Giants Are A Thing

Giants are much more interesting in folklore than in most RPGs. In fact giants are often sadly overlooked in RPGs. Fortunately, there's a way you can change that.

In many TTRPGs, giants have become a simple escalating challenge: bigger and bigger versions  to encounter in tactical fights as your characters progress. A scalable threat, with a side serving of elemental power. Whether shaped by frost, fire, clouds or the lumpy quality of a hill, they just get bigger, in a series of power show-downs. All too often, they have little other presence in the world. They are not usually mysterious, and they certainly are not evocative springboards into otherworldly adventure. 

It is true that, in  many European fairy tales, especially in England, giants are often depicted as being unintelligent, or slow-witted. But that is because their purpose in those stories is to give the hero an opportunity to be clever and quick, almost as if these qualities are what define a hero (rather than any moral compass...?). The hero doesn't win by fighting.  In this way, the stories reflect cultural values and the giant is the larger foe, the seemingly unconquerable enemy who is defeated by cunning.  

And there are plenty of other examples of giants in folklore and mythology that are far more nuanced, interesting and three-dimensional than they are sometimes depicted in TTRPGs. 

There are many examples of individual giants in British folklore that are for more than just a 'scalable threat'. How about the one with the bean stalk? Classic example: he isn't just big. He lives in another world, possibly The Otherworld. Jack can only go there by magical means: magical means, by the way, which seem to be intrinsically tied up with leaving his mother and could possibly be seen as a rite of passage, but also involve a reference to agriculture. Planting crops leads to all the treasures he brings back, which turn out to include music, livestock and commerce (in the form of gold). Late Stone Age, anyone? 

When Jack does get to the other world, not just the giant is super-sized by everything. Its a magical place, connected with the sky. And when Jack returns, he comes back with a magical harp (that sings songs and tells poems and is therefore symbolic of either wisdom and learning or the skill of the bard, or both) and a hen that lays golden eggs. Magical items. 

We see this further dimension, too, in Irish mythology, with Finn McCool defeating the Scottish giant Benandonner by pretending to be his own baby. These giants, may not really be giants in the stories' original forms (see here for further explanation...), but instead 'heroes'. By which I mean heroes in the traditional sense: that of killing loads of your people's enemies. And some of them are also berserkers, who are clearly only giants when they adopt the riastadh, which is a kind of berserk frenzy (that you see Slaine go into in the old 2000AD comics), something like the hulk, but messier. Now that is something we don't see in RPGs very often. I'm NOT suggesting a were-giant though, before a certain well-known publisher of splat books decides there's a small fortune to be made in it. No, I'm NOT. I'm talking about trained, professional warriors who seem absolutely normal until certain conditions are met (such as being pissed off), when they metamorphose into a nine foot tall... man? Like a were-man? No, I don't mean that, I don't...

It would be cool though. A great foe for your fighter.

Another Irish giant is Dryantore, who is a sorcerer. He conjures mist and puts the heroes to sleep. 

Then there's Jack of Irons, from Yorkshire. An undead giant with blackened skin and the decapitated heads of his enemies tied to his belt and, in some versions, I think, his own head strapped to his huge club (or did I imagine that...?). This guy's a ghost, essentially, though whether a ghost of a giant or just a big spook, is unclear. I think both are valid.

A quick note on 'frost giants' of Norse mythology. Or Jotuns as they are properly called. These are not even really 'giants' at all. They are, if anything 'anti-gods', not quite demons, but an alternative to the gods, perhaps chaotic, in opposition to the 'order' the gods bring, but that's a little over simplistic. The Norse gods don't seem that ordered or lawful to me, but then I'm not an early medieval Scandinavian. Jotuns are more similar to the Titans of Greek mythology and there's a good reason for it, but that's for another post... 

And last, but certainly not least, we cannot forget the Nephilim.

The cut-to-the-chase version of the Nephilim story is this: angels/angelic beings saw how hot mortal women were and decided to come down to earth to get some. Women, that is. They seductively seduced the women and 'begat' children. Who were giants. Nephilim. there is some debate about the meaning of that word and I've seen is translated as meaning 'fallen', from the Greek. That doesn't make sense to me as it was their fathers who came down to earth, not them. Apparently it could also mean giant in Aramaic, so I'm guessing that's probably on the money. Anyway, what works for me here is the connection between giants and the mystical. They are not just a random, mortal breed of human-like thing, they are the offspring of a forbidden supernatural relationship. 

But it gets better (at least, in terms of engaging story, not in terms of humanistic treatment of 'other'...). Because God was so annoyed by the whole situation, not to mention that the Nephilim had started eating people and stealing food and acting like all carry on, that he had a flood to get rid of them. And that is why there was a flood. Only they don't die. They drown, yes, and they die physically, but their spirits linger. Nowhere to go, you see. So they hang around on post-diluvial earth, causing trouble, and because they have no proper place and they don't know what to do with themselves, one of the things they do with themselves is put themselves inside other people... 

In other words, they become demons.

When a person in the biblical world (according to this version of the story), gets possessed by a demon, that's  the displaced spirit of a dead giant-offspring of a rebellious Angel. Which explains why demons might be in your world, without being summoned. It connects lore and current world issues and it makes demons, giants and angels ALL more interesting. In my opinion anyway. 

Its probably been done in fiction somewhere. Some of these themes definitely appear in John Gwynne's Blood And Bone trilogy (which is awesome, by the way). 

Look I'm not saying you have to accept this as gospel or anything... I'm saying this is what happens in one of the versions of this story. And I think its cool because it means things can be tied together by players or by you and when player characters meet a Giant, that's a little piece of world lore, stomping around. And when they meet someone Possessed, likewise. 

Another way of making Giants more present in your world is to tie them to more magical ingredients. Giants need to be more mystical. And what better way to make stuff mystical than to make it about... skulls!

What if Giant skulls are magical and can empower magical spells? In whatever genre. Or can be used to animate the undead, because they bridge the gap between the natural and supernatural worlds? Or if giant-size femurs just make better magic staffs because they channel arcane power more readily? Maybe giant bone dust, not chalk, is what needs to be used to draw a pentagon. Or if the teeth, when sown, and the correct incantation uttered, become animate skeletons?

It's your game and its your world, but don't miss out on the possibilities for making Giants much cooler than they sometimes appear in well-used splat-books. 

Sacred Trees

 Trees are everywhere in the real world. Yet very rarely do specific species get a mention in adventure modules. And its hardly a surprise. What difference does it make? Well, I suppose it might be 'realistic'/'authentic' for the Ranger to know that say, willow, or alder only grow on wet ground of near water. But how often is a ranger going to need to do that? It isn't part of the game we usually focus on.

Killing vampires, however...

Well, it doesn't have to be specifically vampires. They're an obvious example, because, well, wooden stakes...? But any kind of 'evil' or supernatural entity might be thwarted more easily if your players have access to these sacred trees. Or may be less inclined to pursue them into a grove. You don't want to be making them omnipresent, of course, and there may be additional rituals or ceremonies or simply acts of preparation that you want to make significant to the acquiring of these woods. But its always nice, I think, to know which kind of wood might be most helpful in the vanquishing of a specific kind of entity. As well as what sort of trees there actually are in the landscape. 

Historically, of course, this sort of knowledge was second nature. People's lives were intimately intertwined with the natural world. It was second nature for them to look around them for the tools the natural world could provide and, especially before the advent of monotheism, spirits, both benign and malevolent and anywhere in between, were thought to interact with the mortal or human world on a regular basis. Nature included natural focus points for this, places where our world bordered the 'otherworld'. And everybody knew this. So ANY player character should get at least a chance to know this stuff but you might want to give the ranger or the magic user an edge by at least making other classes make an attribute check for the knowledge.

Alder

The alder grows near water, literally with their roots in the stream if they can.  The wood is also resistant to splitting, so they were often used in the manufacture of cart wheels. Alder was associated with divination, so any divination spells might work better beneath an alder tree or with a wand of alder wood in hand, and this was especially true when the diagnosis of disease was involved. So a stream that grew thickly with alder might even have healing properties of its own (that's my own extrapolation there) and make it very much easier to Cure Disease etc. 

Cutting one down was once punishable.

Apple

As an emblem of fruitfulness, this wood was often used in association with fertility or youth and was associated with immortality. Druid wands are thought to have been crafted from this wood, or from yew. I think if I were staking a vampire, I'd probably favour this or Yew wood. 

Hazel

Sacred to poets and thus probably important to Bards. Also a taboo to burn. Strongly associated with magic and authority. Also, incidentally, one of the oldest kinds of tree in Europe and one of the earliest we have evidence for building with. Witches' wands and divining rods were made of this and eating the nuts brought wisdom, especially when they grew at the head of a sacred stream or river or at a sacred well. Salmon that eat them convey magical wisdom to those that catch and eat them. I'd make that a prerequisite for anyone wishing to start learning magic! It might provide a nice , 'incidental' adventure, where the party has to travel across wild country for a while and deal with a couple of wilderness encounters. 

Oak

of course. This is the one everybody knows is special. It was prominent in many cultures. it grew in sacred groves. According to Pliny The Elder, druids would climb one on the 6th day of the moon and cut boughs of mistletoe and sacrifice two white bulls for fertility. There was a goddess, Daron, associated with the tree, which is why 'derry' is such a popular feature in place names across Ireland. Maybe mistletoe increases the potency of all spells or all potions. But you have to placate that goddess 9if that's what she really is...) before you can safely take it. 

Yew

one of three evergreens indigenous to Britain, it isn't surprising that it has powerful folkloric association. It also has poisonous berries. It symbolizes death, but is that because for a long time now, the only place you can easily find it is in stately home gardens and churchyards 9they get left alone there)? I'd suggest that this association with death might be to do with the power of its wood to encourage Undead to accept their rightful place in the cosmos... 

I've only included five tree species here. there are more if you look for them, such as Rowan, but you really want to limit the number you include, in my view, so the players have a chance to really get familiar with them and be able to remember offhand, which ones to go looking for when something supernatural rears its head. 

 

Incidental Injuries

 They don't happen in combat. They happen when climbing a wall in a hurry, escaping down a steep incline in the dark, climbing through a window from a bedroom. These aren't serious injuries, but they let people know they've been in a scrape. useful for partial successes/fails or consequences, for games that have those.

A few of them lead to interrupted sleep - I suggest no natural healing until treated by someone skilled in healing.

d8

1. Sprain/Strain

2. Knee injury

3. Fracture (1: wrist, 2: ankle, 3: foot, 4; collarbone, 5: hand, 6: toe)

4. Dislocation (1: ankle, 2: knee, 3: shoulder, 4: elbow, 5: finger, 6: toe)

5. Rotator cuff (shoulder - leads to pain, weakness and poor sleep)

6. Tendonitis (pain and swelling)

7. Groin strain (difficulty walking, pain)

8. Hip flexor strain (swelling, pain)

9. Stove finger (poor grip)

10. Concussion (d6 - 1: dizziness (reduced Dex), 2: weakness (reduced Str), 3; confusion (reduced Int/Wis); 4: any two that add to 4; 5; any that add to 5; 6: gone quiet (reduced Cha))

*"Any two" - each reduction is a reduction of -1 and they accumulate, so a '4' can mean 2 x reduced Dex and 1 x reduced Str or 2x reduced Str, etc.

Mysterious Artefacts With Wierd, Unpredicatable Powers

For when you need a magic item that is cool and distinctive but isn't going to dominate your game. 

Roll 2d12 and a d8:

1. An animal skull                            1. Control...                                    1. Haste

2. A dragon's tooth                           2. Become...                                   2. Blurred

3. A fossil ammonite                        3. Steal...                                        3. Shadows

4. A stone hand axe                          4. Summon...                                  4. Breath

5. A necklace of teeth                       5. Inflict...                                      5. Silence

6. A shrunken head                           6. Detect...                                     6. Thoughts

7. A whistle to                                  7. Reduce                                       7. Vision

8. A rabbit's foot                               8. increase                                      8. Undead

9. An octopus tentacle                                                                             9. Incorporeal

10. A dried bat                                                                                        10. Hearing

11. A necklace of frog skulls                                                                  11. Lightening

12. A broken knife                                                                                  12. Water

Table for animals, if needed:

1. Griffon

2. Rabbit

3. Dog

4. Horse

5. Cat

6. Frog

7. Bird

8. Rat/mouse

Yiks

 Yiks resemble baboon-sized arthropods, or larger, with chitinous exoskeletons. Hell, maybe they are actually arthropods. They look a like bugs with body armour and powerful mandibles. They don't spin webs and they don't tend to live in the dark, dank places that many types of giant spider favour (although there is nothing wrong with placing them there, if that's what you like), and they don't tend to be venomous, although of course there could be species or sub-species I don't know about. Greater Yik are the size of a 

They do, however, dwell in numbers, like clans, and they are intelligent. Clans can range in size from a dozen to fifty or so, perhaps even more, although they will be spaced out across their territory, and a party of adventurers are more likely to encounter a scouting party of 1-6 than large numbers. At least the first time. If an individual escapes such a confrontation, it will return with larger numbers. Usually as many again plus 1d8. 

And did I mention that they're smart? There is no doubt about this: yiks are clever in the way they go about engaging with those that enter their territory and cause harm to their kin. If they know where you are, they will consider their options before assaulting your position. If they charge headlong, in one unit, consider yourself lucky. This is a false charge: they intend for you to run away, preferably out of their territory altogether. The use this tactic mostly when intruders are still on the fringes of their hunting grounds and a direct exit is available. otherwise, if they con

They would prefer to steal supplies and equipment than to go toe-to-toe with an armoured fighter. But they set a trap if they can, lead you into traps built by others, or just steal all your rations while you're asleep. They will try to take advantage of wounded parties and even steal weapons, just to leave them less well equipped when the attack finally does come. 

Yiks don't bear humans (or any other race) any ill will. They're just trying to get by. But in the jungles and forests they tend to inhabit, there's a lot of competition for food. That said, if they can see an advantage in allying with a party of humans, they are capable of doing so. And just as capable for betraying them later.

Yik #2d3 AC 15 HD 3 Bite 1d8 Nat 19 Blade Trauma

Str14 Dex16 Con12 Int4 Perc12 Will10 Cha4 Luck5,

Climb Norm. 

Greater Yik #1d4 AC 16 HD 4 Bite 1d8+1 Nat 19 Blade Trauma

Str16 Dex16 Con14 Int6 Perc14 Will10 Cha4 Luck8, 

Climb Norm. 

Brood Mother Yik #1d2 AC 18 HD 8 Bite 2d6+2 Nat 19 Blade Trauma

Str18 Dex16 Con16 Int8 Perc16 Will15 Cha6 Luck10,

Climb Norm. 

Islands As Random Encounters

This isn't something I have actually had a chance to try yet, and when I do, I'll update this post. But I think islands as random encounters makes a lot of sense . Although the islands themselves don't move (for the most part), everything around them does, which is kind of the same...? 

Note: The islands are only random the first time they are encountered; after that, they are fixed, unless magical.

Here's why I think this ought to work well:

1) This is basically like a dungeon, where islands are really really big rooms. Only the corridors aren't fixed and mapping is tricky. But there will be monsters and treasure and traps in the form of sudden squalls...

2) Magical, enchanted, lost and forgotten isles are a stock in trade of sword and sorcery fiction, as well as myth.

3) Until the 16th Century, there was no Mercator projection (the most common format for modern maps) and older 'Portolan Charts', in use from the 13th Century, were usually restricted to coastal areas, compiled from observations. 

4) The unpredictability of currents, wind, weather, etc, means sailing ships in  the Age of Sail, even when they were not lost and were entirely aware of where they were, often did not follow an exact route. Especially on the 'high seas' over long distances. And those small variations in route might lead to odd discoveries. 

5) In game terms, randomised islands means you can include them without railroading. There is a chance that if they use route A to B, they will encounter X. Like historical explorers, PCs who travel by sea don't know what they might encounter, or where they might end up. The campaign becomes much less predictable. If players actually fully intended to get to B, then this becomes more like a Sinbad tale: their characters really wanted to get to B, but... life. When they eventually do get to B, of course, all the villains will have progressed...

6) The hierarchy onboard ships might be reflected in the level system of some rulesets, especially those that enjoy player character Titles. You might want specialist ones for a ship: Captain, First Mate, Second Mate, Ship's Wizard, Bo'sun, Navigator, Midshipman, Able Seaman, Cabin Boy, etc. As PCs advance, they can climb this hierarchy.

Islands

For the shorelines of islands encountered, see my post Types Of Shoreline. For what's on the island, roll a d8 or choose from below. 

1. Lost Civilization. A civilisation thought extinct still rules here. 

2. Lost Race. As above, but serpent folk, or tiny cavemen.

3. Ruins. Crete, etc. 

4. Wilderness. Predator-filled jungle.

5. Lost Ecosystem. Dinosaurs.

6. Hidden Enclave. Pirate republic. Amazon Fortress. Wizard stronghold. 

7. Hunting Ground. On this island, the centaurs call the shots...

8. Haunted. Ghosts of a lost age; related to the first three, above. 

Events At Sea

To keep things fresh, alter the 'register' of adventures or encounters, including ideas of different 'magnitudes'. Don't always make everything earth-shattering. There are three categories I think of in terms of events at sea: Mundane, Dramatic or Magical.

Mundane Events

Even fairly mundane events at sea can get pretty life and death fast. And in their own way tense. When becalmed, PCs might play a major role in maintaining morale, preventing mutiny or coordinating repairs. Mouldy food becomes the seed for the next quest. Storms are pretty dramatic and ought to take up a session, in my view, a lot like a battle against an army of elementals (which perhaps it is!), run in much the same way, with specific incidents demanding the PCs' intervention. A whale might prove adversarial. there are pirates, obviously. 

Dramatic Events

Some events are naturally going to take up more than a session and prove more dramatic than the day-to-day dangers and hardships encountered. Encountering a pirate is one thing, but what if the pirate pursues? Many critical choices are provoked by this: Run or fight? Continue on route or head for safety? The ships takes damage and must be repaired. A mutiny kicks off (as opposed to threatening to) and PCs must choose sides. An island is encountered unexpectedly. Or wreckage. Or sargasso. Something unusual climbs aboard. Something unusual is already aboard. War breaks out. An enemy ship is found floundering.

Magical Events

See pirate events above: Is the pirate living? Undead? Phantasmal? The Captain is haunted. The ship is haunted. The ship or the Captain is cursed. Officers become possessed. A storm blows the ship through an ancient portal. Some of the crew turn out to shape-changing serpent-folk. Or a walrus revenge squad. Or sharks. Crew rescued from a floundering wreck turn out to be sharks/were-sharks. Etc. 

Factions

Ships lend themselves to factional play. there are always at least two factions aboard any ship: Officers and Crew. In addition, the crew will often contain factions of its own. Beyond merely pro- or anti- the Captain, there will be rival leaders, different agendas (such as the 'We should head home now' faction, the 'We should become pirates' faction, the 'Discipline onboard is too severe' faction and the 'Use the map to get the treasure' faction. 

These factions won't all agree with each other and who they favour at a given time among the Officers will depend on which agenda the Captain or Officers favour. PCs should be given opportunities to engage in this sort of factionalism, maybe even taking over the ship if they choose to.  

Adventure Seeds

Something evil is onboard, as cargo. In the restricted space aboard a ship, horror ensues. Roll a d6:

1. Vampire

2. Mindflayer

3. Giant, psychic crab monster

4. Troll

5. Lich

6. Ooze

Somebody onboard has a map showing treasure. 

1. Captain

2. First Mate

3. Faction leader

4. Player character

5. Political prisoner

6. Monstrous prisoner

7. Ship's Wizard

The Captain isn't who he said he was. Who (or what) is he instead? And who else isn't what they seem?

1. Long lost heir to the throne.

2. A banished necromancer.

3. Avatar of the sea god.

4. A doppleganger.

5. A magically disguised serpent man.

6. An agent of the monarch, on a quest to save the realm.

7. A slaver

8. A pirate of high repute.

The Ship isn't what it seems. The PCs have taken passage on a ship headed for stranger seas. 

1. The ship flies

2. The ship travels between worlds

3. The ship is alive (and is its own Captain)

4. The ship travels between planets

5. The ship travels across land.

6. The ship travels across ice. 

Frog Lord

The Frog Lord bites but does not devour. He finds mail armour difficult to digest and anyway, his taste runs more to giant insects that to mammal flesh. Instead, he hurls intruders to his grotto against the cavern wall, breaking bones and tearing flesh and leaving their bodies to bleed and feed his parlour.

You may survive if you can crawl away. You may bind your wounds and mend your armour. You may slink off into the shadows or rise to arms and fight again. But beware the new moon and the first rays of a new crescent, for they will have power over you now, and your flesh will crawl and shift, your blood run cool, and when the ponds and streams of your homeland echo with the throb of amphibian throngs, you will hear them. You will hear them calling and you will itch for the feel of cold mud on your skin.

FROG LORD #1 AC 16 HD 4 Bite 1d12 and Tongue (Close range, dragged into Melee + Grabbed, Str contest resists, no action) 

Nat 19 Grabbed in teeth and shaken and flung: 2d6 on Toad’s turn, then thrown at nearby wall for 1d6.

S18 D12 C17 I3 P10 W14 Ch5 L7, Leap Close. Reac 2-5 Combative 6-8 Hungry 9-12 Languid.

Frog Lords are 9 ft behemoths, fat amphibians with lumpy skin, a great, toothy maw, and an evil intelligence. Their colouration runs the gamut of sickly greens and yellows and some exude a toxin onto the surface of their skin . When a victim survives the bite of a Frog Lord, they undergo a transformation on the next New Moon. Roll 1d3:

1: No physical transformation takes place, at least not externally, but the victim loses all sense of their humanity and retreats into wetland or at least muddy areas, submerging themselves as far as possibly in the cold slime and behaving, to all intents and purposes, like a frog. 

2: The victim transforms into a frog-like humanoid, gains the tongue attack of the Frog Lord and a bite attack. Can also leap anywhere within Far range as a move and leap over obstacles. Their bite can also pass on batrianthropy (a word I made up - shape-changing into a frog), if the victim fails a Luck (Con) save (each time bitten) but the victim always adopts the characteristics of 1, above.

3: The victim is transformed into a Giant Toad (ToA 201) with 3 HD and Bite 1d10.