Hello, adventurers! MsBrowns here, and I am buzzing. Our party has just spent the better part of a year rampaging across the Savage Frontier, and I’ve surfaced from my dice-strewn desk to tell you about the Dungeons & Dragons campaign we’ve been battling through: Storm King's Thunder.

Let me be blunt. This campaign is, as the user who asked me to write this said, EPIC.

When Wizards of the Coast released this 256-page hardcover adventure, they didn't just create a module; they forged a saga. Designed to take a party of adventurers from level 1 all the way to level 11 (and beyond), this book isn't a linear dungeon crawl. It's a sprawling, ambitious, and truly colossal sandbox set across the entirety of the North of Faerûn. It has everything: tiny villages in peril, massive cities under siege, political intrigue, ancient magic, hidden lairs, and, of course, giants. Lots and lots of giants.

So, this isn't just a review; it's our party's experience, my DM expertise, and a trustworthy guide to whether this giant-sized adventure is right for your table.

Strap in. This is a big one.

The Premise: Why Are Giants Stomping the North?

The hook for Storm King's Thunder is simple, elegant, and terrifying. The giants are back, and they are angry.

But this isn't a random rampage. The campaign's core conflict is rooted in deep D&D lore. The Ordning, the divinely-enforced social structure for all giant-kind has been shattered. For millennia, this structure kept every giant in its place: the wise Storm Giants ruled at the top, followed by the scheming Cloud Giants, the formidable Fire and Frost Giants, the reclusive Stone Giants, and the brutish Hill Giants at the bottom.

Now, their god, Annam the All-Father, has broken this caste system. Why? Because he's furious the giants did nothing to stop the rise of Tiamat (a brilliant nod to the Tyranny of Dragons campaign).

With no Ordning, it's a "might is right" free-for-all. Every giant lord is now scrambling to prove their race should rule.

• Hill Giants are gluttonously devouring all the food they can find.

• Frost Giants are pillaging the coasts in their longships, searching for powerful magical items.

• Fire Giants are unearthing an ancient dragon-slaying colossus, the Vonindod.

• Cloud Giants are scouring the land for long-lost dragon hoards.

• Stone Giants are... well, they've become strangely nihilistic, emerging from their subterranean homes to smash the surface world.

And the Storm Giants? Their king, Hekaton, the one person who could possibly restore order is missing.

This is where you come in. You're not just adventurers; you're tiny specks of hope in a land suddenly ruled by titans.

A Colossal Sandbox: The Savage Frontier

The real star of this adventure is the setting. Chapter 3, "The Savage Frontier," is legendary. This is a cold, rugged, and sparsely populated land. After a couple of introductory chapters that catapult your party to level 5, the book essentially opens the map and says, "Right, where to?"

And what a map it is. We're talking about a vast swathe of Faerûn, from Icewind Dale in the far north, down past Neverwinter and Waterdeep, and east to the desert of Anauroch. This is the classic, high-fantasy Faerûn that many of us fell in love with. Our party spent weeks (in-game and out) just exploring, getting lost, and stumbling into adventure. You might be chasing down a lead in Silverymoon one session and defending a tiny village from orcs the next, all while a Cloud Giant's flying castle drifts menacingly overhead.

A Quick Word for DMs

This sandbox is incredible, but it is not for an unprepared Dungeon Master. This isn't a "read-the-next-room" module. Chapter 3 is a toolkit. It gives you hundreds of locations, encounter tables, and plot hooks.

As a DM, you must do your homework. You need to read ahead, understand your players' motivations, and be prepared to weave their personal quests into the overarching giant threat. If you do, it's the most rewarding campaign you'll ever run. If you don't, your players will feel lost and adrift in a world that's too big for them. My advice? Work with your players to create characters who have strong ties to the North. Give them a reason to care about Bryn Shander or Goldenfields. It makes the giant attacks in Chapter 2 so much more personal.

Meet the Big Lads: The Giant Lords (Expertise)

The core of the adventure involves investigating, and eventually confronting, these new giant lords in their lairs. This is where the campaign truly shines, moving from sandbox exploration to high-stakes, lair-assaulting action. Each lair is unique and dripping with flavour.

• Hill Giants (Grudd Haug): A disgusting, muddy, ramshackle fortress built around a stolen riverboat. The 'throne room' is a pigsty, and their leader, Chief Guh, is trying to become the biggest, fattest giant in the world. It’s grotesque and brilliant.

• Stone Giants (Deadstone Cleft): A gloomy, subterranean canyon where the giants are carving disturbing art, convinced the surface world is an illusion they must destroy. It's a surreal, eerie dungeon.

• Frost Giants (Svardborg): A fortress of jagged icebergs and captured ships in the freezing Sea of Moving Ice. Jarl Storvald is a classic Viking raider, brutal and relentless, obsessed with finding the Ring of Winter.

• Fire Giants (Ironslag): My personal favourite. This is a massive industrial forge-city built into a volcano. Duke Zalto is using slaves to build a colossus to wage war on dragonkind. It's pure metal, filled with smoke, lava, and armoured mammoths.

• Cloud Giants (Lyn Armaal): A stunning, opulent castle... on a flying cloud. Count Sansuri is a sophisticated, arrogant giant searching for dragon lore. This lair can be an elegant infiltration mission or a chaotic aerial battle.

You don't have to tackle all of them. The adventure guides you towards the one most relevant to your party's actions, but for completionists, there's enough content here for years.

How It Plays: Our Party's Journey (Experience)

Here's how our campaign unfolded, starting with our DM's fantastic custom prologue.

Our Custom Prologue: From Stormwreck to Waterdeep

One of the best things about D&D is linking campaigns. Our DM tied Storm King's Thunder directly to our previous adventure on Stormwreck Isle. A year prior, in 1494 DR, our old heroes were warned by their mentor, Runara, of "concerning rumours" on the Sword Coast. She suggested they contact the Lords' Alliance for work.

This set the stage perfectly. Our new characters were all connected to that original party; siblings, old friends, or proteges who had perhaps inherited a key item from them. A year later, in 1495 DR, we all arranged to meet in Waterdeep to find our own adventure.

Instead of starting in Nightstone, our campaign began in the bustling, massive city of Waterdeep. It was the end of Eleasis (Highsun), and unseasonably warm. As newcomers to the city , we were advised to look for work in the Trades Ward , a place of constant, noisy business. One of our party members found a promising, if faded, job posting on a board: "6 guards for a merchant travelling to Nightstone and back". The pay was 10 gp per day. We agreed to meet up at The Safehaven Inn in the South Ward to discuss it.

The next morning, we all converged on the employer's warehouse: 'Goodbarrel’s and sons'. Just as we arrived, we heard a crash. Two rough-looking humans burst out of a side door and fled, one with a rusty half-sword and the other a hammer. Cautiously, we entered and were confronted by a halfling at the top of some stairs, who we learned was Milo Goodbarrel. Before we could even apply, he studied us, muttered "humpf," and pulled a rope. A mechanical whoosh sounded, and an iron cage dropped from the ceiling!

After we (mostly) dodged it, Milo came down, laughing. It was a "small test of skill". He was desperate; he complained that the Lords’ Alliance was "poaching" all the decent guards. This was a brilliant hook tied back to Runara's original advice and showed us the consequences of the growing giant threat (which was already stoking fear in the coastal cities ) before we'd even left Waterdeep. We had to prove our worth and he offered us the job for 10gp a day plus board.

This custom intro was perfect. When we set off on Day 4, the weather was bright. We were new adventurers, optimistic and enjoying the prospect of a simple guard job. The rumours we'd heard about giants and dragons felt like "stories... and not real". We had no idea what we were riding into.

Chapter 1: A Great Upheaval

Our job as guards for Milo Goodbarrel was to escort him to Nightstone. This is the adventure's recommended starting location, but our custom prologue in Waterdeep made the arrival so much more impactful. The party arrives to find a village that has been devastated. Boulders have been dropped from the sky, the central keep is gone, and goblins are picking over the scraps. It’s an incredible, action-packed mystery that ends with the party at level 5.

• My Take: This chapter is a bit of a "rocket." It's designed to get you to the real meat of the adventure (Chapter 2) fast. It works, but it can feel a little rushed. Our custom lead-in gave us more time to breathe and made the shock of Nightstone hit so much harder.

Chapters 2 & 3: The Attack and The Sandbox

This is where the campaign ignited. Our party (now level 5) travelled north to Bryn Shander in Icewind Dale. We were in the middle of a transaction when the alarm bells rang. A horn blared in the blizzard. And then, Frost Giants and their Winter Wolves smashed through the gates.

It was terrifying. We weren't fighting for treasure; we were fighting for our lives alongside the town guard. This attack (which can also happen in Triboar or Goldenfields) gives the party a personal reason to hate the giants and a "call to action" from a powerful NPC.

From there, we were unleashed into the Savage Frontier (Chapter 3). We spent months chasing leads, visiting places like Silverymoon and Everlund, and slowly piecing together the puzzle.

Chapters 4-9: The Path & The Lairs

The sandbox funnels brilliantly into Chapter 4: The Chosen Path. We found the Eye of the All-Father, an ancient giant oracle. This is where the plot clicks into place. The oracle reveals King Hekaton is missing, the Ordning is broken, and it points you towards the lairs of the giant lords.

Our party, having survived the Bryn Shander attack, had a serious grudge against the Frost Giants. But we were terrified of them. We heard rumours of the Fire Giants and their forge, and our party's dwarf barbarian demanded we investigate. One long journey to the volcano later, and we were infiltrating Ironslag. It was an unforgettable, multi-session assault.

Chapters 10-12: The Epic Finale (No Spoilers!)

Once you've dealt with a giant lord (or two), you get a magic item that allows you to reach the Hold of the Storm Giants.

I won't spoil the end, but I will say this: the plot is thicker than you think. The giants are a massive, world-ending threat, but there are other, older forces pulling the strings. When our party finally realised who the real villains were a legendary ancient blue dragon named Iymrith and a terrifying Kraken (likely tied to the secretive Kraken Society ) our jaws hit the floor. The final act of this campaign is a high-stakes, deeply satisfying, and truly epic conclusion to your journey.

The Final Verdict: Is Storm King's Thunder Worth It?

Yes. A thousand times, yes.

Storm King's Thunder is a masterpiece of modern D&D 5e design. It perfectly balances a structured, high-stakes plot with true player freedom. It provides a DM with a 256-page toolkit to run a campaign in the most iconic part of the Forgotten Realms.

It’s an adventure that feels classic. It harkens back to the legendary Against the Giants modules of old but is updated with the smooth mechanics and gorgeous production of 5th Edition. The art is stunning, the lairs are inspired, and the sense of scale is unmatched.

It's a huge undertaking, especially for the DM. But if your group wants to feel like true, high-fantasy heroes saving the world from a colossal threat, I cannot recommend Storm King's Thunder enough. It has earned its place as one of the all-time greats.