What is it that they are shouting?
From the first, 9th Level Games has always been about shouting. Our first real game is Kobolds Ate My Baby! and as part of the game, you have to shout ALL HAIL KING TORG whenever anyone says the name of the King. But, where did we get that idea?
So, it’s a bit complicated, but here we go.
First, you have to realize that we are OLD. This all starts back in 1988. We had a group of
friends that played DND together, and we lost a player. So, we started searching for a new player when we realized that the guy we traded boot leg pirated Commodore 64 games with was into POOL OF RADIANCE, the video game. Next thing you know, we are playing the official ADND module – FRC1 “Ruins of Adventure.” And we nearly died at the hands of this orc band. We were so glad that we didn’t die we...well, we urinated on the corpse of their leader, a giant named...TORG. What can I say, we were like 12. Anyway.
Turns out it wasn’t TORG, it was GORG, and we’ve had it wrong for all these years. I only just realized it as I spend $5 on DriveThruRPG to get a copy of that long-forgotten module, so that I could write about it here today.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/16808/FRC1-Ruins-of-Adventure-1e
Well, GORG or (as we would yell for years to come TORG) became a rallying call for that group. “I'm going to torg that guy” or “I torg the carpet that really pulls the room together.” You get the picture.
Now, flash forward to the mid-to-late-nineties, when I was in a band and we were just starting 9th Level Games. Our band was OBSESSED with Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and in particular, the character of BRAK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK6xqpzDbWs
Brak was first introduced in a segment where all of the characters said “HAIL BRAK” every time his name was said. We loved it so much, we made a song.
So, we’re at Origins – and coming up with what in a week’s time will be called KOBOLDS ATE MY BABY! We are trying to answer the question, “Why haven’t kobolds been eradicated from the earth, since Adventurers are always killing them” and the corollary “why do Kobolds keep fighting with Adventurers?”
Our solution: they are very hungry, they eat human babies, and they are more afraid of their king than of any adventurers. The King needed a name and good old Torg was just waiting there. And so was All Hail.
And of course, All Hailing.
Peanut Butter meet Chocolate.
Chocolate meet Peanut Butter. Blammo. History.