Goblinoid Races

In the previous post I mentioned that I had to create several new playable races for Castles and Crusades. Well, here they are if anyone wants to use them.

As I said before, the race descriptions are based off of those from Palladium Fantasy.

Roll the standard 3D6 for attributes. I always let my players reroll ones.

Goblin
Modifiers: +1 Dexterity, -1 Strength
Racial Traits and Abilities:
Animal Empathy: Goblins can read the emotions of animals. They can not conversate with them, though.
Combat Expertise: When fighting against Gnomes and Halflings, Goblins enjoy a bonus of +1 to hit against AC.
Dark Vision: 120 feet – can see in total darkness, but needs 1 round for eyes to adjust.
Hearing: Goblins receive a bonus of +1 to listening based checks.
Size: Height is 3 feet plus D12 inches, Weight is 60 + 5D8 pounds

Goblins are short and skinny with spindly arms and legs, pencil necks, skin colors that range from yellow and light green to brown and dark green, and hair that is either black, dark brown, or deep red. Eyes are large and ears are pointed. Teeth are sharp and pointy.


Kobold
Modifiers: +1 Constitution, -1 Dexterity
Racial Traits and Abilities:
Racial Animosity: -2 on Charisma checks when dealing with Humans, Elves, Halflings, and Gnomes.
Darkvision: 120 feet – can see in total darkness, but needs 1 round for eyes to adjust.
Underground Direction: Can sense approximate depth underground without needing an attribute check.
Fearless: +2 to savings throws vs Fear.
Resistant to Poison (Constitution) +2 to savings throws vs Poison.
Movement: 20 feet per round
Size: Height is 3 feet plus D12 inches, Weight is 70 + 5D8 pounds

Kobolds are short, thin, with leathery skin that is dark muddy brown or red. They often go bald on the top of their heads and do not grow facial or body hair. What hair they do have is white. Their eyes are yellow or red, and their teeth are sharp and pointed.

Orc
Modifiers: +2 Strength, +1 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -1 Charisma
Racial Traits and Abilities:
Twilight Vision: Able to see clearly and in color for 1 mile under starlight or moonlight.
Sense of Smell: Detect the presence (but not location) of creatures within 30 feet, or 60 feet if upwind. Strong scents can be picked up at twice that range, and Exceptionally strong scents at three times the range. Provides a bonus of +2 to Track if a Ranger.
Martial Prowess: +2 to AC when not wearing armor. The Orc does not receive this bonus if wearing armor of any kind.
Resistance to Disease: +2 to save vs Disease
Size: Height is 5 feet plus D20 inches, Weight is 130 + D100 pounds

Orcs are broad shouldered, muscular, with sharp teeth and small tusks coming up from the lower jaw. Their noses are flat and pig-like, with long tongues used to wet the nose to improve their sense of smell. Skin colors range from dark green and dark brown to black, with thick black hair.

Troglodyte
Modifiers: +1 Charisma, -1 Wisdom
Racial Traits and Abilities:
Fearless: Troglodytes are naturally inquisitive and confident. +2 vs Fear.
Twilight Vision: Able to see clearly and in color for 1 mile under starlight or moonlight.
Resistant: +1 to all Constitution-based Savings throws.
Spot Hidden Doors: Troglodytes natural curiousity gives them a +1 bonus to find hidden doors.
Empathy: Troglodytes are the most liked of the Goblinoid races, and receive a +1 to Charisma checks when dealing with Goblinoids, and no negative modifier when dealing with other races.
Size: Height is 4 feet plus D12 inches, Weight is 130 + D100 pounds

Troglodytes are broad shouldered, with pale waxy skin, large dark brown eyes, flabby bodies and heads that vaguely resemble Salamanders or Newts. They are generally friendly, trusting, and curious. They like to eat well and party hard.

Hobgoblin
Modifiers: +2 Wisdom, -1 Charisma, -1 Constitution
Racial Traits and Abilities:
Enhanced Senses: Vision is exceptional, and large ears provide a +2 bonus to checks involving listening and sound.
Twilight Vision: Able to see clearly and in color for 1 mile under starlight or moonlight.
Charm Resistance: Hobgoblins are resistant to spells that Charm or cause Sleep: +10 to save
Spot Hidden Doors: Hobgoblins receive a +2 bonus when searching for hidden doors/compartments.
Movement: 30 feet per round
Size: Height is 4 feet plus D12 inches, Weight is 90 + 6D10 pounds

Hobgoblins resemble their goblin cousins, but are taller and have comically over-sized ears. Hobgoblins are notoriously hard to get along with; gruff, arrogant, pompous.

Castles and Crusades

Image via Wikipedia



I just got my hands on a couple of Castles and Crusades books. I've been hearing a lot about it and decided to try it out.

I was originally designing a Palladium Fantasy 1st edition campaign but decided to go with C&C instead. Particularly after I read Grinding Gears by Lamentations of the Flame Princess.

So, I had to make new races for my campaign; Goblin, Hobgoblin, Orc, Kobold, and Troglodyte.  I'm still using the race descriptions as they are for Palladium (I like them a lot more than the D&D versions).

Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, and Gnomes are the enemy! In some cases, individuals of these races can and will be allies to the characters, but this will be very rare.

The idea behind the campaign was inspired by the Goblins webcomic. Basically, the characters have gotten fed up being fodder for low level "adventurers" and have decided to become adventurers themselves in order to protect their people. Not only are the players playing monsters (and from the monster's points of view) but the characters themselves are vaguely aware that they are part of a game. Breaking the 4th wall and all that.

I'm also including a lot of humor in the campaign, mixed with quite a bit of potential death for the characters. 

I'm going to be running this game for two different small groups (scheduling conflicts have forced this). One is my main gaming group, and the other is a group of people that for the most part are brand new to role playing. That's another reason I chose to go with Castles and Crusades - it's so ridiculously simple.

The final reason I'm using Castles and Crusades is because my roommate has an extensive collection of 1st and 2nd edition AD&D books that are all easily converted to C&C.

As a GM, I've never been big on pre-made adventures or modules. In fact, I've only ever used one pre-made adventure in over 15 years of running games. However, due to my own time constraints, I've decided to start the players off using two different low-level adventures; Grinding Gears by LotFP, and Beacon at Enon Tor for C&C. I actually have no idea who wrote the conversion for Beacon, but I'm aware it was originally printed in Dragon for D&D.

Both adventures are very different from each other, are good for introducing the game to everyone, and are short enough to fit into a single game session.