Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants is a supplement catered to DMs who want to incorporate more gigantic adventures into their 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Giants haven't received much attention from Wizards since Storm King's Thunder, so it's exciting to see their narrative potential revisited once again.
Chapter 3 contains several 'adventure models': setting-agnostic adventure hooks that DMs can use as a sidequest for their existing game but can just as easily make the basis 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:for a new campaign. Here's a list of all the adventure models in the book, rated for style, versatility, and ease of play.
5 Giant-Sized Sche🐭mes
"Giant-Sized Schemes" posits one truth all DMs know to be universal: at the end of the day, giants are just people. As people, giants are liable to get entangled in all sorts of personal drama, with a variety of unintended consequences. DMs and players who've experienced Storm King's Thunder will recall its diverse range of giant NPCs. This model is focused on the personal lives and grudges of giants and can easily be worked into a giant-focused campaign such as Storm King's Thunder.
However, there's not much provided in the adventure model to distinguish the problems giants face from those of medium-sized creatures. One adventure has the PCs dealing with the ghost of a vengeful monarch, but the book provides little details as to how the wrath of a giant monarch differs much from a human sovereign. Imagining giants as a step above normal people is useful as a guideline for DMs who want to play giant NPCs. Unfortunately, players will crave more.
4 🌜 Ag♛ainst The Giants
'Against the Giants' takes D&D back to its roots: killing monsters and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:stealing their loot. The table of adventure hooks provided lists a series of fairly straightforward modules. In all of them, the giant plays the role of antagonist, posing a threat to the greater area. Often, there will be some sort of hostage for the players to rescue or some artifact with connections to a greater evil. They're perfect for DMs who want to run a quick one-shot.
The adventure hooks in 'Against the Giants' are also suitable for groups that want to run a more old-fashioned, beer-and-pretzels-style campaign. DMs who need to populate open worlds can also turn to this model for a quick side quest. However, this model falls short because there isn't much creativity put into the individual hooks. Most of the adventures rely on the same tabletop tropes gamers have come to know and expect.
3 🅺 Clash Of Titans
Like 'Against the Giants" before it, "Clash of Titans" has a selection of encounters that wouldn't seem out of place in older D&D adventures. However, it adds a layer of complexity to its adventure hooks that the other lacks. 'Against the Giants' heavily emphasizes combat and straightforward dungeon crawls. 'Clash of Titans' adds a wide variety of new ways for players to solve the problems placed before them.
The scenarios proposed in 'Clash of Titans' all have the PCs play kingmaker in various 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:conflicts between giants. Sometimes, these conflicts involve other powerful creatures, such as dragons. More socially-oriented parties might relish the opportunity to find creative solutions to these problems, even if violence is always an option. The main drawback to these adventures is that it's easy for inexperienced DMs to fall into the trap of having their own NPCs accomplish most of the major plot elements, robbing players of their agency. But if a DM can avoid this pitfall, this model promises something for everyone.
2 Into the Giant Realms 🌜
The scenarios in this model all start with a bang. Most of them begin with the party finding a piece of treasure at the end of a previous dungeon crawl–treasure with a link to the adventures that lie ahead. This makes it easy for DMs to entice players into the next chapter. Even if a DM can't incorporate a PC's backstory into their adventure, the promise of more treasure to loot is implied. Most PCs would be more than willing to see where this trail goes.
Players can enter a variety of different locales in this model. The locations are given just enough detail to be narratively interesting but not so much that they're difficult to incorporate into an existing campaign. The one weakness 'Into the Giant Realms' has, however, is that any one of these scenarios can easily derail a campaign. They work best when presented as the lead into the main adventure for a new campaign or as a twist for an existing game's halfway point.
1 🌼 Delve Into The Past
While the text for 'Delve Into the Past' notes that this adventure model is intended 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:for the Eberron setting, all the adventures presented are easily integrated into any world. That being said, they're perfect for steampunk campaigns, as well as any other world with a technology level higher than the typical medieval fantasy. All the locations described in the model are teeming with flavor and can be easily customized to suit any DM's homebrew lore.
The scenarios presented here also have more developed story hooks than other adventure models. This makes it easier for DMs to come up with reasons for why their players would be interested in the adventure. Overall, 'Delve Into the Past' hits the sweet spot for DM supplements. It provides a great amount of detail and fresh new ideas while still leaving enough empty spaces for DMs to work in their own material.