I think it’s a bit too politically correct to worry that Drow – dark elves – are a racist race.
The concern here is that they’re evil and black, that they’re evil because they’re black or black because they’re evil. I suspect the original D&D Drow were black just to look cool, scary and to visually suggest the Underdark. Of course, as lawyers sometimes need reminding the very “original origin” of the Drow is Scottish myth is “Trow” which is a variant of Troll.
There will be gamers who worry that the concept is racist. Sadly, there will be gamers who make it racist.
There are other gamers who’ll point out that living underground does not turn skin dark – it makes it paler. Sometimes the excuse of “magic” or “fantasy reality” isn’t a comfortable one for the gaming group. Some gamers do prefer to try to strive for “realism”.
There’s the tattooed alternative for everyone mentioned above. In this scenario, Drow have inky black skin because they have ink under their skin. This could be done for religious reasons (spider webs of ink…) or magical reasons. Heck. It could be done to scare people or even for fashion.
Are you sold? Do you think lots of tattoos could turn some one’s skin Drow black? I stumbled upon this picture and thought it would be a good one to share.
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