Exciting new content coming soon!

Goblin Theory was always meant to be more than just tabletop RPG’s played over the internet. We have been playing many different board games and RPG’s weekly for many years, and Goblin Theory was meant to share our entire game night experience with everyone.

The pandemic changed our plans because we could not meet to sit around the same table. I have been working to set up a new gaming area/studio for when we can meet in person again to play many different tabletop games and record our experiences. We are still working out what the content created based on these experiences will look like and how we will deliver it. What we know for sure right now is it will be unique because we are, and it will continue to be about bringing people together through creative play.

As we continue to set up and experiment, we are also still playing Starfinder online through Fantasy Grounds software! We currently have many hours of content to edit, and I am really excited to share the creativity, laughter, clever choices, and silly mistakes.

Until then, I will be updating the blog with all the GT news as it happens!

Thanks and take care,

Jeremy Sparhawk

GT on pause

Hi!

You may have noticed we have not posted for a few weeks. I work in eCommerce and the holidays combined with another lockdown due to the pandemic has caused me to be incredibly busy!

Lots of new content is coming soon! Thank you for your patience.

Jeremy Sparhawk

Taste The Rainbow You Skittermander Lovers!

This week our Wednesday night game was Starfinder, and the fun was out of this world! There were several memorable moments and we learned a ton about this game we are all new to playing.

- Spoiler warning - - Details about the Starfinder society quest “Into the Unknown” ahead! -

We start out at Absolom Station where the players learn that Starfinder Society badges belonging to a team that was missing in action have turned up in a pawnshop. One of my favorite moments was when Squeeks character Gorist attempted to intimidate a massive Vesk pawnshop owner named Julzakama. Squeeks roleplaying of his intimidating demands was creative and awesome! Unfortunately he failed his roll, so Elisa’s character Solaris had to step in and spend some credits to learn that the badges were sold by the undead Exegara Long-tongue, who could be found at a place called the Vat Garden.

The Vat Garden is a great looking map and interesting place for a combat encounter. There is a 15 foot high walkway that overlooks a garden. The plants give the bad guys cover and concealment. The bad guys have small guns, but they also have big face smashing hammers. So you have to choose between having a firefight where you can not see your opponent well, or getting down into the garden where you can see better but they can get up in your face with those hammers.

I have a habit of adding some humor to our game by naming the bad guys goofy stuff. Mercenary 1, Mercenary 2, and Mercenary 3 are pretty boring. I decided to name them Twizzlers, Starburst, and Skittles. During the surprise round when it was Skittles turn to take his first shot, I played off his nickname and had him shout “Taste The Rainbow You Skittermander* Lovers!” He then opened fire from his hiding place in the bushes with his laser pistol. We were all laughing so hard I don’t even remember whether or not his shot hit anybody!

The encounter started off with laughs, but it got serious real quick. Gorist and Obozaya jumped off the walkway into the garden. Solaris and Iseph stayed up top and fired into the garden below. The bad guys rolled well and landed some pistol shots, and their hammers hit Gorist and Obozaya for big damage! The players did not roll well and missed most of their shots. The situation was not looking good, Gorist was down to his last hit point!

Gorist decided to go down fighting. He stood his ground with 1HP and finally landed a hit for huge damage! The momentum swung back to the players, and they started rolling well, landing hit after hit. Solaris climbed down the ladder to fight side by side with Gorist, and Obozaya was able to get a kill and then heal both Gorist and Solaris. Iseph won a shootout on the walkway, and suddenly it was 4 on 1 and they had Exegara cornered and surrounded! They quickly subdued her and completed their mission.

It was a fantastic night of epic fun! It felt like playing a superhero movie where just when you think the bad guys are going to win, the heroes dig deep and come out on top!

Next week we will have our first taste of starship combat as the players take their shiny new starship “Loreseeker” out into the drift to take on the Corpse fleet!

~ Jeremy Sparhawk

*If you don’t know what a Skittermander is, Google image search it now! It is a small fuzzy six armed alien that is sorta the mascot of Starfinder. They are a variety of colors just like Skittles. You can get yourself a fancy Skittermander Dice bag on Paizo’s website. I have the blue one and its awesome! https://paizo.com/

Not what I had planned, but I am not dead

"I want to jump off the walkway, onto the guy, and hit him."

That was how I wanted to start the combat. It sounded cool I was going to get surprise damage, and was going to cement my character as a badass on our first mission of the campaign. I made this character to be just that, a badass bounty hunter. A huge tanky, frontline, look at me and hit me sort of character. That is different from the types I regularly play.

I generally go for the quick, long range and stealthy sort. I have always liked that sort of mindset for games. I gave gotten so used go them in the games I normally play, that this time I wanted to go for something a little different. A hulking half orc Vanguard bounty hunter. Heavy weapons and primarily melee based, in a game where everyone will be shooting at me. Just seemed like a really fun idea, and it was. I am still getting used to Starfinder, but I am really enjoying it. This last game has gotten the RP bug back into my system heavily, and I can't wait to play again.

How did the "jump off the walkway" go, you might ask?

I rolled a 4. I missed the enemy, stumbled as I landed, and nothing that I wanted to happen, happened. Hey, at least I didn't fall through.

~Squeeks~

Not bad, just off

Hello out there. My name is Squeeks. Avid gamer and nerd of all sorts. Video, table top, LARPs, you name it, I have probably tried it. I have been gaming for just about my entire life. That's 37 years of gaming, and I regret none of it.

So, lately we have been playing "Call of Cthulhu" and it is been an incredible ride of madness, risks, and puzzles, all topped off with death, and gore. Nothing could be better on a weekday then all of that. But things happen sometimes. Be it the mood was off, or people were just not in the right head space. Whatever the reason, whatever the setting, it happens. It happened this last session we had. It wasn't bad by any means, just off, and not what we were all expecting. Years of gaming has taught me that when stuff like that happens, we clear our heads, and look to the end goal.

Back in my "Vampire the Masquerade " LARP days it would happen. A well crafted plan would fall through. Or an investigation would not pan out, or something would happen with the mechanics of the games and rules, and things would blow up in my face, or my character's face. We all deal with this in someway or another. The game isn't fun if you are a god, and have no faults or weakness. That is the fun of Roleplaying, create a story, interact with people, and have fun.

That is the key, have fun. If you aren't having fun, whatever the reason then ask yourself why. Is there something that I don't understand that is holding me back? Do I not like the game, or setting? Then look to change it in anyway you can to make it enjoyable for yourself and everyone else.

Thanks for reading this! We look forward to bringing you more fun and enjoyment through our games.

Until next time.

~Squeeks~

Goblin Theory off our game 10.28.2020

Our regular Wednesday night game was going to be the best yet! We were wrapping up our play of the Blackwater Creek adventure for Call of Cthulhu 7e. The other sessions had gone very well, and even though I was almost 100% sure the players characters were going to die it was going to be a great game! I created an opening intro I thought would to lead to an epic night…

…and then things got weird. There was no single moment that it happened. It’s like we were just a little off tune and there was no creative harmony. We were not building a story together. Could have been that some heads just weren’t in the game. Maybe we were all just tired from our busy lives. Maybe some of us were playing to win instead of playing to create. It was still good fun, but a bit offbeat for us.

It happens. Not every game is going to be amazing.

So what do you do then? What I did was talk about it with the group. That conversation is about taking ownership and listening to feedback. Then you change it up. Maybe you pause the campaign and play a side quest that will add some depth and raise the stakes for the main campaign. Maybe you play a board game instead. Maybe you have a night where you hang out and cook something together from that fancy new D&D cookbook you just got. The point is to just get your gaming group around a table and get the great creative vibes and laughter back before you start from where you left off with the awkward session.

Goblin Theory got together Saturday and we talked about the weird game. Turns out that even though it was not our best game, the group still had a lot of fun and was eager to play some more. Then we made new characters for a Starfinder game for next weeks game session. It was a great time with a bunch of laughs, and the new characters that Squeeks and Elisa made are fantastic and I can’t wait to see how they play them on Wednesday!

Take care!

Jeremy Sparhawk

So… when is episode 2?

When is episode 2? The short answer is that we don’t know. The pandemic caused us to change our plans. It’s sad, because we had just started and we were super excited to create and share our version of a great time playing Starfinder. We could do it online, but there is something different about the playful energy and creativity when we are all together in the same room. There are also some things about recording in the same space together with matching quality equipment that make the audio sound much better than if we were online recording from separate locations and different equipment.

We have specific plans to record and edit multiple episodes, we just do not know when that will be. In the mean time I have and will continue to upgrade our equipment so that when we finally get back into the game studio the production quality of the podcast will be better than ever! (This stuff is very expensive so please buy some sweet Goblin Theory merch from our store to help us pay for it. The merch is awesome you wont regret it!)

The very first time we played together was when we recorded episode 1. We did not even have a name yet.* Since then we have played many times together online and learned about each other and the games we play. Now we know more about who we are as a group, why we play the way we do, and what we want to create and why. All this means that when the podcast returns, you can expect significant upgrades in the quality of the content and the production.

In the meantime we have started the Goblin Theory blog! This way we can still share our epic creative gaming experiences while we wait for the podcast.

Take care!

Jeremy Sparhawk

* The name Goblin Theory came out of the fact that we spent the first few minutes of the episode discussing our theories regarding how it was possible for space goblins to fit their stupid football sized heads inside their space helmets. Since their head is so much bigger than their neck it should not be possible to squeeze it into a glass bubble helmet. There is still no clear answer to this most epic science fantasy mystery. (If anyone reading this has a theory to share, we would love to hear it! Contact us)