Against The Giants - Reception

Reception

When combined as a single adventure with the rest of GDQ series, this module was voted the single greatest adventure of all time by Dungeon magazine in 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game. According Dungeon's editors, the drow remain popular villains in part because of their "exciting introduction" in the module. Judge Andy Collins felt the "hack-and-slash" classic was "packed with action" and has run the module more than any other. Judge John Rateliff said that Against the Giants was the module that showed gamers how to create a themed adventure with a mystery and clues that are periodically provided.

Kurt Butterfield reviewed Hall of the Fire Giant King for The Space Gamer, commenting that "the scenario is well thought out and nicely detailed," and includes "some intriguing special instructions given for deviously playing several of the intelligent inhabitants of the dungeon". Butterfield felt that the dungeon was not an easy challenge, especially with the strong and numerous monsters (such as the roughly eighty trolls on one level). In conclusion, he stated, "I advise all DMs who are looking for an exciting, worthwhile adventure for their players to pick this one up. You won't be disappointed."

Don Turnbull of White Dwarf magazine gave the three separate modules comprising the G-series 9/10 overall. Turnbull was impressed that Gygax was able to find time to write them while also creating AD&D's rules, saying "Things are really buzzing at TSR." He felt the presentation of the modules was done well, with easily read maps, although he preferred the black and white maps of the first module to the blue and white maps of the later two. Turnbull found the module's level of detail to be an improvement over previous Dungeons & Dragons scenarios which gave the Dungeon Master (DM) too little information. The review declared the modules "very tough", stating that "the notes suggest nine characters or so, each of ninth level or better and each with two or three relevant magic items."

Turnbull commented on several points that he felt went unnoticed by the module's proofreader. The maps did not contain a scale, which he assumed was 10 feet (3.0 m) per square. It is unclear what triggers one of the traps in the first module. In the second module, an exit from map level one does not have an entrance marked on the second level map. Ultimately he found the errors minor, and easily fixed. Turnbull's most major criticism was that the adventure was aimed at parties of too high a level. Summing up, he said "No DM should be without them, for even if he never gets a chance to run them, they are a source of much excellent design quality."

Jim Bambra reviewed the re-released G module series very positively in issue 35 of White Dwarf magazine, awarding 10 out of 10. Bambra liked the reprinting of the modules, stating that "their printing under one cover has reduced the price at no detriment to the quality." He noted that the original tournament characters are included, although they were not included in the original three separate modules, and that not all of them conform to the rules in the Players Handbook. Two spells were also added, which had been absent from the original modules. Bambra says that he "would suggest not playing these unless you have been playing for a few years, success depends more on player skill than on high character levels and DMing adventures of this level can be a nightmare unless you have had plenty of experience."

Anders Swenson also reviewed dungeon module G-1-2-3, for Chaosium's Different Worlds magazine. Swenson notes that the lower level of the hill giant steading "is a conventional underground dungeon, populated with slaves, guards, and the odd monsters", but that the relatively small space occupied by the revolting slaves seems unrealistic. Swenson also calls the well-constructed dungeon complex of the fire giants "a tough nut for the adventurers" as the giants are in a place constructed for defense; Swenson did feel that the scale of the map was too small. Swenson comments that the reprinting shows the progress TSR has made since these adventures were first published, such as how single products had become longer. Swenson does note that the individual room descriptions were lacking a consistent format, and that important monsters can become lost in the middle of a room's description. Swenson felt that, although the lower levels can degenerate into a random monster mix, the strong points of these adventures outweigh their flaws. Swenson concludes by stating that "Against the Giants is a solid adventure," and that "this would be a worthwhile purchase".

Dungeon Master for Dummies lists Steading of the Hill Giant Chief as one of the ten best classic adventures. Stephen Colbert, who played Dungeons & Dragons as a child, reminisced about these modules: "Those old "Giants" modules, those were tremendous. Those are some of my favorite memories: working my way through fire giant, frost giant, and storm giant castles." Ken Denmead of Wired said the first module is a "pretty easy crash-and-grab," the second contains "some really excellent treasure," but the third is "the end-all, be-all of hack-fests". According to Denmead, the hill giant adventure does not prepare players for the later adventures. Describing the difficulty of battling the fire giants he said, "remember Bambi Versus Godzilla? You're Bambi".