Welcome to the campaign journal chronicling the battle against the stone giant clans of Flóndisheim. This adventure became the DUNGEON DELVE module DDS5 Valley of the Stone Giant Clans. The journal features the main characters from my weekly Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) group, who began their careers a few years ago as 1st-level characters.

Spell-casting and spell-like abilities grant monsters in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) a significant advantage over those without such powers. However, these powers are only as effective as the Dungeon Master’s (DM) ability to employ them properly. In practice, many such abilities go unused. There is a natural tendency to expend a monster’s most powerful damage-causing spells first and then resort to physical attacks.

This article presents a detailed, step-by-step walkthrough of the First Edition combat process, using a sample dungeon encounter to illustrate how surprise, initiative, spellcasting, movement, and combat resolution function in play. Where appropriate, notes identify the specific rulebook sections from which each procedure is drawn.

Combat is a central feature of every edition of Dungeons & Dragons. In a melee round, combatants jockey for position, missiles streak toward their targets, and spells are unleashed amid the chaos. The rulebooks present this process as orderly and well-defined.