Re: troll gold

From: David Dunham <dunham_at_pensee.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 23:02:09 -0800


To apologize for any confusion I may have caused, I'm the North American distributor of "Heroes of Wisdom" (and do still have some extras), but Andrew Bean is the Australian distributor. He should have copies at RQ-Con 3. I will not be lugging copies when I go.

Martin Crim answered

>In V2 #319, Rob Stoll asks about the verisimilitude (sp?) of trolls
>possessing gold Wheels in their treasure troves:
>
>> Do I just have a picture of trolls as
>>being more intolerant of solar metals than they "actually" are, or is this
>an
>>oversight in the supplements?
>
>I vote for it being an oversight, or more exactly a failure to adequately
>envision Glorantha. As the scenarios in the troll paks were written for RQ
>II, and some were probably written before the first Trollpak, they reflect an
>attitude of trolls being monsters. And of course monsters have treasure.

I believe trolls do have gold Wheels in their hoards, precisely because they are not monsters. They are intelligent beings, and when they trade with humans, perfectly capable of determining what humans consider valuable and obtaining it. Also, the solar identity could be a silly human conceit. Everyone knows you mine gold from underground, where the sun never shines. Finally, trolls may value gold for its own sake, as a soft and malleable (or smooth and tasty) metal. I'm sure they don't mint it into Wheels, but they may have ransomed some foolish adventurer for cash.


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