Goblins for P&P Final Draft

GOBLINS_PNP_FINAL

Click the link above to download the pdf file.

I’m very exciting to have finished my first licensed work for my favorite fantasy role playing game.  Goblins are chaotic, pathetic little filthy creatures.  They’re easy to slay by violence, but they possess a resilience and creativity born of generations upon generations of hard living.

The goblins have their own background/secondary skill table apart from that of humans reflecting their unique circumstances.  From the common fungus farmer to the alchemist or balloonist, there’s a variety of very basic customizations to help facilitate a fun role playing experience.

There’s exploding mushrooms.  There’s pet worms.  There’s new magic spells.

I suggest you give it a try.

Write While You Can

I went to the Emergency Room last Friday on account of chest pain.  The good news is I didn’t have a heart attack, and there’s no obvious blood clots.  The bad news is that the pain is still undiagnosed, and I won’t know for some time until my primary care physician can order some more tests.  It’s really weird going about life when it feels like a hand is in your chest squeezing my insides.  I’m not fishing for sympathy, that is not the point of this post.

The point I’m driving at is I don’t know when I’ll die, none of us do.  When I was laying in my hospital bed, my three mains fears were 1) I won’t be there for my cats anymore, 2) I might end up hacked up and disabled, and 3) I won’t finish my writing.  If you’ve had an idea kicking around your head for game supplements, fiction, or anything else you would want to write about, then do it now.  Don’t wait for an emergency to clarify what you’re meant to do with your life.  I’m meant to write.  So long as I have a computer, typewriter, or paper and pencil (even a quill and ink well), I’ll write.  If I’m reduced to chiseling poetry on stone, I’ll write (let’s pray it doesn’t get there).

After getting home I worked with new zeal to finish my Goblin character supplement for Pits & Perils.  In my eagerness to get this thing uploaded, I overlooked one editing mistake, and had to ask them to hold off on posting it until I fix it.    I have one last edit to do, and then I’ll submit it again to James & Robyn for the archive.

James and Robyn, if you don’t hear from me for a month, post the draft I sent you so folks can play with it.  I’d rather people play with something decent than have nothing because I suddenly took the dirt nap.

 

–Abraham Gray

 

Deleted Rough Drafts of Goblin Supplement

I deleted the rough drafts of the goblin supplement for P&P.  I’m putting the finishing touches on the final draft, and will post it with the appropriate Open Supplement License and OHR logo after I email it to OHR for the archive.

It will be free, of course, just like everything else I write.

I look forward to sharing it with you.

 

Goblin Supplement V6

PNP_Goblin6

Click the link to download.

The Goblin v6 Notes

I revised the RAIN spell and the Cave Spider.

The RAIN spell was way overpowered. Looking at the assorted spells in the Complete P&P, their range and magnitude are small. World changing magics, while they may exist, are not standard repertoire for spell casters spending one point per spell. Therefore, I changed it so the caster can summon a rain cloud that lasts one turn per level and follows the caster. I removed the text about intensifying the storm. It’s easy enough to make rulings on multiple overlapping rain clouds.

I imagine this might have various obvious uses such as blocking the sun, watering crops or suppressing fires. Being the only successful farmer in a drought-stricken land may well attract unwanted attention.

When creating spells for P&P, I suggest using the power of the spells in the original game as a guideline. This is not like D&D where a high level magician or cleric acquires terribly powerful spells that: create massive quantities of food or drink, raise and shape massive quantities of stone or steel, strike moderately powerful foes dead with one hit, and so on. Such magical effects might be possible if it suits the fiction, but I imagine it would require involved rituals with multiple participating magicians. Furthermore I think bending the rules of existence to that extent might attract supernatural attention with potentially serious consequences.

I revised the Cave Spider to statistically resemble the standard Giant Spider, but noting it was specially bred. It’s faster on flat ground than your typical giant spider, but do note that there is no penalty to saving against its poisonous bite. The selective breeding increased the speed and decreased the poison.

I’m coming to appreciate the importance of study, reflection and revision when creating game content. I’m grateful I have a quiet mindless job that lets me work these things out. I was halfway through my shift when the thought hit me “The rain spell sucks! And so does the cave spider. Fix them!”

Goblin Class for P&P version 5

PNP_Goblin5

Version 5 pdf link above.  Revision notes below.

 

Goblin race-as-class Suppliment version 5 Notes

I finally figured out something with the goblin supplement that was bothering me about the gas filled mushrooms.

First of all was the name bladder-fart. It’s a cute name, something some goblins might call a mushroom, but for me not quite right. What would humans call it? Maybe they have no name for it, but find it among the wreckage of destroyed goblin settlements or crashed balloons.

Second, there was the cost of the bladder-fart versus the utility. One used to give three hours of fly time. It’s not much math, but it’s a lot to ask of the player. If the PCs rent or buy a balloon, they should have very simple choices to make. They shouldn’t have to calculate exactly how many hours of gas they need. A rough estimate should be enough, with the possibility of buying extra gas in case they want additional flight time or a nice bomb to drop on their enemies. Or a nice bomb dropped by NPC goblins on human settlements.

Third, I was unsure about the explosive power of the goblin bombs. How much was enough damage, did it cost enough? Did it cost too little?

I solved all the above when I realized the gas filled mushroom could serve as both bomb and fuel source. When I thought of an analogy to a modern gas bottle, my problem was solved. Why not have a some what tallish mushroom that holds a lot of gas? Why not fit it to a nozzle for balloon use, or fit a fuse for bomb use? And being a big, tall bottle of gas, it could fly a balloon for an easily calculable period of time—say 12 hours (I might make it 24), and give a nice wide area explosion when dropped from above? With this I can increase the cost of the gas bottle, increase it’s area of effective explosion, and decrease the math required in purchasing it.

Doing so, I let the focus of goblin balloons be the fiction of ballooning, rather than the complicated logistics. This will allow for interesting decisions to be made: do I save the extra bottles of gas for flight time, or do I drop them on my enemies?

Not to mention the tempting target of a boom-shroom for a sharp-eyed archer with a flaming arrow!

I think I may have now revised the gas mushroom to be what I want them to be: a useful plot device to facilitate interesting adventures. Be careful carrying your torches in a cave full of these shrooms, so that you don’t accidentally set them on fire! Be careful setting a fuse and dropping them, or you’ll blow yourself up!

I can imagine the diminutive goblins, two or three working together, loading these things into their balloons or onto their crude catapults. It makes for good fiction, which is the point of gaming in my opinion.

It occurred to me that a typical adventuring party will be at least four PCs. Perhaps the basket should be enlarged to carry four human sized or six goblin sized characters. Or maybe part of the fun is figuring you need two balloons, and have to raise the funds get them.

Let me know what you think.

Lastly, I revised the level increments for goblin combat abilities and HEAL spell potency to “every third level” in case you wish to run characters higher than the standard ten levels.

Abraham Gray

Goblin Class v 4.0 for P&P

I keep revising it and adjusting, I really need to stop.

PNP_Goblin4

Click the link above to download.

 

Changes: Updated treasure entry for NPC goblins.  Changed Shaman to three starting spells (heal + 2 chosen).  Otherwise nothing else changed.  I need to playtest the shaman to see how it feels.

If you prefer one version or part of one version over another please tell me.

I’d better stop before I ruin it like George Lucas ruined Star Wars with his re-edits.

The Goblin for P&P

PNP_Goblin3

This was inspired by Aaron Gustwiller’s “Durulz” duck race.  I mimicked some of the formatting he used for his creation.

Click above link to download the pdf.

And as always my contributions are free for your enjoyment.