Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Queen of the Demonweb Pits - what's so bad?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="darkseraphim" data-source="post: 5658598" data-attributes="member: 40735"><p>I think it's unfairly maligned because the tone, atmosphere, setting and encounters are completely different from the 6 modules that went before it. Also considering that years had passed since the last module in the series (D3), and that Gygax was not the author, people really just didn't know what to think about it when it came out.</p><p> </p><p>When I bought it (1981?) I remember thinking that it was strange, but to me it seemed a natural extension of the rules in the DMG. Other worlds and planes were supposed to be mysterious and completely foreign. The DMG had an Arabian City of Brass on fire, and the two examples of other dimensions (tie-ins to TSR games, of course) were Gamma World and the Wild West, with vague hints at Pellucidar, John Carter's Mars and Metamorphosis Alpha. Why should a non-Euclidean extra-dimensional spiderweb be inappropriate?</p><p> </p><p>The module also has some truly fantastic and compelling encounters. The chamber with the 3 drow thrones, the labyrinth of endless spiders and the dwarven city hopelessly besieged by chaotic evil come to mind. The rules for extra-planar play are scary, internally consistent and groundbreaking. But the running encounter with Lolth is a bit weak and the proto-steampunk spidership is not to everyone's taste.</p><p> </p><p>It's not a big deal, of course. BITD we just ended D3 the way Gygax intended - big epic battle below the Fane in the Vault of the Drow. His Q1 was going to be going from the Fane down to the Sunless Sea and engineering a battle between her and the Elder Elemental God, as I recall, and then probably some kind of escape through portal or ancient ruin or whatever, focused on the talisman shapes. Conservative play groups can ignore Q1 and call it good.</p><p> </p><p>/shrug</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="darkseraphim, post: 5658598, member: 40735"] I think it's unfairly maligned because the tone, atmosphere, setting and encounters are completely different from the 6 modules that went before it. Also considering that years had passed since the last module in the series (D3), and that Gygax was not the author, people really just didn't know what to think about it when it came out. When I bought it (1981?) I remember thinking that it was strange, but to me it seemed a natural extension of the rules in the DMG. Other worlds and planes were supposed to be mysterious and completely foreign. The DMG had an Arabian City of Brass on fire, and the two examples of other dimensions (tie-ins to TSR games, of course) were Gamma World and the Wild West, with vague hints at Pellucidar, John Carter's Mars and Metamorphosis Alpha. Why should a non-Euclidean extra-dimensional spiderweb be inappropriate? The module also has some truly fantastic and compelling encounters. The chamber with the 3 drow thrones, the labyrinth of endless spiders and the dwarven city hopelessly besieged by chaotic evil come to mind. The rules for extra-planar play are scary, internally consistent and groundbreaking. But the running encounter with Lolth is a bit weak and the proto-steampunk spidership is not to everyone's taste. It's not a big deal, of course. BITD we just ended D3 the way Gygax intended - big epic battle below the Fane in the Vault of the Drow. His Q1 was going to be going from the Fane down to the Sunless Sea and engineering a battle between her and the Elder Elemental God, as I recall, and then probably some kind of escape through portal or ancient ruin or whatever, focused on the talisman shapes. Conservative play groups can ignore Q1 and call it good. /shrug [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Queen of the Demonweb Pits - what's so bad?
Top