Queen of the Demonweb Pits...anyone?

[Ghost2020]

Anyone have a review of the Queen of the Demonweb pits?
How is it? How's the new encounter format working out?

I'm almost dreading the Undermountain and Greyhawk ruins with this format, there's no way they're going to get much real-estate covered with this new format. Is there?

Is the material any good?

thanks

 

[DragonLancer]

Personaly, I prefer the old style system of having numbered maps rather than a page per room/location, but otherwise the new layout style is ok.

I haven't finished reading DemonWbe Pits as yet, but it does feel like I will need to make changes to it in order to have it fit my campaign world.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Queen of the Demonweb Pits...anyone?

No, I'm not the Queen of the Demonweb Pits.


If you're speaking about Expedition to the Demonweb Pits: I haven't played it yet, but I read most of it (everything except some of the crunch in the appendix). I must say I like it. Sounds good. Of course, I haven't read too many adventures lately (I am reading through Shackled City, though).

The only thing I saw that I didn't like at all was the racial traits for Cambions, which are messed up. But that's easy to ignore, I'd say.

 

[Shadeydm]

The only thing I saw that I didn't like at all was the racial traits for Cambions, which are messed up. QUOTE]

Any chance you might be willing to elaborate?

 

[Psion]

Just got mine yesterday.

So far...

I'm a little iffy on the plot premise (demon lords are going to unite in a demon council... yeah right.) That said, I notice that if you work with a cosmology that doesn't make the abyss into an "epitome of chaos", it might work.

I'm also thinking (spoilers):
[sblock]
At 10th+ level, it seems like having a patron who is employing the PCs for false pretenses is a plot hook that can easily go afoul if the players get suspicious... and history tells me, they will.
[/sblock]

I'm not a fan of the new stat-block format, but I guess that's inevitable at this point. The encounter format, I'm actually okay with. I think it will bloat out the book a little, but it does make it easier to pilfer or cherry pick the encounters, which is sort of my MO with official adventures.

Still think the cambion write-up is crap. I think I'll substitute the ToH cambion.

Looks a bit combat-heavier than I was hoping for for what is essentially a PS adventure. There is an "abridged version" outlined, but it seems like the abridged version is more combat heavy and sidesteps some of the sort of problem solving/investigation type play that I find essential to an enjoyable D&D experience, and would make the adventure, if shorter, more of a slog.

Presentation is really nice, and from my first browse-through, there are some interesting and creative encounters.

Much more to read, but that's my first impression.

 

[Psion]

Any chance you might be willing to elaborate?

Odd stat modifiers, big charisma hit (which is sort of a 1e throwback... the old cambion could have negative charisma, which would allow them to awe or cause fear in opponents. Under 3e, charisma is more distanced from appearance and the qualities that were attributed to cambions in 1e would be more properly modeled by a charisma bonus.)

 

[Imruphel]

(snip) Still think the cambion write-up is crap. I think I'll substitute the ToH cambion. (snip)

The elder viper tree is pretty crappy too. The branch special attack is completely wrong. There are probably other errors with it too which John Cooper's eventual review will find! Ahhh, now if only WotC would employ him....

I agree with Psion's comment about the underlying premise of the adventure. It really makes no sense when you consider that the tanar'ri simply don't act like that. Some work and thought needs to go into this to re-work it so that it makes more sense.

All in all I'm disappointed with it. I like the new monsters but I spent too much money simply to get six or so new monsters, two of which, at least, require some heavy repair. Dungeon's The Harrowing did a much better job in significantly less space.

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

I'm almost half way through reading it and I think it would good fun to run and play. There's a lot of good Planescape-style stuff in there.

However, like Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, the new encounter format sometimes means a lot of flicking back and forth to follow the plot of the adventure and find bits of information. For example, there's a powerful magical sword to find which apparently is intelligent and can communicate with the party but nowhere is this explicitly stated (or at least, I couldn't find it). The initial hook and adventure introduction isn't that well explained either.
This time round they list the books (MMIV etc) that "new" monsters appeared in along with their stats, but often neglect to describe them. All in all, the editor could have done a much better job!

Cheers


Richard

 

[Odhanan]

From what I've seen of the cambion stuff in Demonweb Pits it really looks like it's... bad. With the Tome of Horrors, there shouldn't be any dilemma.

 

[Psion]

After leading a bit more, I see that two of my concerns have been addressed.

The matter of the untrustworthy patron... there is a sidebar with "replacement hooks" to keep players going with the adventure once they wise up.

As for all the combat encounters making the adventure look like a combat slog... it seems that quite a few of them are optional, e.g., invoked only if players try to steal books from a library, etc.

But that does raise the question of whether this is good use of space. Sure, it's nice to have your bases covered if you need a quick encounter, but it seems to me that it's not beyond the capabilities of most DMs to invoke many of these encounters if they happen.