Half-Goblins of the Tangled Wood by Creighton Broadhurst is a role playing game supplement published by Raging Swan Press for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, the supplement is covered by the Open Game License and therefore some of it is considered to be Open Game Content. This is one in a series of supplements which cover different tribes of nonhumans. In this case it is half-goblins, a new race, which lives in the Tangled Wood in The Lonely Coast mini-setting from Raging Swan.
This is a twenty-six page bookmarked PDF that is available from RPGNow for $3.99 although it was purchased as part of a special bundle at the substantially reduced price of $0.18. Half-Goblins of the Tangled Wood is one of the tribes incorporated in the compilation supplement TRIBES Anthology II.
Two pages are the publisher’s standard plain front and rear covers, one page is blank and three pages are the front matter and Contents, with the Contents page also having lists of stat blocks by CR, new spells, new magic items, new feats and a short poem about the half-goblins. One page is a standard page on reading stat blocks which explains how these are handled, one page is the Open Game License and an advert for other products and one page is purely ads for other supplements. The supplement comes in two formats, one of which is optimised for screen and the other for print.
Half-Goblins of the Tangled Wood has a full page title and then two pages on the half-goblins, descendents of humans enslaved by goblins, their ecology and society, lairs, combat and tactics, lore and player characters, with sidebars on half-goblin traits and using them in a GM’s own campaign.
The Tangled Wood has one page on flora, fauna and sites of interest with sidebars on half-goblin clans and a sample clan, followed by a full page map of the Lonely Coast.
Goblin Bloodline is a page on the goblin bloodline for half-goblin sorcerers, including a sidebar on a familiar.
New Feats details five new battle feats for half-goblins.
New Spells has two new spells, suitable for adepts and clerics, as well as a sidebar on the evil god Braal, the primary god most half-goblins worship.
New Magic Items has four new magic items that half-goblins use.
Four pages of stat blocks detail minor and major encounters with half-goblins, with twelve stat blocks of different CRs and four encounters of different ELs.
There are then four Persona pages, with each page describing a single half-goblin NPC that players could encounter.
The PDF is exceptionally well bookmarked for one of its length and the Contents, although not as in-depth as the bookmarks, is also hyperlinked, making navigation well above average for a supplement of its length. The text maintains a two column format and only a minor error was noticed. There are a handful of black and white illustrations which would appear to be custom made.
This is a bit different to other supplements in this series, as it essentially details a new race, rather than a specific tribe of an existing one. With half-goblins being a new race, this means that it is one that could be suited to player characters, although most such would be outcasts and half-goblins do tend to be evil, and hate both humans and goblins. If used in the Lonely Coast, half-goblins are definitely creatures that players could accidentally run into whilst traversing the wood, or they could be encountered raiding the villages of the human settlements.
Even though they are intended for the Lonely Coast setting, the half-goblins can be dropped into another campaign setting in a similar location comparatively easily, with perhaps only a few minor changes. The half-goblins also seem to be designed to be more of a threat in many ways than some of the other nonhuman races.
Half-Goblins of the Tangled Wood covers a new and interesting potential nonhuman threat in a decently detailed way and it can be found by clicking here.
Leave a Reply