Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

Cool:) I'll start reading through the module and see what I can come up with. Thanks!

chiisu81 wrote:Page 7, 16. Private Meeting Room: 42 hps? (stats on next page show 58 HP)

The saber-tooth cat has 58 hp, the first hill giant has 42.

chiisu81 wrote: Page 119, Upper level common room (h): change "many-tined" to "multi-tined"?

I chose "many" because it had a warmer sound.

The rest are good finds and I'll be fixing them. Thanks for the effort.

I've downloaded a copy to do fixes.

Then I'll await your email.

E-mailed as "JN3-Saga-of-the-Giants-r2" which you can change as you please. I had change tracking turned on when I updated it.

I've been alone a lot this Christmas, due to my flu, and I hardly had the energy to watch TV. Still, I've thought about our upcoming releases a lot and I realized that Saga of the Giants deserves a "full" Introduction like any "real" book. So I wrote one. The nice thing about having someone else write your introduction is that they can say nice things about you. (Yeah, that's a lot of nice things in one sentence...)

However, I'd like (a) everyone's opinion on what I wrote, and (b, more important) J.D.'s approval of the text.

An aside... J.D., do you prefer to be addressed as J.D. or as Joe?

So here it is:

------------------------

The Basic Fantasy RPG is considered a "retro-clone" game, but honestly, it was created more to replicate "the way we played back in the day" than any specific rule system. In many ways it's a homage to those times and to the games we played back then, and if you're one of those for whom that style rings true, then this adventure module should be right up your alley.

Saga of the Giants is just what is says on the tin: a series of adventures pitting your player characters against a succession of giant fortresses (and the inhabitants thereof). It's a homage to classic adventures, it's true, and you'll see their influence throughout the early parts of this book... but that's deceptive, as this is a different, longer adventure series with a very different denouement.

Now you may look at the recommended party of adventurers, and then look through the adventures themselves, and you might think "this is too much even for a party of twelve characters of twelfth level," and in a way you'd be right. This adventure series presents six distinct strongholds, each one staffed with larger, tougher, smarter giants than the last. The important thing to realize here is that, in the Old School, encounters are not guaranteed to be "fair." After all, life isn't fair, so why should the game world be different?

This adventure series should test not only your character's strength of arms and magical prowess, but also your player's guile, strategy, and prudence. It's also a challenge to the GM... these are powerful, intelligent monsters, and they absolutely should learn from experience. If the players make repeated bloody forays into a stronghold, the master of that stronghold would naturally take defensive measures, such as ordering his troops to a higher state of alert, closing off the entrances by which the adventurers are gaining access, or even making offensive sorties against the adventurers in their encampment.

This adventure is challenging on several levels, it's true, but J.D. Neal has also put his stamp of weirdness into it. Pay special attention to the odd bits of loot in the various hoards, and the custom and unexpected monsters scattered throughout. I've personally run about half of this book so far, and my only regret is the number of things that had me giggling which (for obvious reasons) I couldn't tell my players about. They learned some things the old-fashioned way, of course...

Enough said. Let's get on with the adventure... the Old School is now in session!

*claps* well said!!

Looks good. Just one typo that I noticed.
2nd paragraph should read "Saga of the Giants is just what it says..."

Thanks, guys. Blaze, I'll get that fixed in the next release (I haven't actually released a copy with this text yet). Just waiting to hear from J.D. now...

Solomoriah wrote:Thanks, guys. Blaze, I'll get that fixed in the next release (I haven't actually released a copy with this text yet). Just waiting to hear from J.D. now...

The text works for me. I've heard of people playing similar modules and not having issues mainly because of how they - the group as a whole, GM and players alike - PLAYED, so I put the Saga together more with the intent of what might be fun. Personally I'd play some things differently and change it up for whatever group is playing, never play AS-IS.

I use JD on forums because "Joe" is more common, and I'm lazy typing, etc. So JD works fine.

Thanks, J.D. I hoped you'd like it.

Just waiting for Al Cook's cover piece. Do we need to do another proofing pass? Chi has looked at the individual bits, right?

Probably I should look the individual adventure intros and summations over again to be sure they all make sense for a consolidated work.

I'd like to get this out for Easter. Wouldn't that be cool?