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GDQ #1-7
Queen of the Spiders (Supermodule GDQ1-7)
128 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1986
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October 3, 2015
The Original Drow Adventure
10 July 2012
They call this a supermodule in that it is a collection of seven modules (as opposed to the usual four that many of these modules contain). However, each of the seven modules can be divided into three, with the giant modules (G1-3) the drow modules (D1-3) and the Queen of the Demonweb Pits (Q1). I did actually run this module once (a long time ago) however the game pretty much died when the players got into the underdark (and that is probably because I decided to branch out from the original modules and run my own, however I also suspect that one of the players was reading ahead, so by taking it into my own modules it sort of upset his advantage).
The story is set in Gary Gygax's World of Greyhawk, sort of the first campaign world that was developed for the Dungeons and Dragons game system, and this I suspect was Gygax's world saving adventure on which his players embarked. The story begins when a city is suddenly enveloped by a black sphere that is slowly growing. You are on the outside of the sphere, and nobody can get in or out, but being heroic adventurers, you are recruited to find out what happened and to put a stop to it.
The adventure begins with investigating a hill fort inhabited by hill giants (I won't go into details as I am sure we all know what a giant is, though there are peculiarities within the D&D system which make them more than just really big people) that happen to be raiding the local communities. From this fort you are then taken to an ice palace inhabited by Frost Giants, and then to a volcano inhabited by Fire Giants. I also discovered that when I ran these adventures, there were actually dragons in the dungeons (hence Dungeons and Dragons) though they seemed to be more of an side encounter than a major one.
Once the fire giants (and their pet dragon, if the DM is so inclined) are defeated the players discover an entrance to the underdark and the involvement of the drow. The underdark is a massive network of caverns underneath the planet that are so extensive that whole societies live down there. I guess the concept of the underdark has been borrowed from theories such as those of Jules Verne, who in his Journey to the Centre of the Earth, theorised a huge network of caverns deep beneath the Earth to which volcanoes and deep caves all connect. I have also seen this idea in another book on my Dad's shelf called The Cave of a Thousand Columns (which I must read sooner rather than later because when I was a kid I tried reading it but never managed to finished it). However, the players must traverse this alien terrain to reach the drow city.
The drow are another name for what are known as Dark Elves. I had first encountered them in a Dragon Magazine that contained an adventure set in a giant tree that was ruled by the drow. The drow are subterranean creatures who loathe the sun, and the story is that they were once elves but were corrupted by their god the Spider Queen Lloth. As a result they were cursed to fear the sunlight and to live beneath the surface of the Earth. However they were also incredibly powerful practitioners of magic (namely in all of the bad arts such as necromancy and demonology).
Upon reaching the city, the players defeat the drow, kill Lloth's avatar (her Earthly body) and then travel to the Abyss (one of the interdimensional planes where all the evil things dwell and where evil people go to suffer eternal torments) to defeat her god form. In a way this set the standard for a lot of adventures afterwards, and I have seen it used a number of times, where a god is causing a lot of destruction on the world, so the players go to confront the god, kill the god's earthly form, and then travel to the god's home to destroy him or her there so that he or she cannot get up to any more mischief.
I sometimes wonder about the idea of killing a god because it seems to be a part of our rebellious nature. This concept goes back to the Garden of Eden where it is suggested that we decided that we no longer needed God and thus turned our back on him, and since then history has been a story of our attempts to pretty much usurp god's rulership of creation to replace it with our own. This goes to the point that when God presented himself on Earth in the form of an avatar (I don't like using this word to describe the nature of Christ since he was fully human and fully god as opposed to fully god appearing as a human, which is suggestive of the avatar) that we pretty much went out of our way to kill him, and even after the establishment of the Church, the Church leadership has forever attempted to usurp God's authority over the church by speaking for him as opposed to listening to him.
10 July 2012
They call this a supermodule in that it is a collection of seven modules (as opposed to the usual four that many of these modules contain). However, each of the seven modules can be divided into three, with the giant modules (G1-3) the drow modules (D1-3) and the Queen of the Demonweb Pits (Q1). I did actually run this module once (a long time ago) however the game pretty much died when the players got into the underdark (and that is probably because I decided to branch out from the original modules and run my own, however I also suspect that one of the players was reading ahead, so by taking it into my own modules it sort of upset his advantage).
The story is set in Gary Gygax's World of Greyhawk, sort of the first campaign world that was developed for the Dungeons and Dragons game system, and this I suspect was Gygax's world saving adventure on which his players embarked. The story begins when a city is suddenly enveloped by a black sphere that is slowly growing. You are on the outside of the sphere, and nobody can get in or out, but being heroic adventurers, you are recruited to find out what happened and to put a stop to it.
The adventure begins with investigating a hill fort inhabited by hill giants (I won't go into details as I am sure we all know what a giant is, though there are peculiarities within the D&D system which make them more than just really big people) that happen to be raiding the local communities. From this fort you are then taken to an ice palace inhabited by Frost Giants, and then to a volcano inhabited by Fire Giants. I also discovered that when I ran these adventures, there were actually dragons in the dungeons (hence Dungeons and Dragons) though they seemed to be more of an side encounter than a major one.
Once the fire giants (and their pet dragon, if the DM is so inclined) are defeated the players discover an entrance to the underdark and the involvement of the drow. The underdark is a massive network of caverns underneath the planet that are so extensive that whole societies live down there. I guess the concept of the underdark has been borrowed from theories such as those of Jules Verne, who in his Journey to the Centre of the Earth, theorised a huge network of caverns deep beneath the Earth to which volcanoes and deep caves all connect. I have also seen this idea in another book on my Dad's shelf called The Cave of a Thousand Columns (which I must read sooner rather than later because when I was a kid I tried reading it but never managed to finished it). However, the players must traverse this alien terrain to reach the drow city.
The drow are another name for what are known as Dark Elves. I had first encountered them in a Dragon Magazine that contained an adventure set in a giant tree that was ruled by the drow. The drow are subterranean creatures who loathe the sun, and the story is that they were once elves but were corrupted by their god the Spider Queen Lloth. As a result they were cursed to fear the sunlight and to live beneath the surface of the Earth. However they were also incredibly powerful practitioners of magic (namely in all of the bad arts such as necromancy and demonology).
Upon reaching the city, the players defeat the drow, kill Lloth's avatar (her Earthly body) and then travel to the Abyss (one of the interdimensional planes where all the evil things dwell and where evil people go to suffer eternal torments) to defeat her god form. In a way this set the standard for a lot of adventures afterwards, and I have seen it used a number of times, where a god is causing a lot of destruction on the world, so the players go to confront the god, kill the god's earthly form, and then travel to the god's home to destroy him or her there so that he or she cannot get up to any more mischief.
I sometimes wonder about the idea of killing a god because it seems to be a part of our rebellious nature. This concept goes back to the Garden of Eden where it is suggested that we decided that we no longer needed God and thus turned our back on him, and since then history has been a story of our attempts to pretty much usurp god's rulership of creation to replace it with our own. This goes to the point that when God presented himself on Earth in the form of an avatar (I don't like using this word to describe the nature of Christ since he was fully human and fully god as opposed to fully god appearing as a human, which is suggestive of the avatar) that we pretty much went out of our way to kill him, and even after the establishment of the Church, the Church leadership has forever attempted to usurp God's authority over the church by speaking for him as opposed to listening to him.
March 10, 2021
She sits at the center of her Web, a dark force of intense evil power. Her strands reach across the Oerth, through the Crystalmist mountains, across the embattled human kingdoms, and even reaching the councils of Pomarj and beyond.
The adventure began in the Temple of Elemental Evil, and continued with Scourge of the Slavelords. It now comes to a climax as dark forces begin to move against all mankind.
This product contains revised material that originally appeared in modules G1 (Steading of the Hill Giant Chief), G2 (Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl), G3 (Hall of the Fire Giant King), D1 (Descent into the Depths of the Earth), D2 (Shrine of the Kuo-Toa), D3 (Vault of the Drow), and Q1 (Queen of the Demonweb Pits). New material for further adventures is also included.
You can use this adventure alone, or as the conclusion of the series.
Bringing all seven of these iconic game adventures together in one volume was a great idea. Especially for a cover price of $15! I'm not a fan of placing the Slavelords adventures between the Temple of Elemental Evil and this supermodule, but that's the beauty of Greyhawk: you can do what you want!
The appendices are especially helpful additions to these adventure by codifying the abilities of Lolth, defining rare magical items found and further detailing strange races and extra-planar creatures encountered along the way.
All in all, there is no other compilation of adventures from 1st edition D&D that can match this for the price (well, maybe the Temple of Elemental Evil...I'll have to review that one!).
The adventure began in the Temple of Elemental Evil, and continued with Scourge of the Slavelords. It now comes to a climax as dark forces begin to move against all mankind.
This product contains revised material that originally appeared in modules G1 (Steading of the Hill Giant Chief), G2 (Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl), G3 (Hall of the Fire Giant King), D1 (Descent into the Depths of the Earth), D2 (Shrine of the Kuo-Toa), D3 (Vault of the Drow), and Q1 (Queen of the Demonweb Pits). New material for further adventures is also included.
You can use this adventure alone, or as the conclusion of the series.
Bringing all seven of these iconic game adventures together in one volume was a great idea. Especially for a cover price of $15! I'm not a fan of placing the Slavelords adventures between the Temple of Elemental Evil and this supermodule, but that's the beauty of Greyhawk: you can do what you want!
The appendices are especially helpful additions to these adventure by codifying the abilities of Lolth, defining rare magical items found and further detailing strange races and extra-planar creatures encountered along the way.
All in all, there is no other compilation of adventures from 1st edition D&D that can match this for the price (well, maybe the Temple of Elemental Evil...I'll have to review that one!).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews