The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Kobolds Ate My Baby! is not a roleplaying game. Sure, that's what it claims to be, but it isn't. It's a board game that doesn't include a board. That minor quibble aside, this is a very, very good game, Roleplaying or no.

Style:

Thanks to this book's cover, you will be unable to look away. This is the sort of cover that will draw your eyes in from the other side of a room, the kind that just captivates you. This has nothing to do with the art, which shows a trio of kobolds seasoning a pot of baby soup, but the cover's color, day-glo orange. The art throughout is less than impressive, but it adds nicely to the overall feel of the game. Plus, at six bucks, I'm not expecting a full page bit by Brom. At only 30 pages, it feels a bit skimpy from time to time, more information on making towns would have been useful, but everything you need to run the game, plus a good bit of flavor, is included.

Substance:

The object of the game is to sneak into a human village, steal as many babies as you can, and get back to your kobold cave, lest the kobold king (All hail King Torg, lord of all kobolds!) decide to eat you instead. Yes, this game is about eating babies. Sometimes chickens and cows, too. And cats.

The character creation system is fairly simple, first you choose your race. The options are: kobold. Once you've decided your race, you choose your stats. All stats start with five points, and you have an extra five points to divide any way you choose between them. Stats are fairly standard, strength, dexterity, agility, etc. Next are skills. All kobolds start with a set of four standard skills, and you also get to choose two from a list of twelve others. Using a non standard skill will, however, make you roll on the Kobold Horrible Death Chart(tm). I'll get to that later. Next up is Traits and Bogies. All kobolds start with the traits Bark Like a Kobold and Heightened Sense of smell, and the bogies (disadvantages) of Fearless and Tastes Like Chicken. I'll leave it up to the reader to imagine what these do. You must roll on a random chart for a third of each. options include Taste Like Baby and Kobold in Heat. Urm, lets move on. You then roll for equipment, all of which sucks. (But it should. You're a Kobold.)

Got all that? Good, because you're ready to play. Skills (Including combat) are resolved by rolling a number of dice based on how hard the task is, from one to five, and getting a score under your skill's governing attribute. It sounds more complex then it is. You win the game if you have the most victory points, which you get by killing townsfolk and stealing babies, when all babies are dead or back in the kobold caves.

Then there is the coolest part of the whole game, the Kobold and Baby Horrible Death Charts(tm). You have to roll on these on occasion, the most likely cause being the use of non-basic skills or use of a magic item. Some sample items include: Where Did All Those Zombies Come From?, Bears Like Babies,Too, She's So Cute!, and the dreaded Spontaneous Baby Combustion. If, on the other hand, it is a kobold that is in the grip of that icy hand of death, rolls include: I'm Not Dead Yet, Explode Into Chicken Feed, Falling Cow, plus the nigh-legendary The Red God's Big Red Bolt Of Lightning. Finally, there are the "house rules", which I'm not going to get into here, because have to be read to truly understand just how goofy they are.

In conclusion, you would be well advised to play a quick game or two of this whenever a player can't make it, or you're just not up for a night of "storytelling". But please, Don't try and "roleplay" this game.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Kobolds Ate My Baby!
Author: Christopher O'Neill and Daniel Landis Category: boardless board game Company/Publisher: Hurbis Games/ 9th Level Games Line: None Cost: 5.95 Page count: 30 ISBN: Unknown SKU: 9LG9000 Capsule Review by Brian Woster on 01/07/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Comedy	Kobolds Ate My Baby! is not a roleplaying game. Sure, that's what it claims to be, but it isn't. It's a board game that doesn't include a board. That minor quibble aside, this is a very, very good game, Roleplaying or no. Style: Thanks to this book's cover, you will be unable to look away. This is the sort of cover that will draw your eyes in from the other side of a room, the kind that just captivates you. This has nothing to do with the art, which shows a trio of kobolds seasoning a pot of baby soup, but the cover's color, day-glo orange. The art throughout is less than impressive, but it adds nicely to the overall feel of the game. Plus, at six bucks, I'm not expecting a full page bit by Brom. At only 30 pages, it feels a bit skimpy from time to time, more information on making towns would have been useful, but everything you need to run the game, plus a good bit of flavor, is included. Substance: The object of the game is to sneak into a human village, steal as many babies as you can, and get back to your kobold cave, lest the kobold king (All hail King Torg, lord of all kobolds!) decide to eat you instead. Yes, this game is about eating babies. Sometimes chickens and cows, too. And cats. The character creation system is fairly simple, first you choose your race. The options are: kobold. Once you've decided your race, you choose your stats. All stats start with five points, and you have an extra five points to divide any way you choose between them. Stats are fairly standard, strength, dexterity, agility, etc. Next are skills. All kobolds start with a set of four standard skills, and you also get to choose two from a list of twelve others. Using a non standard skill will, however, make you roll on the Kobold Horrible Death Chart(tm). I'll get to that later. Next up is Traits and Bogies. All kobolds start with the traits Bark Like a Kobold and Heightened Sense of smell, and the bogies (disadvantages) of Fearless and Tastes Like Chicken. I'll leave it up to the reader to imagine what these do. You must roll on a random chart for a third of each. options include Taste Like Baby and Kobold in Heat. Urm, lets move on. You then roll for equipment, all of which sucks. (But it should. You're a Kobold.) Got all that? Good, because you're ready to play. Skills (Including combat) are resolved by rolling a number of dice based on how hard the task is, from one to five, and getting a score under your skill's governing attribute. It sounds more complex then it is. You win the game if you have the most victory points, which you get by killing townsfolk and stealing babies, when all babies are dead or back in the kobold caves. Then there is the coolest part of the whole game, the Kobold and Baby Horrible Death Charts(tm). You have to roll on these on occasion, the most likely cause being the use of non-basic skills or use of a magic item. Some sample items include: Where Did All Those Zombies Come From?, Bears Like Babies,Too, She's So Cute!, and the dreaded Spontaneous Baby Combustion. If, on the other hand, it is a kobold that is in the grip of that icy hand of death, rolls include: I'm Not Dead Yet, Explode Into Chicken Feed, Falling Cow, plus the nigh-legendary The Red God's Big Red Bolt Of Lightning. Finally, there are the "house rules", which I'm not going to get into here, because have to be read to truly understand just how goofy they are. In conclusion, you would be well advised to play a quick game or two of this whenever a player can't make it, or you're just not up for a night of "storytelling". But please, Don't try and "roleplay" this game. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 4 (Meaty)