When people hear “tabletop roleplaying games,” we usually think of the popular games like Dungeons & Dragons.

When we hear “goblins”, we tend to think of them as being unintelligent, unpleasant creatures.

So it’s refreshing to have a TTRPG where these ideas are flipped on its head in a hilarious, family-friendly way. And Goblin Errands does exactly that. Even better – this is an easy game to learn and get started, being advertised as a “no-prep” TTRPG.

Game Info

The Basics

Goblin Errands is described as a “no-prep” RPG, meaning that it gives you the resources you need to play the game as you go (such as roll tables). No world-building or lore required ahead of time. The game is played with 2-5 goblins (players) and one Tall Person (GM). You and your fellow goblin joins a new goblin community and you are seeking approval by them by completing ordinary tasks (such as getting groceries). These tasks usually involves you heading into a local town or village that is made for bigger and stronger folk than you are (Tall People). As you go to complete your task, you naturally run into complications and challenges that you have to overcome (either directly or creatively) that leads to unending suspense, drama, and laughter.

Although this game has a fantasy feel to it, it is not a combat resolution driven TTRPG, meaning that combat is not a focal point of the game (now, could there be combats? Possibly. But that’s not at the heart of this game). Additionally, this game introduces “Goblin Resilience,” meaning that goblin player characters do not get killed in this game (the GM/Players will come up with some sort of narrative that explains how they survive any sort of perceived fatal outcome). Because of this, it makes a great family game where you can introduce roleplaying games to the kiddos in your life, and they get to have a lot of creative fun playing the game!

The Mechanics

To play the game, you will need:

• 3-5 players plus a Game Master (known as “Tall Person” in this game)
• Around 3 hours to play, which includes creating goblins (player characters) and the errand (quest/objective)
• 5 six-sided dice (d6) per player
• A twenty-sided die (d20) per player that you will use as a “Focus roll” (a special ability you have will allow you to roll a d20 instead of a d6)
• A token of some sort to serve as the focus token

When your character is attempting an action of some sort, the Tall Person will call for a die roll based on the stat you’re trying to attempt. This design makes it easy to know ahead of time because it’s all tied towards what you are trying to do physically. The stat options include

• Hands
• Legs
• Eyes
• Mouth
• Frame (this reflects physical strength and power, which always starts at 0)
• Heart (energy and endurance)

In addition to your ability stats, each goblin will also have starting feats that’s unique to them (which gives them an extra ability that other players may not have) as well as start out with one advanced feat.

When you make a Risk Roll (a roll where you make an action but there’s risk involved), you will roll the number of dice that’s been assigned to that physical stat. 1-3 are failures, 5-6 are successes, and 4 is a stumble, meaning you can opt into having it count as a success but a complication comes along with it. After rolling your dice pool for that ability, you count up the number of successful dice rolls you have to determine the result, with 0 successes meaning you failed spectacularly, to 4 or more successes meaning you succeed impressively that gives you something extra (This is broken down into a chart to give more description on what each number of successes means for the result).

The goblins can also perform a “shared risk” action, which allows them to work together to help give a higher chance of a more successful outcome. This includes group actions where everyone rolls individually to see the results and anyone that has extra successful rolls can give it to other players (even stumbles so the complications are put on them and not you) and help actions where other players can describe how their goblin is helping the other with their roll. When this happens, the player who is rolling can add an additional die to their roll.

The Playing Experience

My gaming store, Valkyrie’s Vault, offers one-shots Mondays where someone will select a tabletop roleplaying game to demo for people who are interested in the game or just want to play a TTRPG. This was a game they demo’d a few weeks ago when I attended. In addition to myself and the staff member who served as the GM, there were three adults and two children who showed up to play as well.

We all picked a pre-generated goblin character to play (which comes with the game), and our task was to pick up an order that our goblin leader ordered. The catch: we needed to go pay for the order, but no one knows how money works in the tall person village. Not even the goblin leader.

When we arrived in the village, we realized we never got the name of the place the leader ordered from so we split up to check two places that would have it: Ye Olde Cracker Barrel and The House Of Waffles. The journey to try to get the order was challenging and hilarious, which involved complications such as using magic to deceive tall people that we had cash to pay to climbing up on top of each other to climb over a fence. We even visited Ye Olde Pier One Imports to buy dishes and silverware for the food we were picking up.

My favorite thing about playing this game is how the kids (who were 10 years or less) really got creative and got into it. One of them had a feat that allowed their character to tell a story to influence the people who were listening and they came up with a tale on the spot.

Overall, this game was a lot of fun to play. After doing a few turns, we understood how to play the game pretty well and the stats and abilities were straightforward enough that we didn’t have to waste time trying to figure it out. This is an ideal game if you want to introduce someone how to play a roleplaying game, if you want to get a feel of what it would be like to be a Game Master, and if you want to have a family fun experience!

Definitely add this to your gaming library when you get the chance.