Queen of the Demonweb Pits

DnDmodule| module_title = Queen of the Demonweb Pits
module_

module_code = Q1
module_rules = 1st Ed AD&D
module_character_levels = 10-14
module_campaign = Generic AD&D / Greyhawk
module_authors = David Sutherland with Gary Gygax
module_first_published = October 1980
series = G1 G2 G3 D1 D2 D3 Q1
"Expedition to the Demonweb Pits" "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 represents the first letter in the word "queen." [cite web |url=http://www.wizards.com/dnd/dnddefinitivefaq.asp |title=Dungeons & Dragons FAQ |accessdate=2007-03-29 |publisher=wizards.com] "Queen of the Demonweb Pits" is also the title of a 2001 novel based on the adventure.

"Queen of the Demonweb Pits" was the seventh in a massive series of adventures set in the World of Greyhawk, starting with persistent raiding by local hill giants and other events described in the G1-3 "Against the Giants" series of modules. The series then continued from there on an odyssey into the Underdark, as described in the "Drow" series of modules, D1 - "Descent into the Depths of the Earth", D2 - "Shrine of the Kuo-Toa", and D3 - "Vault of the Drow". (D1 and D2 were later compiled into a single adventure, D1-2 - "Descent into the Depths of the Earth").

ynopsis

At the conclusion of "Vault of the Drow", the characters find an astral gate leading to the Abyssal realm of Lolth, Demon Queen of Spiders, goddess of the drow elves, and architect of the sinister plot described in the series involving hill giants, frost giants, fire giants, kuo-toa, drow, and other creatures. Her realm, the 66th layer of the Abyss, is referred to as the Demonweb Pits.

The Q1 module was the first to offer a glimpse into the Abyss itself, home to the D&D race of Demons. Time and space stretch and twist in bizarre ways in the Abyss, and there are many portals in the Abyss that allow passage into entirely different worlds. These factors made "Queen of the Demonweb Pits" an unusually open-ended adventure, as each "portal" could potentially lead to a massive area, from which the dungeon master could, if he or she chose, launch an entirely new campaign.

At the very end of the module, the players face a final confrontation with Lolth, an exceptionally difficult challenge.

Critical reception

Q1 was and remains very controversial for fans of First Edition AD&D. Unlike the six modules that lead to it, Queen of the Demonweb Pits was not authored by Gary Gygax, the creator of the game and genre. Instead, Gygax determined that the dungeon he designed for Q1 was too similar to the ones he planned to use in Module T1-4 "Temple of Elemental Evil". When David C. Sutherland III displayed a dungeon map he had created based upon a placemat design, Gygax suggested that it be used for Q1. Sutherland would go on to write the majority of the adventure. Many fans believe that the module, the climax of six prior adventures, each more difficult than the last, was too lighthearted and whimsical, especially when compared to its immediate predecessor, "Vault of the Drow". Others were puzzled by the relative lack of demons or drow in the adventure, and were put off by the odd use of a massive steam-driven "Spider Ship" that serves as Lolth's base. Several fan-created "alternative endings" to the GDQ series have been posted on the Internet.

When combined as a single adventure with the rest of GDQ series, this module was voted the single greatest adventure of all time by "Dungeon" magazine in 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game. [cite journal |last=Mona| first=Erik|authorlink=Erik Mona|coauthors=James Jacobs|title=The 30 Greatest D&D Adventures of All Time|journal=Dungeon |volume=116 |year=2004]

Related publications

* Much of the module's version of the Abyss was incorporated into TSR's first edition of the "Manual of the Planes", and thus later into the "Planescape" campaign setting.
* The module was later republished as part of the "Queen of the Spiders" supermodule (coded GDQ1-7), containing the entire saga.
*"Queen of the Demonweb Pits" was made into novel of the same name by Paul Kidd for the Greyhawk Classics series. The novel was published by Wizards of the Coast in 2001.
* In 2007, the module's setting was revisted in the Wizards of the Coast adventure module "Expedition to the Demonweb Pits".

Legal history

"Queen of the Demonweb Pits" was one of many items named in a 1992 lawsuit between TSR and Game Designers' Workshop regarding the "Dangerous Journeys" role-playing game and various rulebooks/sourcebooks designed for that game. Once section of this lawsuit argued that "The Multiverse adventure concept in MYTHUS ... and MYTHUS MAGICK ... is derived from the Multiverse system found in the AD&D 1st ed. [Dungeon Master's Guide] (pages 40, ...) ... the AD&D QUEEN OF THE DEMONWEB PITS game module (throughout, but particularly, pages 3 and 13-18); ..." [cite web| url=http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/copyright/cases/tsr_vs_gdw2.txt|title=TSR, INC, Plaintiff v. GAME DESIGNERS' WORKSHOP, INC. d/b/a GDW, INC., and GDW, OMEGA HELIOS, LTD., and E. GARY GYGAX|accessdate=2008-01-10]

Footnotes

References

*Kidd, Paul. "Queen of the Demonweb Pits" (Wizards of the Coast, 2001), ISBN 0-7869-1903-5.
*Mona, Erik, James Jacobs, et al. "The 30 Greatest D&D Adventures of All Time." "Dungeon" #116 (Paizo Publishing, 2004).
*Sutherland III, David C, and Gygax, Gary. "Queen of the Demonweb Pits" (TSR, 1980) ISBN 0394515412.

External links

* [http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/modpages/q.html Queen of the Demonweb Pits] at the Acaeum.com
* [http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/dd1/q1.htm Queen of the Demonweb Pits] at the TSR Archive
* [http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showbook&bookid=730 Queen of the Demonweb Pits] at the Pen & Paper RPG Database