Gobbledeguk Session #1

With both Jeff and Reid out of state, I decided to start running that Gobbledeguk campaign with the players remaining in town" Laura, Jack, and Jenna. Having given it a session, I think it'll work out, but there are definitely a few parts I need to streamline.

As it turns out, micromanaging 1,000 goblins can be a bit tedious.

The players got to choose from the 11 available goblins volunteers: The Blacksmith, Historian, Doctor, Shaman, Farmer, Teacher, Heir, Hunter, Burglar, Outcast, and Scientist. Whichever one they chose to be, that goblin would be dedicating all of its time to overseeing the preparation of Goblette Cave against humans, meaning there would be a potential vacuum where they had been, meaning someone new would need to be trained.

Jenna chose first, selecting the Hunter: a Ranger, gruff but skilled at combat and survival, coming as she did from the ranks of the goblins' only group trained for battle. With her out of the hunters, four apprentices must take her place, as the hunters serve a vital role in providing food for the village.

Jack chose the Teacher: a Monk, patient, intelligent, and diligent. The teachers are accustomed to wrangling unruly children, so perhaps that experience will be useful for wrangling the goblins together to build defenses.

Laura, after much deliberation, selected the Outcast: a Sorcerer, friendly and tough despite having been shunned until now for their strange powers. Unfortunately, some goblins simply refuse to work with the outcast outright, which might make building defenses difficult.

The population Goblette Village breaks down like so:

• 50 Hunters - Trained survivalists and effective fighters. However, they're not always available, since they're often away from the cave, doing their jobs.
• 200 Farmers - Strong field workers, required to bring in food. They can assist on days that humans are attacking, but otherwise they should be focused on tending the fields.
• 50 Artisans - Builders and makers. They have a general knowledge of how to build anything, given specifications, including smithing, trapmaking, and even alchemy.
• 10 Teachers - Goblins trained to care for and educate children while their parents are working. Each teacher can effectively care for 20 children at a time.
• 20 Entertainers - Entertainers are important for morale. Without them, life seems meaningless, reducing the efficiency of the entire village.
• 100 Apprentices - Young goblins, aspiring to learn a trade. They are potential hunters, farmers, artisans, teachers, or entertainers. It takes four apprentices to do the job of one experienced goblin, but after three months training an apprentice will learn a trade well enough to perform at full efficiency.
• 100 Layabout - Young goblins with no aspirations yet, caught as they are between the freedom of youth and the burden of adulthood. They can be forced to work, but only with great effort, and even then they may not do their jobs well.
• 200 Children - Very young goblins, not yet able to take care of themselves. Some day, perhaps, they'll develop into Apprentices and Layabouts, but until then they need to be cared for.
• 200 Elderly - Old goblins, intelligent but infirm. They can not fight, but they can work if needed. However, the strain of work could potentially lead to their deaths.
• 70 Miscellaneous - Specialists and other essential members of the village, who are too busy doing their jobs to be assigned any tasks and are generally not available to fight the humans.

With the Blacksmith still focusing on their job, they were able to start developing new forms of weaponry. Though they only had experience making daggers and spears for weapons and padded and leather armor, over the next few weeks they developed studded leather armor, punching daggers, and slings.

Likewise, the Scientist could focus on creating useful creations. Starting with a smokestick, they spent a few weeks developing acid flasks and alchemist's fire.

And the Burglar, clever as they are, focused on developing new traps: starting with basic pit traps, they developed razor wire traps, a rolling rock trap, and a net trap in the weeks before the first humans came.

Despite their preparations, the goblins hoped to greet the humans peacefully first, just in case there was a diplomatic solution. Since none of the goblins spoke the human language, though, they hoped to create a mural to convey their forgiveness of the goblin they killed. They also send out a couple of dancers, including the Teacher, in the hopes of showing the humans that their was a peaceful, artistic culture worth preserving.

The three warriors who stormed the cave were not apparently impressed. Luckily, both the entertainer and the Teacher escaped, luring the humans down a passage leading away from the village, which happened to also be filled with traps.

After a pitfall, a razor wire trap, and a rolling rock, one of the warriors stopped to rest while his fellows went on, carefully chasing the goblins. The goblins hoped to take the separated warrior unawares, perhaps taking him prisoner... but the plan failed, and the Hunter ended up badly wounded by the clearly still-dangerous human warrior.

The Teacher and his companion managed to elude the other warriors and sought help for the Hunter, then pursued the wounded human out of the cave. However, before they could overtake him, the other two warriors emerged as well. The goblins only just barely managed to hide as the warriors caught up to their friend and helped him escape.

The goblins of the village celebrated the victory, though the volunteers were wary: they had indeed stopped the first attack, but the humans got away with valuable information: that the first fork in the cave leads to a dead end if you head left. No doubt they would spread this information around.

The following day a strange figure appeared from deeper into the cave, from a place the goblins have always been afraid to go. It was an old, blind elf, who had apparently been wandering the dangerous caves on his own. He sought a bit of food and, then the volunteers provided him with some, he repaid them with some rings from him gnarled fingers before hobbling back into the depths of the caves. He referred to himself as "The Old Grey Elf," and he hoped to make his way back again some day.