Spot Hidden Review: Gobblin'!
Published on December 13, 2018 December 12, 2018 by Mephit James
Hello faithful readers! I'm relinquishing the stage today to some associates of mine known as the Spot Hidden Crew. I was chatting with them about a game they tried out to great hilarity called Gobblin'. Apparently their one shot involved a lot of the goblin characters building things out of the other goblin characters and ended with a ride in a goblin-wagon through a horde of zombies that went absolutely terrible. It sounded really fun so I asked them to write up their thoughts and here's what they have to say!
Gobblin' Thoughts
Sometimes, you don't want a whole meal — you just want a snack. Gobblin' is the cheese puffs to D&D's pizza. It's pulpy, fast, and generally devolves into nonsense. But that nonsense is coated in that delicious orange mystery dust that just pops with flavor.
Character gen sets the tone well for players. While there are classes that speak a lot to the game's vibe, I would suggest randomly generating characters using the 100 perks available in the book. If you're ignoring the classes, each goblin gets two of these wonderful perks to define what role they'll fill on the team. Having each player roll d100 twice to see which perks is a great creative exercise before the game even starts.
Image © Drunk and Ugly Games LLC
This is how I arrived at Unk, my first Gobblin' character. Unk was the smartest goblin in our crew. He was lazy, treacherous, and always looking for shortcuts. The easy way was the best way… unless someone has something he wanted. Then it was ambush time.
Unk's perks made him unusually courageous (but not stupidly so!) and well… greasy. This led to a role which I dubbed The Greasy Boi. And Gobblin' doesn't quit there. The equipment system is loose enough that you're welcome to get creative with what weapons your carrying. In Unk's case, it was A KNIFE! (a… well a knife) and Señor Bangs (a Saturday morning cartoon-style bomb).
With such high intelligence (for a goblin), Unk was great at manipulating the rest of his crew to give himself some absurd means of transportation. Unk convinced Ank (no relation) to act as a sled as the duo made a rapid escape from the top of a mountain. At another junction, another goblin helpfully became a raft for the rest of the crew.
I guess what I'm getting at here, is that if you need a game to fill in a night for your game group — maybe because not everyone can make it, or your main campaign has been more dramatic lately — Gobblin' is a good choice. It's a game that lends itself to the absurd and silly. Everyone at the table will be laughing at some dumb garbage that one of you said or did. Just don't be surprised when the game pulls a Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Goblins are fragile and naughty after all, so they're bound to run into trouble that puts an end to the shenanigans sooner or later.
Side-note: This game also generated an in joke for our group, which I'm sure we'll never let go because we're all permanently twelve. Basically, a goblin shaman was attempting to explain our mission to us, which led to a discussion of visions and one's inner eye, which one of our crew helpfully inquired as to whether that might be kind of like one's butthole. This was less than five minutes into the game and somehow came up repeatedly throughout the night to repeated, raucous laughter.
Again, this game is silly, popcorn fun. It's great to get the giggles out, but serious it is not.
Categories Book Review•Tags Drunk and Ugly Games, Gobblin', Spot Hidden Review
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