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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent ! - Not to be missed
Review: Against the Giants was a great classic D&D adventure module. However, to spite the fact that I've been role-playing for many years, I never had the opportunity to play the original, nor even own a copy. So for myself, and all other players/DMs who've never experienced this adventure before, this AD&D adventure is invaluable, and I highly recommend it. Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff contains two separate adventures; Against the Giants, and Liberation of Geof. Against the Giants is designed for high level play, with a minimum of 9th level characters. And Liberation of Geof was included to allow for some low level adventuring. Contrary to comments by a previous reviewer, these two theme's are linked and the adventures can be tied together and completed by the same set of adventures as part of a DM's (Dungeon Master's) campaign. Low level parties can continually return to Geof to battle the oppressing forces. As these parties gain in experience and levels, and eventually begin to liberate town after town, they will very likely gain the attention of those behind the invasion of Geof. A good DM can easily integrate this scenario in to a campaign that eventually leads into the Against the Giants adventure. The duration and nature of the campaign is entirely up to the DM and his campaign style. Again, this is a must have for anyone without the original publication, and well worth the price. I found the entire book to be well written, easy to follow, and very entertaining. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: 5 stars if you've never gone up Against the Giants before...
Review: I agree with the previous review; for an old timer like me (started playing D&D back in the 70s) the Giants modules are absolute classics. However, I felt the new campaign section was weak, adding nothing to the original modules. That said, the original Giants adventures are phenomenal for someone unfamiliar with them. I suggest finding a copy of the old supermodule Queen of the Spiders that collects the Giants, Descent Into The Depths Of The Earth, Vault Of The Drow, and Queen Of The Demonweb Pits. It far better fulfills the promise of the Giants adventures, integrating them into a very fulfilling campaign.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent resource for Greyhawk fans
Review: I've always been a fan of Sean Reynolds work -- especially on the Star Cairns adventure and the Scarlet Brotherhood supplement -- and he does a good job here as well. He's hamstrung by the reprinting -- verbatium -- of the original adventure. It's the only module of the 'silver' editions that's reprinted like this, and I found that annoying. Why not spend the time to update the text to be better linked with the second (and much more useful) part of the book? Greyhawk fans, especially those with campaigns set in the southeastern Flanaess, should definitely pick up this book for its detailing of the lost kingdom of Geoff. For those who don't know, Geoff was overrun by giant forces during the Greyhawk Wars; the second half of this book is dedicated to kicking the brutes out of the realm. The book details more than a dozen locations in Geoff, and plants plenty of good adventure ideas. I would have prefered to see some more information on the Grand Duke of Geoff, but hey, I can do that myself. The biggest flaws I see in this book are the lack on integration with the original adventure, and the pathetic, somewhat inaccurate insert map. This book is crying out for a nice color wall map, even a small one, and I would gladly have shelled out a few more books to have one. I'm running it in my campaign now, and it provides a nice distraction from the ongoing intrigues of the group's home city (and provides a good place for them to run to when their enemies and/or the authorities start looking for them) If you're a DM who likes to add flesh to the skeleton of an adventure, then this is a great campaign supplement (and that's what it is -- a supplement, not a module). If you're looking to be spoonfed, or want to run something off-the-shelf, then its a lot less useful (esp. if you've run through the original).
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource for Greyhawk fans
Review: I've always been a fan of Sean Reynolds work -- especially on the Star Cairns adventure and the Scarlet Brotherhood supplement -- and he does a good job here as well. He's hamstrung by the reprinting -- verbatium -- of the original adventure. It's the only module of the 'silver' editions that's reprinted like this, and I found that annoying. Why not spend the time to update the text to be better linked with the second (and much more useful) part of the book? Greyhawk fans, especially those with campaigns set in the southeastern Flanaess, should definitely pick up this book for its detailing of the lost kingdom of Geoff. For those who don't know, Geoff was overrun by giant forces during the Greyhawk Wars; the second half of this book is dedicated to kicking the brutes out of the realm. The book details more than a dozen locations in Geoff, and plants plenty of good adventure ideas. I would have prefered to see some more information on the Grand Duke of Geoff, but hey, I can do that myself. The biggest flaws I see in this book are the lack on integration with the original adventure, and the pathetic, somewhat inaccurate insert map. This book is crying out for a nice color wall map, even a small one, and I would gladly have shelled out a few more books to have one. I'm running it in my campaign now, and it provides a nice distraction from the ongoing intrigues of the group's home city (and provides a good place for them to run to when their enemies and/or the authorities start looking for them) If you're a DM who likes to add flesh to the skeleton of an adventure, then this is a great campaign supplement (and that's what it is -- a supplement, not a module). If you're looking to be spoonfed, or want to run something off-the-shelf, then its a lot less useful (esp. if you've run through the original).
Rating: 
Summary: Save your money on this one.
Review: I've seen excellent quality in the Silver Anniversay editions of The Keep on the Borderlands and White Plume Mountain, which makes me wonder how this one snuck under the radar. The promise behind these modules is that they are going to be retrofitted with logic, plot, rounded characters - qualities that sometimes lacked in the classic originals, but are demanded by today's players. The implied promise is that they will expand upon the original material, or take it in a fresh direction. That did not happen in this module. The first three giants modules (which I already bought from a used book store) inserted -intact - into the module. Guys, if I'd wanted the original modules, I'd have bought the original modules. I bought Silver Anniversary because I wanted more. Packing a lot more of the same around the first three modules intact, does not really expand upon my gaming experience. Essentially, the rest of the Duchy of Geoff is packed around the 3 original giant fortresses. But this makes the module into more of a "world book" than an adventure module. There are X number of towns to liberate, each with a different kind of giant and smattering of orcs. But it's all much the same, and frankly, after the first 3 modules of giants, giants, giants, the rest of it will get tired quickly. There is a half-hearted attempt to provide a new motivation for the original giant attack on the Duchy of Geoff (a new villian) but strangely, the old villians still exist in the 3 intact main modules, with no acknowledgement of the new villian or motivation (and no interface for the players to discover it, in game). The DM notes offer a flake of bad advice on how to use the two kinds of villianous groups, explaining that they should use them to confuse the players. Without a good reason for either of them (the new villian's motivation is shaky, the original villians were just evil), the confusion is just frustrating. DM's need to do major tweaking of the plot to fix it. Further, the giant combats get tired after a long time for players who want to play anything other than a skirmish game. If you like traps, tricks and thinking, forget about it. If you like flat out combat with lots of bad guys, here you go. Finally, the story fails. I cannot accept, within the context of the Greyhawk world, that all the armies of Geoff were killed off by these giants, and that only a single party of adventurers will single handedly win the war. To patch it together, I've popped in a workable backstory, and I'm trying to put together an army to function as a backdrop for the characters. The players choose the general tactics of the army, and then take out key areas of the giants -commando style. It is clumsy though. I'm going to fast forward through parts of this module, and get to White Plume Mountain as fast as possible. Save your money and buy something else. There's not much here worth playing.
Rating:
Summary: It takes all kinds.
Review: Role Playing Games take all kinds of players, and all kinds of games. Some players prefer the original Against the Giants series - but these adventures were essentially hack and slash giant killing escapades. There was little to no backgournd information given because it wasn't needed - you simply teleported by conveniently left behind magic from one adventure to the next. Why the giants left the areas these teleports led to ungaurded is a far more serious plot failure than anything in the new material. The originals are reprinted verbatim because they make good giant strongholds, and can easily be included in the overall scope of the campaign. And in this context, there is much, much greater detail about why these strongholds exist where they do, and how they interact with their surroundings. The new material presents lightly detailed adventuring areas that offer a variety of challenges to a wide range of ability levels. There are secrets to be learned in every town and woods. Allies to be found, and enemies to be made. Unlike the original "Giants" series, there is ample opportunity for role-playing social interaction with the people, and even the monsters that inhabit the area. The new material does go in a fresh direction, does flesh out the old material, and does offer plausible explanations as to why the Giants were successful (air support, the Greyhwak Wars depleting resources for the defenders, etc...). Against the Giants, the Liberation of Geoff does have two downfalls. First, the writers do make you make some decisions on your own about what to include, why to include it, and how to present it to the players (eek! enforced use of the imagination!). Second, it trully is a large, almost monumental task to go about liberating every last little piece of the puzzle, and many groups may not have the stamina for it. Of course, there's absolutely NO REASON to approach the adventure that way, (give some clues a little early, and let the players get to the heart of the matter quickly)but if you do, it's an awful lot of work.
Rating:
Summary: It takes all kinds.
Review: Role Playing Games take all kinds of players, and all kinds of games. Some players prefer the original Against the Giants series - but these adventures were essentially hack and slash giant killing escapades. There was little to no backgournd information given because it wasn't needed - you simply teleported by conveniently left behind magic from one adventure to the next. Why the giants left the areas these teleports led to ungaurded is a far more serious plot failure than anything in the new material. The originals are reprinted verbatim because they make good giant strongholds, and can easily be included in the overall scope of the campaign. And in this context, there is much, much greater detail about why these strongholds exist where they do, and how they interact with their surroundings. The new material presents lightly detailed adventuring areas that offer a variety of challenges to a wide range of ability levels. There are secrets to be learned in every town and woods. Allies to be found, and enemies to be made. Unlike the original "Giants" series, there is ample opportunity for role-playing social interaction with the people, and even the monsters that inhabit the area. The new material does go in a fresh direction, does flesh out the old material, and does offer plausible explanations as to why the Giants were successful (air support, the Greyhwak Wars depleting resources for the defenders, etc...). Against the Giants, the Liberation of Geoff does have two downfalls. First, the writers do make you make some decisions on your own about what to include, why to include it, and how to present it to the players (eek! enforced use of the imagination!). Second, it trully is a large, almost monumental task to go about liberating every last little piece of the puzzle, and many groups may not have the stamina for it. Of course, there's absolutely NO REASON to approach the adventure that way, (give some clues a little early, and let the players get to the heart of the matter quickly)but if you do, it's an awful lot of work.
Rating:
Summary: It's a setting, and an adventure (but not exactly)
Review: The first half contains converted adventures from the original module. The second half contains the setting for Geoff, detailing sites and cities in the country. There is a pretty good pre-cursor to the whole thing which helps you tie everything together, if you wish. Personally, I used the book as a reference, and built my own campaign and plot around the setting. I took the three adventures and added them to my plot (with minor alterations). I have by no means used all the sites and the nice thing is you don't have to. Further, Reynolds does such a fantastic job of adding hooks into all the encounters, I have been able to build lots of side adventures as a break. The shear amount of detail and possibilities in this setting is what makes this selection great. If you are in 3rd edition, the adventures will requires some work to convert, but the setting is pretty minimal.
Rating:
Summary: It's a setting, and an adventure (but not exactly)
Review: The first half contains converted adventures from the original module. The second half contains the setting for Geoff, detailing sites and cities in the country. There is a pretty good pre-cursor to the whole thing which helps you tie everything together, if you wish. Personally, I used the book as a reference, and built my own campaign and plot around the setting. I took the three adventures and added them to my plot (with minor alterations). I have by no means used all the sites and the nice thing is you don't have to. Further, Reynolds does such a fantastic job of adding hooks into all the encounters, I have been able to build lots of side adventures as a break. The shear amount of detail and possibilities in this setting is what makes this selection great. If you are in 3rd edition, the adventures will requires some work to convert, but the setting is pretty minimal.
Rating:
Summary: Hmmm...Well...OK...But....
Review: This "deluxe" module actual contains 2 realisticallyindependent parts: Part 1: "Against the Giants" recantsword for word (with only minor changes due to...rule changes) the original classic. This alone makes it a item worth buying, IF you do not have the orginal module. Part 2: "The Liberation of Geoff" has vague and loose ties to the classic. Basically a bunch of small bland adventures (for a wide range of levels) linked together by the fact that it involves giants and tied together by a map. Whereas having an open ended adventure definitely has it's advantages, it just doesn't fit here as a part of a greater classic. You really can't easily flow from one part to the other with the same group of adventurers. If you have never played the original "Against the Giants" module, this is a must. If you have...and more importantly already have the module...there are better things to do with your money.
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