Troll Bridge

Reddit’s DnD community can be such an immense source of inspiration. Watch how we took a simple Google search and transformed their sprawling RPG thread into a fun, one-shot encounter!

The trick to utilizing Reddit is being thorough and patient. Don’t skim or do any rush reads. DM Ben attributes it to panning for gold. Often. you gotta sift through all the “dirt” to find that one perfect DnD nugget! Too many commentators brilliance can slip through the cracks if you’re not careful.

We found a thread dated back to 2018 (six years ago if you can believe it) where someone simply wanted to know how much his troll should charge others to cross. Now, what others might not realize is that if you keep scrolling and sifting through the comments, you will find some brilliant ideas from others on what the encounter itself might look like. More on that in a bit.

For starters, we knew we needed a troll so we printed up this beauty from EC3D Designs’ Beast and Baddies Kickstarter. His thumping hammer and wide frame were just the right amount of intimidation. This encounter will (hopefully) be non-combat so the point needs to be made that throwing down here is probably not a wise idea.

We printed him in resin on our Mars Pro 3 and our resident painter, Kimmy Utah, took it from there. The base is also carrying that rustic, this-is-my-bridge vibe (simple is often better, y’all). The wash on his dirty club was our favorite detail here – that whammer has gotten some use!

There were two ways to go on his DnD 5e stats:

• Traditional Troll: AC 15, 84 HP, +7 claws/1d6+4 | +7 bite/2d6+4
• Troll Hunter: AC 21, 130 HP, +16 claw/1d6+7, +11 bite/1d6+3, Battleaxe +17 (+12)/2d6+8

Tougher is better here as this bridge and its longtime guardian are meant to have a recurring roll in our campaign. Our fourth level party of six characters could probably overwhelm a Traditional Troll but taking down a Troll Hunter would be a much tougher task.

With the help of Reddit’s member brilliance, let’s flush the actual encounter out a bit.

One commenter suggested: “The toll could be each player’s left boot. The players laugh it off and give up their boots without a fight, and then face 1/2 movement speed over long distances walked, 1/4 in difficult terrain, and disadvantage on dexterity saving throws that require movement.”

Another gamer built on that idea with, “The cobblers are in cahoots with the troll and giving him kickbacks for creating business opportunities. Check the shoemaker guild leader’s suspicious workshop basement for proof!” This will make for an ideal future side quest.

And lastly, our favorite twist from a different player, “The troll might say that he has forgotten what the toll is, so the players present him with different items to see what the heck it might be. The thing is, every item with a double letter in the name is the troLL toLL (for our boy, teRRy). So gold and silver won’t work but coPPer will. Also once a player gets to cross with an item the others have to find a different item like a trEE, a dEEr, a kiSS, etc.

Now why is the bridge even here? DM Ben is using it as a bit of a line in the sand between the city of Waterdeep and the largely unsafe High Forest area. Omin Dran wanted a bit of a buffer zone/first alarm between his city and all the evil that has taken root in those dense timberlands so he negotiated the services of one Terry the Troll.

So here comes Reddit with yet another spin-on-it idea…Terry has done such an amazing job of protecting access to and from the city that he’s become a bit of a legend. If any townfolk such as the innkeeper or guardsman hear the group has encountered him, they’ll say something to the effect of, “Hey! How in the heck is ol’ Terry doing anyways?!”

Naturally, the surprised party will probe for more info and be told that Terry is a beloved friendly troll who keeps the bridge well-maintained and scares away the riff-raff (indirect jab at the adventurers). Citizen statements like, “Dear old, Terry! He was here since I was a wee child!” and “Jerry once caught and saved my kid from falling off that bridge!” will often be overheard.

Lastly, we just need to hook all this fab new RPG content into our campaign:

• Our sought-after evil witch lives beyond the bridge and within The High Forest.
• Lyra uses simple illusions/disguises to pay the boot fee to sneak across at times.
• There’s an overflowing chest of boots (and alarming children’s sizes intermixed).
• If pressed, Terry won’t obliterate them and instead, remind them who’s in charge.

Next week we’ll show you the scatter terrain selections that will ultimately set the scene for this terrific Troll Bridge encounter.