So far, so good. Like the last article, I think this one hit most of the high notes. Personally, I don't see these creatures as exactly working together very often -- only when the hobgoblins come out and marshal them together. I also see a little more variation in alignment than WotC does (though like most alignment debates, it's certainly a little subjective), and give the creatures a higher Charisma (because in my mind, they are fundamentally creatures of fear).
My own take...
[sblock=Goblins]
Goblins
Goblins are the Things That Go Bump In The Night. Sneaky, stealthy, always at the edge of your vision, they lurk just out of sight, waiting to pounce on you from behind. They are that creeping sensation you get when you're alone in your house at night. They are that thing that hides under your bed or in your closet. They are the eyes you feel on the back of your head when you turn away from your window for a moment...
See, in the Real World, these things are tricks of your imagination -- your own fears playing tricks on you. But in D&D, tricks of your imagination tend to be real about half the time: people have lost children to goblins hiding under the bed or in the closet or in the basement. People alone at night have been found the next morning, half-eaten, with flesh carved off with rusted, serrated blades.
It's this that gives them a closeness with wolves and worgs. They both hunt in darkness and twilight, preying on the weakness of others in order to kill and maim. Wolves generally hunt for food, but under the influence of goblins, they learn how fun it is to hunt for the fun of the chase, for the glee that their snarling pursuit inspires. Goblins work with them since wolves are faster: those who flee into open terrain can be taken down by the wolves, and those who are backed into a corner become victims of the goblins.
Goblins may also associate with bats and spiders and other creatures that lurk in hidden places, ready to jump out when disturbed. They aren't quite as famous for these associations as they are for wolves, but it certainly happens (albeit a little less fetishistically than with vampires and drow, for example -- goblins are part of the creepy crawlies, not devotees of them).
The goblins are close to the fey world in the same way that elves are: near it, but not of it. They are close to the shadows of they fey world as elves are close to the sun. Certain goblins are clever enough to learn some remedial magic of darkness and fear, manipulating their environment subtly to make their victory more assured. These "shamans" generally resemble witches and warlocks more than holy people.
IMO, Goblins have decent Charisma, due to their terror-inspiring skills. A goblin learns how to intimidate and threaten their prey, to back them into a corner...or perhaps into the waiting jaws of a pack of wolves. They're not leaders, but they ARE masters of giving people that screaming terror that comes on just before they go to sleep, as they are drifting off and blinking their eyes, and something moves in the corner of the room.
An encounter with goblins should have the PC's saying "What was that?!," jumping at shadows, and being afraid to turn their back. Unseen and malicious, the goblin will wait for your guard to drop, and then attack ruthlessly. Mechanics that help in hiding or invisibility, abilities like Sneak Attack, and magical effects of fear might dwell within goblin encounters.
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[sblock=Bugbears]
Bugbears
Bugbears are the nervousness, fear, and uneasiness of goblins blown into full-on terror and desperation. With goblins, the question is: fight or flight? Can I face my fear, or does it overcome me? With bugbears, the answer is obvious: run. As fast and as far as you can, run. Because the creature lurking just out of sight absolutely wants to devour you, and you have little hope of stopping it.
Bugbears are the brutal inevitability of death, the shadow that comes for all life. They stalk and they wait, and they are also much stronger and more durable than your average person. Savage and keen-eyed, the bugbear tracks and kills its prey with methodical determination and a perverse glee at the creature's fear and desperation. Goblins thrive on surprise and shock, but bugbears are at home with wailing panic and desperate pleading. Goblins want to jump out and surprise you. Bugbears want to chase you, making you run ahead of them, never sure of where they are, until they finally face you, overpower you, and kill you, as you gasp, exhausted from your terrified flight.
Bugbears are loners, as befits their role as predators of the civilized folk, working alone to maximize their effect before they are discovered, to gain the greatest mobility and stealth. Self-interested, wild, and ravenous, the bugbear takes great joy in isolating its prey as well, cutting it off from people that might help them.
An encounter with a bugbear should have the PC's saying "Oh no! Oh no no no no! Please, no!" The characters should be scared, yes, but also positive that their fear is real and manifest and about to leap out of the shadows and kill them and eat them. Mechanics that help this might include fear-based abilities that move people around, scaring them into running or avoiding certain areas. Sneak attacks and the like ring true to the bugbear's purpose as well, but so do things that build over time: a bugbear should wear their enemies down without ever having to give themselves away. Let fear do the work of one thousand swords.
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[sblock=Hobgoblins]
Hobgoblins
Hobgoblins are the creatures that crush your kingdom, enslave your people, and become lords of what you once knew as yours. If the goblinoids are all joined together by the theme of fear, then hobgoblins are the fear of your life being shattered and upended by an outside force. Whereas standard goblins leap out of the darkness to surprise, and bugbears stalk and intimidate and pursue, hobgoblins emerge out of the haze in the distance, just beyond that hill, and proceed to take everything from you.
Hobgoblins are the fear of the powerful conqueror made real. While goblins and bugbears are familiar threats near at hand (though often just out of sight), hobgoblins come on the march from an unseen place, tramping upon all else. They don't come to destroy (like an orc hoard), however, but to conquer. Hobgoblins see the value in slavery, and extol the virtues of forced labor. Leisure is something that hobgoblin commanders reserve for themselves, but always pursue -- thus, the importance of cultivating willing slaves and sycophantic allies. Hobgoblins break the will with hard labor, demeaning deeds, and crushing control. Rebellion isn't unthinkable, it's just impossible: the hobgoblins have no respect for the lives of those they conquer, and they use them up, using fear of torture and torment to motivate the slaves to work, and being all too happy to reward the loyal with the release of death. The hobgoblins are an engine of hobgoblin-centric power generation, and whatever power structure that exists in the first place, they will overthrow and replace with their own, with themselves at the top.
Those who fight the hobgoblins will find them disciplined, organized, and effective. They favor ambushes and surprise tactics, luring their enemy's force out and decimating them in small numbers until they can lay waste to the main force. They are well-planned, with battle formations and contingency plans and an impressive amount of combat intelligence (often gathered from goblin or bugbear spies). Surrender or be taken by force, the hobgoblins will dominate, consolidate, and eradicate, making you and your childrens' children (bred, of course, under the auspices of hobgoblin breeding programs) see yourselves as nothing more than cogs in the machinery of the great Hobgoblin Army.
For hobgoblins, you can take the worst elements of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and apply them right to your idyllic pseudo-medieval village, via the hobbos. Hobgoblins treat people like property, like livestock, using them to power their own material success and luxury. In addition to their distant trade empires, the fear is always that they will come marching over the hill to conquer YOU.
Hobgoblins associate with the other goblinoids largely because the other goblinoids make functional slaves and overseers. Bugbears and goblins are dull enough and cruel enough that they can be trusted, to a degree, and thus given a measure of authority (think of how the trans-Atlantic slave trade used poor European immigrants, especially in America). Their disorganized rebellions hold little real threat for the hobgoblin supremacy, as their self-interest largely dictates that any attempt to escape will be a unique, personal event, rather than a large-scale uprising.
An encounter with hobgoblins should have the players going "Don't take me!" The fear isn't so much death (though there is always that) as enslavement. Hobgoblins might use charms and domination as well as fear, and might use whips and nets and other non-lethal equipment in order to take prizes. They also will make use of others that have been enslaved: a force of hobgoblins might be obvious, but what won't be obvious is the hundreds of goblins and dozens of bugbears lurking all around the corners of that camp, ready and willing to take out any who threaten the hides of their commanders.
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I also think that the goblin concept at in the D-E-V article is pretty solid (assuming the image on the left is the "finalized" one). I can see "cowardly" in that. I'd like to see a little more sneakiness and stealth, but that might come from the environment (what the goblin is DOING in the art that is depicting them).
