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Drow #D3
Vault of the Drow
"This module contains background information, a large-scale referee's map with a matching partial map for players, referee's notes, special exploration and encounter pieces, a hex map detailing an enormous cavern area, a special temple map, encounter and map matrix keys, and additional sections pertaining to unique new creatures for use with this module and the game as a whole. A complete setting for play of ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is contained herein. This module can be played alone, as the final part of a series of three modules (with DESCENT INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE EARTH, D1 and SHRINE OF THE KUO-TOA, D2.), or as the sixth part of a continuing series of modules which form a special campaign scenario (DUNGEON MODULES G1, G2, G3, D1, D2, D3, and Q1, QUEEN OF THE DEMONWEB PITS, soon to be released)."
25 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 30, 2018
Gary Gygax created a devils' playground in Vault of the Drow where evil reigns in the form of subterranean-dwelling, demon-worshipping dark elves called drow. This somewhat high-level module for the Dungeons and Dragons game system has great potential in the right hands. Are you clever and courageous enough to exploit the fantasy possibilities?
I've owned this for about 30 years and I'm just finally getting around to reading it from cover to cover. Back in my D&D playing days I never played it, either as a DM or player. It was just something I bought as for potential use that never came about. If I had read it back then, I doubt I would have used it in the long-running campaign that I DMed. You see, it requires additional detail, a lot of it. The roleplaying and imagination needed to get something good out of this would be close to titanic. Gygax provided a skeletal framework and it was up to you to add the muscle and flesh. I doubt I would have been up to it and the kids I ref-ed for wouldn't have had the wherewithal to deal with the module's grander concepts.
Defeating the foul enemy was paramount. My group were hack and slashers, so they would've had met up with plenty of sword fodder in the form of bugbears, troglodytes, trolls, giant spiders and a lot of et ceteras. However, they would not have dealt well with the finer points of the noble drow house factions. Political machinations were not their cup of tea. I doubt they would have even gotten that far, because to get to the noblemen you have to pass through the most evil ancient city imaginable, Erelhei-Cinlu.
Imagine a more decadent and evil Paris, where you're more likely to get the soul sucked out of you than to have your pocket picked, and you have Erelhei-Cinlu. This drow city is filled with ghosts, ghouls, vampires, demons and things I can't pronounce roaming the streets like pimps and prostitutes. Dark deals take place in the middle of the forever-midnight streets. Enter the back alleys at your peril! And that's nothing....Not even the drow know what may dwell in the sewers. Gygax's description of the city is shiver-inducing and some of his best work.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that Lolth, the Demon Queen of Spiders, is a major part of this. This half-woman/half-spider goddess featured heavily in early D&D worlds. Maybe that's because she was one of the more tangible of the gods. She had a defined physical form, was clearly evil and could be defeated...which is the ultimate goal of Vault of the Drow.
Here is a fun comic-mural by artist Jason Thompson illustrating one band of adventurers' journey through the Vault:
zoom-in-able walkthrough poster
I've owned this for about 30 years and I'm just finally getting around to reading it from cover to cover. Back in my D&D playing days I never played it, either as a DM or player. It was just something I bought as for potential use that never came about. If I had read it back then, I doubt I would have used it in the long-running campaign that I DMed. You see, it requires additional detail, a lot of it. The roleplaying and imagination needed to get something good out of this would be close to titanic. Gygax provided a skeletal framework and it was up to you to add the muscle and flesh. I doubt I would have been up to it and the kids I ref-ed for wouldn't have had the wherewithal to deal with the module's grander concepts.
Defeating the foul enemy was paramount. My group were hack and slashers, so they would've had met up with plenty of sword fodder in the form of bugbears, troglodytes, trolls, giant spiders and a lot of et ceteras. However, they would not have dealt well with the finer points of the noble drow house factions. Political machinations were not their cup of tea. I doubt they would have even gotten that far, because to get to the noblemen you have to pass through the most evil ancient city imaginable, Erelhei-Cinlu.
Imagine a more decadent and evil Paris, where you're more likely to get the soul sucked out of you than to have your pocket picked, and you have Erelhei-Cinlu. This drow city is filled with ghosts, ghouls, vampires, demons and things I can't pronounce roaming the streets like pimps and prostitutes. Dark deals take place in the middle of the forever-midnight streets. Enter the back alleys at your peril! And that's nothing....Not even the drow know what may dwell in the sewers. Gygax's description of the city is shiver-inducing and some of his best work.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that Lolth, the Demon Queen of Spiders, is a major part of this. This half-woman/half-spider goddess featured heavily in early D&D worlds. Maybe that's because she was one of the more tangible of the gods. She had a defined physical form, was clearly evil and could be defeated...which is the ultimate goal of Vault of the Drow.
Here is a fun comic-mural by artist Jason Thompson illustrating one band of adventurers' journey through the Vault:
zoom-in-able walkthrough poster
March 9, 2012
Evocative high level campaign setting in an evil underworld faerieland. An excellent conclusion to the G1-3 D1-3 series, and while D1 and D2 felt kind of like stumbling blocks along the way, the payoff of D3 is worth it. The only flaw is that play is clearly expected to proceed towards taking out the Drow temple and ultimately their deity, yet the priestesses are not the ones behind the giant excursions on the surface world that started the whole adventure path.
March 3, 2018
This is one of the best of Gary Gygax's modules. It has all the elements of the other framework modules (such as Against the Giants and Descent into the Depths of the Earth), and adds a very evocative setting, that launched the whole idea of underground adventures in Dungeons & Dragons, most of which retain the major themes that are illustrated in this module. Drow are probably one of the favorite races that dungeon masters and players have, and Drizzt Do'Urden is one of the most popular Dungeons & Dragons characters.
This module requires a mixture of stealth and straight up combat. I believe that Gary says in the introduction that high level characters alone will not cut it, the module requires experienced players.
I have never run anyone through this particular module, and I can see that it will require lots of planning to do so. There are so many structures and economies going on to ensure that the players have a great experience. Again I recommend viewing the comic/map by Jason Bradley Thompson in conjunction with reading this module - it illustrates one potential adventure, with comedy.
This module requires a mixture of stealth and straight up combat. I believe that Gary says in the introduction that high level characters alone will not cut it, the module requires experienced players.
I have never run anyone through this particular module, and I can see that it will require lots of planning to do so. There are so many structures and economies going on to ensure that the players have a great experience. Again I recommend viewing the comic/map by Jason Bradley Thompson in conjunction with reading this module - it illustrates one potential adventure, with comedy.
November 7, 2022
The culmination of the D series of adventure modules takes players all the way to the Drow city of Erelhei-Cinlu deep in the underdark where they get to finally face the ones responsible for the Giant Alliance above ground, in case they didn't kill Eclavdra at the end of G3, that is (if they did they are supposed to find that she has been cloned).
There is always a tension in adventure modules between making them too loosey goosey and putting little effort into the story being told and being too railroady and not leaving any discretion to the DM. This adventure falls a bit into the first category, while Gygax invents some truly awesome encounters (the Succubus garden being particularly great) and great settings with the detailed vault and city of the Drow, he doesn't really bother that much in connecting those elements. The players get a moody amazing sandbox to play in but little direction as to why they should play in that sandbox. So the DM is going to be thinking very fast on their feet or is going to have to do a bunch of prep work to lead the characters from point A to B to C.
By the end of the adventure characters will find one of the most famous demon queens in D&D, Lolth, the Spider Queen of the Elves, the largest "dungeon" within the module being her fane. However, Eclavdra isn't working for her, she is actually a servant of a rival of Lolth, so the logic behind this boss battle will have to be made up by the DM as there is no indication of it. Should the players manage to get transported to the Abyssal plane where the true Lolth resides they would have to wait for a couple of years to continue the story in 1980 with Q1: Queen of the Demonweb Pits. I'll get to it eventually.
There is always a tension in adventure modules between making them too loosey goosey and putting little effort into the story being told and being too railroady and not leaving any discretion to the DM. This adventure falls a bit into the first category, while Gygax invents some truly awesome encounters (the Succubus garden being particularly great) and great settings with the detailed vault and city of the Drow, he doesn't really bother that much in connecting those elements. The players get a moody amazing sandbox to play in but little direction as to why they should play in that sandbox. So the DM is going to be thinking very fast on their feet or is going to have to do a bunch of prep work to lead the characters from point A to B to C.
By the end of the adventure characters will find one of the most famous demon queens in D&D, Lolth, the Spider Queen of the Elves, the largest "dungeon" within the module being her fane. However, Eclavdra isn't working for her, she is actually a servant of a rival of Lolth, so the logic behind this boss battle will have to be made up by the DM as there is no indication of it. Should the players manage to get transported to the Abyssal plane where the true Lolth resides they would have to wait for a couple of years to continue the story in 1980 with Q1: Queen of the Demonweb Pits. I'll get to it eventually.
July 22, 2017
More drow. Enough said.
May 14, 2019
Packs months if not years worth of amazing adventure in just a couple dozen pages.
February 27, 2023
I don't know if it was a me issue or not, but I really didn't like this one much.
Here are the few things that made me not enioy it :
- The underground city was too big for the amount of things given to the possible DM to fill the world with.
- Even with the little deeper explaination and lore at the end, I felt like the Drows were a little boring. The matriarchal stuff is mostly glossed over, and it wasn't super coherent with what I would have expected from this race vs what I know of them and seen represented in other DnD books. I did enjoy the way the religion of Lolth worked, with the temple design as well.
- WHAT IS THE PURPOSE? Where is it? I feel like there was a better goal, even if it did get lost in the sauce sometimes in the Giant series. The Drow series is all over the place. As a DM, I wouldn't know how to hook my player in this. As a reader, it was very hard for me to stay focused and not fall asleep after a while. I had to go back a lot to understand where it was going, and I usually don't need to do that much, with anything.
I don't know if I'm giving it a full 2. It's more of a 1.5. This module made me wish we had stayed with the Kuo-Tao and expend on some kind of political issue of their world and some kind of thing with their god. I understand Gygax probably liked Drow more, and I get it overall, if put into context of the expend lore and stuff, but from this? No. Why.
I'm taking a break from the early adventure modules, this one killed my interest.
Here are the few things that made me not enioy it :
- The underground city was too big for the amount of things given to the possible DM to fill the world with.
- Even with the little deeper explaination and lore at the end, I felt like the Drows were a little boring. The matriarchal stuff is mostly glossed over, and it wasn't super coherent with what I would have expected from this race vs what I know of them and seen represented in other DnD books. I did enjoy the way the religion of Lolth worked, with the temple design as well.
- WHAT IS THE PURPOSE? Where is it? I feel like there was a better goal, even if it did get lost in the sauce sometimes in the Giant series. The Drow series is all over the place. As a DM, I wouldn't know how to hook my player in this. As a reader, it was very hard for me to stay focused and not fall asleep after a while. I had to go back a lot to understand where it was going, and I usually don't need to do that much, with anything.
I don't know if I'm giving it a full 2. It's more of a 1.5. This module made me wish we had stayed with the Kuo-Tao and expend on some kind of political issue of their world and some kind of thing with their god. I understand Gygax probably liked Drow more, and I get it overall, if put into context of the expend lore and stuff, but from this? No. Why.
I'm taking a break from the early adventure modules, this one killed my interest.
December 18, 2023
Ridiculously big in scope. Not sure how this was ever run as a tournament module.
Full information and review here: http://www.dndchronologically.com/mod...
Full information and review here: http://www.dndchronologically.com/mod...
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews