Why goblins?
At first glance there’s really no point to them. They’re the everyman of fantasy antagonists. Generic creatures to fill out the horde of the slightly less generic wizard. If there was ever an overused thing in fantasy aside from knights in shining armor and dragons, it would be goblins. So what’s the point in writing about them? The same point there is in writing about any other fantasy trope. It’s not what they are but how much creative license and personal spin can be applied to them.
All the ‘stock’ things in fantasy are merely a starting point and a loose definition of boundaries. All manner of license can be applied to their details. In the case of goblins, I took the time to consider why as an antagonist they would be a threat to anyone at all. Compared even to medieval humans, they’re technologically primitive, physically weaker, and unable to organize societies the size of kingdoms.
Given this, I started asking questions and went from there. Why would they be a threat or even a nuisance to humans? First, they would have skills, even if those skills were restricted to the neolithic. They would have natural advantages like seeing in complete darkness and prolific birth rates. What they lacked in individual prowess they easily make up in numbers. Their stature and lack of physical strength would restrict their choice of weaponry and tactics, but they would certainly know how to use what they could.
How would they relate to humans? If the humans had better things than they did, they would steal it. As everything the humans created would be better, they would take everything they could. And since the humans meant no more to them than any other animal they would find them edible. Living subsistence lives because they lack the sophistication to do better tends to remove the finicky.
Last but not least, add the personalities. As they are goblins, I had an excuse to mix in the occasional bit of Muppet inspired dark humor. I also took a few cues from rats, ants, and birds. The rest is loosely the goblin interpretation of the caveman. The result is Pencheval’s largest problem made manifest in The Stonemaster series. They may be goblins, but they’re my goblins, and ultimately my take on a little piece of the fantasy genre.