JN3 Saga of the Giants

[Solomoriah]

After my exams I finished reading through the hill giants section. After the holidays I should be able to get more done.

Entries with a star next to it are ones I'm unsure of, or being picky about.

I've also assumed that the stat blocks were correct, and there were the right number of hp boxes so I didn't check them.

JD has an automated method of checking the number of boxes, so we shouldn't need to worry about that.

*(Pg. 9)
Wolf Keeper
… The hill giant has the jade statuette…
Grammatically it’s fine, but it implies greater importance. I recommend “a” unless it is more important.

I agree. Changed to "a".

(Pg. 10)
Smithy
…there being at least a 100 pounds of fine steel…
Just get rid of the “a”
*Wolf Pens
Should there be wolves?

The wolves are wherever the GM wants them.

JD, this seems unclear to me; first, because I'm not sure about the intent of your comment I've just quoted, but also because the text does seem to indicate (by naming the area that way) that there should be wolves. Should we add a short explanation? And what would that be?

(Pg. 11)
Landing
…The steps in the hallway that exits to the northeast…
Should just be exit

Actually, it reads better with "that exits" removed entirely. The intent is not lost and the text is cleaner.

*(Pg. 13)
Secret Temple
…Many of the crypt doors are inward and others are sagging…
Open inward? are open inward?
…decorative brass amulets with small ruby in the center…
Pluralization issue. Suggest “each other mummy wears a decorative brass amulet with a small ruby…

I've incorporated JD's suggested revision from his post above, with a little bit of editing tweakage for better flow.

*(Pg. 14)
Old crypts
…(from a partial cave-in of the ceiling) partially blocks the way to the south
Consider removal for redundancy.

Eliminating "partial" leads to a possible alteration of the meaning. I couldn't find a clean way to fix it without rewriting; the current version says this:

A pile of rocky debris six feet high (from a cave-in of a section of the ceiling) partially blocks the way to the south (area #13).

(Pg. 15)
Jail and torture area
“b. Empty.” Is indented while the others are not. This makes it blend into the stat block.

My preferred method of handling sub-room areas like this is to treat each sub-room as if it were a room (it is, really, so why not?) but title them as follows:

16. JAIL AND TORTURE AREA. Five bugbears ...
16a. A human prisoner...

In other words, repeat the room number, adding the letter for the sub-room, and do not give the sub-room a descriptive title. This way, when a sub-room flows to a new page, it's still clear where it is on the map.

I've revised this whole area in that way, but have not looked for other examples yet.

*(Pg. 17)
Guards
…Each giant has 500 gp in coins or jewelry…
Should this be and?

No, should probably be "or" as given.

(Pg. 20)
Secret Temple
Chest #3
…a magical +1 sword (+3 versus…
All others are formatted as “weapon +bonus” e.g. mace +2

Putting the bonus value before the name of the item is a pet peeve of mine; even ignoring that, though, it should be self-consistent. I've revised the text as follows:

a magical sword +1, +3 versus gaze attack creatures (such as medusas and basilisks)

I'm not entirely happy with "gaze attack creatures" but cannot think of a concise alternative.

*Chest #4
…high-proof whiskey to a 10’ radius…
Should be in?

Changed to "covering" as neither "to" nor "in" felt right.

[Solomoriah]

The Fire Giant Forge wandering monsters table for map 1 the entrance should have 1d6 not 2d6 hellhounds for entry #2.

Fixed. Also removed some excess periods and capitalized some monsters.

[jdn2006]

Storm Giant Citadel
Magic Trunk: AC 15, HD 5, #At none, Dam none,
Mv 40', Sv F5, *** Ml n/a ***

If what you're saying here is that the "Ml n/a" bit is missing from the module... it isn't. It's there in R8. Or am I missing something?

It looked funky, non-standard when I ran across it. I guess it is okay...

Hill Giant Hall
Key to Map 2: Main Dungeon Level
Wandering Monsters
2. 3d6 giant rats scurrying about in search of
food (see wandering monsters level 1 entry #1 and room #1 on the first
level).

Fixed, hopefully correctly.

That works. Except the giant rats are entry #2 on the first table, too.

Caverns of the Stone Giants
Key to Level One
Wandering Monsters table
remove the first line "Random Encounters" on the table.

Done.

change entry #1 to
1. 2. 1d8 ogres (NOT 2d4!)
3. 2d6 giant stirges
4. 2d6 giant ants
5. 6. 1d4 stone giants form the nearest rooms until no more exist

Fixed, I think. I didn't renumber the encounters... what you've provided above is more than a bit confusing. I did change the number appearing for the ogres and added the text to the giants as given.

There are no giant rats stats for entry #5 and they were just carried over from the Hill Giant hall so I intended to edit them out by replacing them with a reference to stone giants to weight the table to favor ogres and stone giants.

change "2d4 or 1d8 Ogres: AC 15, " to "1d8 Ogres: AC 15, "

Fixed.

Key to Level Two
Wandering Monsters:

remove the first line "Random Encounters" on the table.
Random Encounters
1. 3d4 cavemen from rooms 11, 12, and 14.
2. 2d6 stirges (see Level 1 wandering monsters) and room 11. ROOKERY.
3. 2d4 giant ants (see Level 1 wandering monsters)
4 - 10. 1d4 stone giants from closest room
11. 1d3 gargoyles from room #4
12. 1d4 giant tiger beetles from room #5

Fixed.

Frost Giant Fortress
Key to Fortress Ground Level
Wandering Monsters
remove the first line "Wandering Monsters"
1 1d4 Polar bears from nearby rooms
2-3 1d4 Frost Giants from nearby rooms
4 1d6 Snow Apes from Room #4
5 1d4 winter wolves* from nearby rooms
6 1d3 winter wolves* and 1d3 Frost Giants from nearby rooms

Fixed.

Aside: I've noticed your capitalization of monster names is inconsistent in the document. We should probably decide once and for all how they should appear in this work and then fix the mismatched bits as we find them. Also, most of your tables have no periods at the end of the entries, but a few do; I'd suggest we remove the periods for consistency.

A global replace with capitalized monster names would likely result in the fewest editing errors.

Fire Giant Forge
Key to Map 3: Deep Caverns
"7. 1d3 Giant spiders." becomes "7. 1d6 Giant spiders."

Fixed.

Cloud Giant Castle
Key to Map 3: Cloud Giant's Floating Castle
Wandering Monsters
Entry #2 needs closing ")"
Entry #5 needs to end " (from various locations)"

Fixed.

Storm Giant Citadel
Wandering Monsters
above Key to Map 1:
MAIN ENTRANCE
Table has no borders lining it, which would make the underline on the
"Roll" and "Creature(s)" headings redundant. Remove the bold format for the
monster names

I've taken some liberties in revising this table. Please don't hesitate to tell me if you think I've done you a disservice... the original table can be recovered if you wish. But I found your room references a bit less than clear. As the explanation of the references was at the end of the paragraph preceding the table, a GM glancing at the table might have to spend time re-reading the text to figure out how to interpret it. My way is longer overall, but it's not as if we don't have room, and each entry is clear in and of itself.

Still, as I say, if you feel strongly about it I'll put it back.

Looks like it'll work to me.

[jdn2006]

Noticed a couple typos.
pg. 6:
Under 11. Private Bedroom:
...huge silver-backed mirror or excellent quality...
should be: of

Fixed. Good catch.

(not sure about this one)
pg. 7
Under 16. Private Meeting Room
...His wife Ebony (with 38 HP)...
should be:
...His wife, Ebony (with 38 HP), ...

JD, I took a liberty here and broke Ebony out of the list of giant stats, and removed the note about her being unremarkable. The overall effect on the layout is small, and removing the explanatory text in favor of a separate statblock makes it more clear for the GM in a hurry (and aren't we always?)

Ebony's 38 hit points needs to be removed from the list of "7 Hill Giants" in the release 9 pdf I just downloaded.

pg. 163
Under Wand of Metal Detection:
...within 20'; 50 oundss or less...
should be: pounds

Fixed.

[jdn2006]

(Pg. 10)
Smithy
…there being at least a 100 pounds of fine steel…
Just get rid of the “a”
*Wolf Pens
Should there be wolves?

The wolves are wherever the GM wants them.

JD, this seems unclear to me; first, because I'm not sure about the intent of your comment I've just quoted, but also because the text does seem to indicate (by naming the area that way) that there should be wolves. Should we add a short explanation? And what would that be?

Read area 20 and look at the map. Area 20 is as stated an open roofed running area for the 11 dire wolves that stay here; area 29 includes shelter for the wolves. I would hope any GM who is running the module would be looking at the map and reading the adjacent areas to find out what is where. That seems to be an occasional issue with editing where the proofer is reading the text without looking for overall context with the adjacent rooms as if they were a GM.

[Solomoriah]

I see your point. However, let me mention that, when running a big module, I sometimes get a bit of tunnel vision myself, seeing only the keyed area. If you don't mind, I'll add a bit of text making that clear.

In other words: You're right that the GM should be prepared. I just don't assume that's the case.

[Solomoriah]

change entry #1 to
1. 2. 1d8 ogres (NOT 2d4!)
3. 2d6 giant stirges
4. 2d6 giant ants
5. 6. 1d4 stone giants form the nearest rooms until no more exist

Fixed, I think. I didn't renumber the encounters... what you've provided above is more than a bit confusing. I did change the number appearing for the ogres and added the text to the giants as given.

There are no giant rats stats for entry #5 and they were just carried over from the Hill Giant hall so I intended to edit them out by replacing them with a reference to stone giants to weight the table to favor ogres and stone giants.

AH. So you meant:

1-2 1d8 ogres (NOT 2d4!)
3 2d6 giant stirges
4 2d6 giant ants
5-6 1d4 stone giants form the nearest rooms until no more exist

That is, 1-2 and 5-6 as ranges. I'll fix this in the next release.

[Solomoriah]

Storm Giant Citadel
Magic Trunk: AC 15, HD 5, #At none, Dam none,
Mv 40', Sv F5, *** Ml n/a ***

If what you're saying here is that the "Ml n/a" bit is missing from the module... it isn't. It's there in R8. Or am I missing something?

It looked funky, non-standard when I ran across it. I guess it is okay...

Hah. You're right. It should be Ml 12. Will fix for R10.

Hill Giant Hall
Key to Map 2: Main Dungeon Level
Wandering Monsters
2. 3d6 giant rats scurrying about in search of
food (see wandering monsters level 1 entry #1 and room #1 on the first
level).

Fixed, hopefully correctly.

That works. Except the giant rats are entry #2 on the first table, too.

Fixed. Must not be paying attention, as I should have noticed that.

[Solomoriah]

Just uploaded R10 with Sudsy's artwork added. This is the first print release candidate. Please check it out, guys, and let me know if I have any flow issues or if you find any new errors.

I'd like to get this into print in the next month or so.

[jdn2006]

Ebony's hit points are still listed with the other 7 giants page 9.