A Live Action Role-Playing Game for Kobolds Ate My Baby
by
Tom
Conder <tomc@koboldslarp.com>
At Archon 30 my friend Cpt Squash of the Atomic Squash gaming group convinced me to run a Kobolds Ate My Baby (KAMB) Live Action Role Playing (LARP) game. "Hey," he said, "why don't we run a Kobolds LARP at Archon?" I came to realize that this is similiar to the time he asked "Hey, what does this button do?" The consequences were just as frightening.
I used the 9th Level Games KAMB books -- Kobolds Ate My Baby Super Deluxx Edition and Kobolds the Charades -- as references, of course. I further drew influence from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Frank Baum's Ozma of Oz, White Wolf's Werewolf: The Forsaken and the unforgettable hit movie Snakes on a Plane!
We had a great time playing the game. I felt a little sad that KAMB LARP material is so hard to find on the Internet. So I decided to release the files from the project under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. If you use these files, I ask that you give me credit.
Rival kobolds have kidnapped you and your clan. They sold you to a strange traveling gnome who stows you onboard his airship. You escape your crates to raid the cargo hold and unleash some pathological and gastronomic mayhem. Newcomers welcome. Young children will be eaten.
Rival Kobolds disguised as the famous Kobold chef Emerald and his kitchen staff visit your cave. The sneaky bastards arrange a cooking demonstration where they take your entire clan by surprise capturing you in a huge wooden cage. While dining on your clan leader in an epic-level BBQ and contemplating tasty new recipes for their Torg Foreman Grilles(tm), a strange Gnome arrives. He is Phil T. Olaf, an entertainer and entrepreneur. In exchange for two pairs of shiny boots, a bag of cheesy doodles, three Atomic Squash T-Shirts and a yummy Human baby, he acquires all of you! His plan is to transport you to a human zoo where you will be caged and put on exhibit as a rare type of prairie dog.
You are prisoners aboard Olaf's Gnomish airship, the Pike Maiden. Most of you have managed to claw through your crates and chew your way through the dunnage. You are ravenous and angry (well, that's normal). Find a way to escape your captivity while managing to live.
I wrote a 12 player game. Because it is always good to have extra characters for friends who show up without signing up and players who die early, I wrote 17 characters. The game can be played fine with the first twelve characters.
You may ask where are characters 00-09 are. I decided to start numbering at 10 because I do not think anybody wanted to be player #00. Hey, it made sense at 4 AM in the morning!
| Description | Format (Size) |
| [#10] Zarsin - a Kobold who is a werechicken | PDF (80k) OpenOffice (15k) Text (3k) |
| [#11] Fahved - a Kobold who is a werechicken | PDF (80k) OpenOffice (15k) Text (3k) |
| [#12] Blutooth - an Elf werechicken hunter posing as a Kobold | PDF (72k) OpenOffice (13k) Text (2k) |
| [#13] Brobag - an Elf sweetleaf dealer posing as a Kobold | PDF (58k) OpenOffice (12k) Text (1k) |
| [#14] Belzak - a veteran Kobold who wishes to be the new leader | PDF (69k) OpenOffice (12k) Text (1k) |
| [#15] Fekel - a veteran Kobold and son of the former leader who wishes to be the new leader | PDF (71k) OpenOffice (12k) Text (1k) |
| [#16] Meeb - a vain Kobold with a mysterious portrait | PDF (69k) OpenOffice (15k) Text (2k) |
| [#17] Vux - an elderly Kobold who is organizing the contest of incredible feats | PDF (71k) OpenOffice (14k) Text (2k) |
| [#18] Shatus - a Kobold pipeweed dealer | PDF (60k) OpenOffice (13k) Text (1k) |
| [#19] Berek - an evil Kobold mage | PDF (70k) OpenOffice (14k) Text (2k) |
| [#20] Preek - a fat Kobold slob | PDF (69k) OpenOffice (13k) Text (2k) |
| [#21] Bulflar - a Kobold with a passion for beer | PDF (69k) OpenOffice (13k) Text (1k) |
| [#22] Puscag - a pious Kobold who wishes for moderation in beer consumption | PDF (67k) OpenOffice (12k) Text (1k) |
| [#23] B.E.E.R. - a robot dog (Beverage Eliminating Evil Robot) | PDF (64k) OpenOffice (12k) Text (1k) |
| [#24] Cortis - a brain in a jar | PDF (67k) OpenOffice (12k) Text (1k) |
| [#25] Billina - a supernatural Bantam Chicken | PDF (68k) OpenOffice (13k) Text (2k) |
| [#26] Archibald - a supernatural Magpie | PDF (69k) OpenOffice (14k) Text (2k) |
| Zip file of all characters | PDF (1 Mb) OpenOffice (197k) Text (18k) |
These files are for the mayor, or game master. I recommend printing them out, putting them in sheet protectors and organizing them in a three ring binder.
| Description | Format (Size) |
| Signup Sheet - Signup sheet for player registration | PDF (50k) OpenOffice (16k) Text (1k) |
| Booklet - Booklet with credits and background information | PDF (139k) OpenOffice (105k) Text (8k) |
| Player Badges - Labels for player badges | PDF (65k) OpenOffice (105k) |
| Item Cards - Item cards in business card size | PDF (95k) OpenOffice (12k) |
| Character Lists - Spreadsheet containing Item, Special Ability and Character List Worksheets | PDF (46k) OpenOffice (18k) |
| Character List Worksheet | Comma Separated Text (1k) |
| Special Abilities List Worksheet | Comma Separated Text (7k) |
| Item List Worksheet | Comma Separated Text (1k) |
| Label - Vertical label for project folder | PDF (8k) OpenOffice (16k) |
| Zip file of all project files | PDF (235k) OpenOffice (166k) Text (9k) |
For the game's Death Charts I lightly adapted the charts found in the 9th Level Games book, Kobolds the Charades. It's a wonderful book. Buy a copy. In fact buy five or six copies to give as gifts for birthdays and holidays.
| Description | Format (Size) |
| Kobold Drinking Horrible Death Chart | See "Kobolds the Charades" |
| Kobold Eating Horrible Death Chart | See "Kobolds the Charades" |
| Random Kobold Horrible Death Chart | See "Kobolds the Charades" |
Kobolds Ate My Baby Game System
Christopher O'Neill
Daniel Landis
Kobold the Charades LARP System
Steven Hess
Writing and Game Design
Tom Conder
Additional Design
Jason Aemisegger
Editing
Eric Hogue
Layout and Art
Tom Conder
Special Thanks
The Atomic Squash
gaming group for suggesting that we write a Kobolds LARP and
run it at Archon 30
Doug, Ed and Tom J of BYOV for inspiration and enthusiasm
Jon Bancroft and Britt Eubanks for allowing us run this silly
game
The SLUGS group for writing and running their ridiculously fun
Vampire LARP every Archon
Kobold! The Charades © 2003 9th Level Games
Kobolds Ate My Baby! The Beer and Pretzels RPG © 1999,
2001, 2003 9th Level Games
BEER ENGINE! Rules and mechanics © 2001 9th Level
Games.
All Rights Reserved.