The Goblin Horde

(Kalashtar Bodyguard facing a goblin warrior)

 

In just about any fantasy role-playing game (RPG), a single adventurer, even a low-level one, can dispatch a solitary goblin. 

 

The problem, however, is...

...goblins "hunt in packs." 

 

Several months ago, I bought a slew of Pathfinder Battles goblin packs made for the We Be Goblins Module to add to my greenskin horde. 

 

On the Pathfinder RPG planet of Golarion, goblins are hyper little psychos, living in tribes scattered across the world.

 

It's not that the goblins of other worlds are any less vicious, but the ones found on Golarion push the envelope of zaniness to the point of insanity. 

 

Once I finished painting and flocking the black bases of my new goblins, I thought I'd muster the new and old figures for a "gathering of the goblin clan."

 

Rulers of the Pack 

 

Every tribe needs a leader, and goblins, whether zany or sane, are no exception.  Here are three unique characters that stand out among the gibbering masses:

 

(Special Characters:  Mogmurch, Reta Bigbad and a goblin adept)

"Pets"

 

Humans aren't the only being capable of domesticating animals.  Goblin dogs are often found guarding goblin lairs.

(Image:  A pack of goblin dogs)

The Rank & File 

 

The favored weapon of Golarion goblins is the Dogslicer.  These cheaply made weapons can be found in the hands of a tribe's heroes...

(Image: goblin heroes # 02)

 

...warchanters...

 

(Image:  Goblin warchanters)

 

...and warriors. 

(Image:  Goblin warriors)

For those goblins who prefer weapons with a tad longer reach, there's these spear-wielding commandos: 

(Image:  Goblin commandos)

Pyromania is just one part of a goblin's psychological make up.  However, for some goblins it's their calling.

 

(Image:  Goblin Pyros 01s and Pyro 02s)

Getting back to "pets," goblin dogs aren't just guard animals either.  Some of the critters have an ever-so-slightly milder temperament, that allows goblins to ride them as cavalry. 

(Image:  Goblin commandos on goblin dogs)

 

Wizards of the Coast Figures

 

Goblins tend to be sneaky overall , but some truly excel at it.

 

(Image:  A goblin sneak flanked by goblin Blackblades)

 

Looking at some "tamer" goblins, archers prefer keep their distance during any confrontation.

(Image:  Graypeak Goblin Archers)

But then there's these armored hatchet wielders...

 

(Image:  Acheron goblins)

Among warriors, heroes and sneaks; some goblins are the closest thing to ninjas a tribe can muster.  

(Image:  Silent Wolf Goblins)

The poorest, (and most expendable) members of the tribe, are usually pressed into service as javelin chuckers. 

(Image: Goblin skirmishers)

But when a tribe wants to capture something--or someone--then the picadors are summoned. 

(Image:  Goblin picadors)

 

According to various myths and legends, goblins come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.  In today's high-tech world, goblin figures are manufactured in a variety of shapes, sizes and weaponry.  

 

Hero Quest Figures

 

Here's a comparison of Paizo, Wizards of the Coast, and some old HeroQuest miniatures I embellished:

Apparently, the HeroQuest goblins have managed to manufacture, or steal, better swords than their Golarion cousins: 

But when swords are in short supply, hatches will do.

 

Some swords though are better than others. This band of goblins carry larger scimitars.  

 

Since all the HeroQuest bad guys are rather generic, I selected a few figures to act as leaders. 

 

The rank & file goblins, seen in the above three pictures, wear brown tunics, tied with darker brown belts, with white skull buckles. 

 

Troop leaders, on the other hand, wear read tunics, with silver, or gold belt buckles, and carry shields.  The shields weren't part of the original HeroQuest game.  I got these from an old Games Workshop fantasy accessory kit.

Each shield is unique.  Here's a look at the shield facings: 

 

 

Maybe someday I'll add some additional color to shields. 

Final Thoughts About Mustering Goblins

One of the main reasons why I like collecting goblins, along with orcs, is because they're very versatile.  In addition to populating the usual fantasy setting, they make great mutants in most science fiction, or post apocalyptic settings.

OSRIC Game Session

Intro to OSRIC

When my gaming buddy Dan met the woman he'd eventually marry and explained his (our) gaming hobby, she asked:  "People still play Dungeons & Dragons?"

Why--yes--in fact--we do.

D&D as it's commonly referred to, is now on it's 4th Edition (4E), while the wizards of Wizards of the Coast (WotC) are in the arcane process of conjuring up a batch of 5th Edition.

However, not everyone is happy with the later renditions, especially 4E.  I liked 3rd Edition D&D and while I have several 4E rulebooks I've yet to play it.  I can't comment on the any of the issues some (a lot?) of players have against it. 

 

But I can tell you is this:  Within months of 4E being published, copies of the rulebooks ended up in the used bookstores.  (That's where I got mine).

With all the updating and revising, there has been a longing to go back to the "good old days," or "old school" role playing games (RPGs).  OSRIC, or Old School Reference Index and Compilation, helps satisfy this yearning for the RPG days of yore.  (Anyone remember THAC0?). 

You can still find tattered and beverage-stained copies of AD&D--or--you can simply check out Knights-n-Knaves and download a PDF index of the rules--for free. Having sold all my AD&D books to finance purchases of 3E, I downloaded the PDF. 

Note:  I found reading the print to be extremely difficult.  I needed both my reading glasses and a magnifying glass to make out the content.  So it may be best to print the file.

 

Puyallup Wargamers Delve into Retro Gaming

 

Several months ago, Chris started an OSRIC campaign involving several players.  I didn't participate until I happened to attended a group council meeting.  The purpose of this "White Council" was to establish a coherent gaming schedule for the upcoming year(s).  After the meeting adjourned, I was invited to join the campaign in-progress.

 

The Campaign Synopsis

 

While traveling through the border region, the party became involved in a plague outbreak.  At least one entire village succumbed to a disease that turned people into--well, not quite zombies--but that's what we called them.  Tell-tale signs of infection were a yellowing of the eyes and exhaling, or giving off brown vapors through the skin.

 

Alarmed by the spreading plague, the neighboring elves slaughtered anyone they caught wandering the area in an attempt to contain the contagion. 

 

While evading elven patrols, the party stumbled across a remote castle that turned out to be the epicenter of the plague.  After defeating several monsters and other creatures, the adventurers determined that the source of the plague was a spore-spewing, yellow fungus that overran the castle's domain. 

 

I joined the party as they delved into the castle's caverns.  Our charismatic ranger, Fodder, was disfigured when her head was enveloped by some blob-like creature and we had to burn it off her.  Once we made it to the cavern, we discovered a semi-ruined temple--locked from the inside.  The halfling thief, Brony, snuck inside through a small hole in the wall and discovered a fungus farm, along with an entire column, or pillar encrusted with the yellow stuff.

(Image:  Our party's standard marching order)

 

We made our way to an uninfected, but disreputable village ("...a wretched hive of scum and villainy...") to trade some of our treasure for barrels of oil and a cart.  After the usual haggling, along with being shortchanged, we made our way back to the castle to burn the fungoid "grow operation."

The Campaign Finale

 

We rolled the barrels down to the temple, being careful not to burst any of the nearby fungus spores.  Our crew consisted of the following characters:

 

  Fodder (human-female ranger), Brony (halfling thief), Kylation (human fighter), Quade (human ranger), Baldor Almonger, Harlan (half-elf fighter/cleric) and Fels (human monk).

 

We set up the oil barrels around the temple and on several fungus patches outside the temple.  Just as we were about to enter the temple, several of our members became concerned about leaving the rest of the caverns unexplored.  The main cavern was large enough to serve as a lair for some ginormous monster.  So we set off to ensure nothing would sneak up on us while in the midst of our fungus eradication operation.

 

That's when we nearly killed ourselves.

 

Shortly after setting out, four of us, Quade, Baldor, Harlan and Fels, saw translucent blob-like creatures attach themselves to the back heads of Fodder, Brony and Kylation.  We tried cutting and singeing them off Kylation, but nothing had any effect.  When the afflicted members tried swiping them off, their hands and weapons passed through their bodies.

 

In fact, the afflicted trio accused us of hallucinating at best, or of outright treachery.  Having reached an impasse, we traipsed back to the temple, vowing to settle this matter later.  Brony snuck back in and discovered the fungus encrusted pillar disappeared and there was a strong acidic smell in the air. 

 

When he made his way to the front of the temple, to unbar the main doors--the monster struck!

 

 

A purple tentacle lashed out and entwined itself around the halfling's neck.  Through fortitude, willpower, or just plain luck, Brony managed to unbar the doors as the tentacle dragged him back towards the hungry creature.  Kyalation burst into the room, winding his sword arm back for a mighty swing a the tentacle.  My character, Baldor, entered next and began an invocation for a Spiritual Hammer.  Everyone else piled in, swinging swords or flinging arrows.  Everyone that is, except for Fels, who crept in rolling an oil barrel infront of him.

 

 

Baldor's spiritual hammer turned out to be more like a spiritual whiffle ball bat, inflicting no wounds against the monster.  Fels managed to roll the barrel in front of the creature, while Quade peppered the creature with arrows--some even doing damage--and everyone else wielding real weapons, hacked and slashed at the beast.  The tentacle holding Brony was sliced in half but the halfing had to untangle himself, because everyone else was too busy fighting.

 

Once the barrel was in place, Fels stove it in and set the gushing oil on fire.  Within seconds, the creature, which we now noticed was either made of, or taken over by the infectious fungus, began to burn.  As the creature cooked, we ran out and rolled in the rest of the barrels to put the fungus farm to the torch.

 

We fled out the main doors as the flames engulfed the temple's interior.  Once we reached the surface and in the full light of day; Fodder, Brony and Kylation noticed the rest of us had a slight yellow tint to our eyes and we coughed brown dust out of our lungs--the initial signs of fungus infection.  Apparently, hallucinations are another symptom of the fungal plague, but previous victims never lived long enough to pass on this knowledge.

 

And so it was off to a more reputable village, to sell the goods we looted acquired from the castle and seek a healer for the four of us under the fungal influence. 

 

After the haggling and paying more equitable "handling charges," each of us earned over 2,000 gold pieces.  Although the four of us suffering from fungus infection ended up being a couple hundred gold pieces poorer after making a "nominal donation" to the healer's temple.

 

Despite our newfound fame and fortune, a few questions remain unanswered:

 

What kind of creature did we fight? 

Are there any more like it?

And, who was running the fungus farm?

 

To be answered--maybe--the next time we gather for an epic OSRIC adventure.

 

Final Thoughts on OSRIC

 

While I still feel 3E is my favorite version, it was fun going back to a set of rules that most of us grew up with and could easily re-familiarize ourselves with.  I look forward to the next session.

 

Cast of Characters

 

Fodder--played by John

 

Brony--played by Adrian

 

Kylation--played by Kyle

 

Quade--played by Greg

 

Baldor Almonger--played by Ted

 

Harlan--played by Greg

 

Fels--played by Ken