City of the Spider Queen

Plot summary

The drow priestesses have gone silent, their goddess Lolth no longer granting spells or guidance. While most drow hold firm, the Underdark city of Maerimydra has fallen into chaos and been overrun by hostile creatures. Desperate survivors now launch raids onto the surface. Adventurers must investigate these attacks, journey through the Underdark, explore the ruined city, battle its invaders, and finally face a priestess of the rival drow deity Kiaransalee. Two appendices contain monster stats, spells, magic items, and a summary of all creature statistics. Sixteen one-page maps of key locations are also provided.

Publication history

The softcover module was published in September 2002, written by James Wyatt with cover art by Todd Lockwood and interior art by several illustrators. It was part of Wizards of the Coast's Year of the Drow multimedia event, which also included the War of the Spider Queen novel series, R. A. Salvatore's The Thousand Orcs, a miniatures boxed set, articles in Dragon #298 and Dungeon #94, and a crossover in the Chainmail Miniatures Game. Rich Baker noted that James Wyatt and he were present in planning sessions with Bob Salvatore and others to coordinate a common plot.

An early snag arose when the adventure's original setting would have revealed plot points from the second War of the Spider Queen book, so Wyatt devised an alternate location that worked better. City of the Spider Queen did not meet projected sales targets, leading Wizards of the Coast to reduce production of new adventures. A web enhancement for Player's Guide to Faerûn updated the module's monsters for the 3.5 rules.

Reception

City of the Spider Queen won the 2002 Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Adventure. Todd Lockwood won Best Gaming-Related Illustration at the 18th Chesley Awards for his Spider Queen piece. James Voelpel of mania.com called it an excellent addition to any Forgotten Realms campaign. Dungeon Master for Dummies listed it among the ten best 3rd edition adventures. Dungeon magazine ranked it the 24th greatest adventure of all time for the game's 30th anniversary in 2004. Shannon Appelcline described it primarily as a dungeon crawl that broke new ground with its Underdark encounters and depiction of the fallen drow city Maerimydra, previously listed without detail in Drow of the Underdark. He noted it is a tough adventure requiring well-designed characters and parties, as it can otherwise become deadly.