Publisher: Mongoose Publishing
Author: Matthew Sprange
Pluses
+ Quality professional-level game supplement.
+ Includes excellent material for using hobgoblins as more than mere cannon fodder.
+ Nice price.
Minuses
- Better suited to new players and game masters since some material might seem cliché to more seasoned pen-and-paper role-playing game veterans.
Physical Details
The Slayer’s Guide to Hobgoblins is certainly not the best or the brightest in this popular series, but it does hold a place of distinction as the first. This good work paved the way for other authors with a desire to improve monster play. This is no mean feat since it is always very difficult to get people to agree on format. The author should be commended for inventing a very simple and successful format that manages to expand and add value to monsters once used as mere sword fodder. It’s pretty rare that a supplement actually improves the quality of a game rather than just adding to it (more feats, more spells, etc.); this work and the series does a smattering of both. Game masters can certainly look forward to getting more bang for their buck from the monsters in their games by reading this work as well as the others in the series including: Troglodytes, Sahuagin, Dragons, Trolls, Orcs, Medusas, Duergar, Yuan-Ti, Undead, Harpies, Kobolds, Derro, Giants, Demons and more! Players benefit as well from tips on playing respective monsters as characters. One of the things I especially like about this work and the series in general is the thick protective cardstock cover, reminiscent of TSR’s original bygone Dungeon magazine format. This guide and all its ken stand for quality and Mongoose publishing obviously cares about delivering a good product.
Now, even though this is not the best Slayer’s Guide in the series, it certainly does the job it sets out to do. The guide is 32 pages in length as with others in the series and the price is $9.95. The front cover, while not as polished as others in the series, serves as a good introduction to the topic. A heavily armored hobgoblin chieftain stands grimly atop a gray bolder, a standard bearer complete with “flaming fist” banner standing to his right. An army of obscure figures lines the bottom of the cover. The cover is not one of my personal favorites because its seems too drab with lots of grays and browns. In addition the decision not to include the author’s name on the cover was a mistake that has happily been corrected in other guides. The back cover of the other guides have likewise become more informative about what you’ll find inside. Still, this guide is packed with excellent material.
The black and white interior art is exceptional and does measure up to future guides. The inside cover features some excellent anatomical drawings of the hobgoblin form, another feature which establishes the standard and has carried over into other guides as well. The remainder of the internal black and white art is also well done with only a couple of average pieces. Again this guide establishes the standard. Thought was put into the text, table, and statistical layouts within as well. The text is mostly error free and the typefaces are well selected and easy to read, though some readers may have trouble with the script typeface used in the fiction sections, though appropriately used. The writing style is educated and refined without the arrogance and/or conceit found in the works of other brands including Wizards of the Coast products. In general, the arrangement is well done which is something to be said for a first product.
Content Details
The Slayer’s Guide to Hobgoblins is divided into several sections:
The Introduction has become a standard greeting for the series and serves as a good introduction to the hobgoblin topic. The fiction following the introduction also manages to set the mood for the rest of the work.
The groundbreaking Hobgoblin Physiology section details the physical attributes of hobgoblins including the obvious, such as height, weight, and not so obvious such as facial features, ear shape, and comparisons with other goblinoids. It also includes surprising information about hobgoblin intelligence and discipline. The subsections on origins, diet, life cycle, physical variation, and psychology are also interesting.
The Habitat section is brief since hobgoblins live simple martial lives. The section gives some great information on how hobgoblins manage to survive through fortification, migration in the face of disaster, and refortification, making for a very interesting martial, migratory lifestyle. The fictional account ending the section is a little hard to swallow.
The Hobgoblin Society section is the core of the work covering hobgoblin tribal structures and practices, the hobgoblin hierarchy and exceptions to it, honor and the rules of succession, and how hobgoblin clerics behave and fit into the political scheme of things. How tribal wealth is divided, what the tribe will do to survive in the absence of towns and settlements to attack, how their stratagems function during war, and even how they act when on their own in smaller groups, without tribal structures, are all covered in detail. The section closes with some interesting and useful information on hobgoblin spirituality.
The brief Methods of Warfare section is clear cut, with concise subsections that are extremely easy to put into practice during play. Hobgoblins should no longer drop like flies after using the tactics in this section. It’s just that simple. Where are the warriors in the battle line? How are archers used? Do hobgoblins use cavalry? How are scouts utilized? Where are the chieftain and his guards situated? What is the goal of battle? What should it be like facing a hobgoblin army? How do hobgoblins deviate from their own tactical norms? This section answers all of these questions and more.
The Role-Playing With Hobgoblins section offers simple, sound advise on the portrayal of hobgoblins. The key points included should keep players and game masters from playing them as the dumb slobbering brutes they are not.
Scenario Hooks and Ideas offers some simple plots involving hobgoblins. A starting campaign would benefit most from some of these ideas. A couple could fill several game sessions or even be worked into a full and memorable low-level campaign.
The Hobgoblins as Characters section is somewhat Spartan when compared to the same section in other guides. Still enough information is certainly provided to succeed at role-playing a hobgoblin player character.
Graven Hill Fort is a fine example of the entire hobgoblin way of life starting with a disaster, a migration, a conquest for a new home, the fortification of that new home and the resumption of raids in the new territory. The information in this section again would make for an excellent starting campaign since the setting is reminiscent of one of most popular game modules of all time (see overall comments below).
The Hobgoblins Reference List is simply a quick reference offering ready-made hobgoblin statistics, though the section does conclude with a pair of hobgoblin clerical spells and the ending fiction uses Graven Hill as the backdrop. This section may seem like filler to some readers.
Overall Comments
I have mentioned in several places during this review that this particular guide is not the best of the series. The format and content has simply been refined over time and this is to be expected. However, something else bothered me about the guide during my first and second readings. I saw some very clear parallels between hobgoblins and another famous fictional race...Klingons! The guide makes mention of hobgoblin discipline and their efficiency in battle. Also, the succession of tribal rule by combat seems to be another similarity. Even the mention of the possibility of a self-sustaining hobgoblin empire set off a bell or two. Of course there is so much that is different between the two races too – hobgoblins are evil and cruel foremost. Still, I tried to decide whether this made the guide somehow unoriginal or even cliché. I also have to admit that when I read the Graven Hill Fort section that I immediately noticed a situation similar to the one in the Return to Keep on the Borderlands module for 2nd Edition AD&D. I think these similarities sort of weakened the appeal of the guide for me. However, new players and neophyte game masters (or even those short on imagination) may find these similarities to be strengths since Keep on the Borderlands was the most played module of all time and Klingons are a very familiar pop culture icon for some. Still, the guide is a very nice work well worth the price and time spent reading.
