How they're made

Villain clichés tend to be much flatter than character clichés and can be as simple as:

Goblin

If you’ve read a fantasy book or two or have played other roleplaying games you might have a good idea of what a goblin is and what they are capable of doing. However for the uninitiated this is not very helpful. Let's add some details:

Organizational grouping

This tells us how many to expect at any one time. Some examples of are:

Solitary

It lives and fights alone.

Group

Usually seen in small numbers, 3 to 6 or so.

Being slightly out numbered could put the player characters at a slight disadvantage. Perhaps 1 or 2 points of general disadvantage.

Horde

Where there’s one, there’s more. A lot more. Being laughably outnumbered could put the player characters at an even greater disadvantage!

For this example goblins come by the horde.

Add cliché advantage

For villains the cliché advantage is mostly used as a measure of how much disadvantage it takes to render them incapable of acting. Optionally, It can also be a measure of how much disadvantage a character is at when facing the villain.

In the case of goblins, their cliché advantage will be 1

Instinct

Always good to know why a villain does what it does.

A goblins’ instinct is to multiply

Special

What’s so special about this villain? Do they have a trick up their sleeve? A special attribute? A fatal flaw? Maybe there is nothing special about them at all.

Goblins, however, are sensitive to light

Size

Don’t fool yourselves, size matters!  It can be an advantage or disadvantage, assigned by the GM, when squaring off against villains that are larger or smaller than the characters. It can also be a factor when Especially and assigning villain consequences. Here are some example sizes:

Tiny 

Half to a quarter of small.

Small 

Half to a quarter of your average human.

Normal

Your average human.

Large 

It’s much bigger than a human, about as big as a cart.

Huge

It’s as big as a small house or larger.

Goblins are small.

Consequences

This is a list of what the villain is most likely to do when encountered. Be sure to include one or more Deal damage consequences and state the reason and how much disadvantage it inflicts. When it's time for the GM to assign a consequence this is the list to pick from for a goblin:

• • • • • Charge!

        • Call more goblins

        • Retreat and return with (many) more

        • Deal damage: Spear for 1 disadvantage

Description

Anything else that’s important to know about the villain goes here. It can be a written description or one or more tags or both. Here are some tags to get you started but feel free to make up your own:

• Magical - It is by nature magical through and through.

• Devious - Its main danger lies beyond the simple clash of battle. 

• Amorphous - Its anatomy and organs are bizarre and unnatural. 

• Organized - It has a group structure that aids it in survival. Defeating one may cause the wrath of others. One may sound an alarm. 

• Intelligent - It’s smart enough that some individuals pick up other skills. The GM can add tags to reflect specific training. Ex. mage

• Hoarder - It almost certainly has treasure.

• Stealthy -  It can avoid detection and prefers to attack with the element of surprise.

• Terrifying - Its presence and appearance evoke fear.

• Cautious - It prizes survival over aggression.

• Construct - It was made, not born

• Planar - It’s from beyond this world

At the very least a goblin is intelligent.

So in conclusion, behold a goblin in all its splendid glory:

Goblin Horde (1)

Instinct To multiply      

Special Sensitive to light

Size      Small

Consequences

• Charge!

• Call more goblins

• Retreat and return with (many) more

• Deal damage: Spear for 1 disadvantage

Description [Intelligent]

Nobody seems to know where these things came from. Elves say they’re the dwarves’ fault, dredged up from a hidden place beneath the earth. Dwarves say they’re bad elvish children taken away at birth and raised in the dark. The truth of the matter is that goblins have always been here and they’ll be here once all the civilized races have fallen and gone away. Goblins never die out. There’s just too damn many of them.