D&D Retro Corner: Against The Giants
Come join us as we go Against the Giants, taking you through the classic series of modules that take you against giants of Hill, Frost, and Fire in pursuit of a secret mastermind.
Against the Giants is a classic adventure comprising 3 different modules, G1, 2, and 3. And really, they’re a great campaign in and of themselves–players start off investigating a source of stirred up giants who’ve been marauding more and more, and as they fight their way through three different lairs, find themselves uncovering more and more of a plot to pit the Giants against the surface races.
All of this is, spoiler alert, the fault of a Drow priestess, and in pursuit of her, we delve into another classic adventure series that results in the Demonweb Pits–but that’s a story for another time. For now, let’s just talk about what makes Against the Giants work so well. It’s a classic adventure structure: players investigate area A, find something that leads them to area B, at each location they uncover more and more of what’s going on. It’s nothing fancy, but it works. And it’s a solid example of building interesting locations.
Each of the Giant’s lairs is built with a purpose in mind. The Hill Giants’ stead feels different from the Frost Giants’ lair, which is, in turn, different from the Fire Giants’ hold–and it’s more than just a different terrain type in each lair. The way they’re laid out, the way the Giants occupy them, even the way they’re designed in the first place speaks to how the Giants live. These dungeons embody the personality of their occupants.
It’s some great advice that any dungeon master can take to heart–there are so many different ways to insert character into your story without even needing an NPC. It’s in the description of the rooms, in the build of it; every part of the dungeon can be used to tell your players something. So why not give it a shot? And Against the Giants is a great place to see it in action.
Happy Adventuring!
