A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Deadly Delves: Along Came a Spider (PFRPG)

Deadly Delves: Along Came a Spider (PFRPG) by Joel Frank is a role playing game supplement published by Jon Brazer Enterprises for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.

The supplement is available as a PDF from DriveThruRPG for $4.99. It is also available as printed cards for $6.39, but these cards are just maps, not the adventure. The PDF and cards come to $10.39. The PDF is the version reviewed. There are two PDFs for the supplement. The first has 19 pages with two being the front and rear covers, one the front matter, one an ad and one the Open Game License. The second PDF is 4 pages long and contains maps of two locations, each having a map with grid lines and one without.

Adventure Background explains that a being of pure thought from the Ethereal Plane discovered the Material Plane. There, it took over a primitive creature and discovered it could do the same to others of its type. However, it was unable to do the same with the nearby village of humanoids, Mossdale. Instead, it used the creatures it can control – spiders – to dominate the humanoids through force.

Adventure Summary explains how the adventure will unfold. The party may be there to get some of its export, websilk, or may alternatively be residents who were out of town. It is suitable for four 1st level characters who should be level 2 by the end.

Part 1: Mossdale has the characters arrive at Mossdale. There, they will explore the buildings looking for survivors. A sidebar gives some details on webmoss which can be used to make things in the same way that rope can.

Part 2: The Webwoods has the characters exploring the woods. There is a random encounter table and several fixed encounters, which can be distractions or provide useful information.

Part 3: Drothic Circle is a stone circle where the final confrontation happens.

There are notes on concluding the adventure and some for continuing it. The primary foe cannot be killed, only driven out of its current host, and could always return. Finally, there is a new monster.

Deadly Delves: Along Came a Spider (PFRPG) in Review

The PDF is bookmarked with most sections linked. Navigation is decent. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of error. There are a number of colour illustrations, plus the full colour maps, at least some of which are stock. Presentation is decent.

This is a fairly straightforward adventure, though there are some potential red herrings along the way that may cause characters to believe something else is responsible for the spider problem. Otherwise, the characters arrive at the village, deal with the problem then go looking for the cause and any abducted villagers, dealing with the foe at the end. A pretty linear path. Some of the encounters are potentially deadly for a party of starting adventurers if they aren’t careful. The primary foe is interesting, and has the potential to be a recurring foe for the characters. This means that a GM will need to come up with ways to use them as a such a foe, for there are only suggestions about doing this. Deadly Delves: Along Came a Spider (PFRPG) is a decent enough adventure and it can be found by clicking here.