GOBLINS

Hello, and welcome to my GOBLINS fan page. It has been a long time since I have done any content not directly related to my MST3K projects, but let's face it... nothing much new there is going on, so I am starting to branch into other obsessions.

Goblins has won (or been stuck with) the honor of my next web effort.

It is the story - and now graphic novel - of a group of perhaps the most put-upon creatures in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. Uh... Goblins. Right. Thus the name: Goblins.

For you Mystery Science Theater fans who might not be familiar with D&D or this web comic, please stay with me. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. While there are a huge number of in-jokes for D&D players, (Hey! In-jokes! Where have we dealt with those before?) the story and the characters in the comic are by themselves both hilarious and touching and occassionally awe inspiring. It is written and drawn by the supremely talented TAROL HUNT! Or "THunt," (or the Great Herbert, as he sometimes calls himself). (Yes, that's one of the in-jokes previously mentioned).

I really really really like this comic.

I just had to say that. If you are a fan of role playing games at all, and you haven't seen this, check it out.

The web address of Goblins is http://goblinscomic.com/

I discovered Goblins on a Thursday evening. By Sunday, I had read all 300+ strips in the archive, and the instant I got to the last strip, I immediately ordered the hardcopy book. How good is Goblins? I would compare it to Elfquest. Not better than Elfquest, but comprable to. The characters will grab you that hard. The story is close to that ambitious in scope. The art... isn't Wendy Pini, but I don't want it to be. I want it to be Tarol Hunt quality. And it is.

So what is it? What is this thing? This story? This series I have discovered? Well, let's see -

The short answer is that it is the story of a small group of monsters in a D&D game who decide they have had enough of being the punching bags for the players in the game. Dungeon Masters (the people who run the games of D&D) usually send beginning players, or beginning characters after a goblin war camp because goblins are small and normally easy to kill and ...

Wait a minute - back up. What the heck is a goblin, anyway?

Sorry. I got ahead of myself. THIS is a goblin.

These are goblins.

They are small, (3 foot high or so) creatures who have big pointy ears, flat noses and are generally (but not always) seen as evil and conniving. But then that depends on whom you talk to, I guess.

Anyway. After their camp is destroyed - yet again - for no other reason than game players looking for an easy way to advance, this one group of goblins decides to do something no other group has done before. They are going to become "player characters" themselves, and start getting more experience and power, so they can better defend their homes. Think of it as the "villains" in a video game suddenly deciding that they didn't like what the players kept doing to them, so they declare they are "changing the rules" and start living their own lives outside of what the programmers had designed.

Go figure, this has a profound effect on both them, and the world they live in.

The story is at times extremely funny. Dungeons and Dragons games - while supposedly serious with great quests and fighting and so on - are actually often hilarious to the players who sit around the table. They crack just as many jokes about the characters they play, and the things that happen to them as Joel and the bots sometimes do at the bad movies they are forced to watch. Rifs and quotes from Monty Python, The Princess Bride, Lord of the Rings... D&D players are quite aware of the silly side that even some of the serious moments in the game can have, and they enjoy the humor of what they do to a great extent. Goblins often plays on that and the "game players" in the story (the dwarf, the fighter and the elves) will often talk "out of character" about things they should know nothing about. The goblins are NOT (as far as anyone knows) being played by anyone, but they also seem to have a almost "out of character" view of their world, sometimes even discussing the D&D rulebooks that govern the laws of their universe.

At other times, the story can be quite violent and bloody. This is definitely NOT a comic for young kids. These goblins "broke off" from their script and did what they did only after witnessing the slaughter of their whole village. And some of the other characters they meet later on also show quite graphically the darker sides of human nature. It can be jolting as THunt goes from one extreme to the other so quickly and seemlessly. I mentioned Elfquest before. These goblins, despite their rather slapstick beginnings, quickly become every bit as full, individual characters as any of the Wolfriders, and face just as many challenges in their world as Wendy Pini gave her elves.

So who makes up this goblin band?

Well, there is the wise and thoughtful elder.
The noble paladin	The fearless warrior
The reluctant chief
And the mastermind who came up with the whole plan in the first place...Fumbles! Senor Vorpal Kickass'O!

By the way - there was one other survivor of the village that our main group doesn't know about yet: his name is Dies Horribly. And you know, when the village fortune teller gives you that name when you are born, you have a hard time looking on the bright side of things.

However, through chance or destiny, he has befriended one of the most unusual creatures on his world, and it has in return... but I won't spoil the story.

It is called Goblins: Life through their Eyes

and it is well worth checking out. Those of you who are familiar with D&D will love it. Those of you who aren't will still find a remarkable story. (You just won't get as many of the references.)

BUT HEY!

This page should be more than just a great big ad for the Comic. This whole website is all about my fan creations. So lets see what I can do. Behind the links below are some of my feeble efforts at fan art and prose in honor of Tarol Hunt's masterpiece.

NEW THIS MONTH -- New Artwork! New Stories! And they're not even mine! (so it's GOOD!)

"Worst Case" - a poster at the Goblins forums - has created a full length comic, and has graciously allowed me to post it here on my site. The short story is: this is one adventure of a new clan of goblins populated by characters made by forum regulars. The story and artwork are by Worst Case, and should not be taken without permission. Any applicable copyrights are Worst Case's or Thunt's. If you want a longer more detailed background of the characters, you can click here. Otherwise click the RISKS AND SIDE EFFECTS link below and enjoy!

And "Slings Words" has added 5 more quick chapters to the tale of his original goblin. From the same "clan" that Worst Case has written of, Slings Words gives 6 brief glimpses of life in the warcamp, as seen from the eyes and imagination of one little goblin who loves to tell tales. Go to the newly remodeled STORY ARCHIVE and read what he has created!

Want to comment ? EMAIL ME at acyn@cox.net and let's talk.

For those of you who found this page from a Goblins related link or search, I bid you welcome to look around the rest of my site. It is devoted to my efforts to create a Mystery Science Theater episode of my own. Everything from building the robots to filming to ... well, all kinds of stuff. Klik-ing on the Satellite of Love below (the dog bone shaped thingie) will take you to a good starting page for that. Klik-ing on Castle Forrester will take you to the page where you can order my movie, or check out the NEW MST3K board game!

NOTICE *** ALL ARTWORK ON THIS PAGE IS COPYRIGHT TAROL HUNT ***

*** USED WITH PERMISSION *** DO NOT STEAL***