The blood of the ancient protectors of the wild lands of Toril runs through many, though the power of the transformation is beyond their reach. It is believed, however, that someday a champion will arise and invoke the power of the Bear to protect the lands once again...

With every new character introduced, the player needs to roll percentile dice. If the result is a 01, then the character is the Champion of the Ancients and assumes the werebear template. As there can ever only be one champion, this rule becomes void as soon as the event occurs.

The correct pronunciation of "drow" rhymes with "crow", not "cow". This is a change for many players, and is an accepted Wyrmfang Chronicles deviation from published TSR AD&D canon. If you have difficulty with this rule, I suggest the always acceptable 'dark elf' alternative.

In Gary Gygax's warped but ultimately creatively stunted mind, infravision meant seeing in the dark. As he rose from a wargaming background, he ultimately went back to that military knowledge and dredged up "infravision", or "infrared vision". This, of course, ultimately lead to "ultravision", as anyone who has worn the cinnabar lenses can attest (+1000 experience points if you can identify the reference).

Basically, I always thought that "infravision" was a bit silly, in that I kept picturing Terminator-style camera POV with little runic readouts running down the side. So, here is what I have to say on the subject (save versus DM rambling at -3):

The ability to see in the dark allows the individual to see as if it were a low-light situation, not any heat-scanning system. Images are clear, though color, which requires light, is severely muted if not undetectable. Details, too, such as small writing in a book, or the edge of a secret door, cannot be clearly discerned. Light does spoil the darkvision (called "Elvensight" by the elves, "Undervision" by the dwarves, "Gloomseeing" by the halflings, and "Arrrgh-uuuuwaaahhhh!" by the orcs) as the light source becomes too bright for any details to be made out.

Now, some races do have the ability to detect heat, but through other senses, not just sight. Dwarves use their sense of touch to detect hidden pockets of molten magma beneath the earth, and an elf can detect the smell of a burning campfire from a mile away. But these are not wholly related to the ability to see in the dark.

Lastly, it should be noted that the eyes of many races, including those of the goblinkind and other subterranean humanoid races, actually glow when seeing in total or near darkness. This probably has some psuedo-scientific explanation, but in this campaign we'll just write it off to dramatic effect.

Update for Third Edition: This is all moot, now. Turns out, we were right, Gary was wrong.