What goes well with Goblins?

[Woas]

Prolly good with some sauerkraut and baked beans.

I'm just going to throw the idea of Animated Objects into the collective thought pool.

 

[Psychotic Jim]

Hmm... IIRC, in Mystara, chokers used be goblins but degenerate, I think because they were eating other goblins. Perhaps you might adopt a similar idea for your world. The chokers might descend from the more vile goblins of the mercenary tribe that refused to adopt to a self-sufficient lifestyle. Or, since your town is primarily self-sufficient, could be goblins farmers who turned upon their kin and ate them during a particularly bleak famine. The chokers could also be the results of the artificier's magical experimentations. Anyway, the chokers could take the roll of the local bogeymen for the goblin town, perhaps living in sewers or a cave nearby.

 

[blargney the second]

For generations, an emotion-devouring creature has been leeching the srongest feelings out of the goblin community. Typically, the most ambitious goblins rose to the top, only to become the latest empathic snack. The subordinates emulated their leaders, until it became traditional for every member of the village to be as emotional as athlete's foot.

The creature who started it all still ekes out a living from the gobs, but it's currently fairly close to starvation and bored to boot!

In come the PCs...
-blarg

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Wolves and worgs.

 

[Turanil]

Since they're nearby an Artificer's place, I'd suspect constructs....

And not just any constructs....you know the goblins from World of Warcraft at all? Little green guys, great tinkerers. They make constructs themselves, and update 'em.

I like this idea a lot! Well, it's turning them into Dragonlance gnomes, but have them create weird and badly done constructs, some of them which explode (killing goblins) before closing the PCs, other that don't function well, etc.

 

[Runesong42]

Two words: Goblin Catapult.

Goblins take on a whole new aura when taken from a GURPS perspective. Those guys have an above-average intelligence, favour wizards as a class, and love all aspects of magic in general. I really like the artificer idea from above, and if you couple that with decent spell casters, you'll completely baffle your PC's.

- Dru

 

[cmanos]

garlic mashed potatoes, roast corn on the cob, maybe a nice tossed salad would complement goblin nicely. Make sure you get the young goblins, the oulder ones can be a bit tough and gamey.

 

[DarrenGMiller]

Goblins are Great for Humor!

I remember an old adventure in Dungeon that tried to buck this stereotype. It was a pretty deadly trap-filled set of goblin caves that revealed them to be tricky and cruel (like the little kid always picked on by the bigger kids that is enjoying his revenge). There were some REALLY nasty traps in there, as well as a sadistic rock dropping game.

However, I do have the image of the goblin city from Labyrinth. The Goblin-run constructs, the talking staff, etc.

DM

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Oozes, some kept in jars for use as weapons. Simple traps that any "idiot" (eg non-goblin) would fall for. A sad historian, lamenting the goblin species.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I like jumping off from core materials and going crazy based on that springboard.

Goblins like wolves. If barghests are out (although I'm not convinced they should be -- maybe they're the ones behind the sanctioned hunts), then there are other wolfy directions to go with. For one thing, who says that natural lycanthropes always have to look like humans? Mixing in natural werewolves into the goblin community would be a natural move, and goblins can be more alien by NOT being freaked out by this -- Bob may be somewhat violent at times, but a goblin-wolf isn't anything to fear, and he uses his abilities for the good of the community.

Of course, woe to the adventurers who think they can rough up a goblin for information in a dark alley ...

The other direction I'd go is running with the fey aspect of traditional goblins. Even if you don't want to change D&D goblins to suit folklore, having a very anti-fairy aspect to the culture wouldn't be hard to do, and would straddle both worlds nicely. The goblin bar might be called "The Grounded Fairy" and depict a fairy with its wings cut in two. Cages from the ceiling might contain wing-clipped sprites or other harmless fairies who are forced to sing and provide amusement for patrons. If your fairies include some that provide a small amount of light (don't petals, from MM3, do this?), having them as light sources also works. It's cruel without being ridiculous (an easy trap too many DMs fall into, IMO) and also culturally distinct. And, of course, goblin champions would have feybane cold iron weapons, just in case some uppity fey ever comes to get some payback.