Where did all the drow go?

[broghammerj]

They've been placed in Drowalcatraz where they are doing time with Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton for overexposure.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Drowalcatraz

You summoned me...er...awwww

 

[Jared Rascher]

I really liked a lot of the background material on the drow in Second Darkness. The biggest problem that I saw was that its hard to get people to leave their baggage from other settings behind when you try to present them with a slightly different drow paradigm.

For example, drow don't have one spider obsessed deity, they worship tons of demon lords (which is actually closer to how the drow were originally portrayed). Drow aren't really well known on the surface, and at best, they are kind of like potentially non-existent bogey men.

But how do you get people that have had decades of "drow mainly worship one goddess that doesn't allow for much religious diversity," "a significant portion of the drow community is good," and "everyone knows that drow exist and what they are likely to do when they come to the surface, and probably what they can and can't do power wise."

 

[broghammerj]

You summoned me...er...awwww

Well played my friend. Well played.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I really liked a lot of the background material on the drow in Second Darkness. The biggest problem that I saw was that its hard to get people to leave their baggage from other settings behind when you try to present them with a slightly different drow paradigm.

For example, drow don't have one spider obsessed deity, they worship tons of demon lords (which is actually closer to how the drow were originally portrayed). Drow aren't really well known on the surface, and at best, they are kind of like potentially non-existent bogey men.

But how do you get people that have had decades of "drow mainly worship one goddess that doesn't allow for much religious diversity," "a significant portion of the drow community is good," and "everyone knows that drow exist and what they are likely to do when they come to the surface, and probably what they can and can't do power wise."

I don't think these are significant changes, actually. They're like drow from a few decades earlier.

 

[Jared Rascher]

I don't think these are significant changes, actually. They're like drow from a few decades earlier.

Well, they aren't significant changes from the origin of drow, but they were significant changes from how more recent drow material had been presented.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Well, they aren't significant changes from the origin of drow, but they were significant changes from how more recent drow material had been presented.

Agreed. And for the broad mass of Drizz't fueled fans? That amounts to "new".

 

[Endur]

But how do you get people that have had decades of "drow mainly worship one goddess that doesn't allow for much religious diversity," "a significant portion of the drow community is good," and "everyone knows that drow exist and what they are likely to do when they come to the surface, and probably what they can and can't do power wise."

Re 'Drow mainly worship one goddess that doesn't allow for much religious diversity.'

I think all of the TSR/WOTC novels and modules have focused on Lolth as the primary deity with other deities also being involved (Elder Elemental God, other demon lords, other drow deities). So that is a change to a no longer lolth dominated society.

Re: "a significant portion of the drow community is good."

Where did that come from? The only good drow I've seen in the books/modules from TSR/WOTC are Drizzt, one other protagonist, and a few hardly ever seen Forgotten Realms followers of a good goddess (all of the good drow being from the forgotten realms -- I'm not aware of any good drow in Greyhawk). Given cities of chaotic evil drow and only a few isolated good drow, it hardly seems a significant number.

Re: "everyone knows that drow exist and what they are likely to do when they come to the surface, and probably what they can and can't do power wise."

I'm not sure I agree with this. Sure the players who read the modules and play the games knows about them. But non-adventurers might only have heard of them in tales and legends. Power-wise: players may know that drow have pc classes and some special abilities, but do you really know what classes a particular drow may have?

 

[Jared Rascher]

My comments about good drow come from the fact that there are secret drow cults of Eilistraee in the Underdark, and groups of surface dwelling Eilistraee worshipers in the Dalelands and the Savage Frontier, as well as the drow of the Promenade under Waterdeep in Undermountain. I'm not saying its a majority, but its a built in assumption that its not just Drizzt either.

As far as common surface dwellers knowing a fair amount about the drow, its been stated that people from the Dalelands, especially Shadowdale (which was known as the Land Under Shadows when the drow ruled it from below, before the Dale was "officially" formed), know that drow are evil elves that hate the sun, and kidnap people to get slaves, sacrificial victims, and test subjects for experimentation. So its a matter of history that they exist, not just rumors of some scary dark dwelling bogey men.

Not to mention it seems that elven history is fairly well known, meaning that a well read scholar in the Realms will know that the drow were descended from the Illythiiri elves from the Crown Wars.

Several sources have also indicated that people in the Silver Marches have similar impressions of the drow that the Dalefolk have. Not to mention the fact that there used to be a drow outpost in Undermountain that is also known to scholars in Waterdeep.

I'm just saying that the impression I got from years of Realms material was that drow are "known actors" in the affairs of the world, not shadowy rumors, they way they originally appeared in Greyhawk.

 

[Endur]

My comments about good drow come from the fact that there are secret drow cults of Eilistraee in the Underdark, and groups of surface dwelling Eilistraee worshipers in the Dalelands and the Savage Frontier, as well as the drow of the Promenade under Waterdeep in Undermountain. I'm not saying its a majority, but its a built in assumption that its not just Drizzt either.

I agree it is not just Drizzt. On the other hand, all the above groups are reasonably secretive (at least in the novels and games), so it is unlikely that any of the PCs will know about "good" drow unless they actually meet one.

Still I generally agree with your points regarding drow in the Forgotten Realms.