Lolth’s Not Your Mom, But She’s Definitely Disappointed in You

Follow Ash Ely on social media for more tabletop mischief, hot takes, and behind-the-scenes RPGBOT energy. Want to do more than just listen? You can play in his games directly—Ash runs tables on StartPlaying.games where you can sign up, roll dice, and probably regret trusting that one suspicious NPC he voices just a little too well.

Show Notes

In this Spooktober installment, Tyler, Randall, and Ash descend into the Underdark to talk about everyone’s favorite spider-themed frenemies: the drow. But don’t expect a simple “they’re all evil” hot take—this conversation is about how to use drow effectively and responsibly at the table.

Highlights include:

History lesson (with bite): From Scottish folklore to Gygax’s caverns, the word “drow” has been through some things.

The big problem: Why “evil by biology” is lazy design and a headache for modern tables.

The fix: Treat drow as cultures, factions, and ideologies rather than one-note villains.

Tactics and terror: How to make them scary with ambushes, traps, lair design, and coordinated squads instead of tired stereotypes.

DM toolbox:

• Drow of the Underdark (3.5e) for rich lore and mechanical bits.
• Keith Ammann’s The Monsters Know What They’re Doing and MOAR for tactical framing.
• The RPGBOT Masterclass on How to Defend Your Lair for designing unforgettable encounters.

Adventure seeds: Trade cartels, perpetual-darkness devices, and drow coup-plots that give your players moral choices beyond “roll initiative.”

RPGBOT.Podcast Episodes

• How to Defend Your Lair with Keith Ammann – RPGBOT.Masterclass S2E95
• How to Defend Your Lair with Keith Ammann – RPGBOT.Masterclass S2E95

Other Stuff

• Drow of the Underdark (3.5) (affiliate link)
• MOAR The Monsters Know What They’re Doing (affiliate link)
• The Monsters Know What They’re Doing (affiliate link)

Key Takeaways

• Scary ≠ racist: Make drow terrifying by leaning on culture, politics, and goals—not skin color or species.
• Design like defenders: Build lairs that use elevation, darkness, traps, and chokepoints to punish rash adventurers.
• Run them as a team: Drow squads should coordinate roles like special ops, not fight as isolated stat blocks.
• Texture matters: Factionalize your drow societies—zealots, moderates, and opportunists—to create story oxygen.
• Bring the right books: Ammann’s tactics, 3.5e’s Drow of the Underdark, and RPGBOT’s own lair-design masterclass turn “complicated” into “compelling.”

If you enjoyed this dive into the Underdark, share the RPGBOT.Podcast with your gaming group. Tell your GM. Tell your rogue. Heck, tell that one friend who always wants to play a brooding elf in black leather. The more you spread the word, the more we can keep producing guides, laughs, and lair-defense strategies.

Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you.

Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players.

Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings.

Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community.

Meet the Hosts

• Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.

• Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.

• Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI’s worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.

Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.

How to Find Us:

In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net

Tyler Kamstra

• BlueSky: @rpgbot.net
• TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET

Ash Ely

• Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games
• BlueSky: @GravenAshes
• YouTube: @ashravenmedia

Randall James

• BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG
• Amateurjack.com
• Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link)

Producer Dan

• @Lzr_illuminati