In 1st Edition D&D, you scored the most XP for finding treasure (including magic items). Then you got XP for defeating monsters, but at risk to life and limb. The reason the valuable magic items are hidden, is searching carefully for treasure is a focus of play. There were no skill check rules -- you just said how your character was interacting with the environment, and the DM told you what happened/what you found based on what you said you were doing, though there were detection rolls for secret doors.

I played this in First Edition as a kid in the 70-80’s and it was incredibly fun. Gary was a genius, and this trilogy was very fun and kept us playing every week. We were blown away when it lead us into the Underdark, and the city of the drow, with the Vault of the Drow. Others have commented, but it’s pronounced stead-ing as in ‘head’. Her name is pronounced E-clavdra. Keep going, you can only get better.

About the secret doors -- the module was one of the first tournament modules for D&D, so it's designed as a player skill test. Note that if the players are mapping, hidden rooms can be revealed as blank spots on the map. Also, they can take prisoners, who could bargain for their lives by leading them to the treasure room, or tell them about Eclavdra and the teleporter.

I find it amusing the complaint about no story line. The early modules were made this way the DM could create the storyline to fit their world and creativity. The further refinements of this and the other two modules of the series is given more in later versions. Even then it was left open enough for the DM to use the Mojo appropriately. It’s not like the 5e modules that are overly done with storyline.

Good run through of the story, thanks in particular for highlighting the shortcomings and points of difficulty with character decisions.

Consider for the secret door that the manticore cloak might be moving slightly due to the draft of air moving through the door's cracks which should be significant enough for it to stand out among the other decorations.

A typical shield is less than 1/2 inch thick, so Detect Magic should very much work to find the magic item behind it.

good video & Great tips.

Can’t wait to use this when my group runs this dungeon. You should consider doing other modules! Maybe start with Tyranny if Dragons? I really love your format. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for.

I am running it now. Had the player characters magically teleported by a wild mage who appealed to the cosmos for heroes. They set a recon of the Steading first, and stalked and killed some small hill giant raiding parties departing from their base. The characters met some of the local villages being raided, and made some friends. They did a good job of sneaking around and finding good tactical opportunities for combat. They are heading downstairs next. Good review!

Helpful and well presented - thanks 👍

Old school groups used to check everything and every item as they knew they had too. Woe to the lazy character.

Good stuff, I'm planning on tacking on the ADQ series following the portion of the Saltmarsh series I'm running for my group.

As far as searching goes i used to give the players a description of the room with the obvious features and they would invariably ask for more details which i would provide along with some hints. If they said something like i search the room I’d ask for more details, like what are they hoping to find where are they looking, how are they going about it, etc. Depending on the response i would decide how long the search takes, what treasures or secret doors they find and roll for random encounters. They would usually find the biggest treasures and the most obvious concealed doors plus anything in/on/under the specific items they mentioned. That would cover the 7th shield thing. It would only take a few minutes for the players but the characters would be searching for an hour or more. I think actually describing how and where your looking sort of kicks in your sense of adventure and is more rewarding when you actually find something, than “I rolled a 20 what did i find?”

The 5e conversion for the drow modules that follow the giant modules are on DM's Guild.

Well in answer to your question of did he expect characters to do X. Yes, yes he certainly did. It was a different age and his attitude was a little different than what we have today.

If you reward them, even if small, for checking every nook and cranny then they will check all the things. Even if it’s a silver spoon worth 3gp

Yeee get it GIMP!

FYI, steading is pronounced like "heading" not "steeding." Also, it's E-clavdra (one L), not EL-clavdra (two Ls).

I’m currently running this module. I’m concerned that my players are going to get combat fatigue playing it, but this is the conundrum with 5e and the lack of tier 3 adventures. Other observations: none of the exterior doors are locked! My party went in through the east door and funnelled the dire wolves, killing them outside the compound. Also, the secret doors are crude so only a perception of 12 (or a passive 15) is needed to spot them.

Ha! I’m the 1000th subscriber.

Could you upload a picture of the map with the enemies in it? It'd be super helpful to have.

So many claimed they just burned it down and if so their DM failed to actually read the module.

What would you recommend for the group (5 players lv 11) to start with equipment on this adventure. How much money, magic item, potions, scrolls etc

Much of your concern about the lack of story was that the G-series were originally tournament games. So you didn't extensive set ups...

my players finally finished the Hill Giant Steading and found pretty much nothing. they chose to burn down the house to kill as many giants as quickly as apossible. i allowed them to burn it down, but it resulted in no such free kills. i also proceeded to grant no available loot on the ground level in the rubble... but they never even went looking.

Unless the shield are made of lead detect magic would work just fine. Steel shields are like sheet metal thick. Wooden shields aren’t even a full inch

meh. the 'story' emerges from the actions of the players. modules with a canned storyline inevitably end up as railroad fests so that the DM can stick to the modules storyline.

It is pronounced like 'stedding' as in rhymes with sledding, not 'steeding' 8>D

St-ee-ding? Really. The word is pronounced so as to rhyme with head not need.

I can tell you're a 5th edition player.

From reading some of the modules and watching these vids i feel that 5e is a “Roll” playing game not a “Role” playing game. I don’t really understand the perception rolls, shouldn’t the players be perceptive? If the characters can hear or smell something the DM should just tell them and leave it up to the players to work out what it could mean. I watched a game and the player asked the DM what his character thought of the situation, the DM said make a roll????? Don’t ask me its your character what do you think! Don’t players have to think anymore? Just roll the dice and listen to the story! One supposed DM said a secret door was stupid because it was at the bottom of a pit and covered with rock coloured paper. Oh how are the PCs supposed to find that? I don’t know, how about poke it with a stick? As for treasure, your supposed to earn it, not just have it handed to you. Thats why the old adventures had tons of stuff the average party would only find 10 or 20% of it, and magic items weren’t identified right away you had to work it out through trial and error or pay a sage to do the hard work for you.