Yesterday I received WotC's press release for the Rise of the Underdark campaign, which includes a bunch of products and events throughout the summer. Below is the press release and a video trailer.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-7vw_pT9tM[/ame]
Wizards of the Coast today announced that its iconic roleplaying game of fantasy and imagination, Dungeons & Dragons®, is inviting players to explore the notorious drow race and venture into a world immersed in darkness and danger during the Rise of the Underdark™ campaign starting this spring. Fans will get a first look at what is stirring below the surface at PAX East in Boston this weekend (Booth #562).
Mystra, the goddess of arcane magic is dead and Lolth, Demon Queen of Spiders is making her bid to seize control. The drow invasion is about to begin, and adventurers are needed to help stop Lolth from bringing about everlasting darkness to the surface world. With a product line and programs focused on the drow race, D&D® players will get a deep-dive into the events surrounding the Rise of the Underdark and gain access into the minds and lives of the popular race like never before. From a new campaign setting and in-store organized play programs, to novels and other game accessories, this robust suite of offerings will put a fresh spin on players’ campaigns. D&D fans can also look for new video game content and D&D merchandise to round out their drow experience.
“We are excited to provide players with a drow experience unlike any other with a full suite of products and in-store play offerings,” said Liz Schuh, Head of Publishing & Licensing for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast. “Players will get an in-depth look at this culture full of trickery and alliances, and get the opportunity to help thwart the evil schemes of the Spider Queen like never before.”
Dungeons & Dragons: Rise of the Underdark offerings include:
Mystra, the goddess of arcane magic is dead and Lolth, Demon Queen of Spiders is making her bid to seize control. The drow invasion is about to begin, and adventurers are needed to help stop Lolth from bringing about everlasting darkness to the surface world. With a product line and programs focused on the drow race, D&D® players will get a deep-dive into the events surrounding the Rise of the Underdark and gain access into the minds and lives of the popular race like never before. From a new campaign setting and in-store organized play programs, to novels and other game accessories, this robust suite of offerings will put a fresh spin on players’ campaigns. D&D fans can also look for new video game content and D&D merchandise to round out their drow experience.
“We are excited to provide players with a drow experience unlike any other with a full suite of products and in-store play offerings,” said Liz Schuh, Head of Publishing & Licensing for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast. “Players will get an in-depth look at this culture full of trickery and alliances, and get the opportunity to help thwart the evil schemes of the Spider Queen like never before.”
Dungeons & Dragons: Rise of the Underdark offerings include:
- Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook – On May 15, players will thrust into darkness with Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook. Adventurers can delve into dungeons, caverns, and other subterranean environments with this indispensable guide. Players will discover new character themes that add depth to their characters’ backstories and equip them with special benefits that will help on their journeys into the Underdark. Dungeon Masters will uncover advice and tips that will shed new light on creating dungeons and exploring the depths of their campaign worlds.
- D&D Encounters™ – Beginning May 16, players of all levels will be able to gather on Wednesday evenings in local participating game stores around the world to experience the new D&D Encounters: Web of the Spider Queen™ season. D&D Encounters is the first D&D Organized Play program designed exclusively for weekly play at retail locations worldwide – and this season takes players into the depths of the Underdark to investigate increasing drow activity and what it means for the world above.
- D&D Lair Assault – Experienced Dungeons & Dragons players worldwide have already been gathering at their local participating game stores as part of the highly tactical D&D Organized Play program called D&D Lair Assault. The next challenge, Spider Killer™, will kick off on June 1, challenging players to battle against the Rise of the Underdark.
- Skirmish-Style Game – A new head-to-head miniatures skirmish-style game, Dungeon Command™ will have players assembling warbands and choosing their battlefields as they go head to head in all out war. Releasing July 17, the Dungeon Command: Sting of Lolth™ faction pack will include such heroic miniatures as assassin, arachnomancer, sorcerer, spiders and spiderguards. Other Dungeon Command faction packs will become available throughout the year.
- Charon’s Claw – In this third book of the Neverwinter™ Saga, New York Times best-selling author R.A. Salvatore takes readers back to the city of Gauntlgrym. As the world-famous dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden and his companions return to the ancient dwarven stronghold, they find a small colony of drow. Members of House Xorlarrin and exiles from Menzoberranzan, these drow are trying to establish an independent city free from the rule of House Baenre and its priestesses. Charon’s Claw releases August 7.
- Campaign Setting & Fortune Cards – On August 21, anew campaign setting will provide an in-depth exploration of the greatest drow city in the Dungeons & Dragons® game. Containing all of the information a Dungeon Master needs to run adventures or an entire campaign based in this treacherous city, including descriptions of city locations, drow houses, key organizations, and the precarious political landscape, the Menzoberranzan Campaign Setting also gives players information they need to create characters who are members of drow houses or organizations within Menzoberranzan. Drow Treachery™ Fortune Cards will provide additional elements of unpredictability that already runs rampant within drow culture to enhance attacks and defenses, or provide other benefits to characters.
- Novels– 2012 also holds the release of a number of mind-capturing novels from some of D&D’s most beloved and imaginative authors, including:
- War of the Spider Queen, Volume I (April 3), Richard Lee Byers, Thomas M. Reid, Richard Baker
- War of the Spider Queen, Volume II (May 1), Lisa Smedman, Philip Athans, Paul S. Kemp
- And the following ebooks:
- Spinner of Lies: Sword of the Gods (June 5), Bruce Cordell
- Prince of Ravens (July 3), Richard Baker
- Skein of Shadows (July 3), Marsheila Rockwell
- Spider and Stone (December), Jaleigh Johnson
- Dungeons & Dragons Online, Menace of the Underdark expansion – This June, the shadow of Lolth has fallen over the Forgotten Realms kingdom of Cormyr, where heroes struggle to stem the unrelenting tide of Drow forces. As the extent of Lolth’s schemes spread to entangle Eberron, the champions of that world must join those of Faerûn to battle this dark threat—and ultimately, the Queen of Spiders herself.
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), but they are a really iconic D&D villain, and they deserve a big treatment like this. And I'll probably be picking up the Dungeon Survival Handbook and Menzoberranzen (or whatever), too. 
