Drow Eyes Wide Shut?

[Arravis]

I'm running a Menzoberranzan campaign, wherein some of the players are of minor noble houses. In doing research on drow culture and the city itself, I came across an interesting practice. It seems that young single drow from houses that are allied (or might be allied) will get together at what are essentially "singles mixers". It describes these parties filled with depravity and debauchery, free of not only much of our own mores, but the drow's as well. Many of the oppressive trappings of drow culture, such as the way males are treated and the way females are perceived, are lessened considerably during these events. There is an overall "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" attitude. It is essentially an Eyes Wide Shut style fest, without masks.

Anyway, I'm planning to run a game at one such party and I wanted some ideas on some of the depravities found therein. Of course, lets keep it vague and grandma friendly .

Here are two to get things started .

Blind Room: Any who enter this pillowed room must do so without any clothing except for a blindfold that they may not remove.

Boxing: While no weapons or magic are allowed in this area, violence is expected. Any who enter may fight, non-lethally, anyone else within the room, regardless of gender or social status. How orderly or chaotically this event is organized depends on the Houses hosting the festivity.

 

[Rechan]

Nice idea! I must say, along with the creepy chanting music, I loved the masks and the naked-except-for-a-cloak. I would encourage that, I think.

This will be a little difficult to keep in "Eric's Grandma" standards. Hmm...

I presume that everyone will be wearing identity-concealing charms/masks?

Blind Room: Any who enter this pillowed room must do so without any clothing except for a blindfold that they may not remove.

Actually, I'd suggest filling the room with magical darkness. Thus, no need for a blindfold.

Salacious Slaves: The drow are notorious slavers. And the best, most attractive breeding slaves are dragged here. House-owned slaves are basically offered up as anything-goes public use property. You may find the occasional minotaur among these. Expect them to be receiving a lot of humiliation and degradation - even if they are being used, they are still slaves and must be reminded of their place.

Inner Submission: In this room, the mores of Drow culture are flipped. While they do not express such fantasies openly, a few female drow wish for the occasion where they may relinquish power and let someone else take charge of the situation, be on the receiving end. Here they can do that without fear or reprisal. To protect the women from violence that could spill over from an overzealous male, there is always one person In Charge to protect the females, because even here, they must be preserved.

Amorous Amorphous: In this area, several charms of potent transmutational magic allow the wearers to change shape - really. Altering their bodies to accommodate tentacles, and other exotic abilities.

(Ack, must leave! Will think up more to post later)

 

[Clavis]

If you want some inspiration as to Drow sexual practices, I recommend reading De Sade's 120 Days of Sodom. It was never finished, but we have the entire 1st part, and a detailed outline for the remainder.

Here's the link:
http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/120Days/00000010.htm

WARNING: The book is not only NOT work-safe, many would consider it not people-safe! The things described in 120 Days are FAR, FAR, beyond ANYBODY'S standard of decency. If you think sex and perversion started in the '60s, prepare to be shocked. Just when you think he won't "go there", he goes far beyond "there". The book gets worse and worse as it goes on. If you have any human decency in you, just the descriptions in the later parts will sicken you.

And that's the sort of stuff Drow would consider fun.

 

[Celebrim]

Yeah, I would imagine that De Sade is fairly descriptive of Drow practices...*shudder*

But I really really don't want to role play those things out in any detail. There are some lines I don't really want to cross because I don't want to blur the line between reality and playing a game.

Aside, why would any one who was a drug addled 16 year old in the late '60's think anything started in the '60's? There has been so many '60's' in human history that its not worth trying to count. It happens every time some generation decides, "Whatever happens, I'm not going to make my children live through what I lived through.", which inevitably has the result of kids thinking they are discovering something there parents know nothing about. Depravity didn't even start with De Sade. If anything, the modern invention is 'keeping depravity out of sight'. Time was, you'd take your kids to see criminals sodomized with a iron stake and then drawn and quartered, and while they were thus diverted you'd head off to the temple prostitutes for a little 'spirituality'.

 

[Arravis]

Great suggestions guys, very much appreciated. I'm also looking for suggestions that aren't sexual as well, like the boxing already mentioned, perhaps some strange foods, etc.

Rechan: I don't actually think the drow would use masks... too much paranoia in their society I would think.

 

[Celebrim]

Great suggestions guys, very much appreciated. I'm also looking for suggestions that aren't sexual as well...

Well, they are fundamentally elves, and an elf in Tolkien says that elves would rather listen to poetry than eat.

I'd would imagine elvish debauchery involves alot of Goliardic poetry, possibly satirizing thier own society and elders in a way that would be forbidden otherwise. 'Loth' as the object of satire would be about as forbidden and shocking of a fruit as you'd find in the repressive Drow culture. Through in a bit of Cutullus like ribald humor, the elf version of a dirty limmerick. There would also be alot of ribald drinking songs and stories, done and performed well, think Carmina Burana or the Satryicon.

I think you'd see alot of performance peices, probably relaxing the normal tense feelings of inability to trust anyone else that would prevent you from having bodily contact with anyone or from being helpless near anyone. For example using narcotics would normally be suicidal. Activities like body painting, bathing, hair styling, shaving, tattooing, or even eating would be something you couldn't normally do in public, much less near strangers. And of course, the really scary part of these things, and maybe the real fear would be part of the spice, is that you couldn't always trust that you would in fact be safe. Someone might put poison in the tatoo ink. Someone might take advantage of your narcotic drug haze to slit your wrists.

 

[Rechan]

perhaps some strange foods, etc.

How about this:

Food of Final Breath: Blood sacrifice is always the most powerful fuel for magic. And that sacrifice used flippantly is the most heinous. And such is put into cooking the Sacrificial Sustenance.

Drow chefs craft special foods, and practice fell magics while doing so. When the recipe is almost finished, they kill a sacrifice. Usually at the height of some emotion - fear, ecstasy, despair. The essence of the individual, and their last moments, are drawn into the particular morsel. Those that eat the food then experience the last moments, the emotional thrill ride, of the victim.

These foods are served at a buffet table at the parties.

Chicken, Menzoberranzan-style:

In on eof the drow novels I read, there was a house that played a particular kind of game. They would go to the edge of the huge chasm and create a globe of darkness (and layer silence over it). Then two members would step off the edge and levitate into the sphere. The game was that you had to out-wait your opponent. If you came out of the sphere too early, you would be killed. However, you couldn't wait too long, or else your innate levitation ability would give out and you would plummet.

Some sort of lethal game like this might be appropriate. Especially if it's a spectator sport. The circumstances, however, I am not certain of.

 

[Blackrat]

I think it was in Daughter of the Drow that such a party was described to a small degree. There was also a mention about some fish that had poisonous clands (somewhat akin to blowfish). If eaten by less hardy race, it would kill them, but drow only got some druglike effect of the fish. Or something like that. It's years since I last read that book so I might remember incorrectly.

 

[Rechan]

I think it was in Daughter of the Drow that such a party was described to a small degree. There was also a mention about some fish that had poisonous clands (somewhat akin to blowfish). If eaten by less hardy race, it would kill them, but drow only got some druglike effect of the fish. Or something like that. It's years since I last read that book so I might remember incorrectly.

I remember the party, but not the fish.

I acutely recall a dance that was a game. You had to stay in rhythm with the dance. If you fail, you are tagged as "Out". The trick is, the music will change suddenly, but there are clues in the beat that you have to pay attention to.

Some were using their levitation to do acrobatics during the dance, while others were, IIRC, "dancing salaciously, doing all they could to draw all the eyes to them".

At the end of the dance, some wizards cast Mass Haste on the partygoers, so everyone went hyper-fast.

 

[Blackrat]

I remember the party, but not the fish.

I'm sure there was something about a poisonous fish. Liriel went fishing for it herself. But that's all I remember for certainty.