Bestiary playtesting update: The Hobyah

We haven’t been sitting still with A Bestiary of Enchanted England (coming to Kickstarter in October 2022). We’ve been making good use of time to add a fun in-character spin to the presentation and to do in-house playtestin of the creature’s statistics. Here’s a preview of the Hobyah by Mark Lawford! (Details are still subject to change as we do further playtesting and editing.)

A gang of wicked goblins

The Hobyah

Illustration by Teresa Guido

Beware the Hobyah! A gang of wicked sharp-toothed goblins that come out at night, they are, all a-chanting “Hobyah! Hobyah! Hobyah!” as they look for your house. They be wiry little fellows with knotty joints, pointed heads and horrible faces, and they wear all ragged clothes of them they have killed before.

But if you are to protect you and your family - this here little one yours is she - then it’s a dog you need. See, they are right-scared of dogs, ‘tis well known, and like to turn tail and run at the sound of their barking. So get yourself a dog. Like this one here. He’s for sale, you know. A good dog, an all. No messing and no fussing, but he’ll see off the Hobyah before they can break into your house and carry you away, so he will.

Nasty, horrible, nighttime goblins, about four feet in height with pointed heads, pointy-chinned faces, and rows of sharp serrated teeth. Individually weak, the gang is modeled as a Mob (Magonomia, page 138) of a dozen or so.

The Fate system makes it easy to combine multiple nameless NPCs into a mob that behaves like a single, much tougher, character. This takes a lot of burden off the GM, freeing them up to be the narrator of a dramatic scene. Our playtest was a stand-up fight between three wizards and a mob of a half-dozen Hobyah. Individually, they’re weak, but when you combine their combat statistics they become quite fearsome! Our mob was a match for all three of our example characters (Deborah, Ghida, and Aonghas) — and it would be easy to challenge more wizards by adding more Hobyah to the mob! We ended up reducing their individual damage tolerance so players can wear down that big group faster, before they run out of Fate Points. The end result is that if you do fight them, they’re ferocious at the start but then buckle if the PCs are able to hit back a few times. This feels about right: the Hobyah will mob ya! But after the playtest, the don’t have staying power any more.

The Platinum Rule, Revisited

“Everyone is responsible for helping to create a good gaming experience for everyone, including themself. We call this the Platinum Rule.”
— Magonomia Core Rules (p. 3)

The alchemical symbol for platinum. Credit: Kwamikagami, CC BY-SA 4.0 ,via Wikimedia Commons

In RPG Imaginings’ very kind overview video of Magonomia®, the host especially praised the Platinum Rule (quoted above). The host presumed the Platinum Rule came from Fate™ rules, but actually it was created by Shewstone Publishing. It first appeared (with slightly different wording) in the Magonomia Starter Rules in 2019. We’re not especially concerned about claiming credit, though. We’re concerned about spreading the idea.

Why the Platinum Rule?

For the first edition of a tabletop RPG — or any edition, really — it’s important to tell the audience how to play. We want to get everyone on the same page, so to speak, so they can start off their new game with a shared understanding of it.

We thought long and hard about the single most important piece of advice we could give to prospective players and GMs, that would put them in the best position to have a good time with the game. The Platinum Rule is what we came up with.

Pathfinder Second Edition Has It

We wrote the Platinum Rule into Magonomia because we think it’s important. Between the five designers on the cover of Magonomia Core Rules, we’ve played a lot of editions of a lot of tabletop RPGs. Yet none of us (in 2019) could think of ever seeing this basic social rule written down in a game. Games have historically been light on writing down the social rules, though this is starting to change.

I was delighted to see Pathfinder Second Edition has the same principle (on page 8, under the heading “Gaming is for All”): “It is the responsibility of all the players, not just the GM, to make sure the table is fun and welcoming to all.”

It’s Obvious … or Is It?

It took a while for us to realize the importance and the power of the Platinum Rule. In my first ever interview about Magonomia with blogger John Sharpe, he was excited about the Platinum Rule and asked me about it. I was caught a bit off guard, not realizing what I had created. I gave an answer that was a bit wide of the mark. In hindsight, I wish I had thought to say why we put it in the Starter Rules: it’s the single best piece of advice we could give a gaming group.

I thought we were merely stating the obvious. Quite a few people have shrugged off the Platinum Rule, saying “that’s obvious.”

If it’s so obvious, why have I only seen it written down in two core books in my 40+ years of gaming?

I no longer think the Platinum Rule is obvious. It’s a cornerstone of the gaming group’s social contract. I suppose we can discuss whether it belongs in the group’s social contract or not, but I no longer accept “it goes without saying” as a valid dismissal of it.

The Platinum Rule is Open Game Content

Use the Platinum Rule in your game products or homebrew content. Both Magonomia and Pathfinder Second Edition are licensed under the Open Game License, so you’re invited and encouraged to use, remix, and modify it under the terms of that license (see the respective rule books for the exact license terms).

Additional Licenses

Update August 2024: Now that Wizards of the Coast has turned the Open Game License into toxic waste, the Platinum Rule is also co-licensed under the following licenses. You may publish and reuse it under any of the following:

Open Game License 1.0a (not recommended)

Creative Commons Attrribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC-BY SA 4.0)

Open Roleplay Creative (ORC) License

The Magonomia Experience

We’re getting started on a lighter Quick Start for Magonomia that will be an easier entry to the game than the Starter Rules. The first page explains what Magonomia is like, so the reader can decide whether there’s any point in reading further. Here’s the first draft:

Illustration by Teresa Guido, ©2020 Shewstone Publishing LLC

Learning a new roleplaying game is an investment of your time (and money). It’s fair to ask what the game will be like once you’ve learned it.

Presumably you know the basic premise that everyone plays a wizard in a fantasy version of Renaissance England. Beyond that:

  • The magic is based on authentic sixteenth-century folklore. If feels like the magic portrayed in Shakespeare’s plays, rather than modern fantasy movies. Your wizard won’t be throwing fireballs. They’re more likely to fly on a broomstick or to brew a potion that grants superhuman strength.

  • Your wizard will start with a repertoire of 11 spells, chosen from a list. Each spell does one specific thing, such as turning your character invisible or detecting curses.

  • Teamwork is key. Because everyone plays a wizard, there are five varieties of magic to choose from, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.

  • The mechanics are based on the Fate™ system, specifically Fate Condensed. This is a skill-based system with improvisational elements.

Magonomia is a good choice for you if:

  • You’re captivated by the lore from when Europeans thought magic and faeries were real.

  • An all-wizard campaign sounds awesome to you.

  • You like to think creatively while using your character’s powers and abilities.

  • You like to immerse yourself in the scene your character is experiencing.

Magonomia may not be to your liking if:

  • Power gaming is your thing.

  • You like realistic adventures better than magic. Magonomia is about wizards.

  • You prefer lightweight rules that you don’t have to think about.

  • You dislike games where your character’s plan goes sideways.