Kobolds Ate My Baby!

infobox RPG
title=Kobolds Ate My Baby!


caption=
designer=Chris O'Neill and Dan Landis; illustrations by John Kovalic
publisher=Dork Storm Press
9th Level Games
date=2005 (Super Deluxx Edition)
2001 (3rd edition)
1999 (1st printing)
genre=Fantasy, Comedy
system="BEER Engine"
footnotes=

"Kobolds Ate My Baby!" (also known as "KAMB") is an independently published role-playing game originally published by 9th Level Games. The name is a derivative reference to the Azaria Chamberlain disappearance and the famous misquote, "A dingo ate my baby!" The "Super Deluxx Edition" was still designed by 9th Level Games, but is published by Dork Storm Press.cite journal|title=Pyramid Review Kobolds Ate My Baby! The Beer and Pretzels Roleplaying Game - Super Deluxx Edition| url=http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/login/article.html?id=5864| journal=Pyramid (online)| last=Pook| first=Matthew| date=2006-03-31| accessdate=2008-02-16]

The players assume the roles of kobolds, creatures who are often used as weak but numerous "cannon fodder" characters in fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. [cite web|url=http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.php?id=3094|title=Kobolds Ate My Baby! DeLuxx edition (Review)|last=Funk |first=Kevin|publisher=RevolutionSF|year=2006|accessdate=2007-09-26] "KAMB" supposedly refutes this role, while at the same time playing up this and other stereotypes of fantasy role-playing. The game takes a generally humorous look at the genre and encourages joking and ludicrous, boisterous behavior among the players, the chief of which is the rule that whenever the name of the kobolds' king, Torg, is mentioned, all present are required to loudly proclaim, "ALL HAIL KING TORG!"

"KAMB" is played using the dice rolling mechanism called the Beer Engine. It is called Beer after the four stats that make each character: Brawn, Ego, Extraneous, and Reflexes. Essentially, players are given a difficulty in numbers of dice, and they must roll under the appropriate value on their sheet. Kobolds being poorly suited to adventuring have low numbers, which keeps the humour alive in the game.

Reviewer Matthew Pook said that "the game itself is amusingly written, and of course, it includes opportunities aplenty for the Mayor [the Gamemaster] to be rotten to his Kobold players. Just as they will be rotten to each other in the scramble to gain Victory Points. In this, it shares some similarity with "Paranoia"."

"KAMB" is part of an annual event at the Origins Game Fair called the Midnight Massacre, in which large numbers of people customarily play multiple simultaneous games of "KAMB" and make significant amounts of noise. In 2005, the Midnight Massacre was staged as a LARP.

References

External links

* [http://www.koboldsatemybaby.com "Kobolds Ate My Baby!" ("Super Deluxx edition") homepage]