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Title: Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) by Sean Reynolds ISBN: 0-7869-1413-0 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: August, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.71 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: It's a setting, and an adventure (but not exactly)
Comment: The first half contains converted adventures from the original module. The second half contains the setting for Geoff, detailing sites and cities in the country.
There is a pretty good pre-cursor to the whole thing which helps you tie everything together, if you wish.
Personally, I used the book as a reference, and built my own campaign and plot around the setting. I took the three adventures and added them to my plot (with minor alterations). I have by no means used all the sites and the nice thing is you don't have to. Further, Reynolds does such a fantastic job of adding hooks into all the encounters, I have been able to build lots of side adventures as a break.
The shear amount of detail and possibilities in this setting is what makes this selection great. If you are in 3rd edition, the adventures will requires some work to convert, but the setting is pretty minimal.
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent resource for Greyhawk fans
Comment: I've always been a fan of Sean Reynolds work -- especially on the Star Cairns adventure and the Scarlet Brotherhood supplement -- and he does a good job here as well.
He's hamstrung by the reprinting -- verbatium -- of the original adventure. It's the only module of the 'silver' editions that's reprinted like this, and I found that annoying. Why not spend the time to update the text to be better linked with the second (and much more useful) part of the book?
Greyhawk fans, especially those with campaigns set in the southeastern Flanaess, should definitely pick up this book for its detailing of the lost kingdom of Geoff.
For those who don't know, Geoff was overrun by giant forces during the Greyhawk Wars; the second half of this book is dedicated to kicking the brutes out of the realm.
The book details more than a dozen locations in Geoff, and plants plenty of good adventure ideas. I would have prefered to see some more information on the Grand Duke of Geoff, but hey, I can do that myself.
The biggest flaws I see in this book are the lack on integration with the original adventure, and the pathetic, somewhat inaccurate insert map. This book is crying out for a nice color wall map, even a small one, and I would gladly have shelled out a few more books to have one.
I'm running it in my campaign now, and it provides a nice distraction from the ongoing intrigues of the group's home city (and provides a good place for them to run to when their enemies and/or the authorities start looking for them)
If you're a DM who likes to add flesh to the skeleton of an adventure, then this is a great campaign supplement (and that's what it is -- a supplement, not a module). If you're looking to be spoonfed, or want to run something off-the-shelf, then its a lot less useful (esp. if you've run through the original).
Rating: 5
Summary: It takes all kinds.
Comment: Role Playing Games take all kinds of players, and all kinds of games. Some players prefer the original Against the Giants series - but these adventures were essentially hack and slash giant killing escapades. There was little to no backgournd information given because it wasn't needed - you simply teleported by conveniently left behind magic from one adventure to the next. Why the giants left the areas these teleports led to ungaurded is a far more serious plot failure than anything in the new material.
The originals are reprinted verbatim because they make good giant strongholds, and can easily be included in the overall scope of the campaign. And in this context, there is much, much greater detail about why these strongholds exist where they do, and how they interact with their surroundings.
The new material presents lightly detailed adventuring areas that offer a variety of challenges to a wide range of ability levels. There are secrets to be learned in every town and woods. Allies to be found, and enemies to be made. Unlike the original "Giants" series, there is ample opportunity for role-playing social interaction with the people, and even the monsters that inhabit the area.
The new material does go in a fresh direction, does flesh out the old material, and does offer plausible explanations as to why the Giants were successful (air support, the Greyhwak Wars depleting resources for the defenders, etc...).
Against the Giants, the Liberation of Geoff does have two downfalls. First, the writers do make you make some decisions on your own about what to include, why to include it, and how to present it to the players (eek! enforced use of the imagination!). Second, it trully is a large, almost monumental task to go about liberating every last little piece of the puzzle, and many groups may not have the stamina for it. Of course, there's absolutely NO REASON to approach the adventure that way, (give some clues a little early, and let the players get to the heart of the matter quickly)but if you do, it's an awful lot of work.
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Title: Return to White Plume Mountain: Silver Anniversary by Bruce Cordell, Bruce R. Cordell, Penny Williams ISBN: 0786914343 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: November, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Vault of the Drow (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons module D3) by Gary Gygax ISBN: 0394511824 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: April, 1980 List Price(USD): $6.00 |
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Title: City of the Spider Queen (Forgotten Realms Game Adventure) by James Wyatt ISBN: 0786928743 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 04 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Dungeon Master's Guide: Core Rulebook II (Dungeon & Dragons, Edition 3.5) ISBN: 0786928891 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 18 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Tomb of Horrors (Greyhawk Classics) by Keith Strohm ISBN: 078692702X Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: February, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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