What do you think?
Rate this book
GDQ #7
Queen of the Demonweb Pits
"An Adventure for Character Levels 10-14 by David C. Sutherland III with Gary Gygax." Front "This module is the exciting conclusion of a series of seven AD&D (TM) modules. It may be played on its own or as the climax of the "Giant" series (G1, G2 and G3) and the "Drow series (D1, D2 and D3). The persistent adventurer must now face the Demon Queen herself, on on her own plane! "The first of a new series of other-planar adventures, this module includes several new monsters, maps of the Web and lair of Lolth, and notes on eight alternative worlds, suitable for expansion and addition to existing AD&D campaigns."
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
102 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 5, 2023
If I complained that the last module (Slave Pits of the Undercity) was too light on story and lore and just a bunch of monsters and rooms to fight in, the same cannot be said about Queen of the Demonweb Pits. This is a fantastic module in more ways than one.
A culmination to the adventures started in G1, this is the seventh module in the series and such a long run demanded an epic conclusion, this certainly is that. It's a strange and unique module as your party goes into Lolth's domain to take the fight to the Spider Goddess. On the way to her you have to go through one of the strangest maps in all of D&D, the art-like Demonweb, an interlacing web of corridors full of overpasses and underpasses as well as doors to other dimensions, teleporting and tough monsters and this is all before you get to Lolth's ship, a spider-shaped steam engine that is also the goddess' keep.
One of the coolest modules in the first decade of D&D, full of surreality and danger as well as deep lore and endless possibilities (you have a set of seven doors each leading to a different universe where characters can have independent adventures as well as optional instructions to add even more universes) this is a fitting end to the long GDQ series of modules.
A culmination to the adventures started in G1, this is the seventh module in the series and such a long run demanded an epic conclusion, this certainly is that. It's a strange and unique module as your party goes into Lolth's domain to take the fight to the Spider Goddess. On the way to her you have to go through one of the strangest maps in all of D&D, the art-like Demonweb, an interlacing web of corridors full of overpasses and underpasses as well as doors to other dimensions, teleporting and tough monsters and this is all before you get to Lolth's ship, a spider-shaped steam engine that is also the goddess' keep.
One of the coolest modules in the first decade of D&D, full of surreality and danger as well as deep lore and endless possibilities (you have a set of seven doors each leading to a different universe where characters can have independent adventures as well as optional instructions to add even more universes) this is a fitting end to the long GDQ series of modules.
August 31, 2012
Overall, I'd give it 3 1/2 stars, but since Goodreads doesn't allow half-stars, I'm rounding down to 3. At first glance, the demonweb looks neat with its geometric patterns. However, since all the action happens in rooms off the path, it ends up just getting in the way. As for the rooms themselves, they just seem to be there for the purpose of giving assaulting adventurers something to do, rather than making any sense in their context. Then you've got the alternate worlds. One is based off the elven realm of Three Hearts and Three Lions, the others are largely the good ol' take one geologic feature (snow, water) and make a whole world out of it. I do really like the proto-Ravenloft Nightmare World with the spell-casting vampire. Where things really take a turn for the unexpected is the steampunk ending. Now remember, just because the adventurers come from a world of medieval technology does not mean that Lolth - who has access to a great many alternate worlds - is limited to that. So, I actually think the ending is neat and there are some very memorable encounters on the ship. Still, it makes Lolth into more of a Star Trek-like villain and less of an actual demon.
April 2, 2013
Epic Adventure. Tough but fun!
July 22, 2017
Drow fascinated me, especially their language. It would lead to a love of Drizzt from the Forgotten Realms world and all of his adventures.
April 5, 2024
Caught between 3 and 4 stars, the nostalgia value nudged me upwards. Q1 was the finale to the epic GDQ sequence of modules, marking the end to the earliest series. It's notable that it wasn't written by Gary Gygax, but rather advised upon; in fact Dave Sutherland, one of the early artists, play testers, and ultimately cartographer (I think he drew the great isometric maps in Ravenloft and DL1). Despite that, it's style is very readable (and less verbose than EGG).
The premise of the module is slim. It begins straight after D3 with the idea that the PCs are tasked to go after Llolth, goddess of the drow, on her home plain: the Demonweb. This layer of the Abyss is remarkably tiny, napped out in a cool design, with atmospheric fog and dissociated doors. There's a way of moving between the three levels, that overlap one another, but there's a need to be careful as if you miss your landing you plummet endlessly.
The module has several pages of contextual rules for the Demonweb which alter spells in significant ways. Similarly magic items are impaired, notably weapons, which would make a tough module really hard unless the pcs have loads of +4 and +5 weapons. Clerics especially are hammered, although that's only the rule for levels 1 to 3. The fourth layer with it's multiple gate doors to alternate worlds allow recovery of spells, long rests, and spells to work properly. I assume (though it's not specific) that spells and magic items work effectively in Llolths spider-ship.
It's a batshit crazy module. The rooms on level 1 to 3 have a collection of monsters, mundane and demonic, with tricks and traps, which are more challenging (even for level 10 to 14 characters with a party size of 8 to 10) with the altered spells, items, and inability to recover cleric spells above level 3. The tone is rather random, although the drow and demons fit well enough. Where it gets even more bonkers is level 4 where the multiple alternate worlds are found, culminating in a wasteland where Llolth's steampunk spider ship. Opinion is divided, but I loved the weird ship with it's weird occupants--notably the driders and the handmaidens. The final battle with Llolth is designed to be multipart, with clever use of Heal. Despite her crap HP she is tough, with high magic resistance and AC -10. If she's given her lesser goddess powers then she'd be pretty lethal (only fails saves on a 1).
The only niggles are common ones. The rationale for going after Llolth doesn't square with Gygax's idea of the Elemental Evil following drow being the villains in G1_3, and in D3. I'm aware of a 'fix' module Q2 written by Joseph Bloch which adjusts the material to bring the Elemental Evil into play as per Gygax's original vision. The second niggle is the motivation for romping through the cool doors on level 4. Most parties would visit one, recover spells and HP, then charge onto final world with Llolth. As a DM (and I did DM this 40y ago, and I forget what I did) I'd really want some motivation written in to go through the doors- perhaps keys, individuals needing capturing for passwords, stolen bits from the egg, rescues... that sort of thing.
As written for the time, it's a good quirky module, an offbeat culmination to arguably the greatest series in DnD, and although many were disappointed I love it now as I did then.
The premise of the module is slim. It begins straight after D3 with the idea that the PCs are tasked to go after Llolth, goddess of the drow, on her home plain: the Demonweb. This layer of the Abyss is remarkably tiny, napped out in a cool design, with atmospheric fog and dissociated doors. There's a way of moving between the three levels, that overlap one another, but there's a need to be careful as if you miss your landing you plummet endlessly.
The module has several pages of contextual rules for the Demonweb which alter spells in significant ways. Similarly magic items are impaired, notably weapons, which would make a tough module really hard unless the pcs have loads of +4 and +5 weapons. Clerics especially are hammered, although that's only the rule for levels 1 to 3. The fourth layer with it's multiple gate doors to alternate worlds allow recovery of spells, long rests, and spells to work properly. I assume (though it's not specific) that spells and magic items work effectively in Llolths spider-ship.
It's a batshit crazy module. The rooms on level 1 to 3 have a collection of monsters, mundane and demonic, with tricks and traps, which are more challenging (even for level 10 to 14 characters with a party size of 8 to 10) with the altered spells, items, and inability to recover cleric spells above level 3. The tone is rather random, although the drow and demons fit well enough. Where it gets even more bonkers is level 4 where the multiple alternate worlds are found, culminating in a wasteland where Llolth's steampunk spider ship. Opinion is divided, but I loved the weird ship with it's weird occupants--notably the driders and the handmaidens. The final battle with Llolth is designed to be multipart, with clever use of Heal. Despite her crap HP she is tough, with high magic resistance and AC -10. If she's given her lesser goddess powers then she'd be pretty lethal (only fails saves on a 1).
The only niggles are common ones. The rationale for going after Llolth doesn't square with Gygax's idea of the Elemental Evil following drow being the villains in G1_3, and in D3. I'm aware of a 'fix' module Q2 written by Joseph Bloch which adjusts the material to bring the Elemental Evil into play as per Gygax's original vision. The second niggle is the motivation for romping through the cool doors on level 4. Most parties would visit one, recover spells and HP, then charge onto final world with Llolth. As a DM (and I did DM this 40y ago, and I forget what I did) I'd really want some motivation written in to go through the doors- perhaps keys, individuals needing capturing for passwords, stolen bits from the egg, rescues... that sort of thing.
As written for the time, it's a good quirky module, an offbeat culmination to arguably the greatest series in DnD, and although many were disappointed I love it now as I did then.
November 27, 2016
This is a fairly worthy finale to a long series of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons modules. The ultimate confrontations veer off in a bit of a strange direction for me . Even so, finally facing the ones ultimately responsible for the actions at least all the way back to the start of the Against the Giants Series (or even, perhaps as far back as the Slavers or even Temple of Elemental modules) is quite the finale.
April 15, 2010
Demon Queen of Spiders.. very challenging adventure. Plus it proves that evil can be both ugly and sexy. =)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews