Back in July, I started this blog as an outlet for D&D ideas that I’d too long neglected and which now felt orphaned in the wake of 4th Edition. (I pause for a moment to mourn my poor barghest ecology, which received positive feedback from Dragon years ago, and which I never got around to revising…because I am an idiot.) It was a way to get myself writing again and carve out a little bit of fantasy pleasure during the workday. Never did I realize that I would actually be able to keep it up, essentially without interruption, every single weekday for seven straight weeks.
But I’m off for vacation to Mexico and then Ireland, so On Beyond Drow will be on vacation, too. In between the two trips, I’ll try to catch up on tweaking and revising the entries I haven’t had a chance to upload yet. And, having run across some interesting D&D blogs in the past few days, when I come back I’ll consider engaging some of those folks in conversation and perhaps promoting this blog in general a little more.
So I’ll see you soon—possibly in a few days; definitely in three weeks once my travels are over. If you’ve found this blog and are enjoying it, look for more come September 15th.
It’s been a fun seven weeks and I can’t wait to come back. Thanks for reading, and keep thinking of ways to imagine on beyond drow…
Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Rethinking Wererats
In D&D, wererats don’t get a lot of respect. Perhaps this is appropriate—after all, neither do normal rats.
Still, it seems like they fall far too easily into clichéd tropes. When most werecreatures show up in adventures (at least published ones), it’s either as the main antagonist for low- to mid-level parties, or as the interesting secret identity of some NPC (often a minor noble the characters may or may not interact with).
But not wererats. They’re consigned to the sewer.
It’s such a typical setup that an editorial in Dungeon, talking about what made a successful submission, once went out of its way to discourage adventures with wererats in sewers. And yet even they (in the form of their offspring Pathfinder) can’t seem to get away from the habit: Greg A. Vaughan’s otherwise excellent “Shadow in the Sky” has a group of Riddleport beggars…who are also a criminal gang…who are also wererats…who live in a dump. It’s a lycanthropic cliché quadfecta!
I shouldn’t pick on Vaughan—he's a good author, and one man’s cliché is another’s useful shorthand. Sewers and dumps make sense as wererat habitats, and Ziphras and his gang are just side treks, so there's no reason to push them beyond price-of-entry.
But as we’re busy thinking of ways to reapproach iconic D&D races and subraces, wererats deserve our attention. Because a) it’s fun, and b) certainly no one else will give it to them.
The late, lamented “basic” D&D had one interesting twist. All kinds of oddities crept into the Known World/Mystara—after all, this was a setting that had Arabian-inspired countries bordering Scandinavian-inspired ones, and a monster (the thoul) that was inspired by a typo. Wererats are yet another example. For some odd reason, in the Known World most wererats weren’t people who turned into rats, but rather rats who turned into people(!).
I’ve always wondered at what point that decision was made, and by which designer, as well as what it might suggest about the exceptional nature of wererats versus other lycanthropes. And pity the poor rat who, having been bitten by his werecousin and infected, finds himself in an alleyway for the first time as a shivering, naked human man….
Still, it seems like they fall far too easily into clichéd tropes. When most werecreatures show up in adventures (at least published ones), it’s either as the main antagonist for low- to mid-level parties, or as the interesting secret identity of some NPC (often a minor noble the characters may or may not interact with).
But not wererats. They’re consigned to the sewer.
It’s such a typical setup that an editorial in Dungeon, talking about what made a successful submission, once went out of its way to discourage adventures with wererats in sewers. And yet even they (in the form of their offspring Pathfinder) can’t seem to get away from the habit: Greg A. Vaughan’s otherwise excellent “Shadow in the Sky” has a group of Riddleport beggars…who are also a criminal gang…who are also wererats…who live in a dump. It’s a lycanthropic cliché quadfecta!
I shouldn’t pick on Vaughan—he's a good author, and one man’s cliché is another’s useful shorthand. Sewers and dumps make sense as wererat habitats, and Ziphras and his gang are just side treks, so there's no reason to push them beyond price-of-entry.
But as we’re busy thinking of ways to reapproach iconic D&D races and subraces, wererats deserve our attention. Because a) it’s fun, and b) certainly no one else will give it to them.
The late, lamented “basic” D&D had one interesting twist. All kinds of oddities crept into the Known World/Mystara—after all, this was a setting that had Arabian-inspired countries bordering Scandinavian-inspired ones, and a monster (the thoul) that was inspired by a typo. Wererats are yet another example. For some odd reason, in the Known World most wererats weren’t people who turned into rats, but rather rats who turned into people(!).
I’ve always wondered at what point that decision was made, and by which designer, as well as what it might suggest about the exceptional nature of wererats versus other lycanthropes. And pity the poor rat who, having been bitten by his werecousin and infected, finds himself in an alleyway for the first time as a shivering, naked human man….
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Spoilers…of Genius!
As I mentioned yesterday, Pathfinder’s Second Darkness Adventure Path has arrived, with Greg A. Vaughan’s “Shadow in the Sky” kicking things off.
Since this blog tends to deal in issues of subraces and cultures, here’s what’s of interest to us. But if you’re a player, hold off reading, because this post has some spoilers.
The Good
The major elven subraces split as a result of a coming cataclysm. Some left the world of Golarian to escape it, some stayed sheltered from it in remote jungles and the polar regions, and some were caught up in it. Some of these latter would become drow after exposure to radiations from Rovagug, god of wrath and destruction.
I like this a lot, because it recalls the elves of Tolkien, who sundered into subraces because of their varying degrees of love for and engagement in the world, and whether or not they answered the call of the Valar. Hooray for giving a nod to the classics!
Drow have tapped aboleth magic capable of pulling asteroids out of orbit. Now that’s just cool.
Elves who turn to great evil spontaneously become drow. I guess great minds think alike, because last month I suggested a similar transformation. But my suggestion was to have it happen in a directed manner—as the result of a curse or as a punishment inflicted by elven society on outcasts as they were to be exiled.
But to have it just happen spontaneously? That’s simply awesome, and it takes my idea a step further than I'd been brave enough to take. (That’s why I’m a fan and the Pathfinder guys are professionals.) Imagine cornering an elven antagonist and have him suddenly morph into a drow right in front of you! Now that’s good adventuring.
Note that not all evil elves necessarily become drow, which adds a further layer of mystery and suspense—where is the line? What foul acts or vileness in spirit tip an elf over the edge into darkness? I'm eager to see how this plays out.
The Bad
Drow are purple. Yep. Dark purple. Dark blue or gray, too.
Yikes. But I guess I can’t blame Paizo. Truly black skin must be hard to paint—every artist who’s tackled the drow has had to wrestle with this one. (Downer was definitely gray. Jeff Easley made Drizzt so light in some pictures he was practically cream!)
Oh well. Dark purple it is. Bring on the evil eggplants!
Since this blog tends to deal in issues of subraces and cultures, here’s what’s of interest to us. But if you’re a player, hold off reading, because this post has some spoilers.
The Good
The major elven subraces split as a result of a coming cataclysm. Some left the world of Golarian to escape it, some stayed sheltered from it in remote jungles and the polar regions, and some were caught up in it. Some of these latter would become drow after exposure to radiations from Rovagug, god of wrath and destruction.
I like this a lot, because it recalls the elves of Tolkien, who sundered into subraces because of their varying degrees of love for and engagement in the world, and whether or not they answered the call of the Valar. Hooray for giving a nod to the classics!
Drow have tapped aboleth magic capable of pulling asteroids out of orbit. Now that’s just cool.
Elves who turn to great evil spontaneously become drow. I guess great minds think alike, because last month I suggested a similar transformation. But my suggestion was to have it happen in a directed manner—as the result of a curse or as a punishment inflicted by elven society on outcasts as they were to be exiled.
But to have it just happen spontaneously? That’s simply awesome, and it takes my idea a step further than I'd been brave enough to take. (That’s why I’m a fan and the Pathfinder guys are professionals.) Imagine cornering an elven antagonist and have him suddenly morph into a drow right in front of you! Now that’s good adventuring.
Note that not all evil elves necessarily become drow, which adds a further layer of mystery and suspense—where is the line? What foul acts or vileness in spirit tip an elf over the edge into darkness? I'm eager to see how this plays out.
The Bad
Drow are purple. Yep. Dark purple. Dark blue or gray, too.
Yikes. But I guess I can’t blame Paizo. Truly black skin must be hard to paint—every artist who’s tackled the drow has had to wrestle with this one. (Downer was definitely gray. Jeff Easley made Drizzt so light in some pictures he was practically cream!)
Oh well. Dark purple it is. Bring on the evil eggplants!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Second Darkness
The Second Darkness Adventure Path has come to Paizo’s Pathfinder. And as the series name portends, drow are the main antagonists.
You might assume I’d be down on this prospect—I do call my little blog here On Beyond Drow, after all—but you’d be wrong. I’m thrilled.
In the foreword to “Shadow in the Sky,” Editor-in-Chief James Jacobs does some talking about the history of drow in D&D and fantasy—from Hall of the Fire Giant King to The Crystal Shard and beyond—and their growing popularity over time. What he then goes on to write is revealing and heartening. I quote him here (without permission, but with much respect and interest):
Of course, with such sudden popularity came the to-be-expected backlash, and today you can hardly mention drow in the presence of gamers without sparking an argument. Some players love playing drow characters, while other players won’t play in a game that allows drow PCs. Some GMs love the concept of “renegade” drow who have turned against their sinful ways to become champions of good, while others gag and gnash teeth over the very concept. Even the name riles up gamers—there are at least two good ways to pronounce the word, and I wouldn’t put it past someone to come up with a third and a fourth. No matter how vocal people get about drow, the fact remains that everyone knows about them and everyone talks about them.
Sound familiar? It reads an awful lot like my long-winded editorial in the Comments section of my first OBD post. He goes on:
So they seem like a perfect choice for the villains of Pathfinder’s third Adventure Path. For those of you worried that the next several volumes are going to descend into angst-ridden, misunderstood dark-elf heroes, let me repeat myself.
The drow are villains.
During the course of Second Darkness, you’ll meet more drow NPCs than any other race, and I can pretty much guarantee you that they’re all going to be bad guys. The drow of Golarion are not to be trusted. They worship demons. They’re slavers and sadists. They perform hideous experiments on innocent victims. The drow are back to being evil, in other words.
As a result, you should encourage your players NOT to play drow characters in this campaign. I fully understand the attraction of playing a drow. Hell, two of my own favorite characters that I’ve played are drow (one of them even ended up in the Shackled City Adventure Path!). Playing a misunderstood hero who’s forced to live with the fact that her heritage brands her a villain can be quite fun and rewarding—but Second Darkness isn’t the place for drow PCs. If a player wants to play a misunderstood hero here, try to talk them into playing a half-orc. Or a goblin. Or a half-fiend. Or even one of the other Darklands-dwelling races, like a duergar or a troglodyte.
Drow can be PCs in all the Adventure Paths after this one. For now, though, give them a chance to be the bad guys again.
The folks at Pathfinder and Paizo get it. They managed to avoid using drow as main antagonists throughout five full Adventure Paths in Dungeon and Pathfinder. And when they did decide to use drow, Jacobs’s foreword indicates that they’ve done their best to rethink them, reapproach them, and most importantly, make them evil—not dark, not Gothic or Romantic (note the capitals), and not cool—truly evil. Drow are a mystery in Golarion—even most sages don't even know they exist—and by nixing drow PCs, the writers are returning mystery to the race. If well executed, the revelation of drow in Golarion could be almost as shocking a moment as it was when Gygax created them decades ago.
All in all, it’s a great start, and I’m excited to see what comes of it.
You might assume I’d be down on this prospect—I do call my little blog here On Beyond Drow, after all—but you’d be wrong. I’m thrilled.
In the foreword to “Shadow in the Sky,” Editor-in-Chief James Jacobs does some talking about the history of drow in D&D and fantasy—from Hall of the Fire Giant King to The Crystal Shard and beyond—and their growing popularity over time. What he then goes on to write is revealing and heartening. I quote him here (without permission, but with much respect and interest):
Of course, with such sudden popularity came the to-be-expected backlash, and today you can hardly mention drow in the presence of gamers without sparking an argument. Some players love playing drow characters, while other players won’t play in a game that allows drow PCs. Some GMs love the concept of “renegade” drow who have turned against their sinful ways to become champions of good, while others gag and gnash teeth over the very concept. Even the name riles up gamers—there are at least two good ways to pronounce the word, and I wouldn’t put it past someone to come up with a third and a fourth. No matter how vocal people get about drow, the fact remains that everyone knows about them and everyone talks about them.
Sound familiar? It reads an awful lot like my long-winded editorial in the Comments section of my first OBD post. He goes on:
So they seem like a perfect choice for the villains of Pathfinder’s third Adventure Path. For those of you worried that the next several volumes are going to descend into angst-ridden, misunderstood dark-elf heroes, let me repeat myself.
The drow are villains.
During the course of Second Darkness, you’ll meet more drow NPCs than any other race, and I can pretty much guarantee you that they’re all going to be bad guys. The drow of Golarion are not to be trusted. They worship demons. They’re slavers and sadists. They perform hideous experiments on innocent victims. The drow are back to being evil, in other words.
As a result, you should encourage your players NOT to play drow characters in this campaign. I fully understand the attraction of playing a drow. Hell, two of my own favorite characters that I’ve played are drow (one of them even ended up in the Shackled City Adventure Path!). Playing a misunderstood hero who’s forced to live with the fact that her heritage brands her a villain can be quite fun and rewarding—but Second Darkness isn’t the place for drow PCs. If a player wants to play a misunderstood hero here, try to talk them into playing a half-orc. Or a goblin. Or a half-fiend. Or even one of the other Darklands-dwelling races, like a duergar or a troglodyte.
Drow can be PCs in all the Adventure Paths after this one. For now, though, give them a chance to be the bad guys again.
The folks at Pathfinder and Paizo get it. They managed to avoid using drow as main antagonists throughout five full Adventure Paths in Dungeon and Pathfinder. And when they did decide to use drow, Jacobs’s foreword indicates that they’ve done their best to rethink them, reapproach them, and most importantly, make them evil—not dark, not Gothic or Romantic (note the capitals), and not cool—truly evil. Drow are a mystery in Golarion—even most sages don't even know they exist—and by nixing drow PCs, the writers are returning mystery to the race. If well executed, the revelation of drow in Golarion could be almost as shocking a moment as it was when Gygax created them decades ago.
All in all, it’s a great start, and I’m excited to see what comes of it.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Sourcebook Mashup: Ghostwalk & Waterdeep Continued
Work has reared its ugly head. Content to come. Hang tight!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)