Cyclopes, Ettins, Hill Giants, and Ogres: The June 2026 RPG Blog Carnival

I'm pleased to be host of the June 2026 RPG Blog Carnival. Thanks to Scot Newbury for diligently organizing the carnival for yet another year. This month I'm inviting you to consider the following subject: Cyclopes, Ettins, Hill Giants, and Ogres. I've chosen this topic for a simple reason: ogres and their ilk are too often boring, and I'm hoping you can help me fix that. Whenever I read the relevant entries of The Monsters Know What They're Doing (2019), I get the impression that Keith Ammann finds the 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons versions of the lesser giants boring, too. He says on page 256, "Ogres and cyclopes are dumb, simple brutes. They have no tactics." And he says on page 255, "The one thing that makes an ettin interesting as an enemy is that it's difficult to surprise." Ammann's considerations here are strictly tactical, but I'm not much more impressed by the flavour text: everything is pointed toward coarseness and strength, toward uncivilized brutes. Ogres are big,…