Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Why do you love/hate Drizzt?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Ipissimus" data-source="post: 3352237" data-attributes="member: 41514"><p>I think it bears remembering the environment that Drizzt was created in before any judgement can be made on him.</p><p></p><p>The big cultural phenomenons that Drizzt tapped into as a character were racial intolerance and self-determination. Combatting raceism was in the news, at the movies and bandied about in high school classrooms. Bad guys were Nazis and Skinheads or connected to nazis and skinheads. While it still is to some extent, it's not as prevalent now than it was then.</p><p></p><p>The Drow were ready made to explore this theme in DnD. The physical difference of skin colour matching our own problems with raceism in the real world... though Drizzt has to bear the very real burden of his race really being pretty much evil.</p><p></p><p>On top of this was the other theme that Drizzt taps into: righteous disobedience. In some ways, this is a better theme for the current climate, the idea that there are times when you can only stand by the moral course of action through rebellion against society's mores.</p><p></p><p>Beyond that, Drizzt is the warrior/poet type. More depth of character simply wasn't needed because Drizzt was an exploration of theme over character. He wasn't so much about himself as the effect he caused on others and his feelings over how others percieved him and judged him simply from the colour of his skin.</p><p></p><p>Making him a kick-ass swashbuckling (though he has yet tp buckle a swash) warrior was added garnish for action fans and the whole duel-wielding thing a gimmick that caught our imaginations on fire.</p><p></p><p>People talk about Drizzt clones. Back when Drizzt came onto the scene, how many fighters used a longsword and shield? Practically all of them. How many wizards were Gandalf/Merlin clones with long white beards? Practically all of them. Back when Drizzt came onto the scene, nobody duel-wielded melee weapons, there either weren't any rules for it or they were tucked away in one paragraph in the 300 page rulebooks. Tumbling? Nobody TUMBLED in 1st edition, there weren't any rules for it, you just rolled the dice and saw where it landed.</p><p></p><p>The novels back then pushed their characters far beyond what 1st edition was capable of portreying. Alot of people read those pulp-style action novels and said to themselves 'I want to do that', so they did. Now, thanks in part to Drizzt, we have the 3rd edition skill/feat toolsets and our characters can actually do the things Drizzt did and more, so he doesn't quite have that WOW factor anymore. He doesn't even have that raceism factor since everyone now knows about the good drow hero and the Elistreeans.</p><p></p><p>I find it interesting that people liken the Drizzt novels to Star Wars since I really do think that both stories are now culturally out of context. Star Wars, particularly the new ones, are the wet dream of someone who grew up with 50's space operas and didn't bother to update it for a more modern, more sophisticated, audience. Drizzt is suffering the same problem, we've all seen Once Upon A Time In China, The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, acrobatic fight scenes no longer have the wow factor. Our own characters are all better now than Drizzt ever was... so there goes his two big draw cards.</p><p></p><p>R.A. Salvator has the momentous task of updating Drizzt for the new age, I don't envy him. Heck, I don't think it's even possible.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ipissimus, post: 3352237, member: 41514"] I think it bears remembering the environment that Drizzt was created in before any judgement can be made on him. The big cultural phenomenons that Drizzt tapped into as a character were racial intolerance and self-determination. Combatting raceism was in the news, at the movies and bandied about in high school classrooms. Bad guys were Nazis and Skinheads or connected to nazis and skinheads. While it still is to some extent, it's not as prevalent now than it was then. The Drow were ready made to explore this theme in DnD. The physical difference of skin colour matching our own problems with raceism in the real world... though Drizzt has to bear the very real burden of his race really being pretty much evil. On top of this was the other theme that Drizzt taps into: righteous disobedience. In some ways, this is a better theme for the current climate, the idea that there are times when you can only stand by the moral course of action through rebellion against society's mores. Beyond that, Drizzt is the warrior/poet type. More depth of character simply wasn't needed because Drizzt was an exploration of theme over character. He wasn't so much about himself as the effect he caused on others and his feelings over how others percieved him and judged him simply from the colour of his skin. Making him a kick-ass swashbuckling (though he has yet tp buckle a swash) warrior was added garnish for action fans and the whole duel-wielding thing a gimmick that caught our imaginations on fire. People talk about Drizzt clones. Back when Drizzt came onto the scene, how many fighters used a longsword and shield? Practically all of them. How many wizards were Gandalf/Merlin clones with long white beards? Practically all of them. Back when Drizzt came onto the scene, nobody duel-wielded melee weapons, there either weren't any rules for it or they were tucked away in one paragraph in the 300 page rulebooks. Tumbling? Nobody TUMBLED in 1st edition, there weren't any rules for it, you just rolled the dice and saw where it landed. The novels back then pushed their characters far beyond what 1st edition was capable of portreying. Alot of people read those pulp-style action novels and said to themselves 'I want to do that', so they did. Now, thanks in part to Drizzt, we have the 3rd edition skill/feat toolsets and our characters can actually do the things Drizzt did and more, so he doesn't quite have that WOW factor anymore. He doesn't even have that raceism factor since everyone now knows about the good drow hero and the Elistreeans. I find it interesting that people liken the Drizzt novels to Star Wars since I really do think that both stories are now culturally out of context. Star Wars, particularly the new ones, are the wet dream of someone who grew up with 50's space operas and didn't bother to update it for a more modern, more sophisticated, audience. Drizzt is suffering the same problem, we've all seen Once Upon A Time In China, The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, acrobatic fight scenes no longer have the wow factor. Our own characters are all better now than Drizzt ever was... so there goes his two big draw cards. R.A. Salvator has the momentous task of updating Drizzt for the new age, I don't envy him. Heck, I don't think it's even possible. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Why do you love/hate Drizzt?
Top