OSE Encounter Activities - Hobgoblins

I’m not sure if it was the tactics and advice outlined in B2 that first made me decide to go with a more militarily focused Hobgoblin, but I’m pretty sure it was the depiction of what I suspected were Hobgoblins on the cover of that module that made me insist on orange skin and Lamellar armor. There was a paucity of color illustration to fire the imagination in those days, so like many newly-minted DMs, one gleaned whatever scraps one could from the few scattered clues.

I use them to fill the role of a brutally disciplined Chaotic force (I never saw that as a contradiction). They make for excellent soldiers and incredible generals, and many an army has fallen to their clever strategies and war-minded philosophy. Some of the decisions they make and standing orders they obey may seem unusual at first, but to the Hobgoblin these are tried and true means of achieving victory over the enemy and constant war for war’s sake. Law has a harder time finding a footing during times of strife.

Unaffected by sunlight, I don’t stick them down in Dungeons too often these days, but that’s not to say you couldn’t keep them locked away like that. I think they’re at their best when there’s a world either at war or with one a-brewing.