New May WotC cover art

[Jdvn1]

I'm not buying it. I have a strict "No Drow" policy.

That was my original reasoning, but the Monsters series books have been fairly consistently good so far...

 

[Mouseferatu]

Jdvn1,

I'm not buying it. I have a strict "No Drow" policy. Thank you Kiaranselee!

Your loss.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This had to have been a somewhat tough book to write: On the one hand, there are a lot of diehard drow-lovers (far more than the vocal haters would suggest) that don't want anything not recognizably the dark elves they love.

On the other hand, there's the need to branch out beyond that, to bring in the haters and the skeptics, to create an incentive to buy it and, I suspect, just to scratch the creative itch of the writers.

It'll be interesting to see what the final product looks like.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Very cool cover indeed.

 

[catsclaw227]

Your loss.

Hey Ari --

Did you look at other game companies' takes on the Drow and drow society? Green Ronin had their two books, (Plot and Poison, Dezzavold) and Mongoose had their books (Tome of Drow Lore, Drow Magic, the Drow War Series, Sheoloth -- dang, they did a lot of drow).

Or is there only D&D drow canon?

CC

 

[Ranger REG]

Ask Ari. Oh wait he can't answer... Ranger man, I'm guessing it would be, but I have honestly no clue.

Well, there is this one section in the old 2e supplement book that needed more expansion is their replacement limb drowcrafts.

That and more feats and skills for their spider riders (not related to the cartoon) as well as house fighters.

 

[Mouseferatu]

This had to have been a somewhat tough book to write:

Ach, ye've no idea...

 

[Mouseferatu]

Did you look at other game companies' takes on the Drow and drow society? Green Ronin had their two books, (Plot and Poison, Dezzavold) and Mongoose had their books (Tome of Drow Lore, Drow Magic, the Drow War Series, Sheoloth -- dang, they did a lot of drow).

Or is there only D&D drow canon?

Well, being careful as to how much of this I can safely answer...

Certainly we could not have used anything from other companies even if we'd wanted to. This is a WotC book, not Open Content.

That said, no, I didn't look at those books, either for details or even inspiration. While I know that other people think differently, I prefer to limit my exposure to other books that potentially cover the same territory as something I'm assigned to write. While there's some risk of overlap that way, it also ensures that I'm not too heavily influenced by someone else's take to come up with my own. (The truth is, I'm very easily influenced when it comes to my ideas, so I prefer to minimize my exposure in that regard.)

So any history/canon that went into this book was strictly based off prior TSR/WotC material. However, I think you'll find that we didn't slavishly adhere to that either. As Whizbang pointed out, this book wouldn't have much of a market if we didn't provide some new material...

 

[Nightfall]

Your loss.

Yes but I promise to buy everything else you have writing Ari. That's a solemn vow. I just have a distaste for Drow after all they did to my beloved Orcus.

 

[Jdvn1]

Yes but I promise to buy everything else you have writing Ari. That's a solemn vow.

What if he writes a second Drow book?

"Drow of the Upperdark."