Is Trollball only a game ?

[Darius West]

If there is religious significance to Trollball I wish there weren't.  Why does everything have to have religious significance?  Why can't anyone do something simply for the sake of entertainment in Glorantha?  Even the Gods know that religious fanaticism eventually hits a point of diminishing returns.

[Erol of Backford]

Nothing religious I assume just good old fashion smash tusk trollball! I had no idea there was an actual game. There was Blood Bowl and something else in the Dragon Magazine, I recall if you brought a giant it cost so much you were left with only halflings for the rest of the team?

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37445/trollball-not-fair-game

 

[Bill the barbarian]

12 hours ago, Darius West said:

If there is religious significance to Trollball I wish there weren't.  Why does everything have to have religious significance? 

Damn Glorantha, what is all this religion about anywa...
nevermindI'moffcheers!

Edited December 30, 2022 by Bill the barbarian

[g33k]

On 12/29/2022 at 6:54 AM, Darius West said:

If there is religious significance to Trollball I wish there weren't.  Why does everything have to have religious significance?

Well, because the Gods are immanent and evident in Glorantha.
Everybody experiences them during Sacred Time, during Initiation ceremonies.
Initiates-and-up get to experience moments of oneness-with-their-god every time they cast a Rune spell.

It's about the most-religious RPG setting I know of (other than games like Testament: Roleplaying in the Biblical Era).

That said... I agree that not everything has to be about religion.  Trollball seems entirely apt to YGMV it to be as secular -- or as religious -- as each table wants it to be!

[PhilHibbs]

On 12/28/2022 at 10:45 AM, Kloster said:

Arkat's cult (At least, in RQ3's Troll gods, Arkat's cult was teaching sorcery).

Yes but I think @Erol of Backford was saying that he doesn't want anything to do with that cult.

[Erol of Backford]

Yes, the PC's are not liking darkness.

Not at all and so would only change to be trolls via sorcery learned via a blog with the matrix on it? They wish to beat the trolls at their own game, light over dark so to speak, figuratively and temporarily physically?

Are there any geas that say never impersonate a troll? LOL

I suppose one of them would need the duration skill so the spell would last the entire game? How long does a trollball game last anyway?

 

Bonus of this would be being transformed into a troll would help with trade caravans into Trollwood and Dagori Inkarth... need to learn some Dark Tongue?

Still trying to figure out Quicksmash (SIZ 60) and how he'd be their goalie? Would likely just have him meet the PC's when he is younger no more then say around SIZ 30? I recall Hungry the Great Troll is SIZ32.

 I suppose a Great Troll could be up to 48? 

Adding known trollball teams:

Crabtown - Total War

Sazdorf - Whackers & Tacklers

Redstone - Wallbangers

Edited June 25, 2023 by Erol of Backford

[Erol of Backford]

Interesting, could an air elemental be sent to befuddle the darksence ability of a troll who throws like a football QB? TotRM 04 p.09

I suppose the air elemental would not detect as magic but rather a spirit? How many blogs would it take to get someone with an air elemental to go and risk being eaten by the opposing team or their supports for cheating/influencing the game?

[DrGoth]

On 12/30/2022 at 1:54 AM, Darius West said:

If there is religious significance to Trollball I wish there weren't.  

Of course trollball doesn't have religious significance. it is a religion!!!

"Wall of death! Wall of death!" (MOB at least should remember that)

[Akhôrahil]

It's not a game. It's the game.

[Qizilbashwoman]

33 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

It's not a game. It's the game.

Blood Bowl is such a shallow imitation of it

[Qizilbashwoman]

On 12/29/2022 at 9:54 AM, Darius West said:

If there is religious significance to Trollball I wish there weren't.  Why does everything have to have religious significance?  Why can't anyone do something simply for the sake of entertainment in Glorantha?

I mean, what we call "religion" is not at all the same thing as "when we do even mundane things it can have divine resonance because power is woven into every corner of Glorantha". It's not what we'd call religion, but I reckon very little doesn't have some kind of intent to it, and intent > power.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Qizilbashwoman

[JRE]

The troll gods watch the games. The conflict between Karrg and Zorak Zoran is fought in the field, and that eventually is linked with the undercover uzko revolt against Kyger Litor and the Uzuz primacy that will become more serious with the rise of the Blood Sun.

In many places it will be just a game, but as in Earth, politics taints sports, and in Glorantha, and even more in the case of trolls, politics is based on religion.

[mfbrandi]

2 hours ago, JRE said:

as in Earth, politics taints sports

But without the politics, what would there be to keep our attention? We would all just drift off to sleep with the sheer tedium of it all. At least a bit of orange powder sprinkled or a bunch of people taking the knee livens it up a bit. 😉

[Erol of Backford]

In the Shadows of Pavis supplement p.98 it mentions the local trollball team as the Loricek Clan's Trollbridge Boys and another team who are Dagori Inkarth specialists...

[Erol of Backford]

Adding the trollball team the Zing Zongs trollball team. They are from the Zong’s Knuckles, five black stoned mesas,
that tower above an area of dense bracken and stunted trees, on the very west edge of Gork’s Hills. (Rule 1 Issue 9 p.3)

[Squaredeal Sten]

The whole "only a game" paradigm ignores realities of RW American and British football.  Here in Texas. USA,  for many people football is not to be laughed at or made fun of.  As a practical matter it is on a par with religion, especially as some people's RW  application of religion(s) can get peculiar, while others wish they would come off it.

I did actual opinion research in entertainment  that unintentionally  touched on the football subject, about 28 years ago. And made significant discoveries that led to changes in the product.  And we have all heard of soccer / football  hooligans.  Because trolls are the Elder Race closest to humans, it should be no surprise that the original authors made them reflect those rabid fan  attitudes.  

[Qizilbashwoman]

17 minutes ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

The whole "only a game" paradigm ignores realities of RW American and British football.  Here in Texas. USA,  for many people football is not to be laughed at or made fun of.  As a practical matter it is on a par with religion, especially as some people's RW  application of religion(s) can get peculiar, while others wish they would come off it.

god save me from football

[Erol of Backford]

23 hours ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

Here in Texas

Therein lies the problem... my sister converted to Houstonianism... whereas she is from near Chicago but now speaks funny.

[Zit]

The best trollball team remains the one of the NUz-Ealand tribe.

[g33k]

3 hours ago, Zit said:

The best trollball team remains the one of the NUz-Ealand tribe.

Uz Haka is *not* to be missed!

[Sir_Godspeed]

On 7/18/2023 at 7:40 PM, Qizilbashwoman said:

I mean, what we call "religion" is not at all the same thing as "when we do even mundane things it can have divine resonance because power is woven into every corner of Glorantha". It's not what we'd call religion, but I reckon very little doesn't have some kind of intent to it, and intent > power.

My old anthropology professor talked about this with us, and I always like thinking about it whenever my thinking gets too rigidly classificatory:
"So, when a farmer decides to follow the omens put forth by an elder,  and put the date of planting yams to such-and-such a date, we, as researchers, tend to call it a religious practice, but from his point of view it's just farming."

I'd imagine many trolls would think of trollball like this. Sure, the gods are there 'n' junk, because OBVIOUSLY they are - but did you see that play Krorug pulled off? He was WAY better than earlier this season, what the Sky is up with that? Do you think he got someone to do a sacrifice for him before the game? Go Hellions!

Edited October 27, 2023 by Sir_Godspeed

[Sir_Godspeed]

- double post -

Edited October 27, 2023 by Sir_Godspeed

[Qizilbashwoman]

42 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

My old anthropology professor talked about this with us, and I always like thinking about it whenever my thinking gets too rigidly classificatory:
"So, when a farmer decides to follow the omens put forth by an elder,  and put the date of planting yams to such-and-such a date, we, as researchers, tend to call it a religious practice, but from his point of view it's just farming."

I'd imagine many trolls would think of trollball like this. Sure, the gods are there 'n' junk, because OBVIOUSLY they are - but did you see that play Krorug pulled off? He was WAY better than earlier this season, what the Sky is up with that? Do you think he got someone to do a sacrifice for him before the game? Go Hellions!

well, and also: why do we have sacred ball events on such and such days? (Why is the Superbowl on the second Sunday in February?)

the answer is sometimes the same as "what determined the width of the booster rockets on NASA shuttles?" Because that's the size that fit through the train tunnels that shipped them to Canaveral. What determined that size? The standard railroad width. What determined that? The average carriage width in colonial Britain. What determined that? The road ruts in Britain. What determined that? The Roman roadbuilders. Where did they get that width? The standardised size of ruts and roads in the Roman Empire. What determined that? The width of the war chariots of Rome that became the norm. What determined that? The size of farmers' wagon-widths in early Rome.

The size of the booster rockets that sent NASA into space is determined by the common size of produce wagons in Rome 2500 years ago.

If you ask someone when Easter is, it's the first full moon after the vernal equinox. If you want to know why, you're about to eventually learn a lot about the Babylonian standard calendar and how it is based on the zodiac signs of a very ancient reckoning (the dates didn't even match in Babylon thanks to the procession of the equinoxes!)

Edited October 27, 2023 by Qizilbashwoman

[Erol of Backford]

Adding from RQA 04 p.12 Whitewall Washers - local trollball team name. They carry Queen Kitori through the Whitewall Trolltown on a bier.