My Tunnels & Trolls Friends
The world of Tunnels & Trolls remains a relatively small one. There are, therefore, places on the web
where all we enthusiasts for this great game must go to mix with like-minded individuals, exchange news and views and perhaps find and purchase new products.
Here I present, in no particular order, the places on the internet I visit to get my fix of all things T & T.
Trollgod's Trollhalla. This is Ken St. Andre's site for his Trollish Champions and I guess if you are at all interesetd in this great game you ought to join the merry throng here. Trollhalla is a great place to go just to chat with your fellow trolls about the weather, your favourite videos or, of course, the serious matters at the heart of T & T. There are lots of links to other places of interest and there's usually something going on. The 'Longest Night Party' just the other day proved a big success with individuals bringing all sorts of comment and material to Trollhalla's bulletin board called the Trollwalla (or 'walla for short).
Find the Trollgod's kharrrgish hordes at Trollhalla
The Hobgoblin's Tavern. This is my good friend Andy "Boozer" Holmes' fantastic website. There are all sorts of resources here for the aspiring T & T player including lots of GM adventures available to download for free as well as some of Andy's solitaire dungeons that can be obtained for very reasonable prices. I don't mind admitting that Andy's work is amongst the best original T & T material currently on offer anywhere and I have collected all of it assiduously since I first found him selling solos on eBay nearly 6 years ago. I'm pleased to be able to say that I now count him as a very good friend and have been lucky enough to attend a roleplaying event with him in 2010. Along with several other very talented individuals Andy and I are part of a group dedicated to producing new, high-quality T & T products.
You can see Andy H's amazing T & T materials here at The Tavern
Tunnels and Trolls dot Com. It is impossible to describe this enormous website in just a few words. To paraphrase Tolkien this is the essence of T & T on earth. Andy James, Dekh from Trollhalla, has designed the most extensive review of everything about our favourite roleplaying game it is possible to produce. Ranging from T & T's history to published products past and present and everything else you could imagine in between. There is literally 'the whole nine yards' here. There is even an Italian section! If you cannot find what you are looking for here it probably doesn't exist.
Andy has also kindly helped me enormously in putting this website together and it is entirely likely that without his input it would still be a mere gleam in my eye.
To visit Andy J's T & T extravaganza go to Tunnels and Trolls.com
Simon Lee Tranter has created some of the best fantasy artwork I have seen in the last decade and many of his finest pieces have been for Tunnels & Trolls. I recently met Simon in person and introduced him to actually playing the world's greatest fantasy roleplaying game at TrollCon UK. Surprisingly, despite all of the fine work he had done for T & T projects over the years he had never played the game itself. He has already made a beautiful cover for a solo I hope to release soon and he is working on a couple more for me. Hopefully I'll be able to show them off here in the near future.
You can see some of Simon's fabulous artwork at simonleetranter.co.uk and in conjunction with another T& T stalwart Mari Volmar at simari.co.uk
Jeff Freels is another of the "good guys" that seem to inhabit all corners of the Tunnels & Trolls universe. He is a very rare fellow indeed. Having had diabetes since childhood his eyesight has been seriously affected and he is billed as "Olympia's blind cartoonist". Despite or even because of this his illustrations and cover art on numerous T & T projects are all 'top-notch'. I have recently had the great good fortune to have Jeff illustrate my mini-solo 'Devotion to Duty' and the next project soon to come off the drawing board also contains Jeff's illustrations. Not only are all of the images superb but the man himself is a true gentleman to do business with and really eager to produce exactly what the author wants.
In addition to his artistic abilities Jeff Freels is an accomplished game designer. The latest release from his Fabled Worlds stable is 'Bean! the D2 role-playing game' and it's an absolute blast. Is there no end to this man's drive and talent?
Go and check out Jeff's fab artwork and his other creative talents at Jeffwerx.com
The Vital Spot is another fantastic Tunnels & Trolls' site from the strange imagination of Jason Mills. As well as various adventures and scenarios to download there are other more unusual resources to add to your role-playing enjoyment. I won't spoil your pleasure by listing everything of note but my particular favourites are the random names and the mushroom generator though there is much, much more.
I have had the honour of meeting Mr Mills in person and can say he is a fine and interesting fellow to spend an evening with.
Go and see what weird and wonderful stuff you can find at Jason's excellent site The Vital Spot
Flying Buffalo Inc is the company that brought T & T into print in the 1970s and it was their 40th anniversary in 2010. They still sell some of their classic products online while many which are now out of print are available as pdfs for download.
Rick Loomis, the man behind the company and the author of the first ever solitaire adventure for any roleplaying game, has kindly given me permission to use the 'Tunnels & Trolls' and 'T & T' trademarks on this site.
You can see many superb gaming products, not just for T & T, if you pay a visit to the website at flyingbuffalo.com
Sid Orpin (aka Darrgh Tarrrho)
December 2010, January 2011