Don’t Make Troll Angry

Last week, we shared our remastered Terry the Troll bridge home-brewed one-shot encounter and mentioned we needed to spice it up with a little more action. Let’s take a closer look at our newest battle plans.

Hey, not all Trolls are bad, so let’s drop that stigma and get into the right mindset! Terry is a legend in Waterdeep and saved many a citizen. This misunderstood “monster” now oversees the infamous bridge that connects Water Deep to The High Forest.

All that he asks for is a simple toll while ensuring no brutes and baddies enter or sneak out of the city. And that’s what today’s post is all about  – to serve and protect.

The next time our adventurers are crossing the Troll Bridge, they’ll stumble upon a fierce fight already in progress. Our players will have to decide whether to let it play out or intervene and potentially turn good ol’ Terry the Troll into a newfound friend.

Picking the monsters for this encounter was no easy task and stirred up quite the 3DRPG team debate. Ultimately, we landed on a great TTRPG 3D print we featured last October for The Forgotten Rails’ Collector storyline. Yasashii Kyojin Studio made this sneaky Sorrowsworn Wretched monster and offered it up as a free download.

Resident Painter Kimmy Utah was the paint specialist for these chompers. We often pass her a squad of monsters, like a pack of 2-5 of the same 3D-print. Doing color variations on them makes it easier to call out the minis on the game table during a battle. Sometimes the distinctions are subtle, like a different color shield or cape, or more robust, like these two meanies.

We love the STLs, but boy howdy, their feet are fragile, and basing them is a bit tricky. Here, you can see that our green bad guy has lost part of his foot. #OhWell #InjuriesHappen

These Great Squigs are always hungry and extra-boingy. Thankfully, the D&D Wiki whipped up some 5e stats for these pests: AC 13, HP 38, +6 att/2d8+4 piercing, and can even make a ranged spit attack. DM Ben is going to start with two of these guys, but may bring one or two into the fight in future rounds, depending on how the battle is progressing.

For Terry, we went with the Troll Hunter stat block: Troll Hunter: AC 21, 130 HP, +16 claw/1d6+7, +11 bite/1d6+3, Battleaxe +17 (+12)/2d6+8.

Also, to help sell the ferocity of Terry anytime someone or something pushes his buttons, we wanted to add some carcus scatter terrain to the gameboard. For that, we found a slick 3D print by EC3D Designs. Their Depths of Savage Atoll Kickstarter had some underwater graveyard bones that seemed perfect here.

There are a couple of tiny coral details on it, but you can: snip those off, paint ’em all fleshy, or not worry about it (because of the Arm’s Length table rule).

DM Ben “volunteered” to put some color on this bestial skeleton, because again, no eyes, no problem. Terry is a meat-eater, so it was essential to make the carcass look like it had been through the ringer.

• Prime Flat Black.
• Slapchop base.
• Ground Base: Deco Art Burnt Umber.
• Ground Accent: ASP Forest Sprite (lightly dab here and there).
• Bones: Citadel Contrast Skeleteton Horde.
• Blood Effect: Citadel Contrast Flesh Tearers Red (edging and drybrush).

Nothing to it, right? Now it definitely looks like our temperamental Troll lives off the land as it were. 😉

Since the players’ initial Bastion resides in The High Forest, Troll Bridge crossings are going to be a regular occurrence. Hence, DM Ben wants to ensure that the group has a series of encounters within this particular immersive gameboard.

We’ve got plenty of room here to use a slew of wild combat tactics and introduce a series of NPCs, bad guys, and sidequests to liven up our ongoing campaign.

Until next time!