Kobold Names (or Hobbit names)

If you read this blog lately, you know that I call hobbits "kobolds" in my world. I use lots and lots and lots of kobold NPCs, they are possibly the most common encounter which offers a social approach.

At first, years ago (that seem centuries) I used tobacco brands to name them (Chesterfield and Winston have named more than one little fellow). When the good ones were gone, I switched to revolver names:

1. Arminius
2. Astra
3. Beaumont
4. Colombo
5. Colt
6. Galand
7. Gward
8. Kodiak
9. LeMat
10. Llama
11. Magnum
12. Manurhin
13. Mateba
14. Mauser
15. Remington
16. Rhino
17. Röhm
18. Starr
19. Taurus
20. Zeliska

But even those worn out fast. Of course sometimes I just make up something or make players come up with something (For example, Pomelo, Cümpao, Ubuntu, Firefox, Diamante are all kobold PCs or NPCs in our campaign).

Today I found out a third source of kobold/hobbit names: Picking from the most common graffiti names around the city: usually they are chosen for being short and powerful. The problem is that these are very ubiquitous in my zone, and it might be weird for my players if I use them at the game. So, let's make a deal: I offer this to you, so you can name your hobbits, and you write on the comments a handful of graffiti names from your city/part of the world. Deal?

1. Bult
2. Rasel
3. Yes
4. Osak
5. Erba
6. Trip
7. Duke
8. Safe
9. Taro
10. Maiz

ig:davidthierre. Technically a goblin for me is close enough

Trow Fortress 00: Prelude; or "Why halflings are kobolds?"

This started as a way to remove damage rolls on BX but still having variable damage, using d6 only. Now, two years later, has shaped my current houserules into something I am very confortable running, and I don't plan on going back. At this point, I don't think I can call it "modified BX" anymore, even though I still keep the book by my side on every session; but mainly I take everything from a small, yellow notebook where I keep my notes.

At this point, the notebook is too big (and also written in spanish hahaha) to be transported to an entry in a single sitting, so I made up my mind to start doing it bit by bit; maybe mimicking BX index to follow some order. It may help to have it written someplace in a "clean" form, in case anybody wants to follow the "camino de la verdadera salud" of the all d6. I will shortly proceed to delete some old posts with obsolete versions of this rules, so there are no confusions for readers. Let this be the preparation of -who knows- a future serious publication. At the very least, this is required reading for anyone in order to understand my houserules from now on.

As my equivalent of an introduction, excuse me if I skip the classic "what is an rpg" section, or forfeit explaining dice nomenclature. I'd rather explain two key parts of the setting. And here it goes:

 

WHAT IS A TROW?

Trow are in all practical and biological ways humans by other name. Humans just do not exist in Trow Fortress. You have Trow; and this might seem non-sensical to you but I can only tell you about my setting as I "perceive" it.

Trow are a warrior race. They organize themselves on feudalistic hierarchies where every city is run by a Lord, which may or may not be supedited to a higher ranked one such as a japanese Shogun; or in opposition to it or other Lords. (Following the feudal japan analogy, the existance of some divine emperor/empress is still something I am figuring out)

Aesthetically, they dress and behave like a mix of Joseon dynasty Korea, the mongol steppe nomads and the cuman warriors. Expect lots of hawks, composite bows, scimitars and lance charges. Even secular trow such as sages or stonemasons have probably been warriors once.

On the other hand, and with the proverbial exceptions, trow women become either housewives and/or take non-warrior professions: healers, artists, artisans, animal trainers... It is common for parents to arrange marriages to secure a good future for their daughters (or, sometimes, use them as a currency for some benefit). The opposite distribution is true for trow magic users, if we take into account that temples and shrines are almost always mantained by priestesses, and that their society will inevitably push young males towards the martial branch.

Trow live in the titular fortresses. Every city is walled, preferably in stone; and holds a castle inside. When possible, the cities are built against a mountain, which allows part of the city to be excavated. Though they are not "paladins" of any sort, they do have unwritten codes of chivalry that speak of their honor, honesty, valor and loyalty (mantaining them is up to each one, or to their "alignment", we could say)

In every feudal arrangement, the most numerous group at the bottom of the caste pyramid is the serfs. Trow do not plow the lands. They use Kobolds for that. The symbiotic relationship of Trow and Kobolds, where the first give protection to the second in exchange of tithes is a constant in the world

 

 

artist unknown

WHAT IS A KOBOLD?

Kobolds are your classical hobbit by other name. I started calling them like that at a given point because it seemed appropiate: thats how germanic peoples called the domestic helpers who lived amongst them; those that could perform trickery, but also house labor and many tasks if treated properly. Well, that's a little bit like how the trow see their kobolds.

This little folk are about 3 feet long (91 cm for euro peoples) who do not actually need trow to survive: They are a rough race which has conquered many wildlands, and you will sometimes find kobolds where no trow has dared to go. I picture them a little bit like the settlers who went to conquer the american west with an axe in one hand and a mule on the other. But you will indefectibly find one of their settlements around any Trow Fortress. 

It is not that they are crazy for breaking their backs, but normally they enjoy the working life; and, when they feel they are being justly compensated, they put love into it. Kobolds know how to grow orchards and how to preserve their fruits; how to grow crops, and how to turn them into bread and brewages. They are good at hunting (preferring the bow) and fishing, and love to build small canoes to do so in big rivers and lakes, installing steady campaments along a river course. Others travel great lands practicing transhumance of buffalos and big goats that are normally mounted by their shepherd. 

Their clothes are usually plain and humble, classically wearing combination of cloaks, viking ponchos and chullo hats. They do not build in stone, but on wood. The central point of their cities is often a wind or a watermill instead of a temple, around which they gather for their seasonal celebrations (that are completelly independent of the trow calendar). Normally a kobold family shares an occupation together. And sometimes, kobolds are sought by trow as personal assistants such as valets, porters or squires. When they do adventure alongside a trow, chances are that is his faithful retainer, though it doesn't have to be the case. Sometimes kobolds form adventuring gangs on their own accord, and is not rare that, given their natural skills to hide in shadows and move silently, some of them turn to crime and theft. 

Note he genesis of Trow and Halflings as a team dates back to this 2012 entry on class-as-race, which now is "semi-canon" lol.

ig: varguy

BXraw: Fighter VS Halfling

Are Halflings just better than Fighters? They share the same XP and Attack progression. Armor for halflings is only limited by the availability of halfling sized gear (which depends on the setting, I guess) Let's put the advantages of each one towards the other:

FIGHTERS:

- Can use 2-handed weapons (that lose initiative anyways). Use of the d8 longsword is ambiguous, though I'd rule that halflings can only use short swords. If not using the variable weapon damage, this point is ruled obsolete. 

- They can use all magical swords that happen to be not short. 

- Use d8 for hit points instead of d6 (that is 1 puny point on average per level, Fighters can even roll badly and lose that edge)

- One prime attribute (str) instead of two (str and dex) which is irrelevant if you roll the minimum DEX or you happen to ignore prime attributes (like I do)

- No level cap (which has no relevance until level 8)

HALFLINGS:

- Saving throws equal to a fighter seven levels above you

- Shooting arrows or ranged weapons at +1. That is attacking like a fighter one level above you at all times (sometimes two levels)

- Armor class enhanced by 2 versus enemies larger than humans. This is a surprisingly large spectrum in a game like D&D, from bears to basilisks to ogres to dragons

- When using individual initiative they get a +1

- 90% chance of dissappearing in woods or underbrush

- 1 in 3 chance of hiding in normal light when there are shadows or covers present, as long as they remain still. 

- The non-despicable advantage of being lightweight. It is much easier to take out of the dungeon an unconscious or deceased halfling, load it in your own horse and head towards a local temple, than doing the same with a grown up man. This can be an important thing depending on how you rule encumbrance.

This all started because I was running a game following strict RAW rules, then went looking into the book to check if there were any strength or encumbrance caps for hobbits and I found nothing. I started reading to check how the fact that you are a 90 cm person is portrayed in the context of combat and such, and I realized that there is no real downsides at all. Suddently I found it so weird.  

My last houserules are too complex to be summarized like NOW!, but basically I run them as thieves with better saving throws (like a fighter four levels above), with STR capped at 12, and encumbrance based on STR. I intend to make a full post about them soon. Just remember that 12 dwarves picked up a hobbit once because they needed a thief to go into the dragon's lair. 

Art taken from Pits & Perils by James and Robyn George. 

Class As Race part I: Fighters and Thieves.

There are some different approaches that one can take about fantasy races in settings or in games. They work great in books and movies where they play NPCs, incarnating all the mythic archetypes the hero has to meet across its tale. But in the way of making them playable, it is easy to end up turning them into humans of a slightly different size, color or accent. 

In many works of fiction, non-humans have classically assigned a "kingdom" on the map, and they build civilizations with their equivalent of towns, pyramids, inns or schools (Sometimes, like in Warcraft 2, the settlements are mirrored 1:1). This can be cool, but to contrast, all the folk tales commonly use dwarves, goblins, elves, etc as inhabitors of the mythical forest, representing the uncivilized peoples that lurk beyond the rational, civilized domains of man.

You got to find a middle point if you want to use them as playable races in a game, though. You want ideally to feel "different", but you cannot use something entirelly alien because, you know, somebody human actually has to interpret that guy.

Anyhow, I've been thinking about a setting without humans, but by trying to add to every race a different facet of mankind and keeping them as much as possible into that niche. I've had fun imagining how does each of the races organize themselves and which place they hold in the world. Also, each class is meant to advance mechanically as though if all their members had the same specific class, making them, as the title says, class as race. Let's start!

1. FIGHTERS

Trow are the feudal, warrior race. They live into mountain halls and stone fortresses to protect themselves from the terrible surface monsters, and in there they form monarchies who rule over a certain land. They replace dwarves in that aspect, but instead of hairy midgets they are a little taller and elegant as if they were drawn by Leiji Matsumoto. 

When you play a Trow, you level up as a fighter (doesn't matter which rules you use, if your game uses classes, pick the fighter sheet). The king in your fortress is also probably a high level fighter.

Following the inspiring entry about backloading complexity at Necropraxis, all PCs start as young Trow Knights, and further PCs will be taken from the hireling pool, so, to play a new race you must get them as a hireling first.

Trow Castles have a retinue of knights that are in charge of dealing with important tasks: They are a mix of arthurian knights, samurais, the MI6 and Final Fantasy 8 seeds (meaning that I can go there for inspiration on how to run them). They go into dungeons and wildernesses in the search of treasures, gold and all kind of weirdnesses. Who knows what can be traded to those gnome alchemists for their potions!

Noble houses store some potions as part of their patrimony. That potions are basically one-use spells and is the only access to magic for new characters, so if you get one as starting equipment, cherish it like if it was Q giving James Bond a gadget. In-game, the ingredient and potion economy might be also vital to the fortress itself.

I imagine them behaving and looking a lot like Korean nobles of the Joseon era, with that studded armors and wide brim hats (I've just watched the show Kingdom, is very very good)

They represent the way humans have organized themselves in complex hierarchies, and also the "honorable knight" facet that is many times exclusive of humans in many rpgs (humans are white in magic the gathering). 

2. THIEVES 

When you play a Hobbit, you level up as a Thief. They have a knack for hiding after all: because they are level 1 thieves. Those low level hobbits are not regarded as thieves by other people, of course. That is just some meta-knowledge. On the other hand, there is probably a legendary rogue out there that has lots of incredible adventurers and has performed legendary heists; and that is just a high level hobbit.

They are weak fighters, so, to protect themselves from orcs and other menaces, they normally live in a relationship of vassalage with trow lords. They live on villages and tend the lord's fields in exchange of protection, or maybe perform as squires or assistans: They are the first hirelings that will be available to PCs, be it as servants, or as freelance hobbits searching themselves for treasure. 

I imagine this little fuckers being good navigators and swimmers, riding oxen for transport in the summer, celebrating their holidays around the harvest seasons and staying comfy at home in winter nights. They are the rural peoples in oposition to the court peoples, and neither trow or hobbits cross their respective lines on a meaningful manner.

Even though most hobbits OK with their symbiotic relationship, they are potentially tough and adventurous people and they are who posess the mankind's ability to expand and conquer all biomes. No matter the terrain or the distance, it is always possible to find a hobbit cabin or outpost somewhere. They have that unique drive to expand and go further. Their key concept is adaptation. They develop symbiosis with trow, but maybe they could adapt to other lords, situations or dangers.

For their role of domestic helpers, I'm tempted to call them Kobolds instead.

And now, a note on goblins: They also fit the same thieve role as hobbits. In fact I cannot think of another fitting class for them. So I've thought that, though you can use them if you want, it makes more sense that, whenever an adventure calls for goblins, you substitute them for evil hobbits: bandits who turn their natural skill to find profit, and that may even form clandestine Thief Guilds. 

this episode is a good place to get inspiration for one

It makes much more sense that a single race is capable of both law and chaos; than to have an "always good" race and an "always evil" race. The best is that Tolkien also thought about that by showing us that Gollum, in the end, was just a hobbit turned evil; and his goblins are in the end just another name for orcs (which will be covered later as Barbarians)

These two are the starting point, the most human-like maybe, in the sense that they both belong to the most "civilized" states of the world. Beyond here, peoples get more wild, gregarious, strange and crazy. 

Stay tuned for part 2