Trolls

We've all heard of hiding under bridges, and turning to stone in sunlight, and regeneration, but I think we can do better.

What's the most interesting interpretation of trolls in mythology?

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In Tolkien's lore the trolls are twisted form of tree ents. Therefore, it would be logical to assume that the troll, being aspected to stone in some regard, would be stone shapers, mountain makers, much like ents are keepers of the forest.

Movie - Trolls from DreamWorks, definitely the best interpretation.

Pretty trolls. You don't know that they're trolls until you see the tail...

In one game I played they were basically all of those things, but they had one particular niche. They were industrious. However, being rather slow minded they couldn't get much done. They often had a habit of kidnapping humans to try and get their assistance. Apparently they weren't really all that evil and didn't really mistreat their captives.

Just copy the Norwegian trolls. Or copy the trolls from the movie troll hunters.

Yea just copy troll hunters trolls, those are the best.

Anything that takes them away from just big dumb brutes. There's enough of that in fantasy games.

Trolls turning into stone bridges in sunlight.

Loved the movie, I really liked how they have weaponized the light for the hunt.
Only problem I have with the movie is the lack of explanation on the christianity thing.

>fi fy fo fum I smell the blood of a Christian man

>Orcs, Oni, Ogres, Ettins, Lizardmen, Troglodytes, Trolls, Giants, Cyclops

Agreed.

>Orcs
Not big, usually. If they are, basically just tall, jacked humans, not giants.
>Oni
Not dumb or brutes.
>Ogres and trolls
These two are basically different flavors of the same thing, yeah.
>Lizardmen
Not brutes or big
>Giants
Not usually or always dumb
>Cyclops
Have a very distinctive appearance and often powers associated with their eye
>Ettins
Two heads, typically also two personalities.

>Oni
Kys.

Berserk trolls are cool

Specifically sniffing out christians is little too hardcore fedora. Or was it that specific subspecies which had the ability, it's been a while since I've seen the movie.

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mandatory post

I remember that evening

Was there every any more?

>suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/22907962/
WHERE IS THE PDF?

no. Once an user tried to recreate it creating an horrific piece of shit; but gruffgm and trollanon never appeared again

It's a troll wide-spread ability in the movie AFAIK

If there are atheists in your game is actually better. The premise can explore what happens if christian faith was a measurable thing. PCs might even want to explore what does this mean, and capture a living troll to experiment.

Do they just look cool or is there new shtick compared to your regular ass trolls?

Trolls are the OG big dumb brutes though, if you want trolls in your game they should represented as such

It's a specific thing about trolls in scandinavian folklore that they particularly enjoy eating christians (In Denmark there used to be a statue depicting it simply called 'troll feasts on christian flesh'). It goes way back and theres a couple of possible explanations; like the early pagans making it up because they didnt like christians, or a more recent interpretation where trolls represent general wickedness, which enjoys feasting on the good and the light.

You could refluff it as gods being able to snelle religious affiliation, and having a special grudge against those that smell like the troll exterminators from many years passed.

Trolls are just another kind of Fey.

Personally, I do my trolls ranging from "Cave troll stone gorilla" to "moomins" and of course Trollwives.

>Oni
>Not brutes
But that is wrong

Choke on a dick faggot

All of those are minor differences, not relevant to their overall role.
Except giants. It bothers me that giants get put in the dumb muscle category. Yeah, they'd be outsmarted in the classic folklore, but by a trickster hero. That's like making dragons weak to swords because they get slain by martial heroes. The point of those stories is to show how good the hero is.

I am very much convinced that my oldest sister was stolen by a troll and replaced with a troll child.

There is no other way to explain her behaviour.

As long as they're not aliens, I'm fine.

...

fUck I love Troll Hunters, I've gotta watch that again

Does she maintain bridges?

The word "troll" also used to mean people who clung to pagan beliefs.

The hot chick variety with lots of gifts who want to marry you from the tale of Sir Mannelig.

Have you tried throwing her into the sunlight?
Alternatively cut her hand off and see if it grows back over time.

I think sticking to the trolls from norse mythology but with their modern aspects in different media (from Troll Hunters movie to RPGs and some other stuff) is the way to go.
In the myths they're not necessarily evil, and they have all these crazy magic powers and a connection to nature and land (at least that's what I've read). It seems trolls and jotuns are pretty much the same, more like nature spirits than monsters .
That's how I do trolls in my setting; they're a fey race that came into the mortal world long ago and have mostly kept to themselves, while regular trolls (those seen in the manuals, like in 3.5) are trolls who adapted over the generations to their new habitat, favoring toughness and strength over wits so to survive in their new, violent home.

You should look up John Bauer if you don't already know him, user. He was a swedish artist who basically defined the trolls of scandinavian folklore for the 20th century. He sure as shit defined my view of them anyway, having grown up with his illustrations for the long-time annual of tales from scandi folklore; Among Gnomes and Trolls.

I never knew that; it's pretty cool.

My own trolls are monstrous humanoids with fast healing.
Forest trolls are medium sized, are basically tes oblivion trolls.
Frost trolls, large, skyrim.
Cave trolls, large, regeneration like D&D 3.5 trolls, take 1d4 dex damage per hour of sunlight exposure and turn to stone at 0 and their regen becomes fast healing in sunlight
Mountain trolls, huge, from the MM3