“Yeah, but you’re implying that the fact that he was good was worth a story in itself.”
When I was playing in 81-83, the core group was three men and two women (I don’t think I ever played a D&D session without a woman in the party). My experience might be unusual, though.
The only time we ever had women at the table was when one of our players’ girlfriend would tag along. Almost seemed as though they were doing so out of a suspicion that they were cheating on them or something, and once they realized that their significant other was actually enjoying themselves quite a bit, and that they weren’t themselves, they usually dropped out.
Starting to get together a new group, hope to make it a bit more diverse.
I’d never been in a regular RPG group that had a woman in it until I got my wife to start playing.
She’s running a campaign now, so that worked out.
I think that the popularity of online streaming of D&D games, like Critical Role, may help a bit. Certainly seems to have made RPGs a bit more popular in general.
My (grown) son just started a campaign for our weekly family game night. His girlfriend is very much into it and my daughter is enjoying it too. I couldn’t convince my wife to join but she spectates.
Our OG back in the 70’s included several females (Ok, we did call them 'girls" but we were all just out of HS). I was surprised later to learn that was unusual. My groups have almost always had a female player or two. My current group has a Mom and her son.
And now I feel bad about never playing with any women. But I’ve been playing with the same two guys - and only with them - since 1992, and none of our wives are interested.
(We played together before 1992, too, but they went to an all-boys school, and I… wasn’t very good at talking to girls, so it wasn’t really an option).
The roleplaying experience I had was very different to most of yours.
Roleplaying at UCT was practically run by women in the late 80s (still is, actually). The best DMs (the ones whose table everyone wanted to be at, I mean) were women, at least 50% of the players were women, the roleplaying club chair was often a woman. And not remotely in the reluctant girlfriend mould, any of them.
As for Drizzt: I think the point is that yes, Drizzt and his dad and some other Drow were not evil, but evil was very much still portrayed as the Drow norm that they were extremely exceptional to. That’s going to go away.
Is there a difference, in your mind, between genetically evil and culturally evil? Because there have been human cultures, throughout history, that I might consider evil - cultures where bigotry and intolerance were the norm, where empathy and compassion were actively suppressed, where horrible things were done to other people as a matter of habit and policy; and yet, these cultures consisted of people who were exactly like you and me. Would you accept that kind of Drow society, if the official materials expressly state that other Drow cultures are possible?
Sure. One is a real-world thing and one isn’t possible.
Only if the official material does a lot more than state others are possible. Those other cultures have to be given equal or greater representation as well. If a token attempt is made, but most Drow shown or written about are still the Underdark Lolth-worshipping S&M fanatics, that’s just a sop.
Sorry to bump this old thread with its wack title, but I thought it might be a good place to mention a new book about the creation of D&D and the rise and fall of TSR called Slaying the Dragon. I’m only about 50 pages in and there’s not much about politics in there, but there are lots of interviews from people who were there at the beginning and throughout, including members of the Gygax family, and it does not shy away from criticisms. I thought some folks who were active in this thread might be interested.
The more I’ve learned about TSR over the years, the more amazed I am at how successful they were for as long as they were. They really caught lightning in a bottle.
You know, soon after this thread I started designing a world for a campaign I’m running. I must have taken your thoughts into account, because my drow are a bit different than standard:
First of all, surface elves and underground elves are genetically identical. All elves were part of a nasty demon-worshipping civilization that was driven underground. The underground (drow) elves are the ones who remained below the surface and kept to the old ways, while the surface (high, wood) elves were the ones who rejected their culture and ascended to the surface to find redemption. Of course, there are still good elves in the Underdark, and evil elves in the surface world.
Second of all, all elves, both surface and underground, have the same full range of complexions and hair types as humans. For obvious reasons, light-skinned drow tend to be paler than their surface cousins, but that aside, any elf can be from either culture. It’s basically a Vulcan/Romulan situation.
Finally, the drow, when raiding the sunlit lands, usually wear dark facial makeup for camouflage and intimidation purposes. This has led to the myth that drow have black skin.
I don’t think drow perpetrating murders in blackface is necessarily the inspiration I was hoping to generate.
Heh. You may have a point.
Don’t get me wrong - it’s certainly a creative way of accounting for the "dark elf’ moniker, and I appreciate that. Might work better if it was, say, obsidian masks or something. That’s a little less close to the bone than make-up would be.
Obsidian masks sound awesome, especially if the Drow craftsmanship is skilled enough to leave them full of flat, reflective surfaces at hard angles to one another. Lught reflecting off these masks would be epic.
Ok, that’s a good idea, and a great visual. The only drow my players have met so far are spies disguised as surface elves, so I can still change the lore. Thanks.
Or, another idea–maybe, because of their light sensitivity, surface scouts are equipped with a simple magic item. It’s a headband that projects a field of darkness around the wearer’s face, obscuring their features and negating their light sensitivity feature. Coupled with the full-body outfits they wear (drow sunburns are the worst), it’s given rise to stories about dark elves.