Goblins

[Jame]

Yes, goblins. I'm taking my version from that of many of Spiderweb Software's goblins. These stats are meant to be most compatible with CT, MT and T4.

Roll 1d6 for STR and END, 2d6 for DEX, 2d6-1 for INT and 1D4+1 EDU and SOC. They have natural low-light (or, if you wish, infrared instead) vision, which is treated as natural LA (or IR) goggles in appropriate circumstances, to a range of about 40 to 50 feet. Favored careers are hunter, pirate, barbarian and rogue, though many become servants for nobles, crimelords and other types. Examples can turn up in any career except noble and bureaucrat.

Goblins are small, weak and less intelligent than a typical human. They are generally distractable, unclean (unless someone trains them into it) and fast-breeding - except on planets with large non-goblin population, where they form small communities at the edges. No-one knows their homeworld, since by now they can be found all over Charted Space.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Hey Jame - you should look at ShadowRun. Neat idea!

Dameon

 

[Jame]

Why should I look at SR?

 

[DElrick]

Have you looked at GURPS Goblins? Especially the prior service tables which affect the goblin's physical shape (not to mention being a good book in its own right...).

Cheers

David

 

[Liam Devlin]

Add to that, fast breeding, shortlived, and not known for any great talent at inventing, but rather implementing existing technology for their own society's use.

Avg Lifespan 50 years, though due to hazardous lifestyles, tends to live 20-35 years. Reaches "adult hood" at age 12.

Might suggest also used as Scab labor in Belter careers, as their mining skills while sloppy, are speedy. And any Mining megacorp would love to save money!

Some Imperial Anthropologists postulate (for YTU use) Homeworld may have been a very dim M-Dwarf Star, due to their predilection for weakness in bright sunshine/ as well as their natural nocturnal habits...

Omnivorous, but tend towards meats. Tend to be ruled among their own kind by the smartest and/ or biggest of their kind.

Can Endure great filth, and harsh living conditions extremes betwen heat and cold for long periods of time with unconcern...tend to be socially aggressive when in encountered in large numbers (as in they outnumber their antagonists).

 

[Jame]

Not necessarily physical weakness, but certainly poor eyesight in bright sunlight...

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Having had several characters of mine netted and then beaten with boards with nails in it by goblins, This seems very, very cool. Are they sort of like mean Jawas IYTU, Jame? Do they also tame weird animals to serve them like D&D or Warhammer Goblins? (Wolves, Spiders, Wargs)
I think the strength for them is in numbers, like dirty Kobolds.

Gangs of them could be good for Starport Flavor.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Didn't ShadowRun have Goblins? Or was it Orcs and Trolls? I think they had a Space supplement for the game. Might give you some ideas.

Dameon

 

[veltyen]

SR had Goblinisation but no goblins (except for some goblin spirits).

I've used a similar concept, a modified human species for rapid mining/terraforming. Thousands of angry mongoloid stunty semi-humans tend to give most people a moment of pause.

 

[Golan2072]

SR has Goblins - these are HMVV-infected (Ghoul-ized) Dwarves. Oh, and SR's "space supplement" is a small chapter in Target: Wastelands; SR is quite conservative when dealing with space, in comparison to, for example, CP2020.

 

[Jame]

Hmmmm... Yes, they are mean, especially in tribes on their tribal ground, but in human lands they're quieter - being smart enough not to want to be wiped out...

 

[kafka47]

Goblins could have been long time associates of the Vilani who treated them as trusted servants through a complex relationship of master-servant bound up in a thousand gestures of mutual good will.

The Solomani in their arrogance destroyed those bonds believing them to be quasi-slavery and in shifting sands of time, even the Vilani have forsaken these bonds.


Now this minor race spread throughout Chartered Space has had its own agenda for many centuries slowly culivating its place beside and inside the bosum or more accurately living amongst the entrails of humaniti. Now they have figured that now it is time to strike. Out of the slimepits and darkened sewers of a thousand worlds...

 

[Ran Targas]

^ Nice Boris; I like it!

I was thinking along the same lines. The gobbies began as the lowest ranking caste (maybe by design), with a finite gene pool that gradually dimished over time. Forced to interbreed, they developed numerous mutations that differentiate them from normal humans and that bred true. These mutations allowed them to adapt to the horrendous work/living conditions they were forced to endure. Due to their social stature, gobbies were only allowed to perform the most menial of jobs, particularly as the interbreeding took its toll on the overall intelligence of the sub-species.

But on the rare occassion, a goblin rises from the stinking masses, who is brilliant and cunning by any standard and leads his brethren against their oppressors. Kind of Planet of the Apes-ish or even Dune-ish, but a classic heroic tale none the less.

What do your players do when faced with a goblin uprising? Do they fight for the oppressed or for the oppressors?

 

[Liam Devlin]

And down you go to Goblin Town, Ho-Ho my lad! <whip cracks!>

 

[Liam Devlin]

Originally posted by kafka47:
Goblins could have been long time associates of the Vilani who treated them as trusted servants through a complex relationship of master-servant bound up in a thousand gestures of mutual good will.

The Solomani in their arrogance destroyed those bonds believing them to be quasi-slavery and in shifting sands of time, even the Vilani have forsaken these bonds.


Now this minor race spread throughout Chartered Space has had its own agenda for many centuries slowly culivating its place beside and inside the bosum or more accurately living amongst the entrails of humaniti. Now they have figured that now it is time to strike. Out of the slimepits and darkened sewers of a thousand worlds...

=================================================
Nice take, Kafka47!
Might I argue for the the Vilani Cultural region these bonds remain there still?
Sorry, Baron Saarthuraan for stealing the thought!

 

[kafka47]

You might...think that Mr. Devlin, but I could not possibly comment. However, after several thousand years of progressive Solomanization. The Vilani view goblins as more of an annoyance rather than companion race that they once were.

Possessing more secrets than the Vilani would care to document.

Yes, goblins have short lives but very long memories. This might account for the gaps in the AAB archive. When knowledge is equated with power. Then it is the forbidden knowledge that carries the most weight and the goblins have and humaniti is helpless.

I was inspired by Wodenhouse, and if Jeeves would give in to his murderous instinct.

BTW, it is just kafka not kafka47 & Boris off boards.

 

[Liam Devlin]

Ah well..so much for defending the Vilani! That's what I get fer takin' the devil's lieutenant seat again.

I was thinking them more as a cheaply geneered race myself, suitable for grunt mining operations.. with the short lifespans on long contracted jobs.. paycheck at the end of the line..wicked smile Ahhh, can't ye just see the corporate greed there now can't ye?

 

[Liam Devlin]

Oh, and Boris, mind ye th' double posting!

 

[Maladominus]

Everyone knows that Gnomes are the 7th Major race in the galaxy. The Gnomish homeworld just hasn't been discovered yet.

 

[Jame]

What're Gnomes? Some form of Goblin snack?

I wouldn't say that Gobboes are evil as such, just primitive, brutish, uncouth and eager to take advantage quickly.