No thread about trolls is complete without this illustration.

Quote from: abcd_z;938684This raises an interesting question: how much can you change a troll before it is no longer recognizably a troll?

If I defined a troll as, for example, a human from a different dimension with grey skin, candy-corn horns, the occasional psionic ability, a caste system based on blood color, and a bizarre reproductive system, is it still a troll?

Dungeon had an adventure revolving around a singing troll (and good at it) and an improbable romance that could go comedy or tragedy. In D&D they werent allways dirt stupid. Hoard of the Dragon Queen for 5e also has a fairly smart troll too.

Quote from: Black Vulmea;938942And yet they are better defined for D&D than just about any other 'giant class' creature, as they come almost verbatim from Three Hears and Three Lions.

Actually theres a native american monster called Dzunukwa that is described as an ogress, though her description is is slightly like a D&D troll. She could regenerate from any harm except fire. But it took alot of fire to finally end her. As noted in the other thread. Probably coincidence. ( or maybee Anderson heard the legend or saw one of the masks.)

Quote from: Black Vulmea;938947No thread about trolls is complete without this illustration.

Really happened to Gary Gygax in Blackmoor.

Except the string got sucked out of his hand spaghetti-like.  Complete with "SLLLLUUUUUURRRRRRRPPPPPPP"  noise.

Quote from: Old One Eye;938881I see trolls as having about the least defined platonic form of any mythical creature.  When I played the troll in 5th grade Three Goats Gruff performance, my outfit was nothing at all like a DnD green, rubbery, regenerating giant.

So for me, humanoid is about all needed for a troll.

And "troll" in Scandinavia was a very generic term originally, much like "fairy" or "fae."

And Peer Gynt courted the troll-king's daughter.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;939229And "troll" in Scandinavia was a very generic term originally, much like "fairy" or "fae."

And Peer Gynt courted the troll-king's daughter.

And My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari-no-Totoro) is based on the Norwegian troll (as in under bridge), recast as forest-guardian. To-to-ro is a little girl's attempt at saying "to-ro-ru" or "troll" in Japanese.
https://kotaku.com/the-book-that-inspired-totoro-1686493227

I've always used trolls as a way to up the stakes. Mainly because due to the regenerative abilities, trolls young trolls wade into the fray heedless of the consequences, while older trolls are very cunning predators.

For example, in one campaign, I had locals trying to sell cattle to the group at exorbitant prices. When questioned about it, the locals were very upfront about the fact that there was a troll at the bridge a few days outside of town. They also mentioned that caravans payed well for the "troll insurance".

Needless to say, being adventurers full of piss and vinegar, tbey decided to save the gold.  And were royally screwed when said troll realized the danger several heavily armed people represented, and instead came up out of the river after the easy meal and dragged down their pack mule and took off underwater. With all their supplies. And gold.

And were even more pissed when they realized that having acquired said meal, the troll was content to flee down stream and had no intentions of fighting them.

Has anyone here read the Terry Prachett story "Troll Bridge?"

Quote from: Dave;938619I was really hoping this was about actual RPG related trolls since I'm considering running a Forgotten Realms game.

How do you guys make trolls interesting at the table?

I pair up the different kinds of trolls and ogres with the different types of hags. For example, the sea hag is the female aquatic troll or ogre. The annis is the female troll of the hills and the green hag is the female troll/ogre of the forest. I also tinker with the foils of these monsters. For my campaign's version of Grendel, I use an aquatic troll -only instead of regenerating, it is immune to bladed/pointed weapons, as is its mother, only she has the powers of an annis.

Beowulf is one inspiration; Ravaggio and Tourmentine from The Orange Tree and the Bee also come to mind as does the ogre and his witch wife in Time Bandits.

Quote from: David Johansen;939517Has anyone here read the Terry Prachett story "Troll Bridge?"

Indeed. There was an early Neil Gaiman story by the same name IIRC that was also quite good, though in a very different way.

Trolls will always have a very specific nostalgic implication in regards to gaming for me, as the year I discovered RPGs with a small group of friends in elementary school, we as a group gathered for the first time at my house upon my birthday of that year, where we also rented and watched for the first time an 80s film by the name of "Troll".

A 1986 horror film that was far better than it had any right to be, Troll featured a bevy of folkloric creatures invading our world, a fantastical history of a pseudo-medieval time of legends,and also introduced the world to a young boy wizard by the name of Harry Potter (not even joking, look it up). It also featured this absolutely mad musical number that I still get stuck in my head for days at a time:

[video=youtube;K2GcAVAmgbk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2GcAVAmgbk[/youtube]

Should you really change the troll attributes to avoid metagaming. Why not just not metagame.

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;939591Should you really change the troll attributes to avoid metagaming. Why not just not metagame.

As a DM, it's much easier to change a monster than it is to get PCs to stop using tactics that work. A hundred-plus years of novels and horror movies means that most people know that silver weapons will hurt werewolves, garlic and crosses will ward off vampires and so on. So use a new monster or change an existing one. One example I always use is taking the vampire, changing its name to the Baobhan Sith (the "White Ladies" of Gaelic folklore) and changing its weaknesses from garlic and running water to iron. There's no reason NOT to do the same with trolls: either change the name ("trow" is a good one) or change its weakness from fire and acid to sunlight -like the ones in Norse myths and The Hobbit.

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;939591Why not just not metagame.

What, did the twelve page thread on this very topic you started fail to answer this question for you? Like, in the very first reply, maybe?

Quote from: Elfdart;939691A hundred-plus years of novels and horror movies means that most people know that silver weapons will hurt werewolves,

See , that is exactly the sort of Hollywood invention that I would consider anathemic to the folklore-based settings I run.

You want to hurt a werewolf? You've got to find him during the day and steal the wolf pelt from him that he got from a demon at a crossroad, or poison the ungent that he smears over his body.

Quote from: Tristram Evans;939729See , that is exactly the sort of Hollywood invention that I would consider anathemic to the folklore-based settings I run.

You want to hurt a werewolf? You've got to find him during the day and steal the wolf pelt from him that he got from a demon at a crossroad, or poison the ungent that he smears over his body.

Or hit the werewolf with weapons coated in wolfsbane. Silver doesnt work.

Or get the wolfsbane into that unguent. Watch the fun next wolfout. ow.

On that note. The only way to kill a troll is to immerse them in running water. Turns them permanently into stone.