Dungeon Crawl Classics #21: Assault on Stormbringer Castle (OGL) PDF

Recently, several coastal towns have been battered by storms that have wrecked property and taken lives. Locals believe the storms have been caused by a storm giant seeking to extort tribute, and are in need of adventurers to raid her castle and put an end to her antics. It's a tough challenge for sure... is the party up to the task?

The introductory material for the DM covers an adventure summary, notes on scaling the adventure for parties stronger than the recommended 4-6 characters of 12th-14th levels (it's suggested that weaker parties will only be going to their deaths!), an encounter table, and a few hooks to get the party involved, all based around the 'locals ask for help' premise. The backstory explains why the greedy storm giant has been asking for more and more money in 'good weather tribute' - something the party may or may not find out for themselves, she's certainly not seen fit to inform the locals she is extorting - and a little about the coastal towns affected.

The adventure proper starts with the party approaching the storm giant's castle, which stands on a mountain by the coast some ten miles north of the towns. The first part of the adventure involves getting up to the castle itself without alerting her or her minions, which involves getting past assorted monsters she permits to live on the mountainside. Options include going up the path, climbing the mountain or taking to the air, and means of dealing with pesky adventurers using any of these routes are provided. Once up there, the castle grounds are enormous - and of course, must be crossed to gain access to the castle itself. There's no shortage of monsters in the grounds and on the curtain wall to stand in the party's way.

Once the party reaches it, the actual tower is built giant-scale as well - not very surprising seeing as the storm giant lives there, but it's good to see it designed that way not just scaled up a bit to accommodate her. It's filled with wonders - and some perverted plants - and a tome that brings a whole new meaning to being lost in a book! The climax is, of course, a brawl with the giant herself... but this ends in a way that leads neatly on to the next adventure in the series.

There is a lot to do, see and fight here, plenty of inventiveness in the surroundings and good use of giants - and their cohorts - for what they are rather than the same as anyone else only bigger.

This dungeon really made me stand up and dance. The creatures were phenomenally intelligent, and designed terrain to take advantage of their natural abilities.

The entire thing seemed very well thought out, and I loved that there was a built-in sequel that seemed to function and carry through WITHOUT seeming stupid or contrived.

I was very pleased with the encounters in this dungeon, and all of the NPCs made sense within their own context.