Trolls have terrified adventurers since the earliest days of AD&D, and for good reason. They were fast, relentless, and incredibly difficult to kill. Long before video games made trolls a familiar fantasy monster, AD&D players learned that chopping one down was only the beginning. Unless someone in the party had fire or acid ready, that “dead” troll was about to stand right back up.
In this episode, I look at what made the AD&D 1st Edition troll such an unforgettable monster. We’ll dig into its frightening regeneration, surprising speed, brutal attacks, and the psychology behind why experienced players feared them. We’ll also compare how trolls have changed over the years and why the original version still deserves its reputation as one of fantasy gaming’s greatest nightmares.
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You see? That’s why there’s so much friction and hurt. Did anyone ever try to relate to them? No. They’re “nightmare fuel.” Ooooh…Well, they have feelings and dreams and aspirations. They don’t just want to be known as the rubbery thing that you need to burn or splash with oil to be set on fire.
Maybe they just want to share some poetry or ask questions about your day. And then pull your liver out and eat it in front of you.
The first monster that terrified me as a player was actually the ghoul because that paralysis was so deadly and they come in packs.
On trolls, two notes. First, before the famous delve into Blackmoore, Dave's first session for what became DND was a troll under a bridge. One of the players rage quit when his character died, didn't return to the table for a couple years. Trolls have the claim to fame of both the very first PC death and the first player (not character) "defeated" as in out of the game.
The thing I remember is my college dm, in a 2e game, having four trolls ambush us as we walked along a trail at the bottom of a 25-foot tall cliff. They doused themselves in oil, lit themselves on fire and just jumped down onto us. They healed back the fall damage, we got grappled, knocked prone, and were burning. Everyone panicked because if these trolls were immune to fire now they were invincible. In our panic we all forgot about acid. Brutal, not a tpk but almost. Lost half the party plus a bunch of henchmen. Found out later a wizard gave them potions of fire resistance and was using them to hunt his enemies, we ended up as collateral damage because he mistook our wizard for his rival. I don't recall we ever defeated them, just survived. Did kill the mage later though.