a long-time Greyhawk player. There weren't many Oerthian drow characters around at the time of restructuring the settings (only one, as far as I know) so it didn't inconvenience people to include this.

The nod to Faerunian drow was due to many active characters with reasonably good players who were acting as if their chars were aware of the dangers of being seen outside the confines of the tavern.

Oh, and the CRT is well inside Ford Keep. The Selintan river with its associated river traffic runs along the west side of the town and the tavern is on the river bank in the middle of town next to the docks. The main road that leads northeast to Greyhawk is outside the tavern's east wall and there is a guard post across the street. The Garden is like a public park on the taven grounds and not part of the woods that might lie further out from town (this is why wolves and bears aren't seen in the Garden). The deeper woods of the Gnarly Forest are across the river to the west.

 

[Magi_Trelian]

LOL! And that's what I get for taking so long to type up and formulate my answer. What she says.

 

[Nilah]

So in Laymans terms, for those who don't wanna read long post.

Orethian drow are Paronid Skitsphernics who wouldn't be caught dead outside thier nice cozy caverns.

 

[Alek]

Alright, I get it, I'll stop now.

It's the way it is, because thats the way it is, and there isn't anything anyone can do to convince you otherwise.

Siani, you are like my DM. (thats why I hate* you)


Also, this is a good read for everyone now, because it will shatter some of the notions that people have about the location of the tavern. Even mine.








*this is an affectionate sort of hate, don't take it the wrong way

 

[Dribble.]

Well, now about the increasing number of Halflings around...

 

[Alek]

Well, now about the increasing number of Halflings around...

That's easily solved with a lawnmower.

 

[Qaltessil Thassir]

That's easily solved with a lawnmower.

LOL. That's a John Deere for you.

Back to the oringlal point of this post (since I didn't get to weigh in and I just love these sorts of posts) I enjoy playing Drow for exactly the reasons that Lassrin and Nilah already pointed out - I enjoy the conflict that inherently stems from people actually responding to them in the appropriate fashion. And, from them responding to each other. Let's face it, even good drow are inherently paranoid and nervous, especially around members of their own race. You never can quite tell who's lying about what, and a healthy dose of paranoia goes a log way to keeping one's corpse out of the local graveyard (or shallow ditch).