The D&D tournament at ORIGINS '78 involved over 275 players and
judges in two days of grueling, torturous fun honed sharp by the nature of
the competition. Teams of nine each adventured through up to three
rounds slaying giants and other fearsome monsters and searching for clues
as to the power behind an unusual collaboration of giants preying upon
man and his allied races. All of the groups who made it into the second and
third rounds displayed a commendable mixture of foresight,
thoughtfulness, and just plain “guts it” daring in their play of the game. It is
this winning combination of brains and brawn which ultimately provides
the most enjoyable gaming for both players and DM's. Here now is a
synopsis of the first two rounds and a blow-by-blow of the final round
provided by the first place team, with notes appended by the third round
judge and Your Kindly Editor (who also happened to be their second
round judge). Though there were a couple of substitutions due to people
not showing up for later rounds, the group was essentialy the same all
through the tournament, and the following people played the final two
rounds:    

    Bryan & Kathy Bullinger, Morgantown, WV
    Bill Holcomb, Morgantown, WV
    Paul Blythe, Morgantown, WV
    Dale Patton, Morgantown, WV
    Burce & Carol Ruttan, Inkster, MI
    James Griffin, E. Lansing, MI
    Ed Pistole, Trenton, MI

Bryan and Kathy Bullinger did most of the writing. This is their story.
    (DM’S notes are added in italics.)
 

Five members of our team all came from West Virginia University in
Morgantown, West Virginia, and we had all played together for at least
two years, with three having played together for four. Two of these three
are husband and wife. Another two team members were also husband
and wife; they live in Michigan and have been playing only a few months.
The other two team members also came from Michigan, but they had
never met before Origins.

The WV group’s philosophy has always been that of slash and hack
with a large dose of planning and cunning tossed in to insure our escape.
Discussions with the rest of the team members revealed that this was also
their approach to D&D. Throughout all three rounds we all felt our
primary purpose was to wreak total destruction while allowing a
reasonable chance for escape. We all felt that we displayed a great deal of
cunning and a good bit of (sometimes) intelligent planning in all three
rounds. We managed to kill more and do more than almost every other
team every round. We did this and still managed to keep everyone on our
team alive. We are happy, proud, and satisfied.

Luck helps, too. Seriously,, though, this team displayed a remarkable
ability, to work together. Playing together for a number of years certainly
helped, but even those that didn’t know the others worked well together.
They all knew how to follow their appointed leader when necessary, how
to disagree with him quickly and accurately, so that the flow of the game
was not slowed unnecessarily. As many teams lost by following a selfappointed
leader slavishly as lost due to constant bickering.
DM

Round One
The first round led us to the hill giant’s stronghold charged with the
dual purpose of punishing the giants and of finding out who or what was
behind their alliance. We gained entry through the east side entrace,
which turned out to be the kennel. After casting a silence 15’ radius spell,
the dire wolves inside were quickly dispatched. We then searched a major
portion of the upper level and killed four or five giants in the process,
including an old matron whose potions and treasure we took.

We made a brief and fruitless entrance into the lower level only to set
off a trap which left six members of our party locked in combat with four
insane manticores. The manticores were killed without serious injury to
the group, and a passwall spell brought about an escape from the room.

We returned to the upstairs and charmed a hill giant into pointing
out which giant at the feast going on in the Great Hall was the chief. We
surrounded this room from two sides and sent the charmed giant into the
Hall with the order to point out the chief by kissing him on the cheek. This
was also to be the signal for our two groups to attack. Two fireballs, a
javelin of lightning, a confusion spell, and a good deal of slashing and
hacking later, the giants were wiped out to a man and the Steading was
aflame. The group, still intact, cut off the hill giant chiefs head and
quickly left by the front gate. The cleric blocked pursuit by casting a blade
barrier across the entrance. We then cast a speak with dead on the head,
and subsequent questioning revealed the next step to be taken on our
quest.

Kiss on the cheek, indeed! Still, the extent of the group’s on-the-spot
planning ability is already apparent. The setting for round one is
available from TSR. Called DUNGEON MODULE G1 (STEADING
OF THE HILL GIANT CHIEF) it costs $4.49. There is, of course, much
more to be uncovered in the module than was possible in one four-hour
adventure.
DM.

Round Two
The second leg of our quest, the frost giant’s lair, proved to be an icy
maze of caves surrounding a windy, snowbound glacial rift. We found a
war party preparing for a raid and once again used fireballs to good
effect — killing all of them. In this realm, fireballs proved to be the most
effective weapon available as they almost completely obscured all vision
and allowed our thief to strike from behind (which almost always
guaranteed a kill). After killing two snow leopards we then proceeded to
kill every giant we could find. A search after one such slaughter revealed a
chest with special armbands and treasure which we took with us. Once
again, the questioning of a dead giant guard provided the information we
needed to continue our quest to the next giant stronghold.

What is truly amazing about this second round is how much they
didn‘t kill and still managed to get into the third and final round. I’m sure
that they mentally kicked themselves for what they missed when they got
a chance to read over the material in DUNGEON MODULE G2
(GLACIAL RIFT OF THE FROST GIANT JARL), which is also
available from TSR for $4.49. 
DM.

[I had them for this round, and indeed, they missed a lot. However,
clever questioning led to clues which compensated for the low kill ratio.
— K.E.!]

Round Three
The third round led us to the entrance to the hall of the fire giants.
After using the dust of invisibility we quietly entered through the main
gate and snuck down the hall. A small amount of exploration led us to a
meeting room where several hundred parchments were kept in curtainedoff
alcoves. These were taken and placed in our bag of holding to be read
and searched later for clues. In another alcove off this room, we found
three treasure chests which netted us several thousand silver and gold
pieces and six batons which were passes for those “on official business on
behalf of King Snurre the Fearsome.” Unfortunately, our thief was
feathered with poison arrows while picking a lock, but a quick neutralize
poison saved him from the embarrassment of death.