Eh, I know nothing about how to handle most dangerous animals, even ones that live in my area; I’d imagine that even in a world with trolls, regular people wouldn’t know anything about them.
If your character is a seasoned adventurer or monster enthusiast, sure, light it up, but if your backstory places you as the village baker for most of your life, running in with alchemist’s fire at the ready seems a bit strange.
Ultimately I’d consider it to be on the GM’s shoulders - if the only way your group is going to survive the troll encounter is with fire, then put an NPC in the local tavern who warms newcomers of a troll in the area, recommending that they have a lit torch at the ready.
Most people know about sucking venom from a snakebite, even if they’re not clear on details. They also know you probably don’t want to wave a red cape in front of a bull.
That will kill you if you’re bitten by an Australian snake. For Australian snakes you need a compressive bandage long enough to bandage the entire limb that got bitten, and you need to bandage it tight, starting close to the trunk and working towards the foot (or hand if you were stupid enough to put your hand near a snake), then back up. Two layers of bandage. Then the casualty needs to relax as well as they can while their companion goes to the nearest phone signal and calls for emergency transport.
If you want to avoid all that hassle, make sure you see the snake so you can stop 3 or so metres away and it will move away - it doesn’t want to mess with you, you’re big and scary. It’ll only bite you if you corner it or step on it, or get too close for it to feel like it can safely escape
But that advice might get you killed in India, their snakes might attack you if you stop near them, perhaps you should run away. I’m not sure though, I don’t live near those snakes
And what I do know is about land snakes in the southern Australian states. I don’t know much about sea snakes up north, nor the tropical snakes, aside from the bandaging which is snakebite first aid all over Australia
Those are both great examples of why a character might try to throw anti-troll paste (tar) at trolls.
spoiler
A red cape doesn’t mean anything different than a black cape to a bull, and sucking venom from a snakebite isn’t a thing outside of movies. It won’t hurt, but it won’t do much good either. One myth that will cause damage is putting ice on a pit viper bite though, so remember to avoid doing that.
Huh, TIL on the snakebite thing. I was pulling that from an old boy scout manual, just remember something about cutting the wound site first.
The red of the cape setting off a bull is a myth, sure; but you still don’t want to wave any capes around in front of a pissed off bull! I’ll stand by how I phrased that claim :p
Funny that you use those examples, since they’re both wrong. If anything, we should be running at the trolls with stinky socks because someone wanted to sound smart at a bar once and made up a factoid that spread like wildfire among the common folk.
Yeah, after they stick them with banderillas to scare and anger them into aggression. Without all the prep work to weaken and anger the bull, the cape wouldn’t provoke it at all.
Eh, I know nothing about how to handle most dangerous animals, even ones that live in my area; I’d imagine that even in a world with trolls, regular people wouldn’t know anything about them.
Debatable. You definitely know a Tigers greatest weakness, and a bears greatest weakness even if you don’t know how to use them. >!Bullets!<
You have other people to manage wildlife, often times, and are probably not likely to encounter said animals. If you are then you know to carry bear spray, for example.
Now imagine you’re in a world where bandits on the road are threat you actually have to consider. Trolls might live down the road and your town sends out memos saying “if you see these signs, run, and if you absolutely must then fire is the only thing that will be effective.” It’s perfectly plausible, you just need to be the littlest bit creative/steal stuff like wildlife advisories from the real world.
You don’t even need an NPC. My first character was a sorceror who didn’t know what he could cast but his will, muscle-memory, and being in certain situations brought it out of him. Any “puzzle fight” should have enough room for players/characters to realize there’s a problem and the discover the solution. You can’t plan ahead, maybe, but there’s no reason you can’t have one roleplay turn and then “get lucky” choosing a fire spell next to see what happens.
Trolls only come out at night. As a city dweller who doesn’t go out at night you may only know children’s stories about how if you go out at night you may be eaten by a troll. If your monster lore roll is good enough, maybe you heard the story where the guard killed the troll with burning pitch when the child escaped back though the gate and the troll got too close to the city wall
Id say that we don’t know those things now because we live in modern technological times where you don’t have to know those things to survive. If this was the middle ages and you were an adventuring type who could hold their own out in the wilds, you would almost definitely know all of those things.
Eh, I know nothing about how to handle most dangerous animals, even ones that live in my area; I’d imagine that even in a world with trolls, regular people wouldn’t know anything about them.
If your character is a seasoned adventurer or monster enthusiast, sure, light it up, but if your backstory places you as the village baker for most of your life, running in with alchemist’s fire at the ready seems a bit strange.
Ultimately I’d consider it to be on the GM’s shoulders - if the only way your group is going to survive the troll encounter is with fire, then put an NPC in the local tavern who warms newcomers of a troll in the area, recommending that they have a lit torch at the ready.
Most people know about sucking venom from a snakebite, even if they’re not clear on details. They also know you probably don’t want to wave a red cape in front of a bull.
That will kill you if you’re bitten by an Australian snake. For Australian snakes you need a compressive bandage long enough to bandage the entire limb that got bitten, and you need to bandage it tight, starting close to the trunk and working towards the foot (or hand if you were stupid enough to put your hand near a snake), then back up. Two layers of bandage. Then the casualty needs to relax as well as they can while their companion goes to the nearest phone signal and calls for emergency transport.
If you want to avoid all that hassle, make sure you see the snake so you can stop 3 or so metres away and it will move away - it doesn’t want to mess with you, you’re big and scary. It’ll only bite you if you corner it or step on it, or get too close for it to feel like it can safely escape
But that advice might get you killed in India, their snakes might attack you if you stop near them, perhaps you should run away. I’m not sure though, I don’t live near those snakes
And what I do know is about land snakes in the southern Australian states. I don’t know much about sea snakes up north, nor the tropical snakes, aside from the bandaging which is snakebite first aid all over Australia
Those are both great examples of why a character might try to throw anti-troll paste (tar) at trolls.
spoiler
A red cape doesn’t mean anything different than a black cape to a bull, and sucking venom from a snakebite isn’t a thing outside of movies. It won’t hurt, but it won’t do much good either. One myth that will cause damage is putting ice on a pit viper bite though, so remember to avoid doing that.
Huh, TIL on the snakebite thing. I was pulling that from an old boy scout manual, just remember something about cutting the wound site first.
The red of the cape setting off a bull is a myth, sure; but you still don’t want to wave any capes around in front of a pissed off bull! I’ll stand by how I phrased that claim :p
Funny that you use those examples, since they’re both wrong. If anything, we should be running at the trolls with stinky socks because someone wanted to sound smart at a bar once and made up a factoid that spread like wildfire among the common folk.
The red is done for dramatic effect in rodeos; it’s movement they react to. Especially if they’re feeling agitated, as in a rodeo.
Yeah, after they stick them with banderillas to scare and anger them into aggression. Without all the prep work to weaken and anger the bull, the cape wouldn’t provoke it at all.
Debatable. You definitely know a Tigers greatest weakness, and a bears greatest weakness even if you don’t know how to use them. >!Bullets!<
You have other people to manage wildlife, often times, and are probably not likely to encounter said animals. If you are then you know to carry bear spray, for example.
Now imagine you’re in a world where bandits on the road are threat you actually have to consider. Trolls might live down the road and your town sends out memos saying “if you see these signs, run, and if you absolutely must then fire is the only thing that will be effective.” It’s perfectly plausible, you just need to be the littlest bit creative/steal stuff like wildlife advisories from the real world.
You don’t even need an NPC. My first character was a sorceror who didn’t know what he could cast but his will, muscle-memory, and being in certain situations brought it out of him. Any “puzzle fight” should have enough room for players/characters to realize there’s a problem and the discover the solution. You can’t plan ahead, maybe, but there’s no reason you can’t have one roleplay turn and then “get lucky” choosing a fire spell next to see what happens.
Trolls only come out at night. As a city dweller who doesn’t go out at night you may only know children’s stories about how if you go out at night you may be eaten by a troll. If your monster lore roll is good enough, maybe you heard the story where the guard killed the troll with burning pitch when the child escaped back though the gate and the troll got too close to the city wall
Id say that we don’t know those things now because we live in modern technological times where you don’t have to know those things to survive. If this was the middle ages and you were an adventuring type who could hold their own out in the wilds, you would almost definitely know all of those things.