Using Gary Gygax's Against The Giants G1- 4 With D3 Vault of the Drow & Queen Of The Demonweb Pits Along With Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea - As A Mini Campaign

"Giants have been raiding the lands of men in large bands, with giants of different sorts in these marauding groups. Death and destruction have been laid heavily upon every place these monsters have visited. A party of the bravest and most powerful adventurers has been assembled and given the charge to punish the miscreant giants."


G1-3 module picture taken from Wayne's book site. I get a ton of adventures from Wayne's over the years. Always solid quality & good service. 

Yesterday I updated the blog entry on D3 Vault of Drow By Gary Gygax  with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.  So let's talk about exactly why this is an important step campaign step  & what is the Drow's plan. What does this actually have to do with Gary Gygax's Against The Giant series of adventures & how this knits itself into the framework of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. Or at least how it does in my AS&SH campaigns.




The giants, the Drow, etc. in Hyperborea are all basically all relics of a bygone age that's come & gone. Underborea has been settled for centuries. The time of mankind is long over after the events of the ancient history of Ragnarok? So why would the giants be attacking mankind at the behest of the Drow? What would be the Drow's plan?! That has to do with the events depicted in the  Jeffrey Talinian's The Sea-Wolf's Daughter &  Chainsaw's The Lost Treasure of Atlantis.

We're not talking one or two alien entities here we're talking about the former servants of the gods turning right back on mankind again. The last of the tribes of Jotunn within Hyperborea have turned upon mankind. Why? Well if we look at the fourth chapter of the Prose Edda we get our answer; 

"In chapter 4 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, the enthroned figure of Third tells Gangleri (described as King Gylfi in disguise) about the location of Múspell. Third says that the bright and flaming region of Múspell existed prior to Niflheim, and it is impassable to those not native to the region. To defend Múspell, Surtr is stationed at its frontier. Third adds that Surtr has a flaming sword, and that "at the end of the world he will go and wage war and defeat all the gods and burn the whole world with fire". The stanza from Völuspá that foretells Surtr moving from the south is then quoted.^[11] In chapter 18, Gangleri asks what will protect the fair hall Gimlé "when Surtr's fire burns heaven and earth".^[12]

In chapter 51 of Gylfaginning, High describes the events of Ragnarök. High says that "amid this turmoil the sky will open and from it will ride the sons of Muspell. Surtr will ride in front, and both before and behind him there will be burning fire. His sword will be very fine. Light will shine from it more brightly than from the sun." High continues that when the sons of Múspell ride over the bridge Bifröst it will break, and that they will continue to the field of Vígríðr. The wolf Fenrir and the Midgard Serpent will also arrive there. By then, Loki will have arrived with "all of Hel's people", Hrym, and all of the frost jötnar; "but Muspell's sons will have their own battle array; it will be very bright". Further into the chapter, High describes that a fierce battle will erupt between these forces and the Æsir, and that during this, Surtr and Freyr will engage in battle "and there will be a harsh conflict before Freyr falls". High adds that the cause of Freyr's death will be that Freyr is lacking "the good sword" that he once gave his servant Skírnir.^[13]

As foretold by High further into chapter 51 Gylfaginning, Once Heimdallr and Loki fight (and mutually kill one another), Surtr "will fling fire over the earth" and "burn the whole world". High quotes ten stanzas from Völuspá in support, and then proceeds to describe the rebirth and new fertility of the reborn world, and the survivors of Ragnarök, including various gods and the two humans named Líf and Lífthrasir that will have hid from "Surtr's fire" in the wood Hoddmímis holt."

Surtur & the giants of Hyperborea are literally the only survivors of Ragnork that are alive & worshiped as gods on Hyperborea. The reason that the Drow have begun to instigate the extinction events again in G1-3 is because mankind's numbers have begun to increase across Hyperborea. Remember it was the Green Death that wiped mankind out in AS&SH. The Drow have little to no interest in seeing the rise of the Hyperboreas or men again.


The Giant with the Flaming Sword (1909) by John Charles Dollman

This isn't new this is something that's been built into the back story of both G1-3 & AS&SH itself as a rpg OSR system. Its also built into the story cycles of Clark Ashton Smith & the HP Lovecraft circle of writers. The alien gods & entities of AS&SH have played their part in the cycle of mankind eon ala Clark Ashton Smith's writing. 

 Chainsaw's The Lost Treasure of Atlantis connect up with the underborea world of D3 Vault of Drow By Gary Gygax  through Crystal Point! Crystal Point marks the cut off point  of the otherworldly empires of Hyperborea. A place of both horror & absolute terror for any humans caught within its boundaries! Humans are going to be at a loss to deal with its inhuman empires. 

Those empires have used humans for eons as food, entertainment, cannon fodder, etc. they have zero love of humanity. Hyperborea is not the play ground of humans. Its a completely alien place with humanity playing second or third fiddle other worldly powers. Heroes are simply needed. Their needed to survive in the place. But the world is entering a new phase & the inhuman alien gods & things that abound there know this.