This content requires one of the following products to play:

## About This Content
## D&D Classics: D3 Vault of the Drow (1E)
As a member of a bold party of adventurers, you and your associates have
trekked far into what seems to be a whole underworld of subterranean tunnels
— arteries connecting endless caves and caverns which honeycomb the
foundations of the lands beneath the sun. Your expedition has dogged the heels
of the Dark Elves who caused great woe and then fled underground.
This adventure provides a complete setting for play using the Advanced
Dungeons & Dragons rules. Contained herein is 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 with the game as a whole.
This module can be played alone, as the conclusion to module D1 & D2: “Descent
into the Depths of the Earth,” or as the third module in a series that forms a
special extended adventure (G1-G3: “Against the Giants”; D1-D2: “Descent into
the Depths”; and Q1: “Queen of the Demonweb Pits”).
For characters levels 10 to 14.
Product History
D3: “Vault of the Drow” (1978), by Gary Gygax, was the sixth adventure
released by TSR. Like its two predecessors in the D-series, it was originally
published with a monochrome cover (purple). It was later revamped with a full-
color cover in a second edition (1981) at the same time that TSR released the
collected G1-2-3: “Against the Giants” (1981) and D1-2: “Descent into the
Depths of the Earth” (1981).
Another Tournament Release. “Vault of the Drow” shares much of its heritage
with the two other adventures in the Descent (D-)series, D1: “Descent into the
Depths of the Earth” (1978) and D2: “Shrine of the Kuo-Toa.” Like D2, it was
first run as a tournament for GenCon XI (1978). The tournament actually
resulted in TPKs for everyone but the winning team, due to “a horrible
encounter with a demon.” Like both of the other D-series adventures, “Vault”
was released at GenCon XI immediately following the tournament.
New Settings. The GDQ adventures generally did a great job of introducing
historically new settings for D &D adventures. Besides being set in the
Underdark, D3 also presents the idea of a monstrous city; in fact, in many
ways, the module is actually more of a city description than an adventure.
It’s the sort of thing you might find in Judges Guild’s City State of the
Invincible Overlord (1976+), but which otherwise wasn’t really a part of the
roleplaying field in 1978.
New Monsters. The drow have been making appearances since G3: “Hall of the
Fire Giant King” (1978), but they get their full detailing here, including a
description of one of their cities and details on their competing noble
families. It also reveals how the worship of the Elder Elemental God may be
threatening the drows’ matriarchal goddess, Lolth.
During his lifetime, Gygax offered a few different sources for his drow.
Ultimately, they’re probably derived from the Svart?lfaheimr — the dark elves
of Norse mythology. Ironically, when the drow were printed up in the Fiend
Folio (1980), that book also contained the “xvart,” which had been called the
“svart” when published in White Dwarf #9 (October/November 1978) and which
were thus another Svart?lfaheimr derivative.
The Adventure Continues. Fans would have to wait two full years for the
conclusion of the GDQ series in Q1: “Queen of the Demonweb Pits” (1980).
Future History. TSR rereleased the entire GDQ sequence a few years later in
GDQ1-7: Queen of the Spiders (1987), a 128-page supermodule. The drow were
also revisited in the Chainmail Miniatures Game (2001). Thanks to story work
by Chris Pramas, the drow of the new game’s setting – which was in western
Greyhawk – had connections to those herein. The idea of drow cities has of
course been revisited in the Forgotten Realms, most memorably in the second
edition boxed set, Menzoberranzan (1992) and the final (?) 4e book,
Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue (2012).
About the Creators. Like the other “Descent” adventures, this last was
written while Gygax was working on AD &D as a bit of relaxation after
completing the Player’s Handbook (1978).
Adapted for Fantasy Grounds by: Terry Buckingham

Requires: An active subscription or a one time purchase of a Fantasy Grounds
Full or Ultimate license and a one time purchase of the D&D Classics – AD&D
1E/2E ruleset. Compatible with Fantasy Grounds Unity or Fantasy Grounds
Classic

Fantasy Grounds – D&D Classics: D3 Vault of the Drow (1E)