Final Thoughts on "Storm King's Thunder"

In no particular order:

• It was okay, but not great. The theme, "Shakespearean Giants" really didn't seem to come through in the material we got to. It's better expressed once the party get to Hekaton's court, but by then you've been playing for a year! That's too late to be introducing your theme.
  
  
• The early chapters really benefit from the DM being willing to flesh out the skeleton that is there. That suited me well enough, so that's all to the good.
  
  
• 5e's Exploration mechanics pretty much suck, and Interaction are little better. Given that that's two of the three pillars of the game, that's not a great showing. Again, the DM really needs to shore up those weaknesses.
  
  
• Giants make for fairly poor opponents - they're basically a big bag of hit points with limited ranged attacks and almost no spellcasting or other interesting features. This weakness becomes especially noticable when you're fighting them over and over again, and when running short sessions that don't favour long grindy combats.
  
  
• The TPK was unfortunate, but was an entirely sensible outcome given the way the dungeon in question was structured. If the PCs give warning, it made sense that the fire giants converged with overwhelming force, and the PCs' ability to meaningfully retreat was always limited.
  
  
• Yeah, I was most definitely ready for something new!

It was a fun campaign, and the dynamic around the table was good. That said, "Lost Mine of Phandelver" was vastly superior. My inclination for the future is that a year-long campaign spanning the lower levels, and featuring a wider variety of opponents, is definitely the way to go with this group.