I really enjoy the stuff you cover. Back then I was more of a reader and imaginer than a DM; since the internet wasn't so much a thing, a lot of useful commentary and content went right by my little head. Until now!
I like to think that Matt Mercer's Kryn Dynasty drow are based on the Shadow Elves lore but played straight without the twist (I haven't finished Campaign 2 so I don't know if that changes things lol)
I never liked the fact that Mystara called its gods "immortals" but made little if any differences between the two. Both are immortal, receive worship, and grant spells to Clerics.
It's an interesting read, but far from my favorite. Always felt like someone looked at the established info about the drow and said "let's do things as differently as possible with our underground elves to confound player expectations" without asking themselves why they *needed* underground elves if they were so anxious to avoid drow tropes. Would have rather seen something more original like an underground nation of (say) more evolved troglodytes who were slowly dragging themselves out of barbarism by developing metalworking, argriculture, and animal husbandry, all twisted to fit their cavern ecologies. Or a race of vampire-worshipping bat-people who use cave chimneys to raid the surface before retreating to safety deep below . Or both. TSR had already done "elves in caves" once, did we really need another take on them?
@@captcorajus Meh. I like these better than the spider-themed demon-worshipping sadomasochists, but they still don't do much for me. Caves are for Dwarves and monsters. Might as well add a culture of tree-hugging hippy forest Dwarves to your campaigns if you want to break stereotypes. Which might actually be funny to do. Flowers braided in their beards, runic body paint, chummy with the local dryads and treants. Maybe most of them are nudists when it's warm enough - it'd break the "wears armor everywhere" trope and show off the body paint better, and the beards would cover the NSFW stuff most of the time. :)
All of the Mystara Gazeteers were originally for the 'basic' or Moldvey/ Cook or Mentzer 'Basic' games. Though you could absolutely use them for any edition all the way up to the current with a bit of modification.
I remember when Drow is a culture, not a race. You can be a dark elf without being a Drow was a big deal. Shadow elves sound like a better name for the dark elves on a whole than Drow.
I never got to play D&D back in the 80s, even though i desperately wanted to. I have played 3e-5e over the years and have finally settled into OSR and am playing in a Mystara campaign. I love the system, but not wild about some of the lore, such as the whole alien/scifi tie in (nuclear reactor) and the obvious Aztec influence with the Shadow Elves. Luckily, the game I play in hasnt explored or applied these aspects, yet, anyway. I love classic D&D, tho
We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end. I'm glad that WotC disavows its older content. It means I don't have to give them credit for all the amazing content that was created back in the day. Amazing video, and also an amazing work of art. Can't get enough of the cover art for Gazetteer 13.
