This might sound a bit odd, but then, I think many of us fantasy (and folklore) fans have a particular creature that we're really attached to... with a lot of D&D folks, it's dragons... (heh, big surprise there.) With others, it's elves &/or dark elves. Some dig gargoyles. Etc.
Me.... I loves me my little goblins.
But I hate D&D goblins. For the most part, they're just dirty little humanoid speedbumps between kobolds and orcs. They're flavorless beyond the badness that gives PCs the excuse to hack them to pieces and move on to bigger & better things that "deserve" more personality and fantastic feel. Not cool.
Goblins I love come from Brian Froud, from the "Labyrinth," from "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti, from Ted Naifeh's "Courtney Crumrin" series. Throw a bit of Gremlins in there for a dash of colorful mania.
In short, when I think goblins with warmth in my heart, I think mischevious-to-manipulative-to-maniacal-to-grotesquely-cute-to-cunning-to-h ysterical-to-dangerous-to-endearing-to-maybe-kind-of-not-so-bad-but-then-ag ain-maybe-they-are little trouble-making, grubby fey blighters who're remarkably good with their hands.
Where am I going with this? No pressure intended, but part of the reason I decided what the heck and to switch over to a Pathfinder Subscript was the strength of the Goblin designs in your blog. They have such twisted personality! Personality I'm proud to call Goblinish. Or Goblinesque.
Not that I'm expecting a whole Path full of them, mind you, but I really like what I see in them so far... and if I can trust you guys with my favorite Fantasy/Folklore critter when everyone else in the biz shoves them aside, I think I can trust you guys with my subscription.
... oh, by the way. It's no mistake that I picked the avatar-pic I did. I know it's not supposed to be one, but it looks kinda like a big old goblin, doesn't it?
Beleive it or not..
the best adventure I hav ever read in DnD for giving goblins personality was "Axe of Dwarvish Lords"... I know, you're saying "WtF"
But the tribes of goblins had cool art, cool,ideas +personality. Pick up copy.
And it has some funny stuff in it about what happens if you are a female goblin who is morphed by and artifcat into a male dwarf..
http://www.trollandtoad.com/p115330.html?PHPSESSID=b5888a80d67d6dcaa070a516 bfcafa08
....
:)
And it has some funny stuff in it about what happens if you are a female goblin who is morphed by and artifcat into a male dwarf..:)
Wow... that's a pretty wacky set of circumstances right there. But it sounds interesting, at least. The fact that it's a 2nd edition adventurefor PCs at levels 13-15 involving goblins is noteworthy in and of itself!
And now that I'm reading it a day later I'm sorry if my post came out sounding rambly and fanboyish. Believe it or not, I mostly wanted to say 'Hey, Paizo, I dig your take on goblins. It looks like they're getting the kind of care and vibe they deserve.' Then, it kinda barrelled into a big shpiel about goblin neglect in D&D.