Making the drow more alien

[reason]

it's in the head

Alien is not whether you know what goes on in their society or not - alien is what goes on inside their heads. In order to make Drow more alien, you need a good rationale for them to not think (and thus not act) the same way we do. Think about it: what makes being in the same room as a sociopath unnerving? It's not that you don't know anything about sociopaths, nor really the whole violence thing; it's that the internals of their mental structure are very different. You can't model it well.

To see a very extended example of (very) alien built on a good backdrop, have a look at this:

http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/Game/Countdown/index.html

For a less alien example, but one that should still make most people pause here and there, there are my Datarii or Ennierd from Principia Infecta - both races that do a fair job of interacting with people in a normal way, but have societies that just couldn't exist for humans. This is due to fundamental, but subtle, differences in the way in which their minds work.

Anyway, my point here is you need to explore the mind and the precepts - and then extrapolate to the society that would result in. That is what builds alien. There are a great many good works of science fiction out there to help you with this sort of thing - it's a rich vein for some writers - such as the Left Hand of Darkness.

Reason
Principia Infecta

 

[Nifft]

IMC, I use the Thurn -- totally white, albino Fey who live in the inhospitable uplands of Barsoom. They resist magic, they worship the Spider Demon-God, they are elf-esque but utterly alien, and thanks to their environment, they live mostly underground.

Change of name, change of color, some cultural stuff -- it's worked so far.

-- N

 

[Mark Plemmons]

Okay, I'm biased, but I highly recommend Blood and Shadows: the Dark Elves of Tellene ((pdf preview).

It's a little setting specific, of course, but probably fairly easy to adapt, and the drow are nicely chaotic and evil.

One of my favorite bits is about a drow who had delusions of honor and virtue, and went to the surface world, where he became a paladin of the True. When he went back to his people, they put him in the stocks for weeks, beat him, forcefed him hallucinogens, had his family drawn and quartered before his eyes. When he finally renounced his faith, he was allowed to disembowel himself. His skull is still displayed at the Empress' palace, and the mushroom wine brewed from his corpse is said to be the best vintage ever. There has not been a drow paladin since.

 

[possum]

When using drow in your campaign, focus more on what the party doesn't see. Picture the PC band camping for the night near an unexplored cave. A sudden rustle in the woods alerts the watch, while another drow quickly rushes him. Then, all hell breaks loose in the camp as several drow charge the camp, knocking over tents and quickly finds the supply/important NPC's tent and quickly scurry away with the important goods.

An important thing to remember is provide the description of a very quick hit-and-run attack.

 

[Krieg]

Familiarity breeds contempt.

As has been mentioned previously the less your players know about the Drow the better.

Keep them mysterious & always just out of sight.

They don't have to be more powerful than the players, the players just need to believe they are.

 

[Dark Jezter]

If you want the drow to be more alien, just do what I did and give them a third arm sticking out their foreheads.

Dual-weilding drow? Bah. Players in my campaign have to watch out for triple-wielding drow!

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.​

My favorite elf quote in the entire world, I used it verbatim in my 7th Sea campaign.

Up the airy mountain, and down the rushy glen, we dare no' go a huntin' for the fear o' little men...

My mother says I never should play with the fairies in the wood...

Iron axe, and iron blade, each shall slay a faerie babe...

I forbid ye maidens all, as wears gaud in your hair, to come or go by Carteraugh, for young Tam Lin is there...

...I am but Queen of fair Elfland, whither I've come to visit thee...

...and with her finger she put out the midwife's een...

Oh yes, Mr. Pratchett knows his elfs...

Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword is another good take on elves in general being... not nice.

The Auld Grump

 

[Man-thing]

I'd had good luck with Encyclopedia Arcane: Drow Magic by Patrick Younts.
It introduces a couple new prcs, spells and mechanics for ritual magic. My group of most human adventurers found the world a whole lot more alien when the Drow extiniguished the light of the sun before the full scale invasion.

 

[Carnifex]

I have seen that before, in a drow book. I find the concept of a subrace of a subrace weird

That's what a human says about the idea of drow sub-races in a piece of fiction in the book. Suffice to say, the drow hardly consider *themselves* as a subrace, now do they? Not to mention, the underdark - with all its extreme privations, dangers and pressures - is far more likely to result in sub-races than are the differences in the myriad of surface elf sub-races environments.

Re excerpts, I'm afraid i don't know; I don't have any say on that kind of thing. I just turn the manuscript into a pretty book

 

[Endur]

Mysterious = Unknown

I would state that you don't have to change the nature of the Drow at all to make them mysterious.

Instead, you need to change your GM role-playing skills.

Instead of telling the party that a drow killed their minion, tell the party that a minion was found dead. Never let the party see the stealthy drow.

The drow rely upon darkness and stealth and being unseen.

What they don't see and don't have a name for is far more mysterious than a known enemy.