Envisioning the Drow
"Drow" by Stefano Azzalin (resized) used with permission
The drow have come a long way since they were introduced in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual in 1977, mostly because they've been the focus of modules and novels ever since. They began as mysterious and malicious villains and soon had their own insane goddess, language, customs, and cities. Then R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt Do'Urden and Elaine Cunningham's Liriel Baenre book series brought good drow into the spotlight. More non-evil drow were made and dark elves were developed in various settings. In second edition, they were presented as an option for player characters for the first time and they've been popular choices ever since, not just in tabletop but also in video games like Baldur's Gate 3.
I fell in love with them when I started playing and running D&D in the early 2000s. I brought them into my campaigns and wrote about them for this site because they kept inspiring me. I eventually went on to make my own dark elf tribes for Pathfinder and that taught me a lot about the many forms they could take. But for the better part of 20 years, I left my old drow articles largely untouched here, and I intended to keep it that way. I considered them something of a time capsule: old attitudes and enthusiasm left for other folks to stumble on as the years went by.
I fell out of love with Lolth and her followers for a while and I fell out of D&D in 2020. But as I've been updating the site's code in January of 2026, I've found myself re-reading these pages and feeling inspired all over again. I'd like to think I've grown and can do a better job of expressing myself now. So while some things have changed, others haven't. I'm still focusing on Lolthian drow but not in any particular edition. I'm still filtering things through my own sensibilities, but I have more of a reference base than I did in the early 2000s. I'm still writing for mature gamers about a culture that cultivates villainy but there's more nuance to be had. I hope to stir your love for the old bad guys, too.
