Post by DeadMagician in Kobold Krew comments

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I wanted to let you know that months after seeing your reddit post introducing this game, I've finally had the opportunity to run it for a group of kids. Some were very young (the youngest is 4) and all of them are used to competitive games like Uno so that was its own mess to sort through, but, the game works really well for being as light as it is. In the near two hours we played, we only had one Fumble and that's where the table broke down because of hurt feelings.

The only changes I felt really needed to be made was to use a chess board and figurines for visual aid, and having enemies attack only when the player rolled really low (2 below DS=1 damage, 4=2, etc). That last was more to speed things along with less rolls and to make the kids feel like they were a bit stronger since at a certain point the enemies essentially lose the ability to attack because the DS is so low they never get the chance to attack again (around DS5 and below), which is when I declare enemies would attempt to flee.

It was a fun game and I may try convincing them to play it again! Thank you for the contributions to the hobby and I can't wait to see what other titles you create both in and out of the OdWood

Jason Pickering103 days ago

I want to thank you for taking the time to let me know about this. I am glad you had fun and you brought up some great points. I am currently working on what I am calling a 2nd edition. I am hoping this fixes some of the issues you had.

1. Tokens. This is a great idea and would be very easy to create a bunch of paper ones to cut and fold real easy. i have seen several different ways to do them. JPCoovert has a great YouTube video on it. I might have to make a few tests and see what works best.

2. Hurt feelings. This was not something I expected. I understand that being randomly hurt can be a bit of a setback, but I hoped giving the fluke would be enough to offset that. This caught me a little off guard, and made me realize that different groups have different play styles. I might add a note this time to say that not all groups may like this so they could do away with bumbles and just give the players flukes to start (or let the GM award them like DnD does inspiration.) or maybe just have it be all story based. So your kobold got hit, but didn’t take any damage. Was it the getting hit or taking damage that caused the issue?

3. The big one is the DS system. It kind of works the opposite of what I would like because as you damage an enemy it makes it easier to hit the enemy and harder to take any damage, which kind of gives the opposite of narrative tension, which is what you saw. So for version 2.0. I will change how that works. The plan is to switch to a system similar to “powered by the apocalypse” so a giant spider might have a DS of 3. The player rolls (2D6) and depending on what they roll+stats they may get a failure(<6), mixed success(7-9) or a success(10+). These numbers are always the same so a 10+ is always a success, meaning players don’t need to compare number to number anymore. On a success or mixed success the DS is reduced by 1. So that giant spider will take at least 3 player turns to defeat. This gives easy numbers, easy goals, and also adds a teamwork element. This also means the GM can do certain actions at certain numbers. Think of them like boss phases. At DS 1 the spider starts spraying web everywhere. Oh no all rolls get -2 now.

4. I do like the fleeing monster idea. I might add it as an option like on a 12+ roll the monster flees. Or a Success roll when it is DS2 or lower makes it flee.

Can I ask what adventure you ran? Did you make up an adventure or did you run maybe a story from MurkMire?

DeadMagician103 days ago

Most of the complications in the session was because it was young children who arent used to these kinds of games. It was of course the youngest who got hit by the fumble and didn't understand it was just part of the game or that they would get something out of it that helps them out. I personally wouldn't change too much for a second edition, maybe look more at stretching it into long term play. The game is great and was so much fun narrating a bunch of kobolds bumbling around!

As for what we actually played through, I started them out in "The Pit" which is a large chamber in the Clutch where events and such are held. The event here was a tournament of capture the flag pitting them against some NPC kobolds. This was mostly to get them acclimated to the mechanics and to stress the importance of teamwork.

After they celebrated their victory we started the adventure in the base zine and set them on the path to finding the mushrooms. It was shortly into this part (leaving the clutch, but before making it to the ruins) when we had the fumble that spun the game out of control. For what it's worth, I was going to string it into Murkmire by saying the mushrooms had been picked and the trail led into a swamp nearby (where they were dealing with a similar sickness).

It was a fun change of pace from Uno and Sorry while it lasted, and in glad I caught that post on reddit all that time ago!

Jason Pickering102 days ago

yeah I have been looking at how to “expand” the game more long term play. I don’t know that I want to add a lot of leveling. So I am looking at alternative ways. One possibility is leveling up the village instead of the players so adding shops and stuff or maybe new mission ideas. I also might add a “quirk” to each player, but I am still thinking about a better word. They do not have one at the start but a GM can place a title on them for doing a very special act. Like if “Kogan” the kobold takes a bunch of damage protecting a giant frog. The GM can name them “Kogan Frog Friend” and they can use that title like an item to get +1 if relevant.

itch.io

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