Monster Monday - Troll

Troll Image from http://www.lomion.de/cmm/troll.php

My best guess is its a DiTerlizzi from 2E

Over at the "Silver Bulette Group" on Facebook (hopefully the link works), I put up a poll to see what monster I should do this week. Troll was the only one that received any votes. Trolls are a great mid-level creature. The biggest problem with them is everyone knows their weakness - fire. Frog God Games (Kickstarter link, not their website) might be fixing this problem with Tome of Horrors V. They are adding 6(!) trolls to the 5E lineup. Somehow, my Tomes of Horrors are all AWOL. So, I can't check to see if any are all new. Maybe one of the Frogs will stop by and let us know.

Deadly and common, trolls permeate D&D culture. They are in the earliest printings of every D&D game, from 0E, BECMI, all the way up to 5E. And in almost every clone and knockoff out there. Here is the Troll from S&W Complete:

Troll
Hit Dice: 6+3
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Attacks: 2 claws (1d4), 1 bite (1d8)
Save: 11
Special: Regenerate (3 hp/rd)
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 8/800
Special: Does not regenerate from acid or fire

Standard trolls in Mord Mar are similar. They are all "male." Trolls reproduce only asexually. When a troll needs help, it removes part of itself, and waits for a new troll to spring from the discarded body part. Fortunately, the trolls feel the pangs of hunger, and do not reproduce lightly.

In the fallen city of Mord Mar was a laboratory called Octana's Boilerworks. She was experimenting with using steam and heat to move things in a similar fashion to a windmill or watermill. Nobody knows how far along she was when Mord Mar was overrun. What is known is a troll named Gasbelly moved into her laboratory. The members from the Order of Lost Cups followed standard protocol in attacking the troll. They threw the oil and lit it with fire. This seemed to only make Gasbelly laugh. After this excursion, the Order disbanded, understanding they knew too little to continue in the darkness.

Near the city of Redstone resides a forest troll. Unlike his kin, he studies the arts of magic and nature, and has even been accepted into a druidic enclave. Unfortunately, he sees the city as a blight on his beautiful forest, and is attempting to learn how to summon fire elementals. If he accomplishes this goal, it is feared that he will burn everything inside the walls. What's worse, some of the elvish druids agree with his ideals and will thwart anyone looking for him. 

Deep within the Mausoleum of Lost Hope resides the medusa, Coberra. Several years ago, a troll wandered too close to her lair. A weird thing happened when she use her petrifying gaze on him. He turned to stone, but was still able to move. Sages think it was the troll's regenerative properties that caused this, but no-one has been close enough to test the hypothesis and live. What is known: Coberra and troll are inseparable now. And the troll no longer fears fire. 

The following encounter comes from my adventure, The Oracle of Stone and Flame (desktop link):
Encounter 4: Top Troll
The passageway spills through a wall into a room, with marble walls and a dug out, uneven floor. The room is probably 30 square, with a 15 foot high ceiling. In the corners are piles of rubble. There is a closed door in the far wall, about 5 feet above the current floor.
As the party searches, a 10 foot tall troll will burst out of one of the piles of rubble and attack.
Giant Troll
Hit Dice: 8+5
Armor Class: 4[15]
Attacks: 2 Claws (1d6), 1 Bite (1d8+1)
Save: 11
Special: Regenerates (3hp/round)
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 10/1,400
Treasure: Some of the marble in the piles is still large and intact enough to sell. The party can find 400 pounds of salvageable marble, worth 8000 gp to a builder or stonemason in town.

List of trolls to appear in D&D is here. There are many ways to spice up trolls to be an exciting challenge for your players. You can try using the Tolkien troll on them (they can only be destroyed by sunlight turning them to stone.) A unique troll might only be killed by submerging it in the running water of a river (Billy Goats Gruff, anyone?) Some trolls might not even be traditional trolls. An artifact allows them to regenerate within 100 yards may be an exciting adventure hook for your group. 

I hope you all enjoyed this article as much as I enjoyed writing it. Trolls, like their regeneration ability, can be reintroduced in countless ways that stay true to the collective idea of a troll.

Eleventh Hour Monster Monday - Shrieker

As usual, the holidays are screwing up my routine. It's going continue to happen until after the new year. That said, let us talk about shriekers.

Image found on Wikicommons.

Shriekers are a fascinating creature. They are not dangerous at all. Instead they attract other monsters when they are disturbed. They are a staple of megadungeons. Almost organic traps. Sometimes creatures use them as warning systems. Other use them as a dinner bell.

The shriekers near the Fallow Well are the only living creatures that the wraiths do not touch. The wraiths love the feeling of panic from adventurers and orcs as the shriekers scream.

Some myconids have bred shriekers in several colors. They do this trying to find a harmonic that will summon their demon queen, Zuggtomy. They have succeeded. Red, Red, Green, Blue, Blue and she will appear.

The orcs who now control the Finnius Brewery in Mord Mar have struck a deal with Acidander, the green dragon. Shriekers have been planted in the north alley of the brewery. When the shriekers sound, Acidander comes to their aid. For the grissly price of three warriors. He doesn't eat them, but is instead building his own army.

There is only one passage across the underground river in the Devil's Decision. A sea monster inhabits the waters.  It is attracted by the patch of shriekers on the far side. Chances are not everyone will be across when Dark Nessie shows up.

Megadungeon resources

Rhinegold and the Valkyries

licensed from Fat Goblin Games

I missed Monster Monday again. The holidays suck for schedules. What can I say. I'll try again next week. In the meantime, here's a few of the books and magazines that I look at when working on my megadungeon, Mord Mar. I am not including the books I listed here (my 5 important GM books.)

The Twisting Stair: I picked up copies of both volumes of this zine at North Texas, and they are both full of good ideas if you are building a megadungeon. They are well worth the price of admission.

Traps & Treachery: I'm not good at traps. It's a fact of my DMing life. I often use this book as a springboard for other ideas. You can find it cheaper than in that link, too. I think I found it for $5 at a FLGS somewhere in my state.

Dungeon Fantastic Megadungeon Design: Peter Dell'Orto has a great series of articles in that link. He also regularly posts dungeon play reports. He has a lot of great resources for free there.

Advice on building a megadungeon: Before the Marmorial Tomb, Benoist Poire wrote an extensive advice column for building a megadungeon on The RPG Site. It is worth the read. And probably taking notes.

Creighton Broadhurst's Dungeon Design: It is a short and sweet article that covers the basic design elements before hitting pen to paper.

Megadungeon search on RPG Now: I haven't read most of these. I looked at Megadungeon #1 today, and wasn't impressed. Too much not-megadungeon stuff. The best part, you can see which megadungeons are available on PDF today! (Those I HAVE read).

What other resources do you guys use that I didn't mention? Let me know in the comments or the S&W G+ page or the Silver Bulette FB page.