After a good couple years of trying (albeit probably not
that hard), I finally got in a game of
KOBOLDS ATE MY BABY! (
KAMB) at Origins. For a while now I've been looking around for a light-weight RPG that could serve as my go-to Beer & Pretzels game.
Only fitting I should look at
KAMB since they bill themselves as the "original" beer & pretzels game. Heck, the PC's 4 main stats spell out "BEER"! I do have to say that I can really see playing this at a bar or some loud venue where you can have a few and let this game rip. Ideally you want to play this game where you can be loud and a bit obnoxious...at a convention with other games & gamers playing something else a scant few feet away....not so much.
KAMB is a light-hearted game where you play a bit fast and loose as a potentially lovable, always hungry, seldom smart Kobold. You serve a God that doesn't like you and a king who bullies you around. King Torg...ALL HAIL KING TORG! seems a bit insufferable, and you will too, because whenever you hear the name King Torg...ALL HAIL KING TORG...you have to shout out ALL HAIL KING TORG! or risk losing your little furball to all manners of nasty & unpleasant deaths. There are a few other potentially obnoxious behaviors you might need to act out at the table to either gain and advantage or keep from getting screwed over in-game. While this can be good fun for those in the game....not so much outside of the game.
While the PC sheet and game mechanics seem pretty simple, there is a small flip-side that gets a bit confusing. The normal mechanic is to roll a number of d6 and attempt to get
under your stat, with more difficult tasks generally requiring more dice and easier tasks fewer dice. There are 4 main stats and those stats have secondary characteristics and it is those secondary characteristics that get a bit confusing because they indicate how many dice an opponent gets to use against you....by rolling the number of dice off of your PC sheet to get under or equal to on their PC sheet. It isn't
that hard to understand, but I can see it being an issue if you didn't at least start the game sober.
Add in all the little things, like edges & bogies, being able to force the Mayor (Judge/DM/GM) to re-roll (but only once by having all player with living PCs singing an appropriate drinking song), and let's not forget the seemingly random and capricious
Kobold Horrible Death Record.....well it can really add up to a bit much for a beer & pretzels game.
I will say it is a fun game and the general silliness might easily be too much, but it might also end up being just what you needed. I could see
KAMB being a welcome relief to a serious RPG when you need a bit of a break.
