Drow Origins?

[Ferret]

What I heard last time this came up was drow were aggresive, they got turned on by the combined elves and lost, they approached lloth/lolth so she could help and they fled into underdark.

 

[Graywolf-ELM]

Thanks for the note, just their version of them, then. I'll go read through my old copy of G1-G2-G3. Now that you mention it, I remember a wand of tentacles, and Viscous Globes that may have been Drow weapons there.

GW

 

[Kyramus]

The oldest reference I could think off was that Corellon and Lolth did battle. During the battle the wounds on each other let fall their divine blood. From the blood formed the elves and the drow.

Corellon won that fight, and banished Lolth from the Seldarine. Lolth took to hiding and her followers went with her into the dark.


The wand of tentacles and Viscous Globes were from Drow of the Underdark, a 2nd ed accessory.

 

[cildarith]

The wand of tentacles and Viscous Globes were from Drow of the Underdark, a 2nd ed accessory.

They are a bit older than that!

 

[Sejs]

They are a bit older than that!

*nod* the drow in the Against the Giants series had 'em, back when they were worshipping Ghaunadur. Naughty Tentacle Rods and wands that shoot adhesive globs don't really scream 'tools of the spider queen' much.


Then again I personally much prefer Ghaunadur to Lloth, so yeah! Go tentacles and goo!

 

[bushfire]

The wand of tentacles and Viscous Globes were from Drow of the Underdark, a 2nd ed accessory.

Nope they are from G3 - see above

The tentacle wands also had power to help summon the Elder Elemental God worshipped by Eclavdra, one of the main baddie drow in G3. Her rival Nedylene worshipped Lolth (a Demon Lord). All the funny spelled elvish gods didn't get involved until the Forgotten Realms wussified the drow. The original Gygax drow are much more badass than the current drow.

Here is a cut-n-paste from G1-2-3 regarding the drow's origins. Remember this is before Frogotten Realms. The Giants/Drow series of modules are where the drow were first introduced.

Ages past, when the elvenfolk were but new to the face of the earth, their number was torn by discord, and those of better disposition drove from them those of the elves who were selfish and cruel. However, constant warfare between the two divisions of elvenkind continued, with the goodly ones ever victorious, until those of dark nature were forced to withdraw from the lands under the skies and seek safety in the realm of the underworld. Here, in lightless caverns and endless warrens of twisting passages and caves hung with icicles of stone, the Dark Elvenfolk, the Drow, found both refuge and comfort. Over the centuries they grew strong once again and schooled themselves in arcane arts. And if they were strong enough to face and defeat their former brethren in battle, the Drow no longer desired to walk upon the green lands under the sun and stars. They no longer desired a life in the upper world, being content with the gloomy fairyland beneath the earth that they had made their own. Yet they neither forgive nor forget, and above all else they bear enmity for all of their distant kin - elves and faeries - who drove them down and now dwell in the meadows and dells of the bright world. Though they are seldom if ever seen by any human or demi-human, the Drow still persist, and occasionally they enter lower dungeon levels and consort with other creatures in order to work out their schemes and inflict revenge upon those who inhabit the world above.

bushfire

 

[Kyramus]

that should date me in the overall scheme of DND. I never encountered G1-3 and played 1st ed a littlte before going into 2nd ed and now 3rd ed.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I never encountered G1-3

You... Never... Encountered... G1-3... < faint >

Sorry, Against the Giants is my all time favorite adventure.

You need to get yourself a copy and see what it's all about. Don't bother with the 2e "Return to..." version. You can buy a PDF version from RPG Now.

 

[bushfire]

You... Never... Encountered... G1-3... < faint >

Sorry, Against the Giants is my all time favorite adventure.

You need to get yourself a copy and see what it's all about. Don't bother with the 2e "Return to..." version. You can buy a PDF version from RPG Now.

After you buy G123 download the 3E conversions from the ENWorld Conversion library. For $5 you have the most classic D&D adventure.

Run your players against the Giants and watch they cry
Be aware though that the original was scalled for a party of 9 characters of 9th level with magic items. The converted ones are probably suited for a party of 4 14th level or so. But it is more fun with a whole gang of characters.

bushfire

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

The original conception of Drow, as seen in G3 and D123, was a race that worshipped demonlords (emphasis on plural). Lolth was just an interesting example of a superdemon. The DM could cook up other weird demi-god power demons to maintain a sense of mystery and keep the players off balance.

Making Lolth a central figure of an elvish pantheon in Deities & Demigods was jumping the shark IMO. The rather mundane FR mythology was equally successful in sucking the fun out of Drow.