Close
Close
Advanced Search

Web of the Spider Queen (4e)Click to magnify
Quick Preview
/gs_flipbook/flip.php?xml=/demo_xml/123364.xml&w=500&h=175
Full‑size Preview
https://watermark.drivethrurpg.com/pdf_previews/123364-sample.pdf

Web of the Spider Queen (4e)

ADD TO WISHLIST >
Selected Option:

Long past are the days when drow ruled over Shadowdale from the Twisted Tower—or are they? Beneath the sleepy farming community, an old evil stirs. The drow and their foul Underdark minions have set eyes on the Dalelands, but to what end is anyone’s guess. Now, it’s up to an unlikely band of adventurers to defend Shadowdale from the drow threat and learn what Lolth and her villainous followers are up to. Success means a respite from danger. Failure could doom the surface world.

"Web of the Spider Queen" is a Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game adventure designed for the spring 2012 season of the D&D ENCOUNTERS official play program. This season incorporates character options from Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook, and it comes with three full-color battle maps, thirteen ready-to-play encounters, and information on the D&D ENCOUNTERS program.

*****

Product History

"Web of the Spider Queen" (2012), by Logan Bonner, is the adventure for Season 9 of D&D Encounters. It was released for play in Spring 2012.

Continuing the Encounters. Like the previous Encounters adventures, "Web of the Spider Queen" is the master plan for a season's worth of Encounters organized play. It details thirteen weekly play sessions for characters levels 1st-3rd, with each week consisting of a single encounter. The encounters in turn are organized into three chapters; characters can take a short rest after each week's encounter and an extended rest at the end of each chapter.

"Web of the Spider Queen" is a classic sort of adventure, focusing largely on a dungeon crawl through the Underdark. There's one week of character creation before the 13-week season. It ran from May 16, 2012, to August 15, 2012.

About the Encounter Format. By the spring of 2012, the Encounters format was pretty set; each week tended to contain some roleplaying, then some combat. As with Season 8's "The Elder Elemental Eye" (2012), there's also a recap at the start of each week's play to help new and returning players. Unfortunately, the recaps in this season's encounters are shorter and less formal than those found in the previous season. This shorter "last session" synopsis would continue through Season 11, which would be the end of the original Encounters run.

Week 6 featured a very unique encounter. "Tests of Lolth" offered a series of puzzles, one per character. There was no combat at all, one of the few weeks where this was the case throughout the Encounters. The net two Encounters seasons would also feature a unique challenge in week 6.

About the Product Tie-In(s). As had been the case since Season 3's “Keep on the Borderlands: A Season of Serpents” (2010), this season required Essentials characters; and as had been the case since Season 4's "March of the Phantom Brigade" (2011), the adventure supported the use of Fortune Cards (2011-12). There was no new Fortune Cards release at the time, so players were still using Spiral of Tharizdun (2012) cards, which had been coordinated with Season 8's "The Elder Elemental Eye" (2012). However, there were three new Fortune Cards available as rewards: Bloodcurdling Scream, Insane Defiance, and Cunning Misdirection.

The core tie-in for the season was to "Rise of the Underdark," Wizards of the Coast's final multimedia tie-in for D&D 4e, which ran in the main from April 2012 to August 2012. It was a Forgotten Realms story that depicted Lolth driving the drow to attack the surface in an attempt to fill Mystra's vacant seat as the Goddess of Magic.

"Rise of the Underdark" was foreshadowed with the re-release of War of the Spider Queen (2012) novels as omnibuses in April and May of that year. However, the new story began with "The Sun Never Rises," a convention adventure by Shawn Merwin run from April 6-8, 2012, at the PAX East convention. Its story of drow assaulting Dagger Falls was a direct prelude to "Web of the Spider Queen," and it even gave players a code that they could redeem for a Treasure Card depicting the “Ruby Medallion of Lathander” in "Web of the Spider Queen" itself. Interested fans can now find "The Sun Never Rises" in Dungeon #216 (July 2013).

The most important "Rise of the Underdark" supplement for this new season of play was Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook (2012), released on May 15, the day before character creation for this adventure. Players were encouraged to use themes from that supplement, which got occasional reference in the adventure, as had been the case in Season 6's "Lost Crown of Neverwinter" (2011).

All told, the "Rise of the Underdark" marketing blitz was probably Wizards' most sophisticated marketing plan since the Dark Sun marketing surrounding Season 2's "Dark Sun: Fury of the Wastewalker" (2010). Over the course of "Web of the Spider Queen," the Underdark marketing would continue with two Dungeon Tiles set, a Dungeons & Dragons Online tie-in, and a few eBooks. Wizards also kicked off their new Dungeon Command miniatures game on July 17 with a drow-oriented set called Sting of Lolth (2012). Surprisingly, there was only one print tie-in book through all of this: R.A. Salvatore's Charon's Claw (2012), the third book in his Neverwinter Saga.

A few final Rise of the Underdark releases would appear on August 21, to seed the next D&D Encounters season.

About the Homage. Unlike many of the previous seasons, "Web of the Spider Queen" doesn't have any explicit ties to older adventures. However, it's faintly reminiscent of the classic D ("Descent") series of adventures (1978), as the players chase fleeing drow under the earth.

Expanding the Forgotten Realms. "Web of the Spider Queen" is the first of a few epic adventures set in the Realms. It's located in the very well-defined village of Shadowdale, including the Old Skull Inn, the Twisted Tower of Ashaba, and what lies below. Players even get to meet Elminster. However, the setting isn't 100% canon due to the limitations of the Encounters environment. The author warns, "The maps featured in this adventure, particularly those of the Old Skull Inn and the Twisted Tower of Ashaba, don't match the standard maps of those locations. Instead, they've been adjusted to fit the D&D ENCOUNTERS format. This typically means that maps are smaller and less complex than the actual locations." 

Future History. The Rise of the Underdark continues in the next two Encounters seasons: "Council of Spiders" (2012) and "War of Everlasting Darkness" (2012).

About the Creators. Bonner wrote extensive for 4e during its early years, so "Web of the Spider Queen" was a return for him. He also coauthored Into the Unknown and the next season's "Council of Spiders."

About the Product Historian

The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end.

pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
 
 Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
Reviews (1)
Discussions (1)
Customer avatar
Aric W July 04, 2014 4:17 am UTC
General D&D Encounters Season question. Does anyone know if (all) of these seasons PDFs are the complete adventures?

Thanks
Reply
Customer avatar
Michael M January 09, 2017 5:38 am UTC
PURCHASER
What do you mean by complete? I own all of them can check specifics for you if you like.
Reply
Customer avatar
Greg T November 01, 2021 5:25 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hi Aric! (I realise I'm answering this nine years after your question!)

The version on DM's Guild as of my writing includes the complete text of the Web of the Spider Queen season of Encounters, plus copies of all the colour battle maps. The digital version is a perfect reproduction of this content. The hardcopy version is a little different - it's presented as a perfect-bound book (rather than the folder-and-looseleaf style setup of the original release) and as a result the maps bound into the book, and presented at the wrong scale to use them as battlemaps, which is unfortunate. It's easier to store and keep on a shelf than the original, though.

However, some copies of the original Web of the Spider-Queen came with promos, including special character sheets, fortune cards, and treasure cards. Those promos are NOT included in this package.

Hope that helps.
Narrow Results
$ to $
 Follow Your Favorites!
NotificationsSign in to get custom notifications of new products!
 Recent History















Product Information
Gold seller
Author(s)
Pages
62
File Size:
4.39 MB
Format
Original electronic Click for more information
Scanned image
These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

For PDF download editions, each page has been run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to attempt to decipher the printed text. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.

For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. The text is fine for reading, but illustration work starts to run dark, pixellating and/or losing shades of grey. Moiré patterns may develop in photos. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
pixel_trans.gif
Original electronic format
These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format. Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality.
File Information
Watermarked PDF Click for more information
Watermarked PDF

These PDF files are digitally watermarked to signify that you are the owner. A small message is added to the bottom of each page of the PDF containing your name and the order number of your purchase.

Warning: If any files bearing your information are found being distributed illegally, then your account will be suspended and legal action may be taken against you.

Here is a sample of a page from a watermarked title:

File Last Updated:
December 17, 2013
This title was added to our catalog on December 17, 2013.