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Death by Goblins!

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Death by Goblins! A Short-But-Deadly adventure for 6th-Level Characters

A dozen goblins corner two hapless adventurers in front of a barred gate

Inspired by Gremlins, Aliens, and goblin decks from Magic: the Gathering, DEATH BY GOBLINS! is designed to let 6th-level characters go ham with their awesome new abilities on an unending torrent of goblins—or get picked off one by one by the tiny, terrifying fiends. But why are they being targeted by the little green demons? And how do they get out of the goblin lair alive?

This adventure can be integrated easily into most official Sword Coast campaigns, including Dragons of Icespire Peak and Storm King’s Thunder. You can even use the stronghold and goblin lair to drop into an original campaign! So many possibilities!

DEATH BY GOBLINS! includes
a 70-page PDF with
a 6–12 hour adventure
over 30 illustrations and maps
7 new magic items
20 goblin customization options
new goblin variants like the goblin torch and the goblin lasher
Death by Goblins Spotify Playlist
PLUS fifteen 600x600 VTT tokens in PNG format
and 5000x6000 maps for VTT/printing in JPG format!

CHECK OUT A FULL PREVIEW OF THE ENTIRE PDF!

Two unlucky adventurers are surrounded by goblins

“This is genuinely one of the most ridiculous and brilliant things I’ve ever
had the pleasure of getting my hands on!… Every inch of this adventure (is)
 filled with flavour and fun. (It’s) the perfect balance of chaos and order!”
— Curse of Sebs

“Death by Goblins! is one of the most complete packages, and one of the
most enjoyable dungeon crawls, I’ve reviewed this year.”
— RogueWatson

 RogueWatson’s #1 DMs Guild Product of 2020
 (Top Ten DMs Guild Products of 2020)

A goblin leaps at the viewer

WRITTEN, DESIGNED, and ILLUSTRATED by GORDON McALPIN
Feats Don't Fail Me Now (lead designer, graphic design, illustration)
Baldur’s Gate: City Encounters (graphic design, writing)
The Blood Hunter (graphic design, illustration)


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Reviews (2)
Discussions (5)
Customer avatar
Victor N May 04, 2022 11:31 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi again, more questions! What exactly are they goblins trying to do once the party enters their lair? Are they trying to kill the party or capture them?
In G1 The Net Room it says "If the characters remain in this area for several minutes, a contingent of [goblins] open the door and escort them ... into the Fire Hall (area G3)." Then what happens? Do they meet Oort?
If the party escapes the Net Room, those same goblins attack the party instead of escort them. Why?
I assume that Elleas would instruct the goblins NOT to kill the party, so what do the hunting groups do when encountered? Do they use non-lethal damage? Do they try to put the PCs into the prison?
Thanks for any insight!
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Customer avatar
Gordon M May 06, 2022 4:12 am UTC
CREATOR
Hey, Victor! Sorry for the slow response.

I think there was an editorial snafu regarding escorting the characters to the Fire Hall, sorry. I’ll see what I can do to remedy things in a future update. BUT!

In general: the goblins try to capture the characters (by knocking them unconscious) and hold them captive until Elleas can see them and gloat. So it kind of depends on how long you want the adventure to last?

If the goblins capture the characters by the Net Room — and you want them to explore the goblin lair more, you MIGHT want them to escape (into the lair, not up). In that case, the goblins lead them to the Fire Hall (area G3)… and if they haven’t escaped yet… then maybe Oort inspects them and sends off a message to Elleas… and if they characters still haven’t escaped… maybe they’re taken to the prison (where they meet Galastacia) or the pen (where they meet Jarvin)… and maybe Elleas happens to be away on business when they’re captured, so he doesn’t...See more
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Customer avatar
Victor N May 06, 2022 4:37 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks, that's very helpful!
Customer avatar
Victor N April 26, 2022 12:49 am UTC
PURCHASER
I'm looking forward to running this, but I have one concern: the adventure seems to hinge on the party falling or being pushed into the teleportation trap in Chapter 2, Scene A. I can just imagine that one of my party might find a way to avoid this, especially given that one has Misty Step and another is a rogue with the Mobile feat. Do you have any more advice for ensuring the desired outcome without obvious railroading?
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Customer avatar
Gordon M April 26, 2022 4:53 am UTC
CREATOR
I mean, you could just railroad them! haha -- But if even one person falls into the trap, you can briefly "cut away" to that character or group. When you cut back *other* players, they may take a hint that it's "safe" and jump in after them. You might also let the other characters follow retreating goblins back to their lair, though that could end up with the party split up for a while.

Or if no one falls for the trap, let the characters defeat that group of goblins and get away, run a random encounter or something, and have other goblins try trapping them while they're resting?
Customer avatar
Jake W July 17, 2021 11:47 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Bought this awhile ago, super excited excited to finally use it, but my players are significantly more advanced than 6th (level 11 now). Any scaling suggestions?
Reply
Customer avatar
Gordon M July 21, 2021 6:24 pm UTC
CREATOR
Sorry for the slow response! I missed this notification, somehow. I've never run it for 11th level, but I think the concern would be that there are too few goblins to make them break a sweat.

The easiest way to scale this up is to at least double every creatures’ hit points, maybe even 4x for the bosses and NPCs.

If you regularly use the Call for Backup feature (with the goblins who have that) and have reinforcements arrive faster (1–2 turns), there should be no shortage of damage sources for the characters. (Running 20+ goblins isn't that cumbersome if you use mob rules; I recapped those on page 42.)

Also, in the final battle, be sure to use some of Elleas’s charm spells against the characters for some PvP!

You should ignore some of the secret passages/doors so that the characters are forced to explore longer to drain more resources before the final battle. (Like, they just don't exist: don't cheat the passive Perception.)

Bumping key stats...See more
Reply
Customer avatar
Jake W July 25, 2021 3:08 pm UTC
PURCHASER
This is fantastic! Thanks!
Customer avatar
Tom S February 12, 2021 9:04 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Perhaps I'm being dumb, but I can't find the key for the maps. For instance, when you say they start in G1. I don't know where that is. What am I missing?
Reply
Customer avatar
Tom S February 12, 2021 9:06 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Yep, being dumb. I got it.
Reply
Customer avatar
Gordon M February 16, 2021 12:15 am UTC
CREATOR
:D Sorry I didn't see this sooner, but I'm glad you got it sorted!
Customer avatar
Jack H January 16, 2021 10:16 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hey! Was wondering if there is going to be a fantasy grounds version of this adventure?
Reply
Customer avatar
Gordon M January 17, 2021 4:40 am UTC
CREATOR
Hi! I don't have the resources to do a Fantasy Grounds version at this time, but I'll look into it.
Reply
Customer avatar
Gordon M January 21, 2021 4:38 am UTC
CREATOR
I spoke too soon! I am working with Grim Press now for a Fantasy Grounds conversion of both Death by Goblins and Feats Don’t Fail Me Now. I can't say how soon they will be up, but within a few weeks, I think there will be one. If you already purchased DBG, shoot me an e-mail and I'll get you a copy of the FG version when it's available.
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File Last Updated:
October 12, 2020
This title was added to our catalog on April 26, 2020.