D&D General Drow in early D&D

Orius

Hero
Pretty sure the term is actually used in LotR. Can’t remember by who though. Saruman? Eomer? Dunno!
Several places. Halfling was what the Hobbits were known as to the men of Gondor primarily. If it wasn't used in the prologue, then it first probably got used by Boromir, who tends to refer to the hobbits as halflings. I believe Faramir and Denethor use the term too, and Pippin hears it quite a bit during his stay in Minas Tirith.

In the Fellowship film, Boromir uses the term halfling in his Ring-fueled rant on Amon Hen; much of those words were taken right from the book.
 

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This was shared on Twitter by HOW I RUN IT. It's fascinating how that short paragraph evolved into an entire culture, and how it's still evolving into multiple cultures.

What strikes me with that is not what it says about drow but what it says fairies: "fairies are good". Our perception of fairies has changed a lot since the 1970s, influenced by earlier folk tales rather than the twee Disneyfication of the fair folk. Now they are generally seen as chaotic, capricious, and sometimes malevolent.
 

Several places. Halfling was what the Hobbits were known as to the men of Gondor primarily. If it wasn't used in the prologue, then it first probably got used by Boromir, who tends to refer to the hobbits as halflings. I believe Faramir and Denethor use the term too, and Pippin hears it quite a bit during his stay in Minas Tirith.

In the Fellowship film, Boromir uses the term halfling in his Ring-fueled rant on Amon Hen; much of those words were taken right from the book.
It's used in Rohan too. And Merry and Pippin use it when they are trying to explain what they are to Treebeard, after "hobbit" gets a blank look.

Halfling is the general name in the Common tongue, "hobbit" is the word in their own language/dialect which the hobbits use for themselves.
 


aco175

Legend
Wish I could find the old Dragon cartoon labeled, Know Your Elves. It showed a dark elf with crossbow and evil grin, a grey elf with a spellbook and looking down from his highbrow. Next was a wood elf dressed in leaves and carrying a bone bow. Last was labeled santa's elves showing a goofy jester-type half the size of the others.
 

eyeheartawk

#1 Enworld Jerk™
Hello ladies

drowmoustache.PNG
 



el-remmen

Moderator Emeritus
Of course, further information was quickly forthcoming, as we saw more of the drow just over six months later, when G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King was published in July of 1978.

Yeah, but back in the day we didn't have a release schedule (or even announcement) we could necessarily count on to let us know what was coming out or already had. Word of mouth was the most common way and there was a lot more isolated gamers/groups back then pre-internet. For example, I would not learn more about the Drow (besides this) until I got the Fiend Folio and then a few years later G3 from a stack of old gaming books a friend's older brother gave me. So the mysteries could linger.
 



el-remmen

Moderator Emeritus
I miss the reveal of drow. I miss players exclaiming, "What? There's a new type of elf? That lives underground?"

What can I do today that has the same emotional impact?

Just take something else they expect like "Elves are good and live in the forest" and turn it on their heads "Here are some that are evil and live underground!"

So, in my old homebrew, I played with the expectation by making "Drow" not a sub-race but a template for evil elves dedicated to the Spider-Goddess (gaining their darkness, levitation, etc abilities). Trust me, when the players found out that not all "Drow" are dark elves, but that various surface elves could have their malevolent abilities, they were freaked out!
 


bulletmeat

Adventurer
I liked the Falmer of Elder Scrolls so much I turned my Drow into the Ghoul Elves. The colony queens of the Ghoul Elves are much like the skyrim snow elves. Give the occasional one insect mandibles while climbing on the walls with drider warriorss and I am having some fun bringing back the fear in the deep places.
 

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