There are a number of aspects that may give the appearance or lack thereof to outside players. These seven aspects are listed here in order or relative importance (the net effect they have in projecting a "Drow" image and appearance) and are covered below individually:
(1)Physical appearance
(2) Locations and surroundings that they may be "encountered" in
(3) Organizational model and hierarchy
(4) Alignment or aura (highlighting)
(5) Ingame behavior in regards to other Drow and non Drow players
(6) Equipment used
(7) Language spoken
Each aspect willnow be discussed:
(1) Physical appearance: while UO doesn't offer players the chance to actually choose a specific race when they create their characters, it does offer the ability to select skin color, hair styles, and hair colors.
All Drow role players must be Drow in appearance i.e. dark skin tone, gray-white hair, no facial hair.
These rules are pretty straight forward and needing little discussion. Also, on physical appearance, I would add in character name. It is nice to have something unique to yourself, that you identify with. No modern names (Bob, Paul, Robert, etc...), Uber-names (Merlin, Drizz't, Beowulf, etc...),Numerical names(666beast, H8ter, kr33gah, etc...) or the Infamous power names(RoXXor, YouRDed, DesTrOyEr, etc...) should be used.
Otherwise make them sound fantasy like and if in doubt contact a Drow leader for final confirmation.
Checking the roster may give you a good idea of acceptable names as well.
(2) Next to a characters actual physical appearance the lair and the locations where Drow are encountered go a long way in defining who they are and what they are about. Some locations that have been used include human towns and settlements, towns made of player placed buildings, and permanent ingame locations that are not player placed. Just by glancing at the basic Drow description the use of human towns and settlements doesn't meet the basic Drow standard for a lair or general location area at all. Player run towns have worked in the past and mark an improvement over the first option. However they still do not totally meet the description of an existence under the surface. At this point most players will point out that it's not possible to place a house under the surface therefore the use of sub surface locations as lairs doesn't meet the "optimum" play style.
This is the point where most Drow role players stop and the Gygax Drow role players begin to "push the edge of the role playing envelope". The group actually makes use of underground locations as their lair. As you can see from the Drow description they spend almost all of their lives below the surface. The alternative to making a lair in subsurface game locations would be to live in a town of player placed buildings and making some effort to visit sub-surface locations such as caves and dungeons from time to time. Here there are still two very distinct differences between the surface town model and the sub-surface lair model. There are some basic assumptions that need to be made here that should hold true for both models in regards to player behavior. The first is that if any Drow are encountered they would be red and mainly found alone or in small groups of three or less. The second assumption is that players would desire to remain reasonably close to supplies and possibly other Drow who may be in the vicinity. Using these two assumptions even though a group living in surface buildings will make periodic efforts to venture below ground probably more than 90% of the time they will be encountered above ground in either the town or the surrounding area. If they do encounter other players during the 10% of game play that they make periodic sub surface visits most players will take the view that the encounter that may have just occurred is more the result of bad luck than actually having a random encounter with wandering Drow who are moving to and from their sub surface lair. The net effect on any Drow group who is trying to project the image to other players that they are indeed subsurface dwellers will probably not take shape.
The same rule of thumb can apply to a group of Drow that chooses to actually make their lair in a subsurface location (prior to the Gygax Drow group doing this I don't believe there is any record of any other Drow group even attempting this on a consistent longer term basis).
They will probably be encountered either within their subsurface lair or in the immediate subsurface area 90% of the time.
The remaining 10% of the time would probably be evenly spilt with other players encountering them in outdoor surface areas (5%) and subsurface areas such as dungeons or caves that are not within the actual Drow subsurface lair.
Looking at this model an encounter with a Drow in a subsurface location would be perceived more as a random encounter than simply bad luck. Here a random encounter implies an encounter with a wandering Drow that is native to that area and the chance of future encounters of that nature would be high as well. The approximately 5% of the time that a non Drow player encountered Drow on the surface would be chalked up to bad luck. The net effect here is that the Drow group dwelling below the surface would have little problem in projecting and convincing other players that they are indeed subsurface dwellers as that is where they are encountered almost all the time. While a simple principal, the location of Drow lairs go along way in defining the perceptions that other players have of them.
(3) The type of hierarchy and group organizational models that have been used while varied seem to fall into two types. The first model while having many variations all seem to follow one common theme which is the creation for one reason or another a noble house, merchant house, or whole Drow kingdom (usually a combination of houses on the surface). Generally since these models make heavy use of player placed buildings they are all surface towns or communities and area also built around a surface Drow model. Here any number of reasons for the Drow living on the surface are developed (alot of them are really quite good) some have included: a noble house being cast out or banned from the subsurface world leaving them with no choice but to travel to the surface and build a kingdom there, the use of a some powerful magic spell has sent the house or group of Drow to the surface or another world and they are unable to get back, a group of outcasts, renegades, or mercenaries are plying their trade on the surface for business purposes, over time a number of Drow have made found their way to the surface either through their own choice or taken into slavery here they escape and band together, a small merchant house has been established to increase business with surface dwellers, a forward outpost of Drow have come to the surface to spy on or attack the humans and other dwellers of the sun lit world and so on and so forth.
The Gygax Drow model is based on the combination of the subsurface lair model and the concept of the Drow group being a field unit. While the precedence for kingdoms and noble houses above the surface is really limited there is a large amount of information on field units that where based outside of the larger Drow community (i.e. Vault). To provide some background and context for the field unit and outpost concept its helpful to take a look at the political structure within the Vault itself. There are several organizations in the Vault that wield some form of power. These include The Fane of Lolth, the Female Fighters Society, the Male Fighters Society, the Noble Houses (8 in total), and the Merchant Clans (16 in total). All of the organizations in one way or another had official and unofficial positions and alliances with other organizations. In regards to the Drow merchant clans they lived on small estates outside the city proper and in theory there are two merchant clans allied to each noble house. However as a result of the political situation in the Vault this was not always the case. Due to political uncertainty fighting would sometimes break out between Merchant clans but this generally didn't result in a full scale war it was more a series of minor skirmishes. The clans themselves would often ally with each other and select the noble house they swore fealty to carefully. In some cases a merchant clan would be uncommitted to both a noble house or another merchant clan.
The Great Fane of Lolth was also an organization that was in theory supposed to remain independent and unbiased thereby balancing out the power struggle among the noble houses. The Fane was to be the final authority over all disputes and actions of those living within the Vault. However, this is not the case because the most powerful noble house believed that the mistress of the first house should become the Queen of the Vault ruling over all Drow who resided there and in areas beyond. Fearing this the High Priestess and the members of the Fane have formed an alliance with some of the other rising houses lest they loose their position of final arbitrator. The military of the Drow (besides the small garrisons that the merchant clans and the noble houses fielded) consisted of two organizations - the Female Fighters Society and the Male Fighters Society. Both of these organizations where garrisoned outside of the city and the plateau that held the noble estates. These two groups where in appearance aligned with the Fane but their leaders and commanders often had secret relationships with members of certain noble estates. Despite all of the subterfuge and tension between the different organizations the ongoing protection and continued existence of the Vault itself trumped most politics. Noble houses did not openly attack each other it was more of a political power struggle as each house schemed to bring themselves more power and rank in the Vault. The Drow also understood the importance of using outposts and small garrisons in areas beyond the Vault proper to extend their influence. These field units where often made up of Drow combatants from the female and male fighters societies and at times had some key Drow commanding them.
This was actually a standard Drow tactic and a method for extending the "reach" of the larger Drow community. These field units set up lairs designed as small outposts from which they made raids, defended their immediate territory, gathered information, and provided protection and assistance to Drow merchant trains. These small outposts/lairs where generally set up on a permanent basis in strategic locations and the level of staffing could be anything from a handful of Drow combatants to upwards of several hundred Drow. Within these small outposts there was a defined hierarchy and chain of command. One interesting point is that the Drow that made up these units experienced a higher level of unit integrity than would could be seen in mixed units in the Vault itself where politics and subterfuge often played a larger role. As all Drow units where divided by sex so where outpost units with each group having subleaders, a leader and a minor noble or noble liaison (depending on the size of the outpost). While there was some separation of duties both female and male groups would make every effort to work together should a dire threat arise. This model is the one that is used by the Gygax Drow role playing group.
While the field unit/outpost model might not have the attraction of the kingdom or noble house model, when combined with a subsurface lair it represents an organization and hierarchy that is completely consistent with what is found in the 1978 AD&D source material. This reinforces the theme and question that was initially posed at the beginning of this section which was "how would the Drow shape and effect the UO game environment and those other players in it?" The GD group is based on the same principals of a small Drow outpost whose members are stationed far from the Vault. Here daily survival takes more precedence than politics as the outpost is charged with assisting Drow merchants and protecting the surrounding subsurface area from invaders.
(4) Ingame behavior really gets to the core of every Drow role players motives and reveals alot more about the player and his or her views on what a Drow is or should be than any other aspect. This is a measure of how much a Drow character really acts like a Drow. While the character itself is just a reflection of the player behind it here is often where you see the most consistencies or inconsistencies with Drow role playing.
Here Drow role players usually fall into two categories 1) those who believe that its important for them to role play the Drow for what they are (i.e. chaotic evil) and play their character with that in mind. 2) those who believe that the natural alignment of a Drow is not chaotic evil (there by redefining what the average Drow was known to be) and that it is actually some form of neutral or good and who play their characters that way. It should be stressed that the Gygax Drow adaptation to UO consists of role players who role play chaotic evil Drow. Most of the players that fall into category two have limited knowledge of the actual Drow background.
Players can be further divided into those who maintain a consistent character in regards to their Drow's relationships with other players and role players of other races and those who do not. It can be difficult to separate the role playing from the actual player behind it but most good Drow role players will be able to make reasonable decisions when it comes to interacting with other players. While its impossible to describe every situation that should occur if these questions are asked 1) from a Drow viewpoint does it make sense to act that way? 2) how will this affect mine or other Drow role players experience and reputation?
I think its important to also make a distinction between being a good role player who is reasonable and fair and being a player who is attempting to use the chaotic nature of the Drow to become a grief player and ruin the fun of other players.
(5) The natural alignment of the Drow is chaotic evil. While pen and paper games often have a number of alignment choices the equivalent in UO would be high lighting, of which there are only two types (blue or red). It should be noted that due to basic UO game mechanics on all but one game shard those players who are "red" are at risk for a number of ingame penalties that make playing with that high lighting unacceptable. The one shard (Siege Perilous) where the Gygax Drow role playing group are active does not have stat loss and other penalties for those who play with red high lighting. The difference between being red and blue is that being red means limited if any bank access, no more town access, a greater chance of being attacked by another player especially if they are blue. To some this may seem as if its an unacceptable alternative to being a blue Drow but it actually describes the outlook and attitudes of surface dwellers in their regards to the Drow. Since Drow are chaotic evil it only makes sense to have red highlighting.
(6) Through the use of paper dolls and on screen characters any player who comes within the vicinity of another player may learn a great deal about them by their appearance and the type of equipment they use. By using normal Drow equipment (see arms/armour section) we have the ability to really give the appearance of being Drow. When you are encountered by another player the first thing they will see if the character on the screen and then most will look at your paperdoll. This is extremely important and all Gygax Drow role players are required to make every effort to use Drow equipment if at all available. This issue cuts both ways and can significantly add to or detract from the Drow appearance.
(7) While many Drow role players spend a considerable amount of time learning to speak Drow it can be thought of as the rounding out or completing of a Drow character. Should a player not "master" the language it should not have a dramatically negative effect on that players "Drow appearance." By the same token the ability to speak fluently in the Drow language itself doesn't make that player a Drow. At the same time Drow can speak the language of a number of subsurface and surface races including common but this doesn't make them human or define them as surface dwellers. Caution should be applied here as not all players will be able to or have the desire to completely learn the Drow language. While each Gygax Drow role player is expected to learn enough to communicate this by no way means the entire language. At the same time it should be acceptable to attempt to communicate with non Drow role players through the use of common. One final note here is that the Drow language should not be used to try and intimidate, belittle or throw up barriers for role players who are just coming into the True Drow system.
