Why hate onthe drow? (Forked Thread: How is FR changing with 4E?)

[AtomicPope]

Drizzt hate is pretty simple - Mary Sue.

An aspiring writer created a piece of Star Trek fan fiction, which by law is some of the worst fan fiction ever produced, so terrible the main character was added to a derogatory lexicon - Mary Sue. Smarter than Spock, more daring and charismatic than Kirk, she could do it all. Mary Sue is the flawless character. She wears a pair of Boots of Faster than You and wields a sword of +1 Higher than Yours.

D&D is a game world. When game worlds have to be shared with Mary Sue NPCs the players themselves get resentful. No player wants their character to be marginalized by NPCs. I'm sure everyone has played with a DM that creates NPCs to save the day. I dread games like that. However, it's worse when a published campaign setting you're supposed to game in showcases a host of Mary Sue NPCs. Elminster shaggin goddesses - enough already!

 

[ProfessorCirno]

You know a lot of experienced DM's that have had multiple books on the NY Best-seller list?

The problem with this kind of logic is that Dan Brown, King and Ruler of Horrifyingly Boring Writing Kingdom, is also a best seller, as is Richard "HEY REMEMBER ME FROM DRAGONLANCE?" Knaak.

Also, the Wayens Brothers are still being hired to do things, and the twenty thousandth rip off of "Scary Movie" sold well in theaters.

 

[grickherder]

Drizzt hate is pretty simple - Mary Sue.

I'm sure everyone has played with a DM that creates NPCs to save the day. I dread games like that. However, it's worse when a published campaign setting you're supposed to game in showcases a host of Mary Sue NPCs.

You nailed it. Drizzt feels like a DM-PC or a Mary Sue from fanfic.

 

[Jack99]

The problem with this kind of logic is that Dan Brown, King and Ruler of Horrifyingly Boring Writing Kingdom, is also a best seller, as is Richard "HEY REMEMBER ME FROM DRAGONLANCE?" Knaak.

Also, the Wayens Brothers are still being hired to do things, and the twenty thousandth rip off of "Scary Movie" sold well in theaters.

No

The point is that maybe the majority of people have a different taste than you.

And while the Wayans Brothers use some really childish humor in their movies, they (evidently to the success of some of their movies) still appeal to quite a few people. Those people think those movies are good. So what if the Academy doesn't think so. Last I checked, neither the Academy nor anyone else has the right to decide what is good and what is not. And that includes you.

Just for the record, I enjoyed the Drizz't books when I was young, and they were released. Today I find the writing and the plot(s) simplistic.

 

[Jack99]

I'm not a huge fan of any form of expression with a design goal of sales.

Quoi?

 

[grickherder]

I don't consider how well something sells, how well it's been marketed, etc., in assessing the quality of something. I specifically am wary of fictional expressions that are written with the design goal of being salable. I would consider most forgotten realm novels as such and the deluge of Drizzt books after the first trilogy to be specific examples of such works.

 

[Jack99]

I don't consider how well something sells, how well it's been marketed, etc., in assessing the quality of something. I specifically am wary of fictional expressions that are written with the design goal of being salable. I would consider most forgotten realm novels as such and the deluge of Drizzt books after the first trilogy to be specific examples of such works.

Gotcha, wasn't sure that was what you meant. However, as noted above, you do not (by yourself) make the rules on what is good. And if a lot of people buy and like said something, maybe it should be considered good, huh?

Cheers

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Second, those drow were added to world by the designers because of Drizzt, so I find it silly to characterize that he then in turn doesn't fit the world based on elements that were added because of him.

You're right. We shouldn't blame RAS for not wanting to use silly copies.

To be honest, I don't think Drizzt would be confortable around those other drow.

In one of the latest books, Drizzt met a female drow on the surface and practically started drooling over her. He desperately wished she was good, and tested her. (No, she was evil.)

He has a similar reaction to female surface elves, too.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

No

The point is that maybe the majority of people have a different taste than you.

No, my point is that popularity does not equate to quality.

 

[grickherder]

Gotcha, wasn't sure that was what you meant. However, as noted above, you do not (by yourself) make the rules on what is good. And if a lot of people buy and like said something, maybe it should be considered good, huh?

No. The aggregate opinion of others is not necessarily any more valuable or insightful than the opinion of an individual. Usually the opposite is the case. There actually are things that make a given story/novel/whatever superior or inferior to another. They're the same reasons certain works stand the test of time while most writings of a given decade fade into obscurity.

Drizzt novels are shlock. There's nothing wrong with that. It's perfectly fine that they're crap novels targetted at the lowest common demoninator. We shouldn't fool ourselves that their success in hitting that market has any correlation to being quality literature. And thousands of people enjoying them isn't worth considering any more than the fact that millions of people watch soap operas.