Room 17A of G1 is one of my favorite dungeon rooms in all of D&D. It encapsulates the essence of mystery inherent in exploring the underworld, like the PCs are pulling back layers of history as they descend into the depths.
As much as I've read these modules ive never noticed that about G1. You sir do amazing work. It would be awesome if you created videos on planning and writing a campaign.
The last long-term high-level campaign group I ever played in was G1-3/D1-3/Q1 in 1986-87. I became their DM afterwards, and also started a second 1st Level PC group for T1-4. I did not like how TSR later linked T1-4 to the Slavers supermodule and then to GDQ in that order.
Agreed. Definite mistake. Particularly because the levels of the Slavers modules did not fit properly between the T and GDQ series and they "fixed" it by having all the PCs' magic items be thrown to the bottom of the ocean before the beginning of the adventure.
Module B2, another Gygax module, has loads of depth you have to really dig uo through close reading. I love early sandbox adventures. They work so much better than the railroad structured adventures that they started to publish after the so-called Hickman revolution.
Ran this series quite a fair few times now, kinda how I got forever DM'd way back in the day. With minimal effort by the second or 3rd run through, I had decided to use a modified B2 (There's always some tinkering with the modules, might be why I love the old TSR stuff so much) as a starter area and the temple/altar within the Caves of Chaos area was part of the returning power of the Elder Elemental God. As were the priests and acolytes in the area. There's a collapsed tunnel in G2 I put another altar/temple behind, adding a small new section. I ran several campaigns for different groups of players like this and it gave a cohesiveness to the campaign that everyone really bit into. The spaceship from S3 also landed practically on top of one. It's insane type of power causing the ship to malfunction and crash and explaining why the Illithids were curious enough to come looking for such a bizarre power emanation. Hardly took any work as I just stole a Temple layout from an old Judges Guild book and filled in the blanks fairly easily to maintain the theme. Buried it beneath the crash rubble right near where the players get 'exited' from the ship. Worked out great! PS- Checked out G1A, nice work!
Have run these more than any other modules. As you point out, there's a reason they are classics. There was a decent Pathfinder/3e conversion done which modernizes them somewhat, but the originals still have that primal feel that gets me (and my players) going every time. Only thing missing from the review is the mention of them being strongly influenced (Gygax-acknowledged) by the deCamp/Shea story "The Roaring Trumpet".
I've always loved this series. I've run G1-G3 a couple of campaigns ago and had a great time. In my campaign that wrapped up late last year, I was able to use large parts of D1-D3. Overall they make a great series. Thanks for the great video.
They're "great," because they're only eight pages. so much room for "maneuver." Modern modules are step by figgin' step. No room for DM imagination. And that's why THEY are so popular . . . people who are not actually DMs can use them. After all, it takes no talent what-so-ever to . . . roll the opposing dice. Chimps can do that. Enjoyed your take, Joe. Looking forward to the next one.
We had creative ways of returning these modules. The first DM would keep the plastic on and create a dungeon based on the title and cover pictures and words. The entrance was always the picture on the back cover. Second DM would get access to the pictures on the inside and create a dungeon based on that. The third DM would run the module as is. The fourth DM would run what they dreamed the dungeon would be.
I'm going to be DMing these in my 5e campaign as a follow-on to Ghosts of Saltmarsh. I've had a Tharizdun theme going on throughout the various modules and that will continue through The Giants, then segue into the Dungeon of The Mad Mage. Can't wait to run them - thanks as always Grognard for the top tips.
I remember playing through this back in 1979/80 as a player... so many damn giants, thank goodness for more-damage vs giant opponents. I was glad there was quite a bit more than "just killin giants" in this series... the transition from G2 to G3 was rather funny... Wooooosh!...
I love your videos, you really have a genuine love to keep Greyhawk alive and well! I started playing D&D back in 3.5, but I was very fortunate to play with my Uncle and his most of his original players from AD&D. We played in their Greyhawk which they had been running for a long time, and I just remember feeling so amazed at the history of their Greyhawk since many of their original Characters were now Ladies and Lords. I just recently started playing D&D again, and have been DM in my own version of Greyhawk with a new group. Your videos give great description, and love your own personal stories with Greyhawk. Keep it up!
Great video. Love it. Very inspiring. Those are 3 of MY favourites. I wish more adventures could have been that fabulous. Gotta say, you have beautiful monochrome copies. Those would cost a fortune now. I guess I'll have to make due with my G1-2-3.
Good stuff as usual (I will overlook the pronunciations). Your best point is at the top about strategy: these modules seem superficially like hack fests, but if played that way, the PCs have to be extremely cunning, powerful, or lucky, since there are simply too many adversaries. (Or the DM has to be a pushover who has the giants sit around and wait to be killed.) The onus is on player agency in planning (use divination magic: you have name-level characters!) and tactics (invisibility, illusion, charm monster, etc.). These modules should be tests of player wits and teamwork. They were written at what was (in 1978) the upper end of the game’s power progression. Gygax showed what his new Advanced game was capable of here.
I came into D&D in the 80's with a group who had already played thru all the classic modules, so I inherited a bunch of these with no one to play them with. I was amazed, like you, at their brevity and density. I toyed for a while with my own series of modules that would be like them, but use other giant types, and be tied not to Drow but to Githyanki. (This was pre-Spelljammer.) Never went anywhere, but it was fun to play around with.
Lol...ginormous! Very well put. I never ran the Snorrii module, just walked the party to fire giants n depths. I used the mire friendly demi giants from monster Manuel 2 so as to beef up a party. I think they where called Voakyn n ...another, senior moment here.
I've been running this series for my Roll20 group, they're now in the 3rd level of G3. King Snurre has just been defeated, after a last-stand with the remnants of his followers. Grognard, I did use your expansions for G1, when I ran that module. I also used your "Temple of the Eye" expansion from T5 in G3.
I remember playing in the 2E Against the Giants adventure but we never played past the Steading before that game stopped. I'd like to run or play that again, either with the originals probably using Old School Essentials Advanced or 5th edition using the conversions in Tales of the Yawning Portal.
Note the collapsed tunnel adjacent to the temple at the steading. There's an implied underworld connection. The EEG been around a long time and this power center for evil is the very thing that attracted them to the spot, along with the ready made basement., of course which would offer shelter while the stockade was built. Elves live long, and could have helped giants to get there long ago
I just finished DMing these; my party is in now in D1. With so many of the giants crammed in the feast hall, I think G1 is set up so the kick the door in and attack approach will work. The party entered from the south, some polymorphed to look like hill giants, some invisible, and then lit up the northern end of the hall with a pair of fireballs. They slaughtered most of the inhabitants and then left to re-memorize spells. They destroyed more jewelry than they had probably found during the whole campaign up to this point, but the rest of the steading was more of a mop up and exploration. Probably the funnest module of the series. G2 and G3 are definitely tournament adventures, and both were total slogs to play through. Until they reached the drow and level 3 of G3.
The G series taught me to always do a thorough recon. 5e DMs hate this aspect of the game. They just want your party to blunder into every encounter. Those DMs can suck my D20. ;0
I'm 51 years old and I'm assuming you are about my age, give or take a year, because you say "Drow" with a long "O" like we all use to back in the 70s and 80s. It wasn't until the 90s when the Drizzt books came out that I started hearing people pronounce it with a short o sound for some reason?
@@GreyhawkGrognard Pretty close! I'd go back and relive those days in second. Even though they called the FBI on my group of friends back then....I'd still not have to even think about it. Where's the time machine? ;)
I am currently running this series for a good sized group online. I enhanced the temple below the Steading with a Tharizdun-ish inky-purple "gate", not a gate but a view into oblivion with a chance to cause madness. Also, the altar, if touched has a chance to summon a Type 1 demon (which happened, lol). My players are currently wrapping up G2. I ran it pretty vanilla but with some fun tactics by the monsters. The rhemoraz rolled over to crush and burn multiple PCs, the white dragons clung to the ceiling of their cavern and dive bombed the party. Fun times! I'm looking forward to G3!
Room 17A of G1 is one of my favorite dungeon rooms in all of D&D. It encapsulates the essence of mystery inherent in exploring the underworld, like the PCs are pulling back layers of history as they descend into the depths.
Hands down my favourite adventure series . I have ran this many times in multiple editions.
As much as I've read these modules ive never noticed that about G1. You sir do amazing work. It would be awesome if you created videos on planning and writing a campaign.
The last long-term high-level campaign group I ever played in was G1-3/D1-3/Q1 in 1986-87. I became their DM afterwards, and also started a second 1st Level PC group for T1-4. I did not like how TSR later linked T1-4 to the Slavers supermodule and then to GDQ in that order.
Agreed. Definite mistake. Particularly because the levels of the Slavers modules did not fit properly between the T and GDQ series and they "fixed" it by having all the PCs' magic items be thrown to the bottom of the ocean before the beginning of the adventure.
@@archibael I never Randy
Module B2, another Gygax module, has loads of depth you have to really dig uo through close reading. I love early sandbox adventures. They work so much better than the railroad structured adventures that they started to publish after the so-called Hickman revolution.
In G2 there is a collapsed tunnel (4A). I always pictured that as leading to another hidden Temple of the Elder Eye.
My favorite monster bash of all time! I love the glacial rift the most!
Ran this series quite a fair few times now, kinda how I got forever DM'd way back in the day. With minimal effort by the second or 3rd run through, I had decided to use a modified B2 (There's always some tinkering with the modules, might be why I love the old TSR stuff so much) as a starter area and the temple/altar within the Caves of Chaos area was part of the returning power of the Elder Elemental God. As were the priests and acolytes in the area. There's a collapsed tunnel in G2 I put another altar/temple behind, adding a small new section. I ran several campaigns for different groups of players like this and it gave a cohesiveness to the campaign that everyone really bit into. The spaceship from S3 also landed practically on top of one. It's insane type of power causing the ship to malfunction and crash and explaining why the Illithids were curious enough to come looking for such a bizarre power emanation. Hardly took any work as I just stole a Temple layout from an old Judges Guild book and filled in the blanks fairly easily to maintain the theme. Buried it beneath the crash rubble right near where the players get 'exited' from the ship. Worked out great!
PS- Checked out G1A, nice work!
Have run these more than any other modules. As you point out, there's a reason they are classics. There was a decent Pathfinder/3e conversion done which modernizes them somewhat, but the originals still have that primal feel that gets me (and my players) going every time.
Only thing missing from the review is the mention of them being strongly influenced (Gygax-acknowledged) by the deCamp/Shea story "The Roaring Trumpet".
I've always loved this series. I've run G1-G3 a couple of campaigns ago and had a great time. In my campaign that wrapped up late last year, I was able to use large parts of D1-D3. Overall they make a great series. Thanks for the great video.
They're "great," because they're only eight pages. so much room for "maneuver." Modern modules are step by figgin' step. No room for DM imagination. And that's why THEY are so popular . . . people who are not actually DMs can use them. After all, it takes no talent what-so-ever to . . . roll the opposing dice. Chimps can do that.
Enjoyed your take, Joe. Looking forward to the next one.
G1,2 was my 1st adventure;way back in the 70s
We had creative ways of returning these modules. The first DM would keep the plastic on and create a dungeon based on the title and cover pictures and words. The entrance was always the picture on the back cover. Second DM would get access to the pictures on the inside and create a dungeon based on that. The third DM would run the module as is. The fourth DM would run what they dreamed the dungeon would be.
I'm going to be DMing these in my 5e campaign as a follow-on to Ghosts of Saltmarsh. I've had a Tharizdun theme going on throughout the various modules and that will continue through The Giants, then segue into the Dungeon of The Mad Mage. Can't wait to run them - thanks as always Grognard for the top tips.
Still my all-time favorite module series.
I remember playing through this back in 1979/80 as a player... so many damn giants, thank goodness for more-damage vs giant opponents. I was glad there was quite a bit more than "just killin giants" in this series... the transition from G2 to G3 was rather funny... Wooooosh!...
I love your videos, you really have a genuine love to keep Greyhawk alive and well! I started playing D&D back in 3.5, but I was very fortunate to play with my Uncle and his most of his original players from AD&D. We played in their Greyhawk which they had been running for a long time, and I just remember feeling so amazed at the history of their Greyhawk since many of their original Characters were now Ladies and Lords. I just recently started playing D&D again, and have been DM in my own version of Greyhawk with a new group. Your videos give great description, and love your own personal stories with Greyhawk. Keep it up!
Thanks so much!
I had the collected version of this. I loved these so much! So much fun!
Great video. Love it. Very inspiring.
Those are 3 of MY favourites. I wish more adventures could have been that fabulous.
Gotta say, you have beautiful monochrome copies. Those would cost a fortune now. I guess I'll have to make due with my G1-2-3.
Good stuff as usual (I will overlook the pronunciations). Your best point is at the top about strategy: these modules seem superficially like hack fests, but if played that way, the PCs have to be extremely cunning, powerful, or lucky, since there are simply too many adversaries. (Or the DM has to be a pushover who has the giants sit around and wait to be killed.) The onus is on player agency in planning (use divination magic: you have name-level characters!) and tactics (invisibility, illusion, charm monster, etc.). These modules should be tests of player wits and teamwork. They were written at what was (in 1978) the upper end of the game’s power progression. Gygax showed what his new Advanced game was capable of here.
I came into D&D in the 80's with a group who had already played thru all the classic modules, so I inherited a bunch of these with no one to play them with. I was amazed, like you, at their brevity and density. I toyed for a while with my own series of modules that would be like them, but use other giant types, and be tied not to Drow but to Githyanki. (This was pre-Spelljammer.) Never went anywhere, but it was fun to play around with.
Lol...ginormous!
Very well put.
I never ran the Snorrii module, just walked the party to fire giants n depths.
I used the mire friendly demi giants from monster Manuel 2 so as to beef up a party.
I think they where called Voakyn n ...another, senior moment here.
I've been running this series for my Roll20 group, they're now in the 3rd level of G3. King Snurre has just been defeated, after a last-stand with the remnants of his followers. Grognard, I did use your expansions for G1, when I ran that module. I also used your "Temple of the Eye" expansion from T5 in G3.
Great insights into some classic modules
I remember playing in the 2E Against the Giants adventure but we never played past the Steading before that game stopped. I'd like to run or play that again, either with the originals probably using Old School Essentials Advanced or 5th edition using the conversions in Tales of the Yawning Portal.
Note the collapsed tunnel adjacent to the temple at the steading. There's an implied underworld connection. The EEG been around a long time and this power center for evil is the very thing that attracted them to the spot, along with the ready made basement., of course which would offer shelter while the stockade was built. Elves live long, and could have helped giants to get there long ago
I just finished DMing these; my party is in now in D1. With so many of the giants crammed in the feast hall, I think G1 is set up so the kick the door in and attack approach will work. The party entered from the south, some polymorphed to look like hill giants, some invisible, and then lit up the northern end of the hall with a pair of fireballs. They slaughtered most of the inhabitants and then left to re-memorize spells. They destroyed more jewelry than they had probably found during the whole campaign up to this point, but the rest of the steading was more of a mop up and exploration. Probably the funnest module of the series. G2 and G3 are definitely tournament adventures, and both were total slogs to play through. Until they reached the drow and level 3 of G3.
Ran them once as a player and twice as a DM.
The G series taught me to always do a thorough recon. 5e DMs hate this aspect of the game. They just want your party to blunder into every encounter. Those DMs can suck my D20.
;0
The 5e Tales of the Yawning Portal version, are they like the classic ones?
TBH I couldn't say, because I don't have that book.
I'm 51 years old and I'm assuming you are about my age, give or take a year, because you say "Drow" with a long "O" like we all use to back in the 70s and 80s. It wasn't until the 90s when the Drizzt books came out that I started hearing people pronounce it with a short o sound for some reason?
56 here!
@@GreyhawkGrognard Pretty close! I'd go back and relive those days in second. Even though they called the FBI on my group of friends back then....I'd still not have to even think about it. Where's the time machine? ;)
I am currently running this series for a good sized group online. I enhanced the temple below the Steading with a Tharizdun-ish inky-purple "gate", not a gate but a view into oblivion with a chance to cause madness. Also, the altar, if touched has a chance to summon a Type 1 demon (which happened, lol). My players are currently wrapping up G2. I ran it pretty vanilla but with some fun tactics by the monsters. The rhemoraz rolled over to crush and burn multiple PCs, the white dragons clung to the ceiling of their cavern and dive bombed the party. Fun times! I'm looking forward to G3!