Three Kobolds In A

Trenchcoat
 Setup
One person is the Game Master
(GM) and narrates the scene, makes
decisions about when to roll skill
checks, and describes how the chaos
unfolds.
Everyone else is a kobold! Each
kobold will need a 12 sided die (d12).
A sheet of paper or other way to keep
some simple notes is recommended
too.
Objective
You are three (or more) kobolds in a
trenchcoat. Working together, you
are trying to pass off as human.
You have a specific thing you're
trying to do.
You win if you do it. You lose if you
get caught being kobolds.
If you want some help coming up with the
thing you're trying to do, check out
Possible Goals at the end of the rules!
Character Creation
Kobold Players: Decide all these
things (and write them down)
GM: Help the players as needed; you
can veto something if you need to.
Keep track of everyone's quirks and
specialties.
Kobolds Have a Name
What is yours?
Kobolds Have Pronouns
What are yours?
Kobolds Have 3 Stats
Trenchcoat represents a kobold's
physical skills. That includes
strength, agility, body language,
anything else that's mostly about
using your muscles and bones.
Sunglasses is a kobold's social
ability. Persuasion and lying,
communication, and personality
stem from here.
Fedora is a kobold's mental
strength. Solving puzzles,
understanding complex ideas
Split 16 points into these 3 stats
however you choose, with a
minimum score of 2 for each skill.
Lower is better for each stat.
Examples:
5 Trenchcoat, 5 Sunglasses, and 6 Fedora
would make you pretty average in
everything.
2 Trenchcoat, 4 Sunglasses, 10 Fedora
would mean you're *very* good at
Trenchcoat and *very* bad at Fedora.
Kobolds Have a Specialty
Pick a specialty you have that
qualifies you to act human. Be
creative, this is an open-ended
opportunity. Try to avoid game-
breaking ideas like "pretending to be
a human" because that's not going to
be as much fun!
If you're having trouble thinking one
up, you can roll your d12 and take the
specialty listed here:
1. picking locks
2. using bird calls to send signals
3. an incredibly refined sense of taste
4. accomplished tap dancer
5. freestyle rapper
6. scuba certified
7. fluent in German
8. really good at parkour
9. professional oil painter
10. knows all the lyrics to Bohemian
Rhapsody
11. definitely a vampire
12. definitely not a vampire
Kobolds Have a Quirk
Pick something weird about you. It
should be something that might get
in the way of your goal of convincing
humans that you are also a human
and not a kobold in a trenchcoat.
This is also open-ended, and might
get you in trouble! Be creative but
choose carefully.
If you're having trouble thinking one
up, you can roll your d12 and take the
quirk listed here:
1. afraid of spiders
2. can't talk without burping
3. obsessed with the color purple
4. thinks they cuss like a sailor but the
word they think is a cuss is "pancake"
5. has no sense of smell
6. always gets left and right mixed up
7. must enthusiastically greet every dog
8. has a crippling caffeine addiction
9. really into Crossfit and won't shut up
about it
10. bees
11. always eating candy; where did they
even get it?
12. so unsettlingly normal that everyone
assumes they're hiding something
Playing the Game
Starting Out
Introduce yourselves to one another.
Talk a little bit about how you came
together and why your current goal
is important to you! Agree on a goal -
the group can decide together, or the
GM can tell you.
The GM will set the scene. Then
you're ready to begin!
If no one is around: you don't need
to follow turn order - just describe
what you're doing, and the GM will
tell you what happens, and when you
need to roll for something.
If there are people around: use
turn order to determine how things
go.
Turns
First: roll Fedora for action order.
Take your dice result and subtract
you Fedora score. Kobolds act in this
order for now. The kobold who
rolled the best result is In Charge.
From then on, starting with the
Kobold In Charge, each player
either:
• Takes one Action on their turn
• Takes Charge
Talking back and forth is always a
free action.
Taking Charge
You're tired of what the current
Kobold In Charge is doing! You're
going to get things back under
control.
• Pick a stat
• Everyone rolls a d12 on that stat
• These rolls become the new
action order - but you're next, no
matter what you rolled!
• Starting with you, action resumes
on the new order
Kobolds like some semblance of order, so a
kobold will never Take Charge unless the
current Kobold In Charge has had the job
for at least one round.
Actions
Pick a Role and do something that
Role can do.
Roles are parts of the body of the
person you're pretending to be.
• Head - speak, look
• Legs - movement, stealth
• Arms - interaction, fighting
• Body - posture, body language
Only one Kobold can do any Role per
Round, but it’s chaotic in the
trenchcoat, so you don’t have to pick
the same role every Round! If you’re
getting the same Role every time
because you’re last in the order,
that’s a great time to Take Charge!
If there are more than four Kobolds,
extra Kobolds all take the Body role.
An Action is anything you can do in a few
seconds - this includes speaking, so choose
your words carefully!
Once you declare your action, the
GM picks a stat you need to roll. Roll
a d12 and compare it to your score in
that stat.

If it relates to your Specialty (make a

compelling argument), roll two d12s
and take the higher number.

If it relates to your Quirk, roll two

d12s and take the lower number.

Success
If you roll equal to or above your
stat, you succeed! Describe how you
accomplish the action you chose.

Failure
If you roll below your stat, you fail.
The GM describes the consequences.

Ending the Game

The game ends when you either
achieve your stated goal, or mess up
so bad that people figure out you're
kobolds.

Nothing bad happens to you if

people figure out you're kobolds -
they just know you're not a human.
 Possible Goals
A good goal is something that
wouldn't take a human long to do,
but takes some planning and a little
bit of effort. The goal’s job is to give
your kobolds an excuse for hijinks!
To create your own goal, start with
location: are you in a city? A park? A
store? That should help decide what
you're trying to accomplish.
If you're stuck, or feel adventurous,
you can roll a d12 for the goal:
1. make a cup of coffee in the company
break room
2. sneak into an R rated movie
3. go to the zoo and steal a chimpanzee
4. win a dance battle in the park
5. ride a horse
6. win a dating game
7. order a pumpkin spice latte without
getting called basic
8. search for buried treasure on the beach
9. go skiing on the bunny slope
10. steal a hot dog from a hot dog cart
11. steal the whole hot dog cart
12. high five the pope
Suggestions for the GM
As the GM, you decide the stakes for
the game, set the scene, and choose
when people roll skill checks. You
tell players what happens, ask them
how their kobolds react, and tell
them what happens when they fail
rolls.
Here's the most important tip:
Failing rolls in tabletop games is
should be fun! Yes, a failure means
it didn't go the player's way, but it
also means the story can develop in
an unexpected way.
The only strict rule for failing is that
the kobolds fail if they get
discovered. Beyond that, the
consequences of failure and the
options for recovering are up to you!
Play how you like. Here are some
suggestions: feel free to ignore or
change them, they're just meant to
get you thinking!
• Avoid making a failure too
costly. Offer a way for another
player to roll another check to
help out!
• Use group rolls for big
moments. In the pivotal
moment in a heist, or a roll that
will lose the game, have some or
all players roll, and let multiple
successes mean better results.
• Let the players decide what
happens on a success. You're
directing the show, but let the
other players shape it too; when
 they do well on a roll, reward it!
• When in doubt, be silly.
No matter what you do, if you’re
trying to make the game fun for the
players, and encouraging them to
make the game fun for each other,
you’re playing the game correctly!
Have a great time!

© 2020 Andrew Fallows, @kaldrenon

Writing and design by Andrew Fallows, art
by Kev @eldritchsmite.
Special thanks to:
Shiny, DrunkPhyto, and Scout, for
inspiring the game concept
Kev, for the incredible art
Nano, Sam, and Leap, for playtesting
Sarah, for existing
You, for reading this