Customer Reviews

Vault of the Drow (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons module D3)

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This module started it all. There has been many books written about the Drow but they were first introduced in this module.

This module details the vault, and the culture of the Drow as they were originally designed. The module will give hours upon hours of good roleplay depending on how fast the PCs want to go into the Q1, Queen of the Demonweb Pits. For anyone who reads the books on the Drow, this module is a must have.

Dear Gently Reader:

To say that this module is a classic would be a gross understatement.This module, along with the others in the series -- Against the Giants, Descent Into the Depths of the Earth, Shrine of the Kuo-Toa, and Queen of the Demonweb Pits -- serve as the high water marks for Dungeons and Dragons (all editions of the game) modules. For goodness sake, how many modules do you know of where you're given the opportunity to do battle with an actual deity -- Lolth, in this case.

Now for a brief synopsis: The module starts out with the party leaving the Shrine of the Kuo-Toa for a far off drow outpost in the Underdark. Along the way, the PCs do battle with an assortment of baddies, chief amongst them a drow magic-user and his succubus consort. Towards the end of the module, the PCs penetrate a major drow fane dedicated to Lolth, located in a hauntingly beautiful drow city, where mind flayers, devils, and demons freely walk about. Here, the PCs fight off dozens of drow clerics, magic-users, and fighters. The former equipped with powerful magic items called tentacle rods, which attack as 6 HD monsters independent of the rod wielder. The module climaxes with an epic battle with Lolth's avatar. At the conclusion of the battle, the PCs discover in their possession some strange magic items that serve as transportals to Lolth's home plane, the 233 layer of the Abyss, the dreaded Demonweb Pits. The last module in the series, Queen of the Demonweb Pits, details the Demonweb in rich detail. Once there, the PCs are given the opportunity to remove Lolth permanently from their campaign, for demons or devils killed on their home plane are permantly destroyed.
In short, high praise should be given to the author of this legendary series of modules -- Gary Gygax, of course -- for producing unparalled game aids. Long live the drow!

The final chapter in Gygax's notorious Drow series draws us into the web of Lolth herself, and one of the most sinister, intriguing settings in AD&D - Erelhei-Cinlu, the nether city where drow rub shoulders with slaves, demons, vampires, and worse... an adventure your heroes (levels 10-14) will never forget; highest recommendation.

What began with Against the Giants and rolled through Descent Into the Depths leads here...and here is deadly good times. This was about the point that my Ranger "Daestine" reached 14th level. He would not survive to see level 15, although his henchman "Taeryl", an elven fighter/mage continued on to the Demonweb Pits in his honor. Anyway, that was almost thirty years ago, but i can remember many of these moments clear as day, like fighting the vampire and his succubus lover while trying not to hurt or be hurt by several of our charmed party members...or having a bunch of giant black widows ambush us...or that first vision of the Vault itself, and our travel into the city itself. At that point, our party had to split up due to having a Paladin and a Cleric of St Cuthbert who didnt have a reasonable chance of wandering around a city filled with Drow, Demons, and worse without facing discovery. The less spiritual members of our party, with our henchmen and followers in tow found our way into the Egg, where we used a saved "Wish" scroll to bring our separated companions back into the fold in time to find a means to enter Lolth's realm. Of course, Daestine had dies before that reunion, and being as how he had been disintegrated, there was no more raising available (of course, by that point, he was running low on Con due to 7 prior raisings, lol). Many years later, in a different campaign, our DM combined this series with the Night Below campaign for what became the most epic role playing experience i ever had. For me, this conversion to 3.5e demonstrated the timelessness and versatility of this module and series.

Anyway, i have recently been revisiting these old modules, and even now, reading through them rekindles my sense of adventure. In my opinion, these older adventures had everything you needed for months and years of awesome role playing. I dont feel like today's writers or 4e in particular can hold a candle to this era of writing.

If you haven't ever played through this, i feel you owe it to yourself. Give it a go. If you have, you already know how awesome this is.

Enjoy!

If you want a reprint get the Planescape Dead Gods Adventure. Most if not all of the product our in there. I do not won an orgional but it has quit a bite of info. I would suggerst that product.