Goblindom

"Goblins come and go, but garbage is forever."

- A Goblin Scrapsmith, before tossing a party member in a pool of lava for some shiny beads

What is Goblindom?

Goblindom is a dark slapstick tabletop RPG where you play simple goblins. Born crying from a generative puddle, these insignificant, disaster-prone scraps of untamed magic are thrown straight into a Slaughterfest just to survive their first hour of existence. You’re not here to save the world. You're here to survive the next Scene, ideally with something shiny in your pocket when it's over.

Violence in Goblindom is extreme, gruesome, but never disturbing. Think Tom & Jerry having a bad day against Malenia in Elden Ring. It plays just as well as a single reckless one-shot or an ongoing campaign of doomed, ridiculous underdogs clawing their way up, or down, a Dungeon that would rather they didn’t.

How does Goblindom play?

Goblindom runs on a lean d8 dice pool system built around Rank, a relative measure of competence rather than a hard gate. A Rank 0 goblin can pick a fight with a Rank 8 Dragon. The dice won't stop them. The Consequences will just be miserable, but are we not here just for that?

Every action is built by combining Keywords, a Characteristic, a Proficiency, and maybe one of your goblin's own bizarre Mutations into a Rank you throw against the Challenge in front of you. Failure is never a dead end: it's a Consequence, and enough of them earn you a Disgrace, a permanent scar that becomes part of your character instead of simply punishing you for existing. I mean, you are a goblin; destiny has already punished you. And when you'd rather not deal with any of that yourself, there's always Pass the Buck: spend your Goblin Luck to shove a friend into the line of fire instead. It's not consensual. It's mechanical.

Do you like Mörk Borg, Honey Heist, or Dungeon Crawl Classics, not in a particular order? There’s a good chance you’ll also fancy Goblindom. It’s an unusual blend of an OSR experience, a fiction-first conflict-resolution engine, and some general lighthearted stupidity. If that mix sells you, that’s the buy signal.

Magic & The Dungeon

Magic, or Thingamagik as goblins insist on calling it (far more appropriate than the prudish, ridiculous name humans use), comes in six Spheres: Water, Air, Earth, Fire, Light, and Darkness. Magic has a physical consistency, more similar to a gas than some esoteric power from some superior plane of existence. That’s why Magic tends to seep and stagnate when not used, collapsing deep below in a puzzling and labyrinthian place known as The Dungeon. The Dungeon is a living, layered ecosystem where each Level can be its own biome, formed by whichever Element dominates it: a flooded cavern glowing by luminescent algae, a cave-forest below a sky of glittering wisps, even a large city with law-abiding and frankly dull devils. While unpredictable and chaotic, there’s some sort of equilibrium in this colorful and dangerous mess (except if we’re talking about Goblins; nothing makes sense with them when in the near vicinity).

It’s Evolution, baby!

Nothing that grows in The Dungeon stays the same for long. Every creature can evolve, which entails sudden, drastic mutations triggered by trauma, hunger, or sheer bad luck, turning a cowardly Yellowbelly into a furious Redbully, or a lurking Mymic into something that's learned to wear a face. Goblins are no exception: push one far enough, and you’ll see them becoming something more powerful and specialized. Well, for a goblin, at least.

What's inside?

1. The complete rules. Keywords, Challenges, Consequences, Disgraces, Goblin Luck, and the Scuffle combat system. You’ll learn everything in half an hour, so you can focus on the Flavor of the Month on /rpg.
2. Character creation. Build your own goblin across three Roles: Fighter, Trickster, and Shaman. It’s simple, so you can do it quite fast if you need it. And you’ll do.
3. 14 Evolutions to chase. 6 tied to your starting Role, plus 8 Advanced Evolutions with prerequisites ranging from [REDACTED] to a downright [REDACTED]!
4. A steadily evolving bestiary. Aberrants, Artificials, Beasts, Carrions, Dragons, Humanoids, Spirits, and Vegetoids, organized by Lineage, many with Evolutions of their own and a knack for goblin snacking.
5. A GM toolkit. Everything you need to build your own Dungeon Levels, threats, and adventures from scratch. It’s a couple of pages, but they’re good for you.
6. A ready-to-run adventure. A complete one-shot so you can try Goblindom without the need to have a single idea about Dungeons and Goblins in your excellent head.

About the Authors

Design: Nicola Santagostino

Writing: Nicola Santagostino, Cristian Luna

Additional texts: Diego Fabris, Filippo Rivaroli

Art: Daniele Solari, Noemi Frulio, Moreno Paissan

Layout & Art Direction: Filippo Rivaroli