Kobolds Ate My Baby!
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| Designer(s) | Chris O'Neill and Dan Landis; illustrations by John Kovalic |
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| Publisher(s) |
Dork Storm Press 9th Level Games |
| Publication date | 2005 (Super Deluxx Edition) 2001 (3rd edition) 1999 (1st printing) |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy, Comedy |
| System(s) | BEER_Engine_(game_system) |
Kobolds Ate My Baby! (also known as KAMB) is an independently published role-playing game from 9th Level Games, a small-press publisher and designer of humorous role-playing games (RPGs) based in Pennsylvania. 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.
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.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.
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.
The BEER Engine! is a role-playing game system created by 9th Level Games for Kobolds Ate My Baby! and other games. This is the basic engine used to determine if a character succeeds at an action they have attempted in the game. In BEER Engine games, all characters have statistics that represent their physical and mental aptitudes. (i.e. strength, reflexes, or smarts) These statistics are determined by rolling a number of dice when the character is created with higher results representing a greater proficiency in a particular area. While playing the game characters will attempt certain feats (like climbing a wall). To determine whether the action is successful or not the player rolls a number of six-sided dice. The number of dice that are rolled increases with the difficulty of the action; if the total of the dice rolled by the player is less than or equal to their character's statistic the action succeeds.
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