Overview

DreaM aGoB gives us a cozy grotto cave and networks of underground tunnels, mushroom-like stalagmites, tangles of vines and a rug of moss growing in the skylight’s rays. Contented faces in the campfire glow, the sharing of precious shinies, daily mundane rituals, the lessons of creature teachers, cozy eroticism, and walks about the land, asking “How has it changed, and how have we?”

Imagine that goblins aren’t what you’ve been told. Instead, we are as mixed a bag as our collections of shinies, varying in appearance and temperament with our affinity with different natural forces. Rather than barbaric, greedy and malevolent beings of tales, we are creatures of simple pleasures who embrace the muck of life and find joy, comfort and belonging there. However, if our grottos and beloved lands are disturbed and disrespected, we will make mischief in return. 

Imagine that there was a sickness, a plague that scoured and shut down settlements and cities and sent many back to their homelands and smaller communities for safety and care. Imagine the fear and suspicion, the sudden scarcities and panic, the drastic changes and isolation. As the plague receded so did its warnings and lessons, but the goblins of the grotto, and many others, had listened and still remembered. We deepened our affinities to each other, to ourselves, and to the land during the plague years. We banded together to share the beauty and joy of this grotto, the land, and the shinies and yummies it gives to us, and we want to stay here and keep doing that. But will the world let us? 

DreaM aGoB gives us a world full of shinies and yummies waiting to be stumbled upon, crafted, or painstakingly coaxed from the world around us. It is a space to explore those darker, cozier, dirtier, kinkier and queerer interests and desires that have always been a part of us. Beyond the Grotto, challenges await in the natural world, the settlements of Humankin and Otherkin, in the City, and our hearts and minds – where the possibilities and dangers of authority, faith and magic reside. We banded together for safety, a place to live, sleep and wait out the plague, but we’ve stayed together because of the care and belonging we found. More than ever before, each of us is responsible for the character and fate of our community. What lies in the Grotto? For this close-knit gobbet of goblins, could it be the community and belonging we’ve always longed for?

The Goblins of DreaM aGoB are guardians of their grotto and the land around them, wary of others doing harm to their home and the other beings that occupy it. Their greater connection to and relationship with aspects of nature have allowed them to develop specific gifts. You will take on the role of one of 6 playbooks in a diceless and GMless experience: the SyLPh, the niXie, the BoGLe, the TUoneLa, the aiLLén, or the MaRon in a cozy story of Goblin community after the plague.    

System

This is the ashcan version of DreaM aGoB made for the 2023 Queerness and Games Jam.  it should be playable, but needs edits, content added and cut, and playtesting. If you want to help make a better version possible, play it and send us feedback to conrades@affinity-games.com,  and/or support our work by donating when you download the game!  It still needs a lot of work, and we'd love your help to make it better.

DreaM aGoB uses a modified version of the no dice, no masters system. It swaps out weak, regular, and strong moves for Careful, Cozy, and Messy moves. It also uses Mooting, a consensus-based mechanic for adding more structure to world building, conflict and play. 

To play, you need: 

• 3-6 players and 4-5 hours
• These rules and printed playkit
• A copy of Dream Askew/Dream Apart
• Pencils or pens 
• Index cards, or similar
• A few blank pieces of paper 
• A central pile of tokens, aka shinies, about 5-10 per player. 

Tone and Inspiration 

The goblins of DreaM aGoB are inspired by recent depictions of goblins in goblincore culture and a critique of “goblin mode”. ‘Goblin mode’ – the 2022 Oxford Word of the Year – is a slang term, often used in the expressions ‘in goblin mode’ or ‘to go goblin mode’ – for “a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.” 

The online goblincore community is largely made up of neurodivergent people, members of the LGBTQ+ community (especially trans and nonbinary folks), anti-capitalists, introverts, artists, and nature lovers. Goblincore is a license to celebrate our weirdness, prioritize our personal and collective comfort and joy, to slow down and be curious, embrace the muck of life, and look at social norms in new ways, ditching those that aren’t serving us and embracing new ones.

Content Warning and Goblins

Playlist

Here's our playlist to listen to during play or for inspiration!  

https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/33U0ss7tkQ4gKYtwXsFDN1?utm_source=generator