I really wanted to like this game. I really tried to like this game. I love games with incompetent disposable characters because they're a lot of fun. Or at least I love them when they're a lot of fun.

My core complaint is that almost everything is handled by the "Duck, Cover, and Squirm" move, which results in a d6 of damage even on a partial success. The thing is, PCs have 1d6 hit points. So that means almost every check has about an 80% chance of dealing potentially lethal damage to the person making it. We played for two sessions and I think we had exactly one kobold survive two consecutive dice rolls. (They died on the third.) So instead of making "incompetent and disposable" fun, it's just kind of punishing. Players were afraid to roll the dice, and tried to weasel around moves. It's just not a good time. We went through several missions, a few village advancements, several variations of ability combinations ... it just didn't work for us.

The PDF also merits consideration. It's cute, certainly, but it's big and clunky; flipping through it to run the game involved a lot of sitting around waiting for it to load. Which is unfortunate, because you're constantly referring back and forth to different parts of it. The ToC isn't bad, but it's not quite great, either. Very frustrating experience all around.

I feel like I should end on a "no country" pun, but I'm honestly too disappointed. If you want kobold shenanigans, play Kobolds Ate My Baby. This game is a good idea, but the execution just doesn't work.

I've finally had the chance to read through all of the rules for this and I love it. Great use of the Dungeon World system.

First off, who hasn't wondered what life is like for the weakest of the the intelligent denizens of the average fantasy world? They exist to be slaughtered by the dozens by low level adventurers, and very quickly even in large groups pose no real threat. Life must suck for them, and yet from that adversity can come stories of adventure and survival by the thinnest of threads.

What is it like to have to use every advantage you can come up with just to even the odds vs a famrer armed with pitchfork? With this game you can find out. If your gaming group is a large one, everyone will still have something to do, since none of you will be all that tough, but your village is counting on you to do your best!

So does the system allow you to advance? That's probably the best part in my opinion. In nost DW games you get tougher and tougher, just like in D&D, Pathfinder, etc. But that would really hurt this style of game. Instead, when you die, you get to play a new generation of your family, which gets the same stats, with a +1 to one of them (max of +2 total), and one ability from them from a sizable list, plus more depending upon your Wisdom bonus. Some abilities require your parent to have had a specific ability. This works really well into allowing you to bond with your character, even though they aren't long for this world in most cases.

Another source of abilities is the village you live in. This forms a sort of shared character that everyone uses. Everytime someone rolls a 'miss' result, the village gains an xp point. Abilities for the village cost either 7 or 14 xp, and might result in the village getting a protector, like a Troll, for example! But that Troll wants something, and you better provide it! No one likes an angry Troll, even those they are protecting.