Drow Warrior

[slug]

the simplicity of the star promotions has a profound brilliance. i can see it plainly, yet i can not help wanting the promotions. if you are here you are clearly not unfamiliar with craving improvement for your alias'.


Saz is the only one i've seen so far. i think saz is cool (and a she?) wouldn't want to offend.

weird that i seem to be venting some fantasy prejudices. i was conditioned to fear drow. i did game one place where A drow was non-hostile to us. he was a poisoner not a warrior. you wouldn't want to encounter a drow warrior in most games. it definately says one thing though; you are bad*ss. i'm thinking i will soon learn of some games where drow are cool. and probably books too. if a tv series has been made i'll let lysandra bite me.

i still can not help but want to become a drow warrior. in a small gaming sort of way. then may i be feared and renowned (among the other 1's and 0's)

i guess ziroc would get the credit if i am correct. someone should get the credit.
my appologies to those who are supposed to read every word of this poop.

[Wyvern]

Saz is a he.

Since the other star spamming thread has scrolled down - this one will do fine in its place. Let's try to keep the "star spamming" to a minimum!

Wyv

[Sazerac]

Yes, Slug, I'm a "he".

I have always approached the Dark Elven races in fantasy being inclined towards lower dealings, but certainly not pure "evil". Bethesda's "The Elder Scroll" series has done much to champion the Dark Elves as complex beings of both good and evil. What they have shown them to be is driven intensely by passions; making them the most emotional of the Elven races, as compared to the High Elves in fantasy, which are the most mentally polarized (intellect-oriented) of the elves.

Betrayal at Krondor also showed a Dark Elf (Gorath) as a "good" character; he was the hero of the piece along with the young wizard Owyn, and his demise at the end actually drew tears from me...it was a fantastic storyline, yet I hated that a character that I had nurtured and developed through the entire game was wiped out at the end...

So that's the way I like to view Dark Elves: very much like humans, driven by passions; capable of wonderful acts of good or abominable acts of evil, but neither stuck in one or the other.

And, yes, Drow Warrior is "cool." I have to admit, I didn't really notice until just a while ago; I get so wrapped up in the postings, I don't really check to see what has occurred on my name.

Cheers,
Sazerac

[slug]

sorry saz.

oops. i was thinking the topic was board related. am i badda ooki?

[Scronan]

Heh heh. Well, any one who has played Baldur's Gate has to remember Drizzt Do'Urden? He's a high level Ranger who carries some powerful swords and theres one scene I remember where he asks for help fighting some monsters. This guy wiped them out so fast, even Boo was impressed! I read later that there is a way to steal one of his swords, but he was a totally nice guy.

And, was a Dark Drow Elf, Chaotic Good! I suppose he told Lloth to stuff it and joined up with the good ranks!

See, there are good Drow Elves! Serath, you should remember him! He was the only guy I met who was tougher than Minsc.

Except Boo that is.

Scronan

[jsalsb]

To me, Dark Elves were never intrinsically evil. The earliest reference to Dark Elves is, I believe, in Tolkien, in passing in the L.O.T.R., but in much greater detail in The Silmarillion. They were simply those elves who did not heed the call of the Valar, and never beheld the Light of Aman before the fall of the Two Trees.

Only in later literature, did authors read "evil" into this, where Tolkien origionally envisioned pitty. And I think the whole Dark Elf/Evil Drow thing was stoked by Gary Gygax's strong (to say the least) assertion that he hated L.O.T.R., and that AD&D had nothing to do with the trilogy. This was back in the late 1970's, and my read on it was that G.G. was trying to disavow any (obvious) influence that his game had from Tolkien's work. I think he was just bored by it, or didn't fully appreciate it; and in any event misread the significance of "Dark Elves", among other things.

But I rant.

[jsalsb]

Wow! That last post made me an Elite Waterdeep Guard! Oh, the irony

[Sazerac]

It was an extremely insightful post, Jsalsb, and one I appreciated reading.

We owe Mr. Gygax a lot for the development of the modern FRPG, but one thing I have learned from reading and talking with others, that he has significant biases and prejudices in the fantasy realm, almost bigoted to say the least, which, unfortunately, has also biased the development of these games.

For example, his disdain for non-human races is apparent, from the beginning set of the rules of his game, not allowing non-human races to advance to the same levels as humans and placing severe restrictions on what classes they could be. Later versions have amended or softened these harsh rules, but Mr. Gygax was the one who first established them. The whole bit about "evil Dark Elves" was pretty well perpetrated by him and his prejudice, and, unfortunately, it poisoned the well of RPG's for many years. It took others to "win back" the idea that A) no one race is inherently "good" or "evil", and B) that races other than humans can advance to as high rankings as humans and perform well in the same professions (roles).

It is up to those who continue to develop these games and gaming systems to evolve the races and classes to provide for a well-rounded system of development for all fantasy races, not just a select few at the arbitrary whims of one or two people.

Just an opinion.

-Sazerac

[jsalsb]

So wouldn't it be nice to have the option of playing a Drow character in W&W2? Or, dare we hope, in Wizardry8? After all, it will be on a new planet, perhaps the party can pick up one of the local "Dark Elves", the unhappy people under the sway of the Dark Savant. Wouldn't that be a hoot.

------------------
JonII

[Sazerac]

IMO, Kreug, Ramakamil, and the "Wyr Mystics" look very much like Dark Elves...only thing, they're not so good.

-Sazerac