Missing just a few weeks to get it translated The Thunder of the Storm King, one of the first campaigns that came out for Dungeons & Dragons, but that now reaches our shores, ready to immerse players in the mythology and lore of the race of giants. A long and atypical campaign, which leaves a lot of freedom for the players and the game director to create, fill in the gaps and where perhaps its greatest weak point lies. So welcome to the Sword Coast and its troubled recent history. Behold the earthquake that shakes the world of the giants, the profound changes in its social structure, which is provoking attacks on the populations of small creatures and which is beginning to deplete its inhabitants. From Neverwinter to Baldur’s Gate, something has happened to this ancient race, sparking conflict the likes of which has never been seen before, and putting the entire region on the warpath. –
The Thunder of the Storm King
In this situation, the king Hekaton, monarch of the storm giants, former lords of the giants, has disappeared. Their succession has created even more chaos between the race of the giants and each of the factions of this race: giants of the hills, of stone, of fire, of ice and of clouds, they fight for supremacy and for the creation of a new order have them at the top. And, in the middle of all this are the cities and towns of the north of the Costa de la Espada.
This is the argument, without falling into spoilers, of The Thunder of the King of the Storm. A campaign that takes players from 1 to 10 and will allow them to explore the Sword Coast facing fearsome dangers. But also, this book allows many connections to other Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, especially in relation to the first chapters, the introductory ones, so if we have just finished, for example, Waterdeep: The Strike of the Dragons or we want to expand with the information we have about the giants that appears in the Volo Guide for the Monsters, we can do it quietly. –
In this aspect, The Thunder of the Storm King is about a very atypical campaign, with a tremendously dispersed history and that invites players to travel and visit a multitude of regions on their ups and downs along the Costa de la Espada. But it is also that: a campaign with a scattered and very slow history, which begins to start already very advanced and that requires a lot of desire for exploration and a lot of waist on the part of the Dungeon Master.
Slow Fire Cooked
The Thunder of the Storm King is a campaign that can be divided into several parts. On the one hand, we have an introduction, some preambles that show us a bit the effects of the change in ordning on the Coast of the Sword. We see the aftermath of the attacks of the different types of giants and the players begin to travel, realizing the global impact that this change has. On the other hand, there is a great central chapter of exploration, a huge chapter, which slows down the action a lot and, finally, a final stretch in which it is when the plot of the kidnapping of King Hekaton and the hierarchy of the giants really takes hold. and culminates.
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By the very nature of this campaign, the first part, the introductory one, is totally optional. As I mentioned before, we can hook this adventure up with previous Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, with our own campaign in which we have level 5 characters, and even with some of the initiation campaigns, such as the Phandelver Mines. Really, the first chapters, in which the characters rise to level 5, are an initiation, a way for the characters to gain experience and little else. If we want, we can place the elements of atmosphere in other campaigns, commenting on what is happening with the giants in the area, the reports of the attacks, and with problems in the north.
The second part is the most unusual of the entire book, since it barely outlines any content of the campaign itself and does little to help the characters move forward in the plot. It is rather a huge description of many, but many places, with little seeds of adventure. A kind of tourist map of the north of the Sword Coast so that, regardless of where the players decide to go, the Dungeon Master has ideas of what to do there. Actually, we can think of it as an ultra-condensed summary of the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. This second part, totally sandbox, which does not force the players to do anything and which is limited to existing there, waiting for them to come to a place and explore it, is, on the one hand, something positive, because it eliminates that sense of urgency that a campaign can have, but, on the other hand, makes The Thunder King of the Storm is a tremendously irregular campaign, with a very poor rhythm. – The downside of these first two parts, so unspecific to the premise of the adventure, with such an incredibly slow start, is that span up to level 7. That is, we are going to have seven levels of flimsy plot and with a lot of customization work by Dungeon Master, to prevent the rhythm from falling. The campaign expects players to spin around and explore and purposely delay the start of the “real” action for the simple reason that giants are foes that are becoming manageable for a group of those levels. We are, without a doubt, before two filler chapters, something that disappoints a bit, since a progression of the characters has not been taken into account nor has they bothered to build interesting complementary plots, something that, at least, yes that we saw in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden.-
A Giant Conflict
Once the characters are at an acceptable level, the campaign takes care of speeding things up a bit. Now he does get fully into the plot of the giants, we begin to know more about the order and the motivations of each type of giant that exists. Players can decide their path little by little, which will lead them to meet one or more of these giant towns and to challenge themselves in interesting ways.
-There are very attractive characters, action, political intrigue … Players will be able to interact in interesting ways with the characters in the campaign and, of course, get smacked against extremely dangerous enemies. All the giants have a fortress, an operations center, that players can visit and each one offers different challenges, some more focused on conversation, others on outright fighting …
In any case, we are facing a complicated campaign, especially because of the power wielded by the most powerful giants, such as those of ice or those of the clouds. Players need to be cautious, and of course if they are the ones facing weapons conflicts ahead, they may have a serious problem with the more powerful races of giants, because they can cause a TPK (whole party kill) on the spot. let the Dungeon Master be careless. I recommend going very carefully to balance depending on the group you have, since it is a somewhat neglected aspect in this campaign, which has somewhat disproportionate power scales.
Of course, the campaign has a grand finale, an epic showdown and resolution to all conflicts. It is true that there are a couple of elements that have grinned at me quite a bit in the story of the kidnapping of King Hekaton, especially with the subject of who is behind him, which I thought was a bit pulled by the hair and out of place, but it is true that in its final stretch the campaign gains momentum and takes on some very epic overtones. In my case, with a couple of strokes and hiding a couple of details, I think the last sessions can lead to great moments.
conclusion
The Thunder of the Storm King is a bit of a weird campaign. The first chapters take a long time to start the story and it is tremendously open to the point that the book contains a small explanation of all the places of interest of the Coast of the Sword, just in case the players happen to walk around. Has too much padding, which on the other hand is necessary, since the giants are enemies for levels 5-10 of Dungeons & Dragons and it is necessary to delay the plot until reaching the moment when facing one is not a complete suicide. Ideally, rather than using the material that appears in the book itself, is to hook directly with chapter 4, which is where the important plot starts, and save all the previous, either starting directly there or hooking up with a previous campaign that we have. on going.
–Yes indeed, when it comes down to it, it offers some very stimulating settings, plots and characters. We will meet the giants, their culture and their motivations, their history and their gods, who have a very Viking touch, which translates into glory in battle, great banquets and a unique sense of honor and friendship. The campaign also offers a lot of freedom to the players, even when it is more on track (in the part of sandbox it goes without saying) which makes it possible to turn it into a unique experience much more easily than other more closed campaigns.-
Personally, I think it is a very interesting campaign, but one that has the entire first part to spare. The sandbox part is excessive and the first chapters I think they err in their approach, he hits the pace he reaches in the final stage and the challenges he proposes to the players, varied and challenging, but I think it also fails when it comes to finishing off some themes, which are very out of line with the theme of the campaign. Of course, it can be tremendously epic.
I consider The Thunder of the Storm King a campaign for veteran Dungeon Masters. You are going to need to work a lot on the sandbox and have a waistline with encounters if your players cover more than they can chew. Although Annam has revoked the order, It is not the same to face giants of the clones (CR 5) than giants of the clouds (CR 9) and this campaign places them both in the same section of advancement of characters, with what a table can be massively jam an area, misjudge a confrontation, and die miserably. And this is not bad, but you have to, at least, leave clues out there to warn them, something that the campaign leaves very up in the air, breaking what should be a logical progress of difficulty.
Yes indeed, the setting is tremendously attractive. Visiting the wildest north of the Sword Coast, talking to giants, their allies and their enemies, learning more about this mythical race, immersing themselves in the Viking setting and fighting in epic and savage confrontations beyond civilization are what they do. that this campaign has enough material to create an epic adventure of the real ones. But I repeat, with a lot of will and work on the part of the Dungeon Master.
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