Whisper Spider = Shelob? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Whisper Spider = Shelob?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Mar 24, 2004 5:55:10 Just went to see the new monster from the Bestiary thingy. It struck me as I was reading about the poison that sends it's victims into a senseless stupor, and looking at the picture of the really small person being wrapped up in web silk, leaving their sword behind...

But really, what is a 900 pound spider doing with webs? They could never support it. I'm also unsure about the fact that they can throw them - flying prey would easily be caught in trees, and most trees wouldn't support the weight of the spider. Other prey in the forests would also be difficult to catch, because the web would snare itself on trees - and if the spider is only 10 foot away, why doesn't it just do a flying leap and try and stab with it's poison?

I'd also quite like to know how it feints. And where on Ansalon it's meant they come from. Or anything about them that makes them Krynnish, rather than any old random creature you happened to have lying around from a game you once ran.
#2
cam_banks
Mar 24, 2004 6:10:37
Originally posted by pddisc
And where on Ansalon it's meant they come from. Or anything about them that makes them Krynnish, rather than any old random creature you happened to have lying around from a game you once ran.

It's an old Dragonlance creature we cleverly resurrected! It's also based on a trap-door spider, so the webs it produces are primarily used when constructing its tunnel-shaped lairs, etc. Like Tolkien's giant spiders, as you so correctly pointed out, it lives in all the dark, wooded or cavernous places you'd expect to see a giant intelligent spider.

Cheers,
Cam
#3
zombiegleemax
Mar 24, 2004 6:38:56 Well, regardless of whether I'd expect to see a giant intelligent spider, what has it actually got to do with Dragonlance, other than it being in an old DL product? Which product did it come from?

I'll not bother getting into the debate about huge and larger sized creatures and ecology.
#4
frostdawn
Mar 24, 2004 8:46:01
Originally posted by pddisc
Well, regardless of whether I'd expect to see a giant intelligent spider, what has it actually got to do with Dragonlance, other than it being in an old DL product? Which product did it come from?

I'll not bother getting into the debate about huge and larger sized creatures and ecology.

Not to bicker or anything, but I was curious why this is such a concern? Giant spiders are kinda mundane and not a world destroying menace, so I don't understand how having them is so detrimental. I can understand certain things, but giant spiders aren't all that exotic in the grand scheme of things, so why make a stink about it? Variety adds flavor IMO.
#5
cam_banks
Mar 24, 2004 8:49:02
Originally posted by pddisc
Well, regardless of whether I'd expect to see a giant intelligent spider, what has it actually got to do with Dragonlance, other than it being in an old DL product? Which product did it come from?

Whisper spiders first showed up in the original modules (DL13 or DL14, I think?) They were detailed in the 2nd edition Dragonlance Monstrous Compendium, included in the monster section of the Tales of the Lance boxed set, and are now in the Bestiary of Krynn. It's a Dragonlance monster, even if it does just seem to you to be a giant intelligent spider.

Cheers,
Cam
#6
lugnut71
Mar 24, 2004 10:26:59 Your going to get that to everyonce in a while. Not all monsters are going to have exact places in the world. As a matter of fact just about every magical beast is pretty much defaulted to a postion of being general monsters.
#7
zombiegleemax
Mar 24, 2004 11:59:19 Well, as for the whisper spider being alot lot Shelob and her ilk in Tolkien's books.....I like it....My DL campaigns have always had an epic scale LotR feeling. This just to me is a cool critter that I can throw in just about anywhere....mountains....forests...caves......you name it....spiders are everywhere....and now so are whisper spiders!
#8
zombiegleemax
Mar 24, 2004 13:20:36 The thing I don't think I get is how there's the list of monsters that simply aren't in DL, and except for them, all the other monsters in the MM are in DL. However, since they aren't priority, or ordinary canon, or whatever, there will be no focus in DL gaming on them.

So why put spiders with int 7 and improved feint in the Bestiary? OK, so they were in DL history, but from what it looks like, they're just random 'cool' version of MM spiders - why the coverage in the Bestiary? Why release that as one of the previews? I can understand wanting filler space - hence the large borders - but why not show us frost wights, or chaos dragons, or something else particularly DL? Why show us something uninteresting?
#9
zombiegleemax
Mar 24, 2004 14:23:27
Originally posted by pddisc
So why put spiders with int 7 and improved feint in the Bestiary? OK, so they were in DL history, but from what it looks like, they're just random 'cool' version of MM spiders - why the coverage in the Bestiary? Why release that as one of the previews? I can understand wanting filler space - hence the large borders - but why not show us frost wights, or chaos dragons, or something else particularly DL? Why show us something uninteresting?

I'm the guy who chose which monsters to put in the preview. Whether you agree with it or not, there is a method to my madness. I wanted to preview one monster per chapter (that's six). Here's what we have so far:

(1) Noble Draconians - New creature related to those we've seen before.
(2) Forestmaster - Creature we saw in the first few chapters of Dragons of Autumn Twilight.
(3) Whisper Spider - Creature from the original modules.

So in other words, I wanted to show the variety of creature types in the Bestiary, not just those from the novels. If you want to see 'em all, you at least have to visit your game or book store to thumb through the hardcover--coming this May!

Jamie Chambers
Sovereign Press, Inc.
#10
lugnut71
Mar 24, 2004 14:25:05 Perhaps they want to keep the things that will sell the book in a place where you can't get them for free. Gee what a novel concept.
#11
zombiegleemax
Mar 24, 2004 16:11:11
Originally posted by pddisc
I can understand wanting filler space - hence the large borders - but why not show us frost wights, or chaos dragons, or something else particularly DL? Why show us something uninteresting?

All depends on your definition of uninteresting....for me...this is the monster I couldnt wait to use...for me it is a real monster. Noble Draco was more a critter that I will use for story purposes....Forestmaster is something that will always exist in the natural environs but really isnt anything Im too excited to use in game. The whisper spider is something tangible for me...my group is gonna face off against several of these this week.
#12
zombiegleemax
Mar 25, 2004 9:07:31
Originally posted by Serena DarkMyst
All depends on your definition of uninteresting....for me...this is the monster I couldnt wait to use...for me it is a real monster. Noble Draco was more a critter that I will use for story purposes....Forestmaster is something that will always exist in the natural environs but really isnt anything Im too excited to use in game. The whisper spider is something tangible for me...my group is gonna face off against several of these this week.

The concept of the Noble Draconians was originally created (in late 1993!) for a story that I wrote titled "Swing of the Pendulum." I later used the idea in my Second Generation-era campaign and my father played a Lightning Draconian Paladin. I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one who saw story potential in them!

Jamie Chambers
Sovereign Press, Inc.
#13
zombiegleemax
Mar 25, 2004 18:51:48 I LOVE the Noble Dracinians and I would play one if it wasn't that I seem to have been born with a rack of horns and have cloven feet.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Mar 24, 2004 5:55:10	Just went to see the new monster from the Bestiary thingy. It struck me as I was reading about the poison that sends it's victims into a senseless stupor, and looking at the picture of the really small person being wrapped up in web silk, leaving their sword behind... But really, what is a 900 pound spider doing with webs? They could never support it. I'm also unsure about the fact that they can throw them - flying prey would easily be caught in trees, and most trees wouldn't support the weight of the spider. Other prey in the forests would also be difficult to catch, because the web would snare itself on trees - and if the spider is only 10 foot away, why doesn't it just do a flying leap and try and stab with it's poison? I'd also quite like to know how it feints. And where on Ansalon it's meant they come from. Or anything about them that makes them Krynnish, rather than any old random creature you happened to have lying around from a game you once ran.
#2 cam_banks Mar 24, 2004 6:10:37	Originally posted by pddisc And where on Ansalon it's meant they come from. Or anything about them that makes them Krynnish, rather than any old random creature you happened to have lying around from a game you once ran. It's an old Dragonlance creature we cleverly resurrected! It's also based on a trap-door spider, so the webs it produces are primarily used when constructing its tunnel-shaped lairs, etc. Like Tolkien's giant spiders, as you so correctly pointed out, it lives in all the dark, wooded or cavernous places you'd expect to see a giant intelligent spider. Cheers, Cam
#3 zombiegleemax Mar 24, 2004 6:38:56	Well, regardless of whether I'd expect to see a giant intelligent spider, what has it actually got to do with Dragonlance, other than it being in an old DL product? Which product did it come from? I'll not bother getting into the debate about huge and larger sized creatures and ecology.
#4 frostdawn Mar 24, 2004 8:46:01	Originally posted by pddisc Well, regardless of whether I'd expect to see a giant intelligent spider, what has it actually got to do with Dragonlance, other than it being in an old DL product? Which product did it come from? I'll not bother getting into the debate about huge and larger sized creatures and ecology. Not to bicker or anything, but I was curious why this is such a concern? Giant spiders are kinda mundane and not a world destroying menace, so I don't understand how having them is so detrimental. I can understand certain things, but giant spiders aren't all that exotic in the grand scheme of things, so why make a stink about it? Variety adds flavor IMO.
#5 cam_banks Mar 24, 2004 8:49:02	Originally posted by pddisc Well, regardless of whether I'd expect to see a giant intelligent spider, what has it actually got to do with Dragonlance, other than it being in an old DL product? Which product did it come from? Whisper spiders first showed up in the original modules (DL13 or DL14, I think?) They were detailed in the 2nd edition Dragonlance Monstrous Compendium, included in the monster section of the Tales of the Lance boxed set, and are now in the Bestiary of Krynn. It's a Dragonlance monster, even if it does just seem to you to be a giant intelligent spider. Cheers, Cam
#6 lugnut71 Mar 24, 2004 10:26:59	Your going to get that to everyonce in a while. Not all monsters are going to have exact places in the world. As a matter of fact just about every magical beast is pretty much defaulted to a postion of being general monsters.
#7 zombiegleemax Mar 24, 2004 11:59:19	Well, as for the whisper spider being alot lot Shelob and her ilk in Tolkien's books.....I like it....My DL campaigns have always had an epic scale LotR feeling. This just to me is a cool critter that I can throw in just about anywhere....mountains....forests...caves......you name it....spiders are everywhere....and now so are whisper spiders!
#8 zombiegleemax Mar 24, 2004 13:20:36	The thing I don't think I get is how there's the list of monsters that simply aren't in DL, and except for them, all the other monsters in the MM are in DL. However, since they aren't priority, or ordinary canon, or whatever, there will be no focus in DL gaming on them. So why put spiders with int 7 and improved feint in the Bestiary? OK, so they were in DL history, but from what it looks like, they're just random 'cool' version of MM spiders - why the coverage in the Bestiary? Why release that as one of the previews? I can understand wanting filler space - hence the large borders - but why not show us frost wights, or chaos dragons, or something else particularly DL? Why show us something uninteresting?
#9 zombiegleemax Mar 24, 2004 14:23:27	Originally posted by pddisc So why put spiders with int 7 and improved feint in the Bestiary? OK, so they were in DL history, but from what it looks like, they're just random 'cool' version of MM spiders - why the coverage in the Bestiary? Why release that as one of the previews? I can understand wanting filler space - hence the large borders - but why not show us frost wights, or chaos dragons, or something else particularly DL? Why show us something uninteresting? I'm the guy who chose which monsters to put in the preview. Whether you agree with it or not, there is a method to my madness. I wanted to preview one monster per chapter (that's six). Here's what we have so far: (1) Noble Draconians - New creature related to those we've seen before. (2) Forestmaster - Creature we saw in the first few chapters of Dragons of Autumn Twilight. (3) Whisper Spider - Creature from the original modules. So in other words, I wanted to show the variety of creature types in the Bestiary, not just those from the novels. If you want to see 'em all, you at least have to visit your game or book store to thumb through the hardcover--coming this May! Jamie Chambers Sovereign Press, Inc.
#10 lugnut71 Mar 24, 2004 14:25:05	Perhaps they want to keep the things that will sell the book in a place where you can't get them for free. Gee what a novel concept.
#11 zombiegleemax Mar 24, 2004 16:11:11	Originally posted by pddisc I can understand wanting filler space - hence the large borders - but why not show us frost wights, or chaos dragons, or something else particularly DL? Why show us something uninteresting? All depends on your definition of uninteresting....for me...this is the monster I couldnt wait to use...for me it is a real monster. Noble Draco was more a critter that I will use for story purposes....Forestmaster is something that will always exist in the natural environs but really isnt anything Im too excited to use in game. The whisper spider is something tangible for me...my group is gonna face off against several of these this week.
#12 zombiegleemax Mar 25, 2004 9:07:31	Originally posted by Serena DarkMyst All depends on your definition of uninteresting....for me...this is the monster I couldnt wait to use...for me it is a real monster. Noble Draco was more a critter that I will use for story purposes....Forestmaster is something that will always exist in the natural environs but really isnt anything Im too excited to use in game. The whisper spider is something tangible for me...my group is gonna face off against several of these this week. The concept of the Noble Draconians was originally created (in late 1993!) for a story that I wrote titled "Swing of the Pendulum." I later used the idea in my Second Generation-era campaign and my father played a Lightning Draconian Paladin. I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one who saw story potential in them! Jamie Chambers Sovereign Press, Inc.
#13 zombiegleemax Mar 25, 2004 18:51:48	I LOVE the Noble Dracinians and I would play one if it wasn't that I seem to have been born with a rack of horns and have cloven feet.