Hey, I really enjoyed Lorne D. Booker's 'The Games Trollkin Play in the Middle of the Night' and James Frusetta's whacky follow-up.
Here's some games that I actually played with my kids while working as a primary (elementary) teacher. Given that many of the kids I taught had alarming similarities to trolls (ravenous appetites, crude manners, enthusiasm for pummelling those smaller and weaker than themselves) I imagine these games would probably work well with the Uz too!
One game the kids enjoyed playing was "Wall of Death" (yep, my inspiration for the contest of the same name in "The Garhound Contest"!) The kids run along our rebound wall and a thrower throws a big soft "nerf" ball at 'em. If they get hit, they're out. If the thrower misses, the ball just bounces off the wall and rebounds back to the thrower. After running the length of the wall, the kids run around behind the thrower and run back along the wall again. The last kid left is the winner. I would often act as the thrower, and the first kids out would be my helpers, running to fetch the ball if it bounced away. A variant rule is if a runner manages to catch the ball on the full, they earn a "life" which they can keep for next time they go out, or to bring a kid whose out back into the game.
This game not only taught dodging and running fast, but encouraged group strategies (run in a pack and hope it hits someone else; try and get someone between you and the wall, so it will hit them) and tactics: a good way to get past was to wait until the ball had been thrown and then run like heck while it was rebounding back to the thrower! The one rule of the game was the players had to keep moving.
I imagine trolls playing this in pitch black caves but instead of nerf balls I imagine they'd use rocks (or maybe even insects, as suggested by James's 'Dodgebeetle' game)! This game would refine Darksense (and throwing skills).
Another popular game with my kids was called "Bomb". The kids (and teacher) sit in a circle. One kid holds a basketball: this is the "bomb". It is passed from hand to hand around the circle while the kids chant a countdown. When the countdown gets to zero, the bomb explodes, all the kids yell "BOOM" and the person holding it is metaphorically blown to smithereens.
This game adds a dramtic edge to the teaching of counting. We start with the traditional 10,9,8,7,6 etc., going on to count down/up by 2s, 4s, 10s etc. Canny kids also figured out that they could change directions when passing the bomb around, sending it back the other way just before it explodes! On a really hot day we once played this game with water-filled balloons, which I pricked with a pin at zero. Now that was a blast!
In Glorantha, trolls play this counting game with a piece of lump of rock which has traces of iron in it, or a stone that has been heated up. Either way it is unpleasant to hold for very long, which encourages passing it around the circle. When the countdown reaches zero, the unfortunate troll left holding the rock is made to hold it for 60 heartbeats or is maybe just Disrupted by the teacher!
A lot of people have mentioned the 'Ice Rune', and everyone seems to agree what an abomination it is. I can't even remember what it looks like, but I do wonder exactly it is about this rune that offends. Surely it can't be worse than the infamous "Do Not Iron" rune of Tales #1!
Cheers
MOB
(XXIX.11/ry.uz.fu)
"Crush!
Sense* Smell Close Sweat.
Crush!
Club Maul Tear Rend.
Crush!
Rip Grind Smear Pulp
Crush!
Chew Chomp Slurp Lick
Crush!
Dance Drum Fart Sense*
Crush!"
*term untranslatable
Zong Hunting Chant,
Dagori Inkarth, 1624
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End of Glorantha Digest V4 #209
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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