Barking at shovels

Goblins rule mods

And here are the more notable of the rule differences from standard GURPS. (This post follows Goblins character creation.)

Resilience. Goblins are very hard to kill. Normal humans begin making consciousness checks when their hit points go below zero, and death checks when they go below -HT (ie, -10 for a character with 10 HT). Goblins do not make consciousness checks until -HT, and do not die until they reach -5 x HT. It is normal for a goblin's Courage to break long before this point is reached. (However, goblins can still be killed in the usual way by obviously lethal injuries, such as hanging, decapitation, gunshots to the head or heart, and so on.)

Courage. Goblins have a kind of psychological hit point score, called Courage, which starts out equal to ST (Strength). Damage taken reduces Courage; when it drops below zero, the goblin must begin making fright checks each turn, or flee. If flight is impossible, the goblin will fold up in a gibbering ball of abject surrender. Courage is recovered all at once when the fight is over (if you won) or once you reach a safe place and have had a good stiff drink (if you lost).

Snobbery. Goblins know in their bones that high-status goblins are simply better in every way than low status goblins. This is reflected by taking your social status as a bonus or penalty on everything you do. (Note, this means that, starting at Status -3, all your rolls will be penalized by 3, until such time as you claw your way a bit up the ladder.) The cost (in character points) of Status levels is doubled (from -5 to -10) to reflect this.

In general, a goblin will immediately know what status another goblin is. To feign a higher rank, you need (a) to have the right clothes, and (b) to win a quick contest of Savoir Faire vs IQ. Being caught faking is an inexcusable social sin.

Jingoism. The effective social status of a goblin decreases sharply the farther he gets from home. "Home" is defined proportionately to your status, so for example, the Duke of Wellington remains Status 6 everywhere in Europe, while Jerusalem Grip, a Status -2 knife-sharpener, loses a level of status if he leaves Whitefriars, and again with every more distant ward he enters.

"Every goblin feels an obligation to throw blunt objects at goblins having Social Status -4. It is a tradition keenly maintained worldwide, and explains the general animosity between nations that almost universally prevails."

Luck. Goblin luck tends towards the extreme, and the personal. When not royally reaming them, Fate can sometimes smile quite benevolently. To represent this, a character can at any time trade an unspent character point for an automatic critical success. (This must be done before rolling the dice.) Fate is, of course, better pleased if this prayer is made before attempting something suitably flash; Fate might get cranky if you use it on some kind of pansy alertness or health roll, and you won't like Fate when She's cranky. Also note that this rule can't let you do something impossible -- the action must be within the realm of luck.

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