D&D Movie/TV New D&D movie details? Vecna?!

[Son of the Serpent]

Maybe humanoids from the underdark have got ecolocallitation, like bats and dolphins.

Other trick to about controversy about darkskins is easy, the drows are totally covered, with hoods and masks. Then if we can't see the color of the skin, but maybe only the leader, a albine, only fans will notice they are drows.

If the leader is a draegloth then we wont even need to worry about skin color because i just wont look human. Too monstrous. Also way cooler than drow priestess. Its a drow demon hybrid. Also we could dodge the bullet of normies saying "hey why is it a meany pants matriarchy" because we can just point at that thing and say "wait wait wait. See not all the meenie pants leaders are female. That one is male. Stop screaming mysogyny. Goos fraba...thats it...the bad guys arent all evil matriarchs in this race." Meanwhile the d&d hobbyists can know the truth. That being that somewhere there is a high priestess this thing calls mommy dearest calling the shots (unless shes dead).

 

[Bohandas]

oh. Also magical darkness is at baseline "perfect".

In third edition the darkness spell as written only made things dim

 

[Bohandas]

And your wrong. The moronic argument against putting evil black elves in a D&D movie is that ignorant people will say "OMG, they made the alien bad guy BLACK. That means that they're saying all black people here in the real world are evil!"

Read some reviews of The Phantom Menace. People have called racism on aliens that are far more clearly non-human than the Drow. People have claimed that Jar-Jar, Nute Gunray, and Watto were all racist caricatures just because they kind of have real world sounding accents.

 

[Oofta]

Precisely. Also unless something changed since 3rd edition that im unaware of, darkvision ceases to function in perfect darkness. Also, since you only see greyscale, the hue will be pressured less. So you could have all kinds of color randomly as the important part is mostly just how dark the skin is.

The definition of darkvision in 5E is simply "can see in the dark with a specific radius". That's all. The darkness spell specifically overrides it. There is no such thing as "perfect darkness" in the game.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Read some reviews of The Phantom Menace. People have called racism on aliens that are far more clearly non-human than the Drow. People have claimed that Jar-Jar, Nute Gunray, and Watto were all racist caricatures just because they kind of have real world sounding accents.

Of course some reviews of early D&D products said they promoted Satanism (with just as much justification, there were devils in D&D and someone felt that was enough). There is no reason the movie (and 6e) can't do what 2e did to deal with this, change something to make it less offensive. It will be a Hasbro movie, and if you have never watched a Hasbro movie, they change source fluff to fit what the director wants in the movie. No reason one of the changes can't be the Drow.

 

[Oofta]

Of course some reviews of early D&D products said they promoted Satanism (with just as much justification, there were devils in D&D and someone felt that was enough). There is no reason the movie (and 6e) can't do what 2e did to deal with this, change something to make it less offensive. It will be a Hasbro movie, and if you have never watched a Hasbro movie, they change source fluff to fit what the director wants in the movie. No reason one of the changes can't be the Drow.

Do you really think a studio would change the look of an entire race that arbitrarily? That never happens ... oh ... wait...

 

[Son of the Serpent]

In third edition the darkness spell as written only made things dim

true

 

[Son of the Serpent]

The definition of darkvision in 5E is simply "can see in the dark with a specific radius". That's all. The darkness spell specifically overrides it. There is no such thing as "perfect darkness" in the game.

in 3rd edition there were published benchmarks for lighting levels. They were not written in the same place as vision types (what a wonderful decision). I dont even think they were in the same book.

 

[Oofta]

in 3rd edition there were published benchmarks for lighting levels. They were not written in the same place as vision types (what a wonderful decision). I dont even think they were in the same book.

I haven't played 3.5 for a while now, I'll take your word for it.

Personally light in 5E is one of those things I dislike. Elves would have low light vision, only a few powerful/underdark monsters would be able to see in any environment (ultravision?) if I had my way. But, meh. Not something I care enough about to create a house rule.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

I haven't played 3.5 for a while now, I'll take your word for it.

Personally light in 5E is one of those things I dislike. Elves would have low light vision, only a few powerful/underdark monsters would be able to see in any environment (ultravision?) if I had my way. But, meh. Not something I care enough about to create a house rule.

I feel that

 

[Pluvious]

Yeah, I’m kinda surprised that WotC hasn’t gone the streaming route or even a series given the success of Game of Thrones and the relative dearth of great big screen Fantasy movies.

I think a well written series would be worth a watch

I recently watched "Witcher" on Netflix. I thought that was very good. Good fantasy from a book and video game series. I agree that a series to introduce people to D&D makes so much more sense.

 

[gyor]

Maybe humanoids from the underdark have got ecolocallitation, like bats and dolphins.

Other trick to about controversy about darkskins is easy, the drows are totally covered, with hoods and masks. Then if we can't see the color of the skin, but maybe only the leader, a albine, only fans will notice they are drows.

Or people can act like intelligence adults and not confuse African Americans or black folks with Drow, a fictional species of elves. I don't know, seems easier.

The amount of people worried about about the colour of Drow skin is a tiny, tiny amount of people that is not reflective of the general public. I have yet to see black folks leading protests over Drow in D&D or even care. They have real problem to deal with like racial profiling, not Drow.

You guys are winding your selves up over some silly stuff.

 

[Morrus]

Or people can act like intelligence adults and not confuse African Americans or black folks with Drow, a fictional species of elves. I don't know, seems easier.

The amount of people worried about about the colour of Drow skin is a tiny, tiny amount of people that is not reflective of the general public. I have yet to see black folks leading protests over Drow in D&D or even care. They have real problem to deal with like racial profiling, not Drow.

Not really up to you, though, is it? Though I’m glad you’re here to speak on behalf of the black community.

 

[Nagol]

In third edition the darkness spell as written only made things dim

even if the environment was darker than that originally...

 

[gyor]

Not really up to you, though, is it? Though I’m glad you’re here to speak on behalf of the black community.

I don't speak for the black community their actions, or lack of them on this issue do. Where is the out cry from the black community on this?

I do have half black relatives and never once have the Drow come up in conversation.

 

[gyor]

Not really up to you, though, is it? Though I’m glad you’re here to speak on behalf of the black community.

It's up to WotC, not any of us.

 

[Quickleaf]

I don't speak for the black community their actions, or lack of them on this issue do. Where is the out cry from the black community on this? Post some links showing some outrage in the black community over Drow or admit they really don't care about this.

In fact is there even one person in this entire thread even black? Just curious, maybe I missed a post.

I found Graeme Barber/POCGamer's commentary on Chult & Tomb of Annihilation quite insightful. Graeme has been featured on the DragonTalk show, has a YouTube channel, and is involved in the wider RPG/convention community. He is also of mixed Kenyan descent.

He has a great – if lengthy – article from February 2018 on the problems posed by the drow: Elves We Need, and Elves We Don’t

My read was that he while he did briefly acknowledge that yes "racist tropes about dark skin and evil" are present with the drow, the lion's share of his analysis focused on wanting more nuanced drow lore that can adapt to various settings without locking them into being so tied to the demon lord Lolth. Far from getting hung up on the racist issue, he seems to lament the missed opportunities of more diverse storytelling with the drow and proposes some questions to help course correct. At least that was my read.

 

[gyor]

I found Graeme Barber/POCGamer's commentary on Chult & Tomb of Annihilation quite insightful. Graeme has been featured on the DragonTalk show, has a YouTube channel, and is involved in the wider RPG/convention community. He is also of mixed Kenyan descent.

He has a great – if lengthy – article from February 2018 on the problems posed by the drow: Elves We Need, and Elves We Don’t

My read was that he while he did briefly acknowledge that yes "racist tropes about dark skin and evil" are present with the drow, the lion's share of his analysis focused on wanting more nuanced drow lore that can adapt to various settings without locking them into being so tied to the demon lord Lolth. Far from getting hung up on the racist issue, he seems to lament the missed opportunities of more diverse storytelling with the drow and proposes some questions to help course correct. At least that was my read.

Looks like he's getting his wish, the Exandia Setting has a Drow Empire in Wildemount who have nothing to do with Lloth.

And their are Drow Communities that don't worship Lloth and Drow Blessed of Corellon Larethian who gain sheltered in Elven Temples from Lolth Worshippers.

And if every type of Elf can now be found on Evermeet, then that would include Drow both from Realmspace and other worlds and Planes.

This seems to be a reasonable compromise to me and something I support, I like making Drow less one dimensional and Monolithic and borderline monotheistic. Even MTOFs indictates that there are Drow Cities that do focus worship on Dark Seldarine Gods other then Lolth.

 

[Morrus]

I don't speak for the black community their actions, or lack of them on this issue do. Where is the out cry from the black community on this?

I do have half black relatives and never once have the Drow come up in conversation.

I imagine people in general have never heard of drow.

 

[Coroc]

I imagine people in general have never heard of drow.

I doubt this - in a way: Take WOW nightelves, e.g. they are clearly modeled after drow and known to probably far more people than D&D, and I think I can remember that they purposely made their skin look distinctive purple or violet, not dark brow nor black, just to avoid any issues by connecting them somehow to RL black people.

(Why do I have to think of Chinese goblins now? Must be some mental association of me with Star wars Nar Shaddar or so )