This is another fine game from Michael Straus- The OG GM.

Art by Aaron Cornelius.

This product can be found on DriveThruRPG at This Link.

Fistful of Goblins is set in one of the strangest of Weird West settings. It’s loosely d20 compatible, meaning it will work with pretty much any d20 roll high system. The Aaron Cornelius art really completes this game in terms of theme and aesthetics.

The first thing most people will notice is this game’s unit of currency- the Pog. I am super tempted to find a stack of these things and a slammer to a game session if I ever get a chance to run it. I think a lot of us old timers will get the reference. I find the concept of using them as currency super amusing.

The next thing players will notice is your character is either Goblin or Human. It’s a d20 game, though. You could always bring in Apache style Elves with sticks or Halfling settlers from another continent. Not much is said about dragons, but I wouldn’t rule them out. Magic exists but is a bit more rare than most high fantasy games.

I always love the OG GM’s attention to detail. He always puts a lot of research and detail into his games. I really admire that because a lot of gamers tend to overlook historical details and realism in favor of “It’s magic. Don’t bother me with facts.”

In addition to extensive equipment lists, a well thought-out setting, spells for the spellcasters- there’s weird science in this game. I always think back to my favorite Deadlands NPC who wore a gadget made out of a colander on his head and built lots of freaky stuff that would explode eventually. There’s a lot of neat, maybe more stable weird science gadgetry and fun to be had in Fistful of Goblins.

Last, there’s a lot of neat NPCs, a fictional setting, and a short adventure. Fresno, Nevada is a town with a lot of great history and characters running around. There are also some monsters lurking about- lots of undead, slimes/oozes/puddings, and a whole host of cowpokes. Can’t forget cryptids.

My only critique of this book, and it’s tiny, is that it appears to have had some trouble with the layout and editing. The proofreading was fine, but the spacing, page layout, headers… I know it was rough on OG trying to figure it all out. I know he tried. It still looks fine. It definitely carries that old school photocopied and sent in the mail vibe.

No joke, I used to get a fair amount of my homebrew Dungeons & Dragons stuff that way. We’re spoiled nowadays with Canva, Publisher, Affinity 2, and Illustrator but people don’t always know how to use them or have the money to hire someone. Sometimes you just have to work with what you have, and OG had good old MS Word. It’s cool. I completely understand.  

Overall, 4 out of 5 Stars. I’ll be excited to see what comes next from this author.

Thank you for being here today with me. I appreciate you. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy.