Storm KingâÂÂs Thunder is an adventure module for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
Storm King Hekaton is "mysteriously absent from the Forgotten Realms, leaving the Giant races he usually holds in check free to unleash an invasion across the realm. With Frost Giants raiding the Sword Coast, the cities of the Cloud Giants appearing above BaldurâÂÂs Gate, and Fire Giants assaulting the deserts, the small folk of Faerûn have to band together before they're all crushed beneath the heel of the Giant races... both figuratively and literally". This adventure module is designed to take player characters from 1st level to 11th level.
The table of contents lists the follow sections:
Storm King's Thunder was released on September 6, 2016, as a 256-page hardcover book. It was also released as a digital product through the Wizards of the Coast licensees D&D Beyond, Fantasy Grounds, and Roll20. Storm King's Thunder was the second official 5th edition adventure module to be released on Roll20.
On the development of Storm KingâÂÂs Thunder, Chris Perkins, Lead Designer of the book, said "in the case of the Giant's story, for 5th edition, we found an ancient lore from an old book called Giant Craft. This idea of an Ordning, it's sort of like the structure of Giant society. In the Storm King's Thunder, the basic story is, well, what happens if that Ordning is shattered? The Giants basically have to go out into the world and earn the respect and favor of their Gods to create a whole new Ordning, and what that does to the small folk of the world, when the Giants are stomping around doing all kinds of bad stuff".
Jeremy Crawford, Dungeons & Dragons Lead Rules Developer, noted that Storm King's Thunder continued the trend of including queer characters in 5th edition products. Crawford highlighted the Osstra family ("52-year-old wheat farmer Thelbin Osstra, his husband Brynn, and Brynn's adopted nephew Broland") in Nightstone and said "that was a nod specifically to our household. [...] Although the two men are older than my husband and I are".
WizKids, a Wizards of the Coast licensee, released 45 miniatures that correspond with the adventure in September 2016.
The 10th expansion of the Neverwinter video game aligned the free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game with the Storm KingâÂÂs Thunder storyline including a new campaign, a new dungeon and three new zones.
In 2017, IDW Publishing released a five-issue mini-series comic called Frost GiantâÂÂs Fury. The tie-in comic centered on a group of heroes from BaldurâÂÂs Gate and was written by Jim Zub with art by Netho Diaz.
In Publishers Weekly's "Best-selling Books Week Ending September 19, 2016", Storm KingâÂÂs Thunder was #21 in "Hardcover Nonfiction" and sold 3,857 units. Storm KingâÂÂs Thunder was included in The A.V. Club<nowiki/>'s 2016 Gift Guide.
Alex Springer, for SLUG Magazine, wrote "where most campaigns tend to begin in some kind of neutral, relatively safe location, Storm KingâÂÂs Thunder thrusts our intrepid adventurers into a recently sieged village that is being picked apart by goblins. [...] Allowing the players to shift gears and take the role of a relatively normal person in the middle of a city-wide attack lets players experience the fantastic world of Dungeons & Dragons from the eyes of a civilian. In a game that expects its players to become superheroes, it was a nice dose of reality to see what itâÂÂs like to face a supernatural being without the benefit of supernatural powers. As we continued through the campaign, I was impressed at how well Storm KingâÂÂs Thunder balanced structure with improvisational freedom. [...] WeâÂÂre not talking about generic âÂÂgo fetchâ missions or cleansing ruin after ruin of its monstrous occupants, eitherâÂÂone chance encounter finds the players manipulating a lovesick hill giant into betraying her husband-stealing queen. Based on my experience running Storm KingâÂÂs Thunder as a novice DM, I continue to be impressed with the quality of work that Wizards of the Coast puts into their roleplaying game peripherals. The art is fantastic, the maps are meticulous and all of it is set against a Shakespearean story of corruption, betrayal and power".
Cameron Kunzelman, for Paste, wrote "reading through Storm KingâÂÂs Thunder for the first time gave me the strongest itch that I have ever had to actually put a party through a pre-created adventure. The adventure is created in such a way that any given location contains a dozen plot hooks, interesting characters, and beautiful descriptions that would be suitable for an entire campaign. [...] ItâÂÂs hard to be specific here without stealing some of the wonder, but let me tell you about some of the things I found to be the most wonderful in Storm KingâÂÂs Thunder. ThereâÂÂs a 40,000+ year old kraken wizard who hangs out in the ocean using its telekinetic powers to lure people into its service from hundreds of miles away. ThereâÂÂs a fire giant who wants to reassemble a magical Voltron to punch dragons in the mouth with. [...] Of course, there are parts I donâÂÂt enjoy as much. Storm King's Thunder is very equitable when it comes to gender, with many giant lords being women and the gender assignment of many NPCs being up to DM discretion. However, that macro plot I mentioned before starts off with [an] old-fashioned fridging of King HektonâÂÂs wife Queen Neri, and it's such a conspicuous, trope-y stumble that I initially assumed that it was meant to be commentary of some kind (as far as I can tell, though, it's just a plot point)".
Cecilia D'Anastasio, for Kotaku in a review comparing Out of the Abyss and Storm KingâÂÂs Thunder, wrote "after a few pages of lore and history about the giants of the Forgotten Realms, Chapter One starts players in a deserted settlement infested with goblins. [...] The only real hook into Storm KingâÂÂs ThunderâÂÂs opening moments is the bell ringing from the bell tower, where goblins are gleefully swinging on a rope. There it was: the easy opening. Go to the bell tower. Explore the town. [...] Players got a strong sense of each othersâ characters by exploring the empty settlement. It's just a start, but the simplicity of Storm KingâÂÂs ThunderâÂÂs first chapter made it fun. The experience of it wasnâÂÂt prescribed, and players werenâÂÂt made servile by ten NPCs, four hanging towers and thirteen fungi. Later on, when shit gets real in the Savage Frontier, I welcome the new Dungeons & Dragons adventure to throw what itâÂÂs got at us. The first chapter isnâÂÂt the time for that. The lack of content in the intro to Storm KingâÂÂs Thunder, for some, was also paralyzing. [...] But IâÂÂd rather players meet the challenge of creativity than suffocate in the embrace of a too-meaty adventure. At least weâÂÂre picking up the game again".
James Haeck, for Geek & Sundry, wrote "before we can see why Roll20 does Storm KingâÂÂs Thunder so well, letâÂÂs talk about the adventure itself. Storm KingâÂÂs Thunder is technically a sequel to 5eâÂÂs first story arc, Tyranny of Dragons, in the way that Captain America: Civil War is a sequel to Age of Ultron. You donâÂÂt need to have played or even read Tyranny to âÂÂgetâ this adventure, but you'll enjoy some easter eggs. This adventure is also shorter than the others. [...] I still prefer the tactile sensation of flipping pages [...] but Roll20âÂÂs GM tools are startlingly useful. I love showing my players images from the adventure, for instance. All of the illustrations that you'd find in the book are loaded into Roll20âÂÂs image database, and it's much easier to just click a âÂÂshare with everyoneâ button than to awkwardly turn the hardcover around, try (and fail) to cover the spoilery text, and probably break the bookâÂÂs binding in the process. The interactive Table of Contents makes flipping through Roll20âÂÂs format infinitely easier than leafing through a print book. It's even easier than using a PDF with a hyperlinked Table of Contents, since you can always pop it open from the right-hand sidebar without closing your other open windows. A small negative; the adventure frequently mentions PlayerâÂÂs Handbook or Dungeon MasterâÂÂs Guide, not by page number, but by chapter number. And since they can't hyperlink to those books, it's a small grievance, but one with cascading effects".
Product pages on:
Dragon+ issue 12 (February 27, 2017):