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Drow
The drow ( or ) or dark elves are a dark-skinned and white-haired subrace of Elf (Dungeons & Dragons), elves connected to the Subterranea (geography), subterranean Underdark in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy roleplaying game. The drow have traditionally been portrayed as generally evil and connected to the evil goddess Lolth. However, later editions of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' have moved away from this portrayal and preassigned Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons), alignment. More recent publications have explored drow societies unconnected to Lolth. Creative origins The word "drow" is from the Orcadian dialect, Orcadian and Shetland dialect, Shetland dialects of Scots language, Scots, an alternative form of "Trow (folklore), trow", which is a cognate with "troll". The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives no entry for "drow", but two of the citations under "trow" name it as an alternative form of the word. Trow/drow was used to refer to a wide variety of evil sprites. Everything a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drow
The drow ( or ) or dark elves are a dark-skinned and white-haired subrace of Elf (Dungeons & Dragons), elves connected to the Subterranea (geography), subterranean Underdark in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy roleplaying game. The drow have traditionally been portrayed as generally evil and connected to the evil goddess Lolth. However, later editions of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' have moved away from this portrayal and preassigned Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons), alignment. More recent publications have explored drow societies unconnected to Lolth. Creative origins The word "drow" is from the Orcadian dialect, Orcadian and Shetland dialect, Shetland dialects of Scots language, Scots, an alternative form of "Trow (folklore), trow", which is a cognate with "troll". The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives no entry for "drow", but two of the citations under "trow" name it as an alternative form of the word. Trow/drow was used to refer to a wide variety of evil sprites. Everything a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elf (Dungeons & Dragons)
The elf is a humanoid race in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, one of the primary races available for player characters, and play a central role in the narratives of many setting worlds of the game. Elves are renowned for their grace and mastery of magic and weapons such as the bow and sword. Becoming physically mature by the age of 25 and emotionally mature at around 125, Williams, Skip. ''Races of the Wild''. Wizards of the Coast, 2005. they are also famously long-lived, capable of living more than half a millennium and remaining physically youthful. Possessed of innate beauty and easy gracefulness, they are viewed as both wondrous and haughty by other races; however, their natural detachment is seen by some as introversion or xenophobia. They were usually antagonistic towards dwarves. There are numerous different subraces and subcultures of elves, including aquatic elves, dark elves (drow), deep elves (rockseer), grey elves, high elves, moon elves, sn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Against The Giants
''Against the Giants'' is an Adventure (Dungeons & Dragons), adventure module written by Gary Gygax and published by TSR, Inc., TSR in 1981 for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. It combines the G series of modules previously published in 1978: ''Steading of the Hill Giant Chief'', ''Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl'', and ''Hall of the Fire Giant King''. All three were produced for use with the Editions of Dungeons & Dragons, 1st edition ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' rules. In 1999, to recognize the 25th anniversary of TSR, the company released an updated version, ''Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff''. Later in 1999, Wizards of the Coast published a novelization of ''Against the Giants'' by Ru Emerson. The plot of each of the three original modules focuses on a particular type of evil Giant (Dungeons & Dragons), giant. Each can be played as a standalone adventure, or as a series. In ''Steading of the Hill Giant Chief'', a tribe of hill giant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Underdark
The Underdark is a fictional setting which has appeared in ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing campaigns and ''Dungeons & Dragons''-based fiction books, including the Legend of Drizzt series by R. A. Salvatore. It is described as a vast subterranean network of interconnected caverns and tunnels, stretching beneath entire continents and forming an underworld for surface settings. ''Polygon'' called it "one of ''D&D''s most well-known realms". Use in campaign settings The Underdark featured prominently in the campaign settings ''World of Greyhawk'' and the ''Forgotten Realms''. The concept of a dungeon that spanned a planet was first introduced by Gary Gygax in his D-series of game modules and at the end of the G-series. The Underdark was described in detail in the 1986 manual ''Dungeoneer's Survival Guide'', by Doug Niles. It was also part of the ''Eberron'' campaign setting, in which it was called Khyber and was home to evil beings driven deep into the caverns at the end of the ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greyhawk
Greyhawk, also known as the World of Greyhawk, is a fictional world designed as a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy roleplaying game. Although not the first campaign world developed for ''Dungeons & Dragons''—Dave Arneson's ''Blackmoor (campaign setting), Blackmoor'' campaign predated it by over a year—the world of Greyhawk closely identified with early development of the game beginning in 1972, and after being published it remained associated with ''Dungeons & Dragons'' publications until 2008. The world itself started as a simple dungeon under a castle designed by Gary Gygax for the amusement of his children and friends, but it was rapidly expanded to include not only a complex multi-layered dungeon environment, but also the nearby city of Greyhawk, and eventually an entire world. In addition to the campaign world, which was published in several editions over twenty years, Greyhawk was also used as the setting for many adventures published in support of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trow (folklore)
A trow (also trowe, drow, or dtrow) is a malignant or mischievous fairy or spirit in the folkloric traditions of the Orkney and Shetland islands. Trows may be regarded as monstrous giants at times, or quite the opposite, short-statured fairies dressed in grey. Trows are nocturnal creatures, like the troll of Scandinavian legend with which the trow shares many similarities. They venture out of their 'trowie knowes' (earthen mound dwellings) solely in the evening, and often enter households as the inhabitants sleep. Trows traditionally have a fondness for music, and folktales tell of their habit of kidnapping musicians or luring them to their dens. Terminology The trow , in the Scots dialect, is defined as a ‘sprite or fairy’ of mischievous nature in dictionaries of Scots, particularly Orkney and Shetland dialects. Etymology The standard etymology derives the term trow from ''troll'' ( no, trold; non, troll) of Scandinavian folklore. It should be borne in mind that Norwe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monster Manual
The ''Monster Manual'' (''MM'' is the primary bestiary sourcebook for Monsters in Dungeons & Dragons, monsters in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'' fantasy role-playing game, first published in 1977 by TSR (company), TSR. The ''Monster Manual'' was the first hardcover D&D book and includes monsters derived from mythology and folklore, as well as creatures created specifically for ''D&D''. Creature descriptions include game-specific statistics (such as the monster's Experience point#Level-based progression, level or number of hit dice), a brief description of its habits and habitats, and typically an image of the creature. Along with the ''Player's Handbook'' and ''Dungeon Master's Guide'', the ''Monster Manual'' is one of the three "core rulebooks" in most editions of the ''D&D'' game. As such, new editions of the ''Monster Manual'' have been released for each edition of ''D&D''. Due to the level of detail and illustration included in the 1977 release, the book was cited as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game, alignment is a categorization of the ethical and moral perspective of player characters, non-player characters, and creatures. Most versions of the game feature a system in which players make two choices for characters. One is the character's views on "law" versus "chaos", the other on "good" versus "evil". The two axes allow for nine alignments in combination. Later editions of ''D&D'' have shifted away from tying alignment to specific game mechanics; instead, alignment is used as a roleplaying guide and does not need to be rigidly adhered to by the player. According to Ian Livingstone, alignment is "often criticized as being arbitrary and unreal, but... it works if played well and provides a useful structural framework on which not only characters but governments and worlds can be moulded." History ''D&D'' co-creator Gary Gygax credited the inspiration for the alignment system to the fantasy stories of Michael M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Svartálfar
In Norse cosmology, svartálfar ( O.N. "black elves", "swarthy elves", sing. svartálfr), also called myrkálfar ("dark elves", "dusky elves", "murky elves", sing. myrkálfr), are beings who dwell in Svartalfheim (''Svartálf eimr'', "home of the black-elves"). Both the svartálfar and Svartálfaheimr are primarily attested in the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Scholars have noted that the svartálfar appear to be synonymous with the dwarfs and potentially also the dökkálfar ("dark elves"). As dwarfs, the home of the svartálfar could possibly be another description for ''Niðavellir'' ("dark fields"). Attestations The ''svartálfar'' are almost only attested in the ''Prose Edda'' (the word does appear in ''Ektors saga ok kappa hans'', but is presumably borrowed from the ''Prose Edda''). The ''svartálfar'' mentioned in ''Skáldskaparmál'' 35 are the Sons of Ivaldi, whom Loki engages to craft replacement hair for Sif, wife of the god Thor, afte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiend Folio
''Fiend Folio'' is the name of three separate products published for successive editions of the fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). All three are collections of monsters. The bulk of the material in the first edition came from the British gaming magazine ''White Dwarf'', rather than being authored by Gary Gygax, the game's co-creator. Readers and gamers had submitted creatures to the "Fiend Factory" department of the magazine, and the most highly regarded of those appearing in the first thirteen issues were selected to be in the publication. Publication history ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' 1st edition Games Workshop, with Don Turnbull editing the project, originally intended to produce and publish the ''Fiend Folio'' tome () in late 1979. The ''Fiend Folio'' was intended to be the second volume of the ''Monster Manual'', and would be officially recognized by TSR as an ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' product, with the monsters mostly taken from su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Turnbull (game Designer)
Don Turnbull was a journalist, editor, games designer, and an accomplished piano and pinball player. He was particularly instrumental in introducing ''Dungeons & Dragons'' into the UK, both as the managing director of TSR UK Ltd and as the editor of the ''Fiend Folio''. Early career In his early career Turnbull was as a high-school teacher of mathematics in the north of England. However, he was an early and enthusiastic follower of wargaming, subsequently winning awards as a designer. A feature which assisted his work as a game developer was the use of correspondence to run board games. ''Albion'' magazine In July 1969 he published the first issue of ''Albion'' magazine, one of the first European zines, supporting correspondence play of the board game ''Diplomacy''. Although it only had a few subscribers, ''Albion'' was influential and ran to fifty issues. In 1974 it won the Charles S. Roberts Award for ''Best Amateur Wargaming Magazine''. It was an informal publication that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TSR, Inc
TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had been unable to find a publisher for ''D&D'', a new type of game he and Dave Arneson were co-developing, so founded the new company with Kaye to self-publish their products. Needing financing to bring their new game to market, Gygax and Kaye brought in Brian Blume in December as an equal partner. ''Dungeons & Dragons'' is generally considered the first tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG), and established the genre. When Kaye died suddenly in 1975, the Tactical Studies Rules partnership restructured into TSR Hobbies, Inc. and accepted investment from Blume's father Melvin. With the popular ''D&D'' as its main product, TSR Hobbies became a major force in the games industry by the late 1970s. Melvin Blume eventually transferred his shares to his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
