The Origins Of D&D’s Goblin Race Will Be Explored In New Book

Mordenkainen Presents: Multiverse of Monsters will explore the origins of the goblin race from Dungeons & Dragons, expanding on hints that were introduced in the first edition of the game. Multiverse of Monsters is an upcoming book that will feature updated versions of playable D&D races and monsters that were present in different D&D books.

The goblin race in D&D is best-known for how commonly they appear in low-level encounters. The goblins are recognized as being cowardly and cruel, only daring to face adventurers when they have superior numbers. They are often enslaved by bugbears, hobgoblins, and orcs, so that they can be used as shock troopers and cannon fodder in battle. Volo’s Guide to Monsters introduced a playable version of the goblin race, which is set to be updated in Multiverse of Monsters. The people interested in Multiverse of Monsters will be able to purchase it as part of the D&D Rules Expansion Gift Set on January 25, with a standalone release coming on May 17.

Multiverse of Monsters will be exploring the origins of the goblin race and expanding upon their lore. D&D Principal Rules Designer Jeremy Crawford discussed these changes in a recent press event for Multiverse of Monsters. The chief goblin deity throughout D&D is Maglubiyet, who is also a god of war. The early lore for D&D hinted that Maglubiyet conquered the goblin race, turning them into the form that players are familiar with. It was hinted that the goblins had a history that predates Maglubiyet, which will be explored in Multiverse of Monsters.

According to Crawford, the goblins in D&D originated from the Feywild, which is a reference to real-world goblin folklore. The Unearthed Arcana article regarding the races of the D&D Feywild also confirmed that hobgoblins originated in the Feywild. The relationship between the Feywild goblins and the prime material plane goblins can be compared to that of the eladrin and the elves. Multiverse of Monsters will allow players to use the Feywild versions of the goblins in their game, who exist outside of Maglubiyet’s influence.

Dungeons and Dragons has worked to expand the Feywild a great deal over the past year, with 5e fairly recently receiving its first-ever Feywild campaign known as The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, which launched in September 2021. The archfey and the Domains of Delight introduced in D&D‘s The Wild Beyond the Witchlight have a lot of room for expansion and could easily be integrated into homebrew campaigns. The introduction of new versions of the goblinoid races is also something that can add a lot to the D&D multiverse, especially when the prime material plane versions of the same races are so closely associated with evil deeds.

Mordenkainen Presents: Multiverse of Monsters will be released as part of the D&D Rules Expansion Gift Set on January 25 and will have a standalone release on May 17.

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Scott Baird
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Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz.
A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

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