Tuesday 23 August 2011

We Be Goblins!


We Be Goblins! is a short adventure for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game released for this year’s Free RPG Day. The pdf is available for free download at paizo.com. In the adventure, players take on the role of goblins instead of standard PC races and head out to retrieve a stash of fireworks for the Licktoad tribe. Most groups should be able to run through the whole adventure in one session, two at most.

In short, this adventure is a lot of fun. I ran it as a play-by-post game and had a blast. There is a lot of humour injected into the adventure (not surprising as Pathfinder goblins have a very comical bent to them) and groups may end up spending large amounts of time laughing at the antics they get up to, both from scripted and non-scripted events.

The adventure is split into two main parts. The first part takes place in the goblin village where the PCs undergo a series of comical tests (such as riding an ill-tempered pig like at a rodeo) to prove their mettle as goblin heroes. The second part is a short overland journey to a shipwreck containing the prized fireworks. Although the format of the second part is fairly standard fare, there are a number of goblin-like twists thrown in. The main villain is a cannibal goblin who (gasp!) keeps dogs and horses as pets! (In the Pathfinder Campaign Setting, goblins despise dogs and horses, so any goblin who would keep them as pets must be vile indeed!)

The adventure comes with four pregenerated goblin characters; however, it’s perfectly possible for players to create their own characters. Indeed, a group with more than four players will have no choice but to create some of their own. There are only four tests in the opening section (each one somewhat geared towards one of the pregenerated characters), so gamemasters with larger groups may want to invent some extra tests so that each PC has a chance to complete one.

Since goblins are, by nature, evil, this adventure can bring with it some of the problems of evil campaigns. In my own pbp group, there was some arguing and infighting that luckily did not result in the characters killing each other. But it might have. GMs should be prepared to deal with an evil party when they run this adventure. I, personally, am not a fan of evil campaigns. However, as a short one-off comedy adventure, this adventure works really well.

The adventure can also be used as a prequel to the Jade Regent adventure path (the first part of which I reviewed here). The goblin actions in this adventure set in motion some of the events that occur in The Brinewall Legacy. This is a great way to whet your players’ interest in Jade Regent. One regrettable aspect (and this is actually a criticism of The Brinewall Legacy and not We Be Goblins!) is that the goblin heroes of this adventure are assumed to be killed between it and The Brinewall Legacy. I feel there’s a missed opportunity here to have the new PCs of Jade Regent come up against the old PCs. The players could get the thrill of fighting themselves. Of course, Brinewall Legacy can not assume that every group will have played We Be Goblins!, so it’s understandable that it’s not written this way. Still, some GMs may wish to alter things just a little so that the goblin heroes are still alive in Brinewall Legacy. Of course, We Be Goblins! makes a fine stand-alone adventure and does not need to be used as a prequel if you don’t want to.

Overall, if you’re looking for a break and would like a change of pace from your standard campaign, We Be Goblins! makes an excellent choice.

1 comment:

  1. It was a blast :) - though I'd like to add that "Goblins of Golarion" makes a great addition to the game; with a lot of content on what makes goblins goblins.

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