Goblins!
For my new Old School Essentials campaign, I wanted to give my critters a dose of flavour. I love the tiny greebly monsters, but they can seem a little bland, especially when fighting hordes of them at low levels. My solution is to make them distinctive - by which I mean "weird". I love Kobolds, and I love Ratfolk, so kobolds largely resemble ambulatory rats in my campaign world (the fact that I have a load of Skaven miniatures is purely coincidental). I struggled for a while to give goblins a flavour, but I've found a way that I like. I've always wondered about why Brian Froud's goblins looked so heterogeneous - now I know why. Goblin Soup: Goblins are a bit like a lumpy soup or a gumbo. Stuff floats to the surface from time to time, and the lumps you get in one bowl might not match those in another - goblins don't necessarily share all the same characteristics. Plus goblins can combine. This process involves an incantation and the use of an awful substance ...