Ages ago, I used to game. I began with advanced Dungeons and Dragons, moved on to Beyond the Supernatural, tried my hand at Ars Magica, and then went to Vampire the Masquerade.
I eventually had to walk away from gaming when I realized that my word count increased when I focused on it instead of planning campaigns (it was a difficult decision, for All Flesh Must Be Eaten and Little Fears had just come out).
Since then, I haven't thought much about gaming. Recently, someone directed me to another blog. The writer had discovered Jet's dark elves and was stunned. In the Forgotten Realms (an AD&D world), dark elves were known as Drow. She couldn't believe someone had sexed them up.
On one hand, I want to giggle. Jet's dark elves aren't Drow. They're obviously different. At the same time, I understand the mistake. When I first heard about the series, I thought they were Drow too.
The thing is, while a lot of people have written about elves, not many of them have written about dark elves (in fact, I can only think of one other book). This is great for the dark elves and Drow, for it makes them unique.
Outside of their obvious similarities (dark skin, white hair, both live underground), the two are very different.
Drow:
* have a matriarchal society that is ruled by a Matron Mother.
* worship the Spider Queen, Lloth.
* back stab one another at the drop of a hat.
* go to the surface to kill and pillage (no raping, though, for . . . um . . . that would spook gamers).
* did I mention they worship the Spider Queen? They really like spiders.
In Jet's books? They:
* follow one guy (though I think if they had more women, they'd gladly follow them. This is a race of people who really want a strong woman to come along and tell them what to do).
* worship a goddess, but she's neither into spiders nor treachery.
* go to the surface to kidnap women because they have none of their own (which kind of sucks, until one remembers that this is a medieval world, and really, what's waiting up on the surface for women anyway? It's not like they can become bards and knights).
* don't worship spiders. In fact, I don't remember any spiders showing up at all.
Are the two incompatible? Well, I wouldn't want to run into them. I admit, though, after one too many wine coolers, I was known to throw some zany things at the party (vampire smurfs come to mind). If any gamers out there are curious, I now present the dark elves' stats:
Strength (their ability to run off with a woman): 15
Dexterity (while evading anyone who'd like to rescue her): 17
Constitution (so they can then settle down and enjoy hours of sex): 18
Intelligence (figuring out who should go next): 16
Wisdom (finding a good way to explain to the woman why they had to kidnap her): 15
Charisma (failing that, smiling and making it sound good anyway): 18
Dark elves also get a 4 to charm and can feel and monitor the arousal of others. You have to admit, that's a more interesting than sacrificing babies to the Spider Queen.
I eventually had to walk away from gaming when I realized that my word count increased when I focused on it instead of planning campaigns (it was a difficult decision, for All Flesh Must Be Eaten and Little Fears had just come out).
Since then, I haven't thought much about gaming. Recently, someone directed me to another blog. The writer had discovered Jet's dark elves and was stunned. In the Forgotten Realms (an AD&D world), dark elves were known as Drow. She couldn't believe someone had sexed them up.
On one hand, I want to giggle. Jet's dark elves aren't Drow. They're obviously different. At the same time, I understand the mistake. When I first heard about the series, I thought they were Drow too.
The thing is, while a lot of people have written about elves, not many of them have written about dark elves (in fact, I can only think of one other book). This is great for the dark elves and Drow, for it makes them unique.
Outside of their obvious similarities (dark skin, white hair, both live underground), the two are very different.
Drow:
* have a matriarchal society that is ruled by a Matron Mother.
* worship the Spider Queen, Lloth.
* back stab one another at the drop of a hat.
* go to the surface to kill and pillage (no raping, though, for . . . um . . . that would spook gamers).
* did I mention they worship the Spider Queen? They really like spiders.
In Jet's books? They:
* follow one guy (though I think if they had more women, they'd gladly follow them. This is a race of people who really want a strong woman to come along and tell them what to do).
* worship a goddess, but she's neither into spiders nor treachery.
* go to the surface to kidnap women because they have none of their own (which kind of sucks, until one remembers that this is a medieval world, and really, what's waiting up on the surface for women anyway? It's not like they can become bards and knights).
* don't worship spiders. In fact, I don't remember any spiders showing up at all.
Are the two incompatible? Well, I wouldn't want to run into them. I admit, though, after one too many wine coolers, I was known to throw some zany things at the party (vampire smurfs come to mind). If any gamers out there are curious, I now present the dark elves' stats:
Strength (their ability to run off with a woman): 15
Dexterity (while evading anyone who'd like to rescue her): 17
Constitution (so they can then settle down and enjoy hours of sex): 18
Intelligence (figuring out who should go next): 16
Wisdom (finding a good way to explain to the woman why they had to kidnap her): 15
Charisma (failing that, smiling and making it sound good anyway): 18
Dark elves also get a 4 to charm and can feel and monitor the arousal of others. You have to admit, that's a more interesting than sacrificing babies to the Spider Queen.
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