Frost Giants Lair (Dungeon)

[Wuzza]

Hey all,

Could use a bit of inspiration on a Frost Giant themed "dungeon" for tomorrows game. I'm not worried about encounters as such, more so what interesting areas I can add to give a bit of theme to the lair. Hopefully something a bit more unusual than the standard rooms. (if anyone has happened to play Everquest, think Permafrost in the style of Nagafens Lair)

So far I have a pair of Giants playing cards, with a useless guard Winter Wolf sat by their feet that is more interested in sleeping than anything else.

Any suggestions welcome. :smallsmile:

[nickl_2000]

What about a room made completely out of Ice, ALA the Ice Hotel in the movie Die Another Day?

[tieren]

There is one in the Storm Kings Thunder hardcover adventure.

[pragma]

One, low-level, giant-themed dungeon that I run features that characters falling through a weak floor onto a sleeping giant's chest. The challenge is to climb out very quietly, but they usually don't figure out what's going on until they find the giant's face. Sometimes there's a fight going on in the room above, which they need to wrap up before it gets too noisy.

[Puh Laden]

You can have a frozen lake with nasties that pop-up from underneath the ice with only a few "islands." Also from the classic G2 module there's having two very distinct places of elevation outside during a snowstorm (limited visibility, got to be careful not to fall and be separated, though snow drifts may lower the impact of any falls depending on how dangerous you want it to be)

[JackPhoenix]

Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl was ported to 5e through Tales from the Yawning Portal. Just sayin'.

[Wuzza]

Thanks for the replies, definitely stealing a few.

Game was postponed, so any more ideas will be appreciated. :smallsmile:

[Brookshw]

Frost Giants share a lot in common with vikings so anything along that aesthetic works easily enough, drinking halls, trophy room, treasure room complete with a captured ship, giant shark heads (a chandelier made out of shark jaws), etc. Beds who's frames are made out of parts of shattered human ships (possibly from a ship whose name that is known to the PCs or was lost in legend).

Stock the larder; giant slabs of frozen meat from polar bears, whales, mammoths, seals/sea lions, sharks etc. Swimming pool sized barrels of ale.

The Shaman's chambers, shaman keeps the skull of a white dragon (killed by the tribe) around, possibly with the dragon's soul bound in it, something to talk to and maybe make deals with.

Slaves and possibly some form of non-giant slave master who is still a slave but with certain privileges in exchange for keeping the other slaves in line. Slave master might covet their position but still have disdain for the giants and is willing to share information.

The treasury, treasure partially buried in ice that needs to be dug out somehow, ideally without damaging it.

Underground tunnels through the ice. Tunnels are straight forward enough, but throw in some shapes (possibly still living creatures) trapped in the ice.

Skald's room full of murals or tapestries of the giants conquests. Skald might be willing to trade stories with the PCs.

Winter wolves lair, gnawed bones of creatures the PCs have potentially never seen before (remorhaz?).

The mammoth chambers, the giants keep a small herd of mammoths around as cattle.

Everything is giant sized in the lair, so things like reaching a door handle or latch isn't so simple and may require jump checks or similar. Also simply opening a door might require a strength check given it's size.

Human npc (or any suitable race), captured or possibly working as the giants spy, who is either feeding the giants info they're going to use to raid a settlement, or they're trying to extract info from to the same end.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

Hey all,

Could use a bit of inspiration on a Frost Giant themed "dungeon" for tomorrows game. I'm not worried about encounters as such, more so what interesting areas I can add to give a bit of theme to the lair. Hopefully something a bit more unusual than the standard rooms. (if anyone has happened to play Everquest, think Permafrost in the style of Nagafens Lair)

So far I have a pair of Giants playing cards, with a useless guard Winter Wolf sat by their feet that is more interested in sleeping than anything else.

Any suggestions welcome. :smallsmile:

Ha! Everquest is free to play now - install it and run through Valdeholme and the giant cities in Velious and look around.

Giant-sized smithies and breweries or distilleries are kind of amusing. Vodka as a drowning hazard. Heck, enough giants quaffing and slinging their mugs around might cause an environmental effect similar to heavy rain. A giant feast hall might have beams large enough to comfortable traverse up in the ceiling.

What's the economy of this place? Are they raiders, or do they have giant-sized mines - or regular ones, worked by some subservient species like orcs or kobolds? Some sort of tundra agriculture, maybe, with fertile hunting and growing in the short summer to see them through a long, cold winter? Thinking about some of that might give you some ideas for places that need to exist, and would be fun to have encounters in.

[Segev]

Yeah, if you have time for an order to arrive, and the money to spare, Tales From The Yawning Portal has the "Against the Giants" adventure, which should include a frost giant lair.

If you have Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, take a look at Snowpeak Mansion, too, for some ideas.

They probably have a kennel where less-favored winter-wolves are kept, and a dry dock where an enormous longship is under construction.