Trollin' on the River

Friday, February 19, 2010

We've had the cover for Pathfinder Adventure Path #32: "Rivers Run Red" (written by our own Rob McCreary) up for sometime now, but it bears another mention, as this cover sees the climax of a long and interesting evolution. It's little surprise that we were only three months into the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path—and Pathfinder's life in general—when it came time to order art for our first troll. How to handle this got a little tricky, though, as it's important to us that our creatures walk the line between familiarity and distinctiveness when it comes to earlier incarnations of the game. What we ended up with was the gnarled, lanky, long-nosed fellow from "The Hook Mountain Massacre". Neat! And totally a cool piece of art. But definitely nothing ground breaking.

Illustration by JZConcepts

Several months later, against all odds, we found ourselves ordering a cover for a Bestiary. Attempting to follow in the tradition of the "a whole bunch of monsters about to getcha!" covers from classic gaming bestiaries, we wanted a swarm of little monsters, one or two medium monsters, and a big monster. Creature ideas went around and around, then sketches did their circles, and what we ended up with was goblins, a maralith, and WHAT THE HECK IS THAT! OMG, that's a TROLL! Awesome! You don't get an incredible Wayne Reynolds cover and then say, "That looks amazing, but could we get this guy to look a little ganglier." This was our new look for the troll.

Illustration by Wayne Reynolds

Flash forward a few more months and we're ordering Kingmaker covers. So we want a cool bandit and a sexy fey and a barbarian dude and a—hey, how 'bout a troll boss! Okay, that'd be cool. And thanks to Vincent Dutrait, here he is.

Illustration by Vincent Dutrait

So our trolls have come a long way over the course of the past few years, but without a doubt, things are settled now. And if that nasty claw-claw-bite wasn't enough to send your PCs running for their alchemist fire, just wait for "Rivers Run Red" to see all the nasty tricks Chief Hargulka has in store for the Stolen Lands.

Looking back, trolls actually had it pretty easy. You should have seen the backstage identity crisis the ogre had before its debut. But that's a story for another day…

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor

Pathfinder Chronicles: Classic Monsters Revisited

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Here is a quick look at one of many monsters featured in Classic Monsters Revisited.

"Games and activities that humans would call fun are not something trolls take time to consider. They are consumed with the need to hunt, leaving little time for other diversions. Troll female groups have one game (of sorts) that they play every spring solstice to honor their terrible demon god. Two lines of trolls form several yards apart and stare at each other, working up their aggression and hatred until their 'team' is a mass of frenzied berserker rage. The team mentality ends the moment one of the trolls breaks his or her line and charges at the other one. There seems to be no obvious starting point—a troll simply feels her rage wash over her and throws herself at the other group. The result is a chaotic troll melee where limbs are severed, bodies torn apart, and eyes gouged out—even some rage-induced cannibalism occurs. When it's over, one troll stands less injured than the others, all of whom lay strewn about the battlefield crawling toward severed limbs or gathering their entrails and stuffing them back inside their punctured bellies. Once everyone has recovered, they quietly go about their business."

Carolyn Mull
Paizo Sales & Marketing Assistant