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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 spider 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" originates 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 ... [...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 folklore, 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 language, is defined as a ‘sprite or fairy’ of mischievous nature in dictionaries of Scots, particularly Orcadian dialect, Orcadian and Shetland dialect, Shetland dialects. Etymology The standard etymology derives the term trow from ''troll'' (; ) of Scandinavian folklore. Norwegia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Against The Giants
''Against the Giants'' is an adventure module written by Gary Gygax and published by 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 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 different type of evil giant. Each can be played as a standalone adventure, or as a series. In ''Steading of the Hill Giant Chief'', a tribe of hill giants have been raiding lands occupied by humans, and the humans hire the player characters to defeat the ... [...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 described as 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 in-universe; however, their natural detachment is seen by some as introversion or xenophobia. They were usually portrayed as antagonistic towards dwarves. There are numerous different subraces and subcultures of elves, including aquatic elves, dark elves ( drow), deep elves (rockseer ... [...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 as editor, originally intended to develop and publish the ''Fiend Folio'' tome () in late 1979 as the second ''Monster Manual'' volume, and would be officially recognized by TSR as an ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' product, with the monsters mostly taken from submissions to ''White Dwarfs "Fiend Factory" column. At ... [...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 ... [...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, along with "neutral" in the middle, 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 s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monster Manual
The ''Monster Manual'' (''MM'') is the primary bestiary sourcebook for monsters in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game, first published in 1977 by 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 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 pivotal example of a new style of wargame books. Future editions would draw on ... [...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] |
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 about 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 simply a 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 o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wizard (Dungeons & Dragons)
The wizard, formerly known as the magic-user or mage, is one of the standard character classes in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. A wizard uses arcane magic, and is considered less effective in melee combat than other classes. Publication history Creative origins The Magic-User class was inspired by the spell-casting magicians common in folklore and modern fantasy literature, particularly as portrayed in Jack Vance's '' The Dying Earth'' short stories, and John Bellairs's novel '' The Face in the Frost''. Gandalf and Saruman from Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'' and Merlin of King Arthur fame also influenced this class. Wizards memorize their spells, then forget them when cast in the fashion of magicians from Jack Vance's '' Dying Earth'' series of novels. ''Dungeons & Dragons'' In the original version of the game, ''magic-user'' was one of the base character classes. Magic-User was one of the three original classes, the other two being Fightin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fighter (Dungeons & Dragons)
The fighter is one of the standard playable character classes in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. A fighter is a versatile, weapons-oriented warrior who fights using skill, strategy and tactics. Fighter is a generic and broad class; individual fighters have diverse backgrounds and different styles. Bodyguards, adventurers, former soldiers, invading bandit kings, or master swordsmen are all fighters, yet they come from all walks of life and backgrounds and often find themselves on very different alignments, goals, and sides in a conflict. Publication history ''Dungeons & Dragons'' The "Fighting Man" was one of the three classes in the original ''Dungeons & Dragons'' game; the other two classes were Magic-User and Cleric. The paladin was introduced in '' Supplement I - Greyhawk'' (1975), as a subclass of Fighting Man. ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' 1st edition The fighter was one of the standard character classes available in the original '' Player's H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
