Preconceptions permeate this game. We often view monsters in a singular way. Savage orcs. Cowardly goblins Brutish trolls only vulnerable to acid and fire. This is a result of the long history of the game.
Much of the game’s backstory is based in player and Game Master experience, and has influenced movies, novels, games and pop culture since its inception.
This is both good and bad. It’s good to know your favorite hobby has such an impact, and it’s bad when the preconceptions become not only normal, but expected. When a new player experiences the magic of discovery, experienced players miss that feeling and envy their sense of wonder.
I hope these encounters break some preconceptions from time to time and give experienced players the refreshing feeling of having their experiences turned on its ear — if only to have a eureka moment one more time. To do this, it’s important to not only take things in new directions, but to also read the fine print. Be willing to give your monsters the benefit of the doubt, give them souls and thoughts and wants. Make them someone, not something. When you do that, the world is your oyster.
The side effect of this may well be you end up creating a series of great side villains who can show up from time to time and give your characters the same feeling comic book readers get when they see classic villains from a hero’s rogues gallery. It makes them feel more like heroes because they start to develop their own rogues gallery of enemies.
This encounter takes one of those monster tropes, reads the fine print, gives the monster a motivation and generates a villain who may or may not return — perhaps different than the last time – all depending on the actions of you and the players. In this case, we use the much-used and stereotyped troll. This monster is almost always seen as an idiotic, gluttonous savage that only stops when someone holds a torch. We now ask the old question: “What if?”
What if a troll ate something and mutated in a positive way? What if the troll gained some measure of intelligence or understanding of what just happened … and wants more? Now you have a villain who, like the player characters, gains a story arc, a motivation and may or may not increase in power level.
This makes an already dangerous foe a much more deadly threat overall. This troll seeks to feast upon creatures, other monsters, NPCs or even the player characters to try and inspire a new and positive mutation, increasing its power.
More specifically, this troll is the Beast of Bellard. The Beast has already consumed one or two creatures in an ongoing life experiment, so when the characters encounter this mutated troll it’ll already be something more than a standard troll.
Now, despite this being called the Beast of Bellard, there is no reference to a community of Bellard. This is an encounter, not a town. Feel free to make this the Beast of Your Town, wherever the town or village may be. That’s the beauty of this encounter. This troll could have any number or variety of mutations and locations, all based on your needs.
For this encounter, we’ll give the troll two plausible creature based mutations capable of making them a handful. The Beast has fought, defeated and eaten an ettin for control of this territory. Now they have two heads. The Beast also cleared out a ruin of hobgoblins, killing and eating many including a warband officer.
Now they’re not only two headed, but smarter than the average troll. This, arguably, is the troll’s greatest score to date. The Beast now not only gains greater self awareness, but ambition and some tactical sense.
Encounter Type: Combat
Map: Forest map
Lighting: None (flat battle map.)
System: 5E
Length: One shot
Installation Type: Addon
License: Roll20 End User License Agreement
(Personal Use Only, Do Not Distribute)