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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gothmog" data-source="post: 2586351" data-attributes="member: 317">I haven't used drow in my games in probably 10 years, for three main reasons:#1 Extreme overexposure.  Back in 1e and 2e, you couldn't swing a dead cat by the tail before you hit some drow scampering around.  Now it seems like every adventure in Dungeon, and every published adventure allude to or contain drow, and there are at least 10 sourcebooks by 3rd party publishers out for them!  They used to at least be SOMEWHAT interesting before the dozens of sourcebooks and novels defined every aspect of their lives and culture.  And the more I read, the more bored I became.  Then the Drizzt books came out, and everybody started trying to emulate him with lame characters.  Drizzt wasn't even compelling or interesting as a character- just a twinked out loner character with an even more annoying angst problem than any Vampire:The Masquerade book could ever hope to emulate.#2 Sexy evil badass syndrome.  This is just plain stupid, and extremely juvenile.  Drow could have been presented as something much more terrifying and interesting like the legendary dockalfar or unseelie.  Instead, we get horny dominatrixes in barely concealing spider motif outfits.  Yes, I know the main market for D&D are teen and early 20s males with often poor social skills and who are sexually frustrated, but that is just sad and contributes even more to the socially inept loser stereotype gamers have.  I know this will probably tick some people off, but the worst is that there are a lot of rather sad, pathetic gamers I have met who see themselves as the mysterious, morally gray badass loner who everyone fears and admires (aka Batman psychosis) when in reality they are the antithesis of those things- and those people ALWAYS play drow.  I mean escapism is fine and can be fun, but there comes a point where it starts to get creepy when that is the ONLY thing someone can identify themselves with.  I refuse to play with such people because they NEVER work together, always try to upstage other players, and have the most obnoxious and odious personal habits I've ever seen.#3 Drow are elves, therefore they are lame.  Enough said.Now Duergar, Kuo-toa, Illithids, and Aboleth?  Those are cool.  I've replaced the drow in my games with a Morloch-like race (the vorshiar) that have a strong caste system that breeds their own race and certain beasts for various specialized tasks, and are strongly cannibalistic.  They have a truly alien mindset, and the lower castes have almost no sense of identity, so they are willing to sacrifice thousands of lives for seemingly minor goals.  They have creeped out and caused more loathing in my players than some prettyboy pervert elf with a spider fetish ever could.</blockquote>

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