The Tome Of Drow Lore.pdf - RoseRed

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should ever touch more than tangentially on the lives of
the Player Characters. In this campaign, the drow might
appear as a chance encounter in the Underdeep or in some
dungeon.
In such a campaign, the drow will not appear as the primary
instigators of events. While the drow would never assume
the role of lackey or hapless servant, they may act as allies
of the campaign’s true enemy. Likewise, there are many
mercenary companies of drow to be found in the Underdeep,
who will willingly sell their services to anyone that can pay
their price. Additionally, it is not impossible for the drow
to be manipulated into serving the ends of another entity,
someone who is brave and clever enough to play on the
goals, aspirations and hatreds of the dark elves.
The information in this book will certainly make sure a
fight against the drow is a memorable one, something to
be discussed and dissected for months to come. There
is no reason an encounter with the drow must be a cusp
event in the campaign. A chance encounter with a band of
Kanahraun Reavers, for example, is something no Player
Character would ever forget.
Listed below are some ways the Games Master might
use to incorporate drow into his campaign in the role of
monsters.
� The Player Characters are seeking a specific item and
find themselves crossing paths with a group of drow in
search of the same item.
� One of the primary enemies of the Player Characters
hires a pair of drow assassins to remove the Player
Characters permanently.
� The Player Characters find themselves trapped in a
maze-like dungeon, which has also ensnared a band
of drow. The two groups are faced with a choice of
fighting or working together to get out and the Player
Characters must beware a likely betrayal by the drow
when the two groups do find the exit, especially if some
sort of prize or treasure is involved.
� A band of drow have been raiding villages on the
surface, carrying supplies and slaves with them back
into the Underdeep. They must be stopped.
� Camped in the wilds at night, the Player Characters hear
the sounds of battle. A group of high elves is embattled
by a larger group of drow and will need the help of the
Player Characters to prevail.
� A deep gnome approaches the Player Characters,
offering to hire them to retrieve an item. When the
drow overran the gnome’s village in the Underdeep, he
was forced to leave a family heirloom behind, hidden in
his old home.
The Drow as Manipulators
The drow come from a culture of suspicion and scheming,
of endless struggles for power played out in plots that can
take decades to unfold. Gifted with incredibly long life, at
least as compared to humans, the drow are able to spend
literally centuries hatching and crafting plans of nearinfinite
complexity and misdirection.
Games Masters can easily take this aspect of drow society
and use it as the basis for the involvement of drow in the
campaign. In such a campaign, drow are the puppeteers,
the schemers that work behind the scenes. They will appear
in the campaign far less often than their many minions,
spies, allies, agents and proxies, who work to bring about
the fruition of whatever longstanding plan the drow have
concocted. The drow build networks of these agents on a
foundation of greed and ambition, though many of them
are likely to be completely unaware of the fact they are
indeed working for the dark elves. These widespread nets
of power enjoyed by the drow allow them to launch multiple
plots and schemes which can become a series of story arcs
in a roleplaying campaign, or even the major thrust of the
campaign itself.
In this scenario, the drow are not random encounters, nor
are they being used and manipulated by a greater enemy.
They are primary villains, recruiting and using other
creatures and Non-Player Characters at their whim as
lackeys, minions and footsoldiers. In such a campaign, the
Player Characters may have to unravel a number of plots
or survive several story arcs before the involvement of the
drow is even revealed.
Listed below are some ways the Games Master might
use to incorporate drow into his campaign in the role of
manipulators.
� Working through proxies, the drow fund a rebellion
against a ruler of a surface nation, intending to become
a power behind the throne of the new government
� The drow assassinate the heads of major guilds in several
large surface cities, replacing them with polymorphed
drow. This gives them exceptional influence over one
important aspect of the regional economy, allowing
them to funnel money into the Underdeep or create
chaos on the surface.
� By magically controlling the leader of a large tribe
of goblins, the drow are able to send the goblins on a
series of carefully orchestrated raids into the surface,
retrieving slaves and goods without revealing the dark
elf presence.
� The drow use their immense wealth and influence to
stoke the fires of war between two formerly friendly
surface nations.