Apotheosis Studios Exclusive Interview with Gallant Goblin
/There are many awesome and fascinating creators in the world of table top role playing games. We here at Apotheosis Studios try our utmost to be friendly and chatty with as many of these cool people as possible.
Us here at Apotheosis pride ourselves in making new content and better ways to play your TTRPG play, but there’s much more content to be made. Making games is fun, but keeping your eye on the world of gameplay and the news about what happens with this grand community we’re all a part of.
Gallant Goblin has been providing in depth reviews for many years now, but who are the charming people behind the collective? We had a delightful chat and here’s what they said.
Gallant Goblin Banner Art by Kayleigh Fine
Apotheosis Studios Exclusive Interview with Gallant Goblin
Not all Goblins are scary and mischievous. Gallant Goblin has been bringing close and fair reviews in the world of TTRPG goodness for many years. All historic quests have a beginning. Where did the Gallant Goblin get going?
The Gallant Goblin began as a couple of threads came together for us in 2017. Grady has always had a passion for filmmaking and had collected some really nice hardware and pieces of software, but rarely had an opportunity to use them. Theo had recently gotten into D&D and collecting minis after watching HarmonQuest and Acquisitions Inc., but struggled to find out which random booster boxes of minis were worth investing in because there weren’t many quality reviews online aside from some very long unboxing videos that didn’t always focus on the mini correctly and spent a lot of time on dealing with the packaging. We decided to create the Gallant Goblin to help people make informed decisions on what booster boxes to buy based on what’s inside and what they’re likely to get. The channel also gave Grady an opportunity to exercise his movie making skills. We hoped that we could help people make the best use of their money when trying to collect minis and accessories for their TTRPGs.
You've been known to have the inside track with a lot of products, to have access to products right in time for release. Is it always that exciting to see those kinds of products come in early? How did the partnership with Wizards and Wizkids come to be (aside from the obvious non disclosure and contracts, as important and boring as they may be)?
Originally it was the kind and experienced folks over at MinisGallery.com who brought us to WizKids’ attention. They were apparently fans of what we were doing at the Gallant Goblin and have been very generous supporters of us since then. WizKids has been exceedingly easy to work with, never putting any limitations on what we could say in regards to their products. And we rarely even have any embargoes on what we review. It’s just a matter of how quickly we can get the videos produced as we aim to provide quality videos which take a decent amount of time to put together. Eventually other companies like Steamforged Games, Paizo, Archon Studios, and others reached out as well, and now we’re bopping along trying to keep up with this rapidly growing industry and all the exciting and innovative new products and games that are coming to market.
As a reviewer, you bring well rounded opinions and takes about all manner of products by every TTRPG developer. Has there been a product that stands out in your mind as bringing something a little extra? Have you had a product which your take has proven different to what happened when it was released?
When it comes to minis in particular, I try not to be too opinionated because, like a piece of art, if I give the viewer a good enough view of it, they should decide for themselves if it’s a good fit for their games and budget. As for other products, the Epic Encounters series from our sponsor Steamforged Games was a big hit with our audience. For a pretty solid price they gave us this perfectly modular gaming experience with great minis, maps, and an adventure module that could be slotted into an ongoing campaign or used as a one-shot. It was just the perfect little 5e package. I was also a big fan of the Pathfinder 2e Beginner Box from Paizo. It was a very well designed entry point for people curious about Pathfinder, and with follow-up books like Troubles in Otari and Abomination Vaults, there was just a clear path for how to become proficient with Pathfinder 2e. Similarly, the D&D Starter Set was such a great introduction to 5th edition and it led elegantly to a number of different 5e adventures while being a fun little campaign in and of itself.
I don’t think I’ve had a different opinion than our viewers too often, but what often does happen is long-time D&D players leaving comments talking about really interesting old-school lore, history, or allusions that I didn’t know about. Their experience allows them to share context that I just didn’t have, and that’s always really fascinating. I’m so grateful that they watch and share those tidbits with us.
Your focus is on Dungeons and Dragons, but there are many tabletop role playing games out there. What features in some of the games that you've reviewed has interested you in your reviews? What consistent features keep popping up in one place that may be needed somewhere else? What over or under performs? What lacking in other places?
Who’s this adorable friend? Check out the kickstarter April 12th.
I absolutely adore the character creation options that Pathfinder 2e provides, especially through their various feat trees. It’s just so much fun creating Pathfinder characters. I’m still shocked that D&D hasn’t gone further in incorporating feats, especially racial or ancestry feats to provide more horizontal progression for PCs. In my eyes, D&D has a problem where mechanically many characters don’t play all that differently from other characters. There’s not much difference mechanically from playing a human, elf, goblin, or gnome. I would love to see some new focus given to that.
Another innovation in Pathfinder 2e that I’d love to see brought over to other games is their trait system. Everything in that game from spells, to characters, to items, to actions has certain traits that play off of each other and other game mechanics. And they’re all easily seen and color-coded so when you’re trying to figure out if this one particular feat affects this one esoteric magic item, all you really have to do is see if that item has that one needed trait. It takes something that could get really complicated and makes it fairly simple for the players. Though I will say, as someone trying to write Pathfinder 2e content, keeping up with all those traits is not easy!
I love the focus on improvised story-telling that you get from Blades in the Dark, though I have to admit that it does intimidate me a bit. I think that is one trend that we’re going to see more and more: less of a focus on GM prep and more on creating stories on the fly. Less work, more play.
I also like the relatively simple and accessible rules of Mörk Borg and Vast Grimm, which allow you to easily introduce new players to the game, and the brutal nature of those games really heightens the tension and keeps everyone on the edge of their seat. It does feel like the trend is towards simpler rulesets to give new players an easier entry into the games.
And games like Fiasco have mechanisms for character and relationship building that I now use in all my games. And I will say that I’ve been lucky enough to playtest some games that I’m not currently at liberty to talk about, but I can share that there are still plenty of innovations out there to be explored, and folks are doing some really fascinating things with standard TTRPGs mechanics that should surprise and delight you.
Artwork from Ravnica Pride - reviewed by the gallant goblin pals here - art by Stickyhunter - Ravnica Pride Frederic Walker on dms guild
Your banner artwork on Youtube features a wonderful spread of representations for LGBT pride flags. This appreciation and attention is very dear to me, and it's great to see it dear to you. What's your relations with the wider queer community? How does that inform your place in the TTRPG community?
Well, Grady and I are both gay, in case that wasn’t abundantly clear, so our life experiences have us firmly in the LGBTQ+ community. A lot of my volunteer and professional work has been LGBTQ+ focused from working on the LGBT Help Line in Houston through the Montrose Center to being the chair of GLSEN (The Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network) Houston for a number of years, working on making K-12 education safe for all kids. We know that queer folks often have added struggles, so we want to, first and foremost, let them know that they’re seen and welcomed at our table and in our community. Through our Queerfinder project, we’re also trying to showcase queer writers, developers, and artists in the larger TTRPG community while also providing new queer content, stories, locations, and characters for folks to add to their games. Ultimately, I’ve found that one key component to happiness is feeling like you belong and that you’re valued. We try to impart that sentiment in everything we do.
You've given the works we've made here on Apotheosis Studios a fair and loving set of reviews. How did our works come to your attention? How has our partnership been going?
Well, I’ve been working with Satine for a number of years now through her Patreon mentoring system. She helped me craft my very first 5e adventure through Ashley Warren’s RPG Writer’s Workshop which somehow ended up becoming a bestseller on DMs Guild. She’s provided us with guidance on just about every major project we’ve worked on, so when she met Jamison I was introduced to both him and his work at Apotheosis. Satine was kind enough to bring both Grady and I in to work on her collaboration with Apotheosis, Sirens: Battle of the Bards, which also brought The Red Opera to our attention. That was such a fun, evocative, and innovative work that we wanted to share with our audience. Our work with Battle of the Bards is complete, so now we’re just eagerly waiting to see what the final product will look like! And we’re looking forward to the new Paladin project and hoping that we’ll be able to contribute to that story as well!
We're well into 2022 at this point, but the Goblin remains Gallant. What's on the horizon? What offerings from the world of Dungeons and Dragons, and other TTRPGs are you looking forward to, or hoping to unveil this year?
If there’s one thing Grady and I should probably work on, it’s learning how to slow down! We have a ton of projects in the works! We’re just now launching our new line of Hero Plushes starting with our adorable kobold adventurers! If the Kickstarter goes well, the sky’s the limit there! We’re also gearing up for our first major actual player series: Pathfinder: Outlaws of Alkenstar featuring a diverse cast of Houston improv performers. That show will launch this summer! We also have issue 2 of Queerfinder focusing on the city of Absalom with a clothing shop designed by Satine herself that we hope to be able to finish in time for PaizoCon! And then issue 3 focuses on Alkenstar, the city of smog, this summer! We’re also hoping to bring Queerfinder to 5e and other systems later this year. We’re also looking at providing some monthly content in the Queerfinder vein later this year; stay tuned for details on that! And who knows, maybe there will be some Paladin work to be done as well! And then it’s a full time job just trying to keep up with all the releases from D&D, Pathfinder, Starfinder, WizKids, Steamforged, Hit Point Press, and others! At this point we need a fleet of goblin interns to help us stay on track! It’s such an exciting time in the TTRPG realm, and we’re so fortunate and happy to be a part of it! And thank you so much for having us!
Inspiring stuff told to us by pillars of the TTRPG news community. I’ve been aware of them for many years, but hearing their fine words right here has made me even bigger fans of Gallant Goblin. You can learn about them for yourself on their website here and their video reviews on YouTube here.
Now we want to hear from you. Do you follow the news and reviews Gallant Goblin brings to the wild? Will you be pledging to their Kickstarter for adorable Kobold plushies? Let us know in our discord server or in the comments below.
Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com, they write all kinds of gaming press, while they write news about the League of Legends Card Game on RuneterraCCG. On Youtube, they can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Find where they dwell by climbing their Linktree.
