Personally I Am Delighted At This Preview Of Rime Of The Frostmaiden...

Here’s a question for the dimension 20 fans.

Of the Bad Kids, which pair do you think talks the least? In every friend group there’s at least one combination of people who have never really bonded on their own before, and though the Bad Kids are pretty tight as of season 2, I have to imagine there are a few awkward combos.

Idk I just feel like Kristen and Fabian have never been in a room alone together and I don’t know if they’d have much to talk about.

all the tips I found for drawing a fantasy map are like :) “here’s a strategy to draw the land masses! here’s how to plot islands!” :) and that’s wonderful and I love them all but ??? how? do y'all decide where to put cities/mountains/forests/towns I have my map and my land but I’m throwing darts to decide where the Main Citadel where the Action Takes Place is

For a new campaign I’m putting together called:

Oops! All goblins.

I will be dissecting goblin lore to recognize them as a species of civilized humanoids (because being a humanoid implies being able to create a civilization) who are not pre-destined to be “evil”, but have culturally and phenotypically found themselves in a state where they must be.

Join, comment, I’m not a sociology major but I’ve read a book or two.

Sifting through DnD lore on any “evil” race is like handling primary documents circa 1900s reviewing the peoples of “the dark continent”. Turn on your sociology brain, question everything, and re-construct in a way that remembers morality is subjective and history is written by the victors.

Horny friends

You know what’s more fun than worldbuilding that makes some fantasy races EEEEVIIIIIIILLLLL!!!!? Worldbuilding that gives the different races cultural differences that help explain why there’s a lot of conflict between them:

Goblin culture doesn’t have a concept of “Property”. A stick on the ground and a tool in a locked shed are equally up for grabs if a thing needs doing. They casually take and leave things all over their communities, eat from communal pots, and genuinely Do Not Understand why the Core Races are so Angry and prone to Violence all the time.

Consequently Goblins who live near Core communities develop a reputation as “Thieves” despite not even having a *word* for that. (The closest word they have is more like “Greedy” and it means a person that hides things so nobody else can use them, and it’s a surefire fight-starter to call a Goblin that)

Common Orc Spiritual beliefs hold that a Soul can only grow stronger by overcoming Challenges in life, and see intruding on another person’s Challenge unasked for as not just Rude, but Deeply Harmful. You’re Stealing their chance to Grow. Asking for help is deeply personal and doing so can be both a way to grow closer with them or a too-personal intrusion, depending on your existing relationship with them. An exception is Children, as far as most Orcs are concerned, all Children are fundamentally the responsibility of the Whole Community, regardless of whose child they are, or even if said child is an Orc at *all*.

This means that Orcs who live near Core neighbors often seem Rude and Standoffish if not outright hostile, because they neither ask for nor offer aid even in times of trouble, and respond to unasked for aid themselves with Anger. There are even rumors that they Steal Children, because if an Orc finds a child lost in the woods they’re pretty much immediately going to start feeding it, and if they can’t find where to bring it back to, or it doesn’t seem to be well cared for, they’re just gonna keep it. 

1. How the Goblin Concept of the Afterlife May Influence Goblin Culture

A cursory glance around the 5th edition Monster Manual tells us that the most prevalent Goblin deity is Maglubiyet. Maglubiyet is...

“worshiped not out of adoration but fear. Goblins believe that when they die in battle, their spirits join the ranks of Maglubiyet’s army on the plane of Acheron. This is a privilege that most goblins dread”(Wizards of the Coast 165).

This quote should lead us to believe that Goblins, unlike Hobgoblins and Bugbears that share the Goblinoid category, do not enjoy war. Whereas Hobgoblins see serving Maglubiyet as an honor, Goblins outright fear it. Dying in battle must be avoided. Maglubiyet is a boogeyman to the Goblin people- almost designed to be a parable against engaging in violence. If you die in battle, hell awaits.

This faith system, leads me to believe that any Goblin community that believes in it would be aggressively peaceful. So how could that not be the case?

Survival is Working Together

A goblin deity that makes far more sense is Bargrivyek, the Goblin god of co-operation and order. Although this god does not offer an afterlife option, it does serve as a means of promoting a certain social behavior that is incredibly valuable to the Goblins.

Given their size and physical might, Goblins, much like humans, could only have expanded and survived as a species with sophisticated strategies of co-operation. In the DnD canon, what goblins lack in power they make up for in numbers. Despite having challenge ratings of 1 or below, a pre-planned Goblin ambush or a well-organized Goblin den, can catch even mid-level adventurers off guard.

Given the necessity of co-operation for survival, it logically follows that a God would be created to positively reinforce its importance. I will be attributing co-operation as one of the central cultural values of Goblins. Not only are they good at it, they are probably better at it than most other species. They do not have the luxury of making enemies or trying to fend for themselves. Goblins have to be the best at pack tactics or they would have been driven to extinction by predators and other species. Establishing the cultural importance of co-operation will also key us into a few other features of Goblin society.