Interesting use of giants

[kraftcheese]

So I've been reading some of the giant stuff in Volo's the last couple of days and its giving me a hankering for using some giants in a game, maybe trying to tie the Ordning in somehow?

Has anyone got any giant story hooks that've worked for them before? (I don't own Storm King's Thunder but I imagine it's got a bunch of ideas that could be cherrypicked)

[Puh Laden]

There're of course the original G1-3 modules. My hook for tying those into a campaign was connected to things the players had already done in two previous campaigns. One character was a dragonborn who was basically a prince of his clan. And his character was getting married and had invited all sorts of nobles, including some of the other PCs. Word of the giants making trouble had been spreading. Then of course, the ceremony was interrupted by giants smashing in through the window. Sadly the campaign never picked up due to players being busy, but it would've led into a sort of council of kingdoms, with the council deciding to pool resources to defend against the giants while the most skilled warriors (the PCs) led reconnaissance.

As for specific individual hooks, a giant versus dragons war could be fun. You have two sides divided along racial lines, but there are also factions within them that are more benign to small folk than the others. The PCs could be sent to scout both kinds of groups, sort out the good and the bad and try to play both sides without either side finding out. Like they might help the metallic dragons defend against frost and fire giant hordes, and then next week they help storm giants invade a red dragon lair, but they have to avoid being discovered that they're on both sides.

[TripleD]

Undead Giants (skeletons, zombies, vampires, etc.) are usually a novel encounter. Not a plot hook per se, but hopefully the seed of an idea.

[Madbox]

I've been DMing a Storm King's Thunder table, and they beat the final boss a few weeks ago. As such, I've had to come up with plot hooks for what we've been calling SKT: World Tour, AKA go fight all the giants we didn't already kill to waste time until the next hardcover comes out and Madbox's turn DMing is over.

Here's some of what I've got, a combination of the book and crap I made up. Feel free to take some of it for yourself.

Ice giant pirates have been harassing coastal towns. The players must track them back to their iceberg fortress, and put a stop to them.

Towns in a particular region have long had to deal with hill giant raids taking their crops and livestock, but as of late they have grown more frequent, have taken more varied loot, and most disturbingly, have become highly organized. After the hill giants conduct an assault on a medium sized city, the players are tasked with gathering intel for an army being gathered to drive the giants out. The players eventually find that a Beholder has been manipulating the giants for its own ends.

The last one I have is sorta party-specific, but there may be some stuff for you to use if you tweak it. Lord Xerakzos, a cambion who leads a devil cult, is an old enemy of the party (because he's Neutral Evil and petty, he attacked the party a few times after one of them beat him really badly at a game of cards). After his latest attack, the players track him to the flying castle of a cloud giant who he has allied himself with. The players must put a stop to this unholy alliance for the good of the land. Not to mention, the frequent attacks on the party by insane cultists and devils are getting annoying, and it'll be nice for that to stop.

[Unoriginal]

I just thought about it, but:


The adventurers are told by worried townsfolk about several Hill Giants having been spotted in the wild, all converging to an ancient stone circle.

As the adventurers get there, it turns out that it is a gathering of old sages and lorekeepers, at least by the Hill Giant's admittedly low standards, who are meeting to discuss about a problem or a threat they have been warned about by the Giant Gods, and try to find a solution.