Thoughts on Goblins and Kobolds?

[Corsair14]

In an all goblin or kobold campaign that would be awesome. I allowed a goblin once in a prior campaign back in 3rd. He played it well and my group had so many Mikes he was forever known as Goblin Mike after that. Character was ok, had to stay hidden or on a leash in any town and another player would have to sign a statement that he was taking charge of him and was responsible for any damages. One character who was fairly strong would literally throw the goblin over the enemy front line from time to time when appropriate to sometimes great results and sometime a horrible fumble.

[Tanarii]

The whole 3.x dragon-related lizard kobolds are frankly boring and it's a shame that they were introduced. Hariless dogs all the way!
I just finished running a Broken Lands, so we had a blast with kobolds, because the Republic of Kol (and the Broken Lands in general) is plain amazing.
We had, among other things, one kobold who transitioned to troll. Another lost his heart (literally) to an evil god in a power play to lure him away from his real patron deity.

Goblins in BL are fun, and the various other Mystaran goblin cultures are fun and need more exploration.

Yeah the Orcs of Thar Gazateer is one of the best takes on D&D humanoids in general, and one of the best Gazateers to boot. The latter mainly because the writers remembered that D&D is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek.

[Tzardok]

I once played a kobold who believed that all "the treasures of the earth" (gold, gems, etc.) where originally owned by the kobolds and all the other races had stolen them. He was on a one-man-crusade to steal it back. It was quite funny.

[Neon_Avenger]

In the world I have been DMing in, goblins are very much fey creatures. They get to be as reckless as they want because they get to reincarnate after a short stay in a Valhalla type afterlife and will keep most of their memories each time.

Whereas kobolds were created by dragons to mine, build, and craft. Since then they have branched out and started trying to make their own way in the world, with betting degrees of success.

[TripleD]

"Races of the Dragon" was the book that moved Kobolds from "race I like" to "my favourite race in Dungeons and Dragons".

It dove into Kobold psychology and summed it up in one word: content. Kobolds are happy. All they want to do is mine, design traps, and serve dragons. They care for each other. All the eggs are placed in a central nest and hatchlings are raised communally. Alongside "trap maker" and "architect", "teacher" is considered one of the most noble professions. They are industrious (one of the fluff quotes is from a dwarf: "You don't know the meaning of 'hard work' until you have seen a Kobold mine in full swing") yet not to a fault; the same chapter describes Kobold's relaxing in underground springs after a long day and polishing each other's scales. To be a Kobold among Kobolds is a wonderful thing.

And yet shocking cruelty and xenophobia are also a core of their culture. Any creature caught moving in to their territory is to be brutally killed as quickly as possible, with the exception of those who may have useful information. Save them for later torture. No "humanity" is projected onto these captives. Kobolds are blood of the dragons; no matter how much the world may say otherwise, deep down Kobolds think they are better than everyone else.

The psychological mix of these is fascinating to me. Is it really "cruelty" if your people are attacked and nearly wiped out again and again? Doesn't holing up in a mountain, stuffing it with traps, and adopting a policy of "shoot first ask questions later" make a certain amount of pragmatic sense? If you honestly believed with all your heart in reincarnation (as Kobolds do) is it actually cowardice to abandon much of your colony if it guarantees some of you survive, or is that just us projecting our beliefs on a different culture?

This is me extrapolating, but while their disgust towards "gnomes" is well documented, I like to think that Kobolds have contempt for most of the other small races as well. "Look at them. Trying to fit in with the humans and elves. Goblins are even worse with their kin. Twice the work for 1/4 the credit. Never really seen as equal to the tall peoples. We have the blood of dragons. If we're going to beg respect from anyone, it's going to be the biggest, baddest mother#@!$%s on the planet."