Lore of the Giant Kings by Cliff Dunn is a role playing game supplement published by ZealZaddy for use with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
The supplement is available as a 12 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. One page is the front cover, one the front matter, one the Contents and one the Open Game License.
The first two pages of content are taken up by some links to Free City of Vadashar material, a sidebar, Welcome to the Free City of Vadashar, that is duplicated from other supplements and gives background and history of the city, and some details on using the Giant Kings in a non-Vadashar or a Vadashar campaign.
Lore of the Giant Kings explains that Zul was ruled by the Ancient Ones in the distant past, whose reign ended when the megacontinent was enveloped in sheets of ice. Some of their servitors, such as a species of Yuan Ti, survived, using primitive apemen as servants and building an empire that spanned the continent. Their empire was finally overthrown when the mighty, godlike beings known as the Giant Kings arrived.
The Giant Kings sped up the evolution of the semi-intelligent apes and were said to have come from the heavens. They ruled the continent but eventually put their progeny in charge, who were less than ideal, and who eventually fought the Giant Kings, bringing down the empire. Some of their descendants are believed to still live on the megacontinent, including the giants.
Adventure Hooks has three different hooks. The first is to head to an outpost of the Giant Kings, now protected by an enormous ape. The second is to assist Lord Trimalkes in an attempt to create a tour of the sites associated with the Giant Kings around the Khalif Valley. The third involves what appears to be a star chart, but one displaying unfamiliar stars.
Lore of the Giant Kings in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and has enough sections that these would have been useful. The Contents is to a reasonable level of depth and is hyperlinked. Navigation is okay. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of colour stock images, up to full page in size. Presentation is decent.
Much of this supplement is background material without game stats, and is such suitable for other systems. Only the adventure hooks have stats, and these should be easy enough to convert, even those for the giant ape. As stated, the legends are similar to those of many settings, so the material could be used in other settings should that be needed. There are definite similarities to the Serpent Men of Valusia in the background. Lore of the Giant Kings is a decent bit of background for the setting and can be found by clicking here.
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