SG1 Saga of the Giants - Hill Giant Hall

[Hywaywolf]

the Playtest edition tag is a great indicator of popularity in the absence of a user rating system. If something never gets playtested then it didn't tweak enough interest.

Actually, it's a terrible indicator. Have you any idea how hard it is to get a playtest report? Usually, they come off playtest status when I get to play them.

I did say in the absence of a user rating system. I have sent in playtest reports for everything I have DMed. Problem is I don't have a gaming group and thus have only DMed a few modules. But in the face of not knowing user ratings or view counts the only way to know if the modules marked "playtest"are getting interest is if someone turns in a playtest report. Terrible may be correct, but its better than no indicator at all.

[dymondy2k]

Its part of the reason I've ran all these BFRPG modules in my campaign.. I figured I could provide some feedback fto the authors after running them.

[Hywaywolf]

You are doing good work Dymond

[dymondy2k]

HyWay.. I am a fan of feedback.. so I feel good providing it to others as well..

[Ynas Midgard]

I would like to post some typos I find reading the module and some thoughts on how *I* think it could be improved. I will later revisit the topic; everything below is the result of a quick reading only.

First, the typos, based on the Release 6 pdf:

• p2 Introduction
  The first and third titles should be "Hill Giant Hall" and "Frost Giant Fortress" (at least the cover pages say so). Plus, the text says there might be a fifth and sixth module - one of them already exists.
• p3, "giant's numbers" should be "giants' numbers"
• p5, "3-81 giant rats" should be "3-18 giant rats"
• p5 Area 3, one "detect magic" appears to have an unbolded C at the end
• p6 Area 9, there should be a comma after "if they lack such ability"
• p6 Area 10, "bed room" should be "bedroom"
• p6 Area 14, "does 3-18 (3d6) damage", one of the notations is superfluous; there are numerous other examples of such double notations but I won't list them all here
• p8 Area 22 "ones hands snapped" should be "one's hands snapped"
• p9 Area 29, "smelted" should read "melted".
• p10 Area 1f "that scythes down in from of it"
• p10 Area 4, after "the giant in 57" should be only one full stop
• p11 Area 7, the text first refers to an axe then a knife when talking about the same piece of weapon
• p11 Area 8, after "second success" there are two tos
• p11 Area 10, "turned as a wraith" should loose either the article or the plural -s
• p12 Area 13, "6 feet wide and 9' tall", it would look better if either feet or its symbol was used consistently, at least in the same sentence
• p12 Area 14 (and later Areas 15, 16, 17), "20-80 g.p. (20-90 for those who favor six-sided dice)" - I think I fail to see how that range fits d6s; 20-70, 30-80, or 30-90 would certainly do, but 20-90?
• p14 Key to The Secret Dungeon Level, "they were all characters will note that the other areas were crafted centuries ago", there's something wrong this sentence; perhaps just skip "they were" or even "they were all"
• p15 Area 5, "Siz bags" should read "Six bags"
• p16, the chieftess wears pieces of jewellery worth 6gp each - I think it's a typo, compared to how much the rest of the jewellery is worth in the same room alone
• p18, "NEW MAGICITEMS" should be three words

And now some suggestions and ideas:

• Isn't 3-18 items in a bag too much? I mean, yeah, they are for giants, but it involves a lot of dice rolling, plus the entries are quickly used up.
• In the Wandering Monster table, the method for rolling a d3 is described - is this necessary? Isn't it described somewhere in the rulebook?
• The same with "2-7 (d6+1) bugbears" - wouldn't it be easier if only one notation was present consistently?
• Area 3 has a coat made of polar bear hide and another of black lion hide; they should probably be given a value in gp.
• Area 17 lists the same stats three times (first for the chief, second for his wife, and third for the regular giants); couldn't there be another method of indicating which HP score is whose?
• Connected to that, there are cases when the same stat block is repeated more than once on the same page; what if only HP scores (and boxes) were added in these cases for the second/third/etc time?
• The jewellery in the module is... boring... I will post some ideas, mainly aimed at providing a little descriptive detail.

[SmootRK]

nice set of errata there.

I would suggest (since it comes up a couple times in your errata), that the die roll arrays be written out in the die roll format... for instance, I would prefer 3d6 over 3-18, or 1d6+1 over 2-7. I like this way for no other reason than if somebody is relatively new at role-playing games, there is no figuring out of things (even if it seems easy to figure out for us). While some arrays might be no-brainers, it really isn't always easy to know at first. I know this because I play with my young children who have to ask over and over again when this pops up.

[Solomoriah]

for instance, I would prefer 3d6 over 3-18, or 1d6+1 over 2-7. I like this way for no other reason than if somebody is relatively new at role-playing games, there is no figuring out of things (even if it seems easy to figure out for us).

This is more than a good idea... it's a standard for the project. We never, ever write random die rolls in number-range format; rather, we always use the NdS+B format.

[SmootRK]

for instance, I would prefer 3d6 over 3-18, or 1d6+1 over 2-7. I like this way for no other reason than if somebody is relatively new at role-playing games, there is no figuring out of things (even if it seems easy to figure out for us).

This is more than a good idea... it's a standard for the project. We never, ever write random die rolls in number-range format; rather, we always use the NdS+B format.

And with that said, I will need to go through the Field Guide as well for consistently following this (now official) format rule. I think I have such already done, but I have not made a deliberate run through the contents to ensure this is certain.

[Solomoriah]

Ynas, don't forget to let me know how you want your name to appear in the credits. R7 will probably come out with your forum handle, but I'd be happy to change it to your real name if you wish.

[Solomoriah]

Okay, now working my way through the errata, and I'm going to make my notes here.

I would like to post some typos I find reading the module and some thoughts on how *I* think it could be improved. I will later revisit the topic; everything below is the result of a quick reading only.

First, the typos, based on the Release 6 pdf:

• p2 Introduction
  The first and third titles should be "Hill Giant Hall" and "Frost Giant Fortress" (at least the cover pages say so). Plus, the text says there might be a fifth and sixth module - one of them already exists.
• p3, "giant's numbers" should be "giants' numbers"
• p5, "3-81 giant rats" should be "3-18 giant rats"
• p5 Area 3, one "detect magic" appears to have an unbolded C at the end
• p6 Area 9, there should be a comma after "if they lack such ability"
• p6 Area 10, "bed room" should be "bedroom"

All fixed.

• p6 Area 14, "does 3-18 (3d6) damage", one of the notations is superfluous; there are numerous other examples of such double notations but I won't list them all here

There are a lot of these. It will probably take several passes to get them all.

• p8 Area 22 "ones hands snapped" should be "one's hands snapped"
• p9 Area 29, "smelted" should read "melted".
• p10 Area 1f "that scythes down in from of it"
• p10 Area 4, after "the giant in 57" should be only one full stop
• p11 Area 7, the text first refers to an axe then a knife when talking about the same piece of weapon
• p11 Area 8, after "second success" there are two tos
• p11 Area 10, "turned as a wraith" should loose either the article or the plural -s
• p12 Area 13, "6 feet wide and 9' tall", it would look better if either feet or its symbol was used consistently, at least in the same sentence

All fixed.

• p12 Area 14 (and later Areas 15, 16, 17), "20-80 g.p. (20-90 for those who favor six-sided dice)" - I think I fail to see how that range fits d6s; 20-70, 30-80, or 30-90 would certainly do, but 20-90?

J.D., if you are reading this... can you explain? Because I don't get it either.

And, I'm stopping work here. Will pick this up later. I'll release R7 whenever I make it through Ynas' list.

• p14 Key to The Secret Dungeon Level, "they were all characters will note that the other areas were crafted centuries ago", there's something wrong this sentence; perhaps just skip "they were" or even "they were all"
• p15 Area 5, "Siz bags" should read "Six bags"
• p16, the chieftess wears pieces of jewellery worth 6gp each - I think it's a typo, compared to how much the rest of the jewellery is worth in the same room alone
• p18, "NEW MAGICITEMS" should be three words

And now some suggestions and ideas:

• Isn't 3-18 items in a bag too much? I mean, yeah, they are for giants, but it involves a lot of dice rolling, plus the entries are quickly used up.
• In the Wandering Monster table, the method for rolling a d3 is described - is this necessary? Isn't it described somewhere in the rulebook?
• The same with "2-7 (d6+1) bugbears" - wouldn't it be easier if only one notation was present consistently?
• Area 3 has a coat made of polar bear hide and another of black lion hide; they should probably be given a value in gp.
• Area 17 lists the same stats three times (first for the chief, second for his wife, and third for the regular giants); couldn't there be another method of indicating which HP score is whose?
• Connected to that, there are cases when the same stat block is repeated more than once on the same page; what if only HP scores (and boxes) were added in these cases for the second/third/etc time?
• The jewellery in the module is... boring... I will post some ideas, mainly aimed at providing a little descriptive detail.