Queen of the Spiders

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Queen of the Spiders
GDQ1-7QueenSpidersCover.jpg
CodeGDQ1–7
TSR product code9179
Rules required1st Ed AD&D
Character levels8–14
Campaign setting Greyhawk / Generic AD&D
Authors Gary Gygax
First published1986
Linked modules
T1–4 A1–4 GDQ1–7

Queen of the Spiders is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It was published by TSR, Inc. in 1986 and is a compilation of seven previous related modules, often referred to as a "supermodule." Together, the seven adventures form an integrated campaign that begins in the World of Greyhawk, continues underground into the Underdark, and concludes in the Demonweb Pits, the abyssal lair of the demonic goddess Lolth. The campaign was originally intended for use with the rules from the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. [1]

Contents

The 152-page supermodule bears the code "GDQ1–7" for "Giants, Drow and Queen," and can be further combined with two other campaigns to form an even larger campaign. The larger campaign begins with T1–4, The Temple of Elemental Evil , continues on to A1–4, Scourge of the Slave Lords , and concludes with GDQ1–7.

Plot

A new beginning was added to the adventure. [2] Giants have been raiding civilized lands in increasing numbers. The player characters have been called upon to combat the giants and to investigate the giants' reasons for invading and the strength of their forces.

The first module, Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, takes place in a gigantic wooden fort populated by hill giants and ogres. Here, the players uncover evidence of an alliance with other types of giants, as well as some mysterious letters from those behind the scenes.

In the second module, Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, the action moves north to colder lands, where the setting is a system of caves clustered around a deep and narrow chasm in glacial ice. Here, the protagonists encounter frost giants, yeti and winter wolves, among other monsters.

The third module, Hall of the Fire Giant King, is set in a volcanic region where King Snurre has assembled a horde of fire giants, trolls and hell hounds. A secret passage from this module leads deep into the earth, where the adventurers discover the true nature of the force behind the raids – the drow in the service of Lolth, the demoness.

The fourth module, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, is on a larger scale than the others, with a map covering many kilometres of a deep underground region, later known as the Underdark. In the Underdark, there are many unique monsters previously unknown to surface adventurers, including the drow, which had been considered mythical. Troglodytes, jermlaine and svirfneblin (deep gnomes) made their first appearances in D&D literature in this module.

In the next module, Shrine of the Kuo-Toa, the adventurers explore a subterranean complex populated by the Kuo-toa, a race of fish-frog monsters in the service of the lobster goddess Blibdoolpoolp.

Players next make their way to the Vault of the Drow, a deep subterranean eldritch land in a huge cyst deep under the earth.

The adventure is completed with Queen of the Demonweb Pits. It takes place primarily in the eponymous Demonweb Pits, the 66th level of the Abyss.

Publication history

The seven adventures described above were compiled in the GDQ1–7 supermodule. These included: [1]

All of the component modules were originally written by Gary Gygax, except for Queen of the Demonweb Pits, which was written by David C. Sutherland III and Gygax. The omnibus collection was produced with the assistance of Jeff Grubb and David Cook. The book was published by TSR in 1986 as a 128-page book with a 24-page map booklet, and credited to Gygax. Artist Keith Parkinson provided the cover art for the supermodule, [3] [4] which also features art by George Barr. The re-release was packaged as a sequel to A1–4. [1]

Reception

Peter Green reviewed Queen of the Spiders for White Dwarf #85. In his conclusion to the review, Green wrote that "TSR have proven over the years that they are capable of better products than this. Instead of wasting time with old material, they should concentrate on presenting new roleplaying ideas." [2]

Queen of the Spiders was ranked as the single greatest Dungeons & Dragons adventure of all time by Dungeon magazine in 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game. [5]

Related Research Articles

Greyhawk, also known as the World of Greyhawk, is a fictional world designed as a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. Although not the first campaign world developed for Dungeons & Dragons—Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign predated it by over a year—the world of Greyhawk closely identified with early development of the game beginning in 1972, and after being published it remained associated with Dungeons & Dragons publications until 2008. The world itself started as a simple dungeon under a castle designed by Gary Gygax for the amusement of his children and friends, but it was rapidly expanded to include not only a complex multi-layered dungeon environment, but also the nearby city of Greyhawk, and eventually an entire world. In addition to the campaign world, which was published in several editions over twenty years, Greyhawk was also used as the setting for many adventures published in support of the game, as well as for RPGA's massively shared Living Greyhawk campaign from 2000–2008.

Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories. Several years later, Greenwood brought the setting to publication for the D&D game as a series of magazine articles, and the first Realms game products were released in 1987. Role-playing game products have been produced for the setting ever since, as have various licensed products including novels, role-playing video game adaptations, and comic books.

Drow

The drow or dark elves are a dark-skinned and white-haired subrace of elves connected to the subterranean Underdark in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. The drow have traditionally been portrayed as generally evil and connected to the evil goddess Lolth. However, later editions of Dungeons & Dragons have moved away from this portrayal and preassigned alignment. More recent publications have explored drow societies unconnected to Lolth.

Menzoberranzan, the "City of Spiders", is a fictional city-state in the world of the Forgotten Realms, a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. The city is located in the Upper Northdark, about two miles below the Surbrin Vale, between the Moonwood and the Frost Hills. It is famed as the birthplace of Drizzt Do'Urden, the protagonist of several series of best-selling novels by noted fantasy author R. A. Salvatore. Menzoberranzan has been developed into a video game and a tabletop RPG setting. Menzoberranzan has been described as "a perfect unjust state" and compared to Glaucon's vision of a state that is held together only by the fear of retribution.

<i>Fiend Folio</i> Dungeons & Dragons monsters book

Fiend Folio is any of three products published for successive editions of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). All three are collections of monsters.

<i>The Temple of Elemental Evil</i> Dungeons & Dragons adventure module

The Temple of Elemental Evil is an adventure module for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, set in the game's World of Greyhawk campaign setting. The module was published by TSR, Inc. in 1985 for the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. It was written by Gary Gygax and Frank Mentzer, and is an expansion of an earlier Gygax module, The Village of Hommlet. The Temple of Elemental Evil is also the title of a related 2001 Thomas M. Reid novel and an Atari computer game.

The Underdark is a fictional setting which has appeared in Dungeons & Dragons role-playing campaigns and Dungeons & Dragons-based fiction books, including the Legend of Drizzt series by R. A. Salvatore. It is described as a vast subterranean network of interconnected caverns and tunnels, stretching beneath entire continents and forming an underworld for surface settings. Polygon called it "one of D&D's most well-known realms".

Troll (<i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>) Fictional monster in Dungeons & Dragons

Trolls are fictional monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.

<i>Queen of the Demonweb Pits</i>

Queen of the Demonweb Pits (Q1) is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game written by David Sutherland. The "Q" in the module code is an abbreviation for "queen". The module, a sequel to the D series of modules, was novelized in 2001.

<i>Scourge of the Slave Lords</i>

Scourge of the Slave Lords (A1–4) is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, published by TSR, Inc. in 1986. It combines the contents of four earlier modules, all set in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting and intended for use with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition rules.

<i>Descent into the Depths of the Earth</i>

Descent Into the Depths of the Earth is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy roleplaying game coded D1–2. It was written by Gary Gygax, and combines two previously published modules from 1978, the original Descent into the Depths of the Earth and Shrine of the Kuo-Toa. A sequel to the first two modules, Vault of the Drow, was also published in 1978. All of these D-series modules were produced for use with the 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) rules.

<i>Against the Giants</i> Role-playing game adventure by Gary Gygax

Against the Giants is an adventure module written by Gary Gygax and published by TSR in 1981 for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It combines the G series of modules previously published in 1978: Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, and Hall of the Fire Giant King. All three were produced for use with the 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. In 1999, to recognize the 25th anniversary of TSR, the company released an updated version, Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff. Later in 1999, Wizards of the Coast published a novelization of Against the Giants by Ru Emerson.

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<i>Expedition to the Demonweb Pits</i> Adventure module for Dungeons & Dragons

Expedition to the Demonweb Pits is a super-adventure module for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. The adventure is designed for characters of levels 9–12. It involves the machinations of the demon lords Lolth and Graz'zt, and was heavily influenced by the 1980 adventure module, Queen of the Demonweb Pits.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books. p. 100. ISBN   0-87975-653-5.
  2. 1 2 Green, Peter (January 1987). "Open Box". White Dwarf . Games Workshop (85): 2–3.
  3. ↑ McVay, Ben (March 19, 2018). "Rolling Nostalgic: Artist Spotlight On Keith Parkinson".
  4. ↑ "Old School FRP". November 16, 2018.
  5. ↑ Mona, Erik; Jacobs, James (2004). "The 30 Greatest D&D Adventures of All Time". Dungeon . 116.
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