D&D General I really LOVE Stomping Goblins

[Oofta]

Good thing that’s not what I’m doing then.

How am I supposed to interpret

I mean… ok, I guess. We have pretty different moral compasses, you and I.

As anything other than a comment on my morality?

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I simply accept that games are not real.

Sure. But at least to me the whole point of RPGs is to pretend that it is real.

 

[Oofta]

People have all sorts of obstacles in their day to day life. Some they can change, some that would be difficult or costly to change, some that are impossible. That boss at work that won't give you the credit you deserve. That old phone that's on it's last legs and has a cracked screen but you can't afford to replace yet. The traffic jam you have to sit in while going to work because it snowed.

I think everybody at times has a fantasy that they could just wave a hand and all these obstacles could just go away. In D&D, you can sometimes make all your problems go away with a simple wave of your hand and the utterance of the word "fireball". Sometimes part of that fantasy is knowing right from wrong, who the bad guys are when in real life it's rarely so easy.

Obviously killing your boss is not going to be a solution to your problem with them, but in D&D? In D&D, oftentimes killing your enemy is the answer. It's wish fulfillment, solve problems and succeed in the easiest and most expedient way possible. Sometimes against what first appears to be insurmountable odds. It's not about solving problems with violence it's about being able to slay the monsters overcome the obstacles life puts in your path.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

Different players and DMs want different things. Some want more roleplaying and nuance, others want to go fight monsters with impunity, and others want a little of both.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Sure. But at least to me the whole point of RPGs is to pretend that it is real.

I generally agree in the sense that the pretending is within the context of the in-game universe. The absence of killable without remorse target in the real world doesn't mean we can't play in a world were such do exist.

I think everybody at times has a fantasy that they could just wave a hand and all these obstacles could just go away. In D&D, you can sometimes make all your problems go away with a simple wave of your hand and the utterance of the word "fireball". Sometimes part of that fantasy is knowing right from wrong, who the bad guys are when in real life it's rarely so easy.

Indeed. When you spend your whole day making complex decisions that will impact significantly other people and trying to do it reasonably well, taking into account every aspect of it in order to do the "right" thing within the morally complex framework of real life, the last thing you want is to do the exact same thing in a fantasy setting on Friday night. "Let's stomp goblins" is sometime just that. They attacked a caravan, they die, no need to wonder 100% of the time if they were forced to do it by societal constraint, coercion or out of pure necessity, because they have a different conception of private property, because the caravan was stopping on their sacred burial grounds and how they could be reformed and if killing them won't worsen the problem by leaving baby goblins to starve and fostering a new generation of hatred toward humans. It can be fun, sure, no one is denying that, but not doing that and stomping them can be fun as well.

 

[Reynard]

why can't they be both.

I can have a tribe of man eater kobolds that whoreship a red dragon, and in the same adventure have an evil hobgoblin take over a tribe of sneaky kobolds that are way more nueanced, and in the same game have a group of PCs befriend Meepo and his white dragon...

Looks askance...

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

It's not about solving problems with violence it's about being able to slay the monsters overcome the obstacles life puts in your path.

Or, in case you're the rogue, creating obstables to put in the path of others.

 

[d24454_modern]

So, goblins are pretend creatures. They only have the traits we assign them at the time we assign those traits. It seems counterproductive to imbue goblins with humanity (just to use a broad term that gets the point across) right before slaughtering them by the score, only to then worry ourselves about the ethical implications of doing so.

Simply don't imbue them with such traits. If you define them as irredeemable evil but hilariously psychotic little monsters that can only be dealt with by dismemberment, that's what thy ARE.

I think this is part of the problem.

Creatures like Orcs are assigned traits that are considered “evil” by the makers of the game, but is it really that bad to be treated with extreme prejudice?

It reminds me of the show The Good Place where at least half of the things that could get you sent to “hell” were extremely petty or subjective.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

It's a shame they're MtG creatures, because the small cackler demons from Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica could really fill the goblin niche.

Cacklers are small, jabbering jesters that spice up Rakdos performances with their chaotic antics. Their incessant cackling can inspire uncontrollable laughter by making everything—even the most horrifying spectacles—seem hilarious.

I could see these guys as replacements for the Pathfinder 1E style of goblin that sings gleefully about killing dogs and eating babies.

They have the Mimicry trait to mimic sounds and voices, so they could lay ambushes by mimicking past victims' cries for help or whatever. They also have Tasha's Hideous Laughter once per day, which is also good for incapacitating victims and forcing them to laugh as they get chopped down.

 

[HammerMan]

It reminds me of the show The Good Place where at least half of the things that could get you sent to “hell” were extremely petty or subjective.

me and my fiancé just started binging that show... every time Michael says something that makes one of us wince we have to laugh... "Have you ever seen a red hot chili peppers concert?"

The fact that I have know about 1/3 of Chidi's references also weirds her out though... she said If I didn't tell her they were real philosophy she would swear the show made them up (and maybe they did with some)

edit: and next time we do "time passes diffrently in the feywild" you can bet Jeremy Bearimy is getting stolen.... I think the dot over the i will break some players as well.