JasonKoivu

I loved this! Everyone seemed to love this! And I have no idea why!

Against the Giants was a Dungeons & Dragons module (an outline for a game) that collected three prototype modules together which were then reissued as one epic adventure. The countryside has been ravaged by hill giants, frost giants and fire giants that have all banded together under some unknown master force! Local noblemen have enlisted the best possible heroes to come to their aid!... Yeah, that was pretty much a standard D&D premise: Something's bothering the people and the people want it dead. Odd thing about this one was the additional threat from these noblemen that if the heroes (the players' characters) didn't do the job they would be beheaded.

That's a rather forced impetus to go along with an overly simple adventure: go in and kill giants or we kill you. Most other adventures were more mysterious or included an aura of magic about them, and the players didn't need artificial prodding. Also, the language and writing in general in these modules was usually pretty basic. Either the writers were not very good or even more likely it was intentional. They knew their audience was kids. Even so, you can see a touch of humor here and there, such as when something is described as "very dead," which sounds reminiscent of Monty Python, who were quite popular at the time D&D was created.

Regardless of these deficiencies, Against the Giants was loved by the players and ranks as one of the best modules of all time by folks that rank such things. So why was this such a popular D&D module? I don't know for sure exactly, but my two main reasons for liking it were:

1.) Giants. There was a mystique about giants, probably second only to dragons. They're big, tough, mean, and you grew up hearing stories about them as a kid, ala Jack and the Beanstalk. So there's the nostalgia factor.

2.) Treasure. If there was one thing D&D players loved more than hacking and slashing their way through baddies, it was finding hordes of gold, gems and magic items. Obtaining these not only made you richer, they made you more powerful. And as we all know... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti5AkLup1mI

There were lots and lots of big, dumb giants to kill here. The hill giants with their long, wooden, Anglo Saxon-ish hall seemed modeled after a sort of barbarian/neanderthal. The frost giants were oversized Vikings through and through. The fire giants...I have no idea. Maybe someone reading this can fill us in with insight in the comments section. Whatever the case, they were all evil, but they looked quite human and so least you forgot that they were the bad guys and thus deserved all this bloody-minded slaughter, the game designers made sure the presence of prisoners, torture victims and slaves were ubiquitous. After the three species of giants were conquered, the evil-doers behind their uprising was revealed in a short episode that later continued on to two or three other modules that were highly successful and which introduced a beloved new race, the Drow, dark elves of the underworld.

And let's not forget, there was lots and lots of treasure. Tons of valuable coins and gems as never seen before in a module. Yes, Against the Giants was tough - your characters were going to take a physical beating - but it was so worth it!