Goblins

Littered throughout almost every fantasy IP, Goblins have been a staple in many fictional worlds. Most of us have grown up with goblins - from the brutal and cruel monsters of the "Lord of the Rings" films to the engineers and mob family of the "Warcraft" universe. We've seen goblins depicted as both dumb and brilliant, goofy and competent, monstrous and almost human. Whether they made us laugh through their silly antics or made us hold our breath as we faced down hordes of the buggers, they have become rooted deep in our imaginations and are the pillars of many fantastic memories.

When we decided that we wanted to take our crack at designing goblin miniatures, we knew that we were going to have to take our time. We knew that we would have to treat it carefully in order to capture the feeling that most of us get when we conjure up our earliest memories of goblins. It was important to us that we pay homage to those that came before while still adding something new. We set out to find the perfect blend of the familiar and the novel.

The First Step

The most important thing for us was to start by answering the question: "What makes a goblin a goblin?" We set to work gathering all of the reference images we could find across as many franchises as possible. We studied them - looking for the consistencies so that we could answer the question - "What makes a goblin a goblin?" - Pointy ears? (How big) Big nose? (how big) Long Chin? How Short? Bald head? Green skin? Warts? Thin? - The isolation of features went on for some time.

Eventually, we realized that there are several distinct types of goblins that show up again and again. To do this project justice, we didn't want to focus on just one design of goblin. Instead, we wanted to present as many variations as we could. This would allow us to create some of them goofy, some competent, some malevolent, some with more human characteristics, etc We decided that we should start with the faces.

For this, we went back to the reference images - movies, games, artwork on magic the gathering cards, - you name it. We singled out the ones that seemed to show up consistently and got to work trying to create our versions of each. As we worked, we kept in mind the mantra: "Familiar and Novel" We were pretty happy with where we landed.

The Next Step

Next, we set out to create the bodies. We wanted to create a range of postures - from hunched over to standing tall and proud. We also thought that it would be good to have varying levels of height. After going back and forth on matching the right face type to the right body type, we began to get a sense of character and personality for each style of goblin. This helped us to decide on which face got which body and how large they should be in comparison to the others. Again, we were pretty happy with where we landed. (Human included for scale)

Moving Forward

Once we had decided on our goblin variations, we started to get some sense of who they were. A whole new set of questions came to mind as we looked at each design: What might their culture be like? Where would they live? What natural resources might be available to them and how would that shape the design of their equipment? Would they be benevolent or cruel? Who would their nearby enemies be? Would they be warlike or hesitant to get involved in a confrontation? How far along with tools and technology? - the list went on and on.

As we started answering these questions, we thought that it might be best to set each style of goblin in a different biome. As we looked over each model and studied their features, and how they felt, we assigned each type a region: Underdark, Swamp, Highlands, Mountain, Forest, and Grasslands. (As depicted from left to right. in the images above)

We thought about each tribe's level of intelligence, access to resources, and how that might affect their equipment and aesthetics. We set to work finding reference material for equipment.

Join us in the next chapter where we find references to create the aesthetic and concept the lore of the Highlands Tribe.

Also, please consider supporting this project on Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/runeforge/the-goblin-tribes-of-keiremoor

We are involving the community in the creation of this project as much as possible and we are looking for suggestions and taking requests.

Runeforge Studios