The Inside Scoop on Gaming

TSR has re-released "Against the Giants" as part of its 25th Anniversary series of adventures. This is the fourth publication of the Giant adventures, but the adventures still hold up. This time the Giant adventures are combined with "The Liberation of Geoff," a campaign setting that can be used either with the Giant adventures or run separately.

All of our old friends are here in the Steading, the Rift, and the Hall. Each of the giant tribes is back with its servants, pets, and guests (Oh, and the table for generating the contents of a giants bag). The great thing about these adventures is that these places truly seem to be the giants homes, with people coming and going, guests with reasons for visiting, and lots of mysterious plots.

Its funny, though, how none of the giant chiefs is very good at setting guards outside of his stronghold or patrolling the area around it. The approach to each of these dungeons should

be major adventures in and of themselves, but each adventure starts with the assumption that characters are able to safely arrive at a small cave or other well protected spot near each of the giant strongholds.

The other odd thing about these adventures in these post-White Wolf days is that while reading about fire and frost giants, you keep expecting some spiritual or supernatural description of the giants special abilities and affinities. There is even a reference to the Hall being located in the "hot and smoky barrens which are in effect Muspelhiem, the home of fire giants." But, what is provided is D&Ds traditional portrait of giants as fellow residents of the Prime Material Plane. Instead of beings of fire and frost, we get giants with a coating of fire and frost.

The Giant dungeons can either be run tournament style or placed into a campaign. If used in a Greyhawk campaign, the Giant dungeons can be set in either the years 576-580 CY (the original timeline) or in the "present day" of 591 CY. The Steading is recommended for a large group (9 characters) of an average of 9th Level, with two to three magic items each (When was the last time you saw a 9th Level character with only two magic items?).

The second half of the supplement,"The Liberation of Geoff" (48 p.), is a campaign set in a land east of the Crystalmist Mountains that has been conquered and occupied by giants and their servant races for nearly eight years. The Liberation is suitable for use by characters of any level, and it is suggested that characters can level-up in Geoff before moving on to the Giant dungeons.

Sixteen towns and forts in Geoff are described and a new campaign adversary is offered that can take the place of the original adversary used in the Giant dungeons. These locations are well detailed and include some clever campaign elements; however, they pale in comparison to the plots and personalities described in the Giant dungeons. One particular weakness is that there are only minimal descriptions of how the towns interact; in particular, there are several mentions of tribute caravans but there are no descriptions of the caravans and their guards.

The Giant dungeons and The Liberation are both characterized by D&D's habit of using a variety of adversaries to liven the adventures. There are nearly 100 different creatures featured in these adventures, including a new one: the Horag, half hill giant, half ogre.

TSR's usual high production quality is evident throughout the book. Although there some minor grammatical and editorial errors, my only real complaint with the presentation is that the maps of the Steading, the Rift, and the Hall have been reduced down to a half-page from their original scale.

Now, my only question is what am I going to do with these adventures. Maybe I can use them in my Xena game.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff
Author: Gary Gygax and Sean K. Reynolds Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR Line: AD&D Cost: $18 Page count: 96 ISBN: 0-7869-1413-0 SKU: TSR11413 Capsule Review by Jeb Boyt on 10/31/99. Genre tags: Fantasy	TSR has re-released "Against the Giants" as part of its 25th Anniversary series of adventures. This is the fourth publication of the Giant adventures, but the adventures still hold up. This time the Giant adventures are combined with "The Liberation of Geoff," a campaign setting that can be used either with the Giant adventures or run separately. All of our old friends are here in the Steading, the Rift, and the Hall. Each of the giant tribes is back with its servants, pets, and guests (Oh, and the table for generating the contents of a giants bag). The great thing about these adventures is that these places truly seem to be the giants homes, with people coming and going, guests with reasons for visiting, and lots of mysterious plots. Its funny, though, how none of the giant chiefs is very good at setting guards outside of his stronghold or patrolling the area around it. The approach to each of these dungeons should be major adventures in and of themselves, but each adventure starts with the assumption that characters are able to safely arrive at a small cave or other well protected spot near each of the giant strongholds. The other odd thing about these adventures in these post-White Wolf days is that while reading about fire and frost giants, you keep expecting some spiritual or supernatural description of the giants special abilities and affinities. There is even a reference to the Hall being located in the "hot and smoky barrens which are in effect Muspelhiem, the home of fire giants." But, what is provided is D&Ds traditional portrait of giants as fellow residents of the Prime Material Plane. Instead of beings of fire and frost, we get giants with a coating of fire and frost. The Giant dungeons can either be run tournament style or placed into a campaign. If used in a Greyhawk campaign, the Giant dungeons can be set in either the years 576-580 CY (the original timeline) or in the "present day" of 591 CY. The Steading is recommended for a large group (9 characters) of an average of 9th Level, with two to three magic items each (When was the last time you saw a 9th Level character with only two magic items?). The second half of the supplement,"The Liberation of Geoff" (48 p.), is a campaign set in a land east of the Crystalmist Mountains that has been conquered and occupied by giants and their servant races for nearly eight years. The Liberation is suitable for use by characters of any level, and it is suggested that characters can level-up in Geoff before moving on to the Giant dungeons. Sixteen towns and forts in Geoff are described and a new campaign adversary is offered that can take the place of the original adversary used in the Giant dungeons. These locations are well detailed and include some clever campaign elements; however, they pale in comparison to the plots and personalities described in the Giant dungeons. One particular weakness is that there are only minimal descriptions of how the towns interact; in particular, there are several mentions of tribute caravans but there are no descriptions of the caravans and their guards. The Giant dungeons and The Liberation are both characterized by D&D's habit of using a variety of adversaries to liven the adventures. There are nearly 100 different creatures featured in these adventures, including a new one: the Horag, half hill giant, half ogre. TSR's usual high production quality is evident throughout the book. Although there some minor grammatical and editorial errors, my only real complaint with the presentation is that the maps of the Steading, the Rift, and the Hall have been reduced down to a half-page from their original scale. Now, my only question is what am I going to do with these adventures. Maybe I can use them in my Xena game. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff