HackMaster module Annihilate the Giants
Annihilate the Giants is one of the most popular HackMaster fans according to surveys on the Kenzer and Company forums. This is no surprise, as it is an excellent revision of the classic TSR adventure compilation, Against the Giants (G1-G3 TSR code).
Annihilate the Giants is for level 7-11 characters, though in HackMaster, lower-level PCs that are tweaked properly could take on the adventure. I ran it and level 1 PCs were contributing to the fight and living (they stayed back) as they rapidly advanced in levels. This is because the main foe, giants, cannot attack an individual PC in large groups (probably 2 at a time at most) and PCs can wolf-pack any giants.
Annihilate the Giants is a 113-page module (including maps and player's aid #5 on the back cover) retailing for $19.99. You will attack the giant types such as in Against the Giants, and each section is broken up nicely as in the TSR product. In an improvement over the TSR version, each section ends with a monster and treasure roster. So, if you need to continue the plot and the PCs killed the denizens of room #15 in the first section and took their loot, you know what remains. Important NPCs are detailed at the end of each section in both statistical terms and with their stories.
The plot of Against the Giants is slightly reworked, but still makes sense. Little details are changed and generally each change makes the encounter more plausible and different enough that you can't play it the same way. When running it for my group, I still had the sense of deja vu from when I played the old adventures, but it wasn't exactly the same.
There is excellent support for the Gamemaster in this module from maps to summary sheets and appendices.
The front interior cover is a map of Garweeze Wurld showing where the adventures take place- for PCs must travel to each location and slay all the giants there. Maps are included-some of you might find them familiar, but not too familiar. Five player's aids add to the fun by showing a map for the player's or #5 which is a letter connecting plot to other HackMaster modules (and just plain creepy). The one thing you really miss as a GM are battlesheets for the combats, but you can download them as zipped files from the Kenzer and Company site here
http://www.kenzerco.com/rpg/hackmaster/gm_downloads.php
Other HackMaster adventures have battlesheets, but we'll presume the GM can click on the right link. If you are a player and look at any of those, you will be cursed. Those are for GMs running the adventures only!
Appendices include new cleric and magic-user spells (including a Magic-User spell that cracks me up with its flavor text), rules on weapons and armor sized for giants (some of the weapons usable by your half-ogre PC), a new quirk, and a new race. The new quirk is Nicotine Addiction-which when combined with the Hackjournal #13 article on pipeweed means your PC can pay people to kill him! The new race, Darkmen, are part drow, part human. They fill the role of the drow in Against the Giants as the big new race. Darkmen are allowed in sanctioned HackMaster and have many excellent options-in fact they are just a really different kind of half-elf (per my work on getting them errated that way
)
The artwork is impressive and evocative of Against the Giants. Jim Crabtree's cover depicts two frost giants fighting a group of five adventurers on an icy ridge. Blood is all over the place as boulders, giant blades, and giant hands kill the adventurers and the adventurers strike back. The interior artwork is black-and-white line art and save for a few completely original pieces, is homage to the artwork in the prior series. Most of the interior art is by the brothers Fraim, Brendon Fraim and Brian Fraim, a name quick familiar to HackMaster players.
This is a faithful revision of a classic module. You will find some humor, as HackMaster has humor, but it is not overwhelming. There is plenty to hack, some plot to follow, and a massive amount of loot to gather. Simply put, this is either the best HackMaster module or the second-best HackMaster module (as Little Keep on the Borderlands is also quite detailed and good). I would happily run it again for the right group of PCs, as to complete it requires many sessions even if you play weekly. Thus this is a five star module. If you don't play HackMaster, it is less useful, but nonetheless a fine module if you don't mind doing some statistic conversion.
In closing, here is Steve Johannson, one of the primary authors (the other was "Captain" Don Morgan), discussing the adventure and the design philosophy behind it
http://www.kenzerco.com/rpg/hackmaster/giants.php
