RPS Blood Bowl League - The many, many Divisions of Death!

[groovychainsaw]

That's a good idea VV - As the bossman, as well as a player, I would like this ability, but it might be a bit too much effort for the reward (and relies on a lot of people spending a fair bit of time to set up). What would be great (and I don't know if this is possible) would be to see if we could export/copypasta our current team from bbmanager and maybe keep that in the sheet or in a folder somewhere? That way there'd be minimal filling in to do, and it would be easy to keep up to date. It does rely on everyone using bbmanager though, and I don't want the barrier to entry for new teams to get too high :-).

[President Weasel]

There's no substitute for logging in to BB - for certain, there's no way I would mention niggling injuries in a spreadsheet. You want to find out if any of my guys has a glass jaw, you're going to have to put a little effort in :)

[Alistair Hutton]

There is no way my team is ending before I get a AG/STR increase on one of my players.

[LowKey]

Don't reset! There's a great spread going on now and advancing actually feels meaningful because of it. The only danger really is one guy going Claw, Pile On, Mighty Blow for his whole team. That crap is broken. I think we could collectively request the retirement of a team that goes on like that for too long. Who wants to play the same team forever anyway? Variety is the spice of life!

Add jump up for ultimate horror

[Vexing Vision]

I'd be happy with just TV, base skills, stats, rerolls/apoth/necro and current player names at the start of each season, really, and I'm happy to fill them out.

Of course I'll study your team before matching you, President Weasel, as I know you for a person of subterfuge and vile!

[Bumble]

Best way to learn is to sign up ;)

We've just started a season so you're looking at almost a month until the next one starts, but if you register in the Challenge League (cba to link it, sorry) you can get some friendly games in to hone your skills, and discover that playing people is a completely different experience to playing the AI.

Cheers ntw, will do that.

[Screwie]

Add jump up for ultimate horror

Yeah, that's a good reason why so few players in the game have access to both Strength and Agility skills without a double; that would be Vampires and... er... who else?

[Alistair Hutton]

Yeah, that's a good reason why so few players in the game have access to both Strength and Agility skills without a double; that would be Vampires and... er... who else?

I believe it is a stated team design goal that no one gets access to Strength and Agility apart from the comedy teams.

[duff]

Nec werewolfs do. :(

And possibly zon blitzers but I'm not sure on that.

EDIT: just checked and I was wrong on both counts, bring forth the bricks :P

[groovychainsaw]

The solution to anyone using piling on - a cheap dirty player and a crowd of friends :-). That'll learn 'em...

[ChainsawHands]

A swift vgrep tells me that only vampires have agility and strength access on normal rolls.

[President Weasel]

The mighty Azlop from my orc team in the Open has mighty blow, piling on, and jump up. No claw, though. It will be a sad day for me when he inevitably dies - and a day of glee for many others :)

[Screwie]

The solution to anyone using piling on - a cheap dirty player and a crowd of friends :-). That'll learn 'em...

Or for Goblin teams, a nice grenade to the prone chap's square :)

(One of these days I'll play a team which has access to both cheap players and General skills...)

A swift vgrep tells me that only vampires have agility and strength access on normal rolls.

Interestingly Blood Lust makes Jump Up less useful too. I just wouldn't risk failing both the BL check and the Jump Up roll - I would always use the Blitz instead.

[Kajo]

Oh, you have numbered the leagues based on strength?

And you sent 2 newly formed teams on division 6?

I demand a compensation!! :D

[smaug81]

Add jump up for ultimate horror

This is precisely the reason I've grown to adore my Norse Berserkers. Str access, and they start with Block, Frenzy, and Jump Up? Deeeeelicious. Sadly, they've no possibility of accessing Claw, though.

Also, they break real easy-like.

[darkweeble]

When you thought about it, Weebs mused as he rocked back and forth in his carriage, Blood Bowl was Nature's way of preserving the species; whatever species that happened to be. Most Blood Bowl teams began with a recruitment phase where interested parties would sign up and try out for the team. The Good (and the Not Terrible, I Guess) ones made the team and the rest were either sent packing or were strongly recommended to other coaches in the same league. Generally speaking, anyone who tried out wasn't fit to be in civilized society to begin with. Any individual that needed to be immersed in that much violence was a serial killer waiting to happen. The system worked because these people volunteered to destroy each for fame and fortune.

However, like most natural systems, Blood Bowl had outliers - these were special individuals who were too disconnected from reality to try out on their own free will and, in so doing, remove themselves from society. That was why Nuffle created Draft Houses. They were temporary prisons for the Batshit Insane, and were typically constructed far away from population centers. For a fee, Draft Houses supplied teams with players so twisted that they'd do just about anything the coach asked. For some reason unknown to even the medical professionals, most of these individuals were goblins.

Weebs' carriage rattled over the wooden drawbridge, separated from a billowing moat that was filled with an eerie, purple mist by only a few planks of wood. It took Weebs a moment to realize, but the thing that bothered him most about that mist wasn't that it was probably poisonous, or what it could be hiding in its depths. The thing that really bothered him was that the mist flowed opposite the wind direction. It was the subtle details like that that made something truly horrifying, Weebs decided. He pitied the poor, deranged soul who fell into that trap.
The Draft House itself was built of tightly-joined stone and mortar that shined faintly even when it was in shadow. Clearly the original designers didn't think solid stone was enough to contain the residents, and had enlisted the help of mages. Weebs wasn't sure how he felt about having to be in close contact with people like that every day, but there was nothing for it. It was probably still safer than whatever the dark elves would do to him if he didn't coach the team.

The carriage and escort train pulled to a stop in the courtyard and Weebs stepped out onto hard-packed gravel. A middle-aged man in a plain grey robe was already waiting for him, as all approaches to the Draft House were carefully watched, and Letters of Intent had to be sent by pigeon well ahead of time. Draft Houses took security very seriously.

"A pleasant afternoon to you, sir. May I see your credentials, please?"

Weebs handed over his Coaches Certification, a piece of paper stamped visibly and otherwise with the official acknowledgement of his status in the Divisions of Death. It wasn't much good outside of official Blood Bowl business of purchasing the extraordinarily insane for blood sport, but it did grant one free Bugman's per week (not to be used in consecutive weeks) at the Coach's Club. Better than a kick in the crotch, as his father used to say.

The robed man handed Weebs his certificate back and smiled pleasantly. He was likely capable of setting Weebs and his entire party on fire in the blink of an eye, but he was still sickeningly polite. "I see that you're in the market for some goblins. Welcome to the Draft House! Please follow me."

Inside, with the gate securely locked behind them, the building looked much the same but with more of that magically reinforced stone for the floor. There was no doubt that the place was a prison. Four well-lit corridors branched off from the main vestibule, presumably for keeping certain brands of crazy isolated from others. Illumination came from sorcerous globes affixed high in the ceiling; apparently no one was letting open flame anywhere near the residents. That was a good sign for Weebs, as it meant there might be the makings of a Bombardier somewhere around.

"I think you'll find that we have everything you need here," the attendant said as he lead Weebs down the rightmost corridor. "We have all the major Goblin psychoses carefully contained and ready for Drafting. We'll key them to your voice so you'll have some measure of control over them. We can't guarantee anything, obviously, but it's far better than just setting them loose on the pitch with a deadly weapon, am I right?" The man smiled at Weebs as if he had made a joke. Weebs gave a weak chuckle in reply but it was deeply unsettling to know that "get the ball" might be misinterpreted to "kill them all". Weebs scribbled the word "ENUNCIATE" on his roster sheet and underlined it twice. Then made a big
box around it.

"Okay then. I'll need a Jumper, a Spinner, a Sadomasochist, and some kind of suicide with a good throwing arm."

* * * *

In the end, Weebs left with a goblin who had an intense fear of the ground, one that could barely walk a straight line (who Weebs suspected might just be a drunk), an honest-to-Nuffle lunatic who had to be restrained at all times, and a stunty (even for a goblin) little fellow who the attendant had insisted was, "the best at what he did". While loading the crew into their cages Weebs was suddenly struck by the unpleasant discovery that "what he did" was throw balls of his own excrement then laugh maniacally. Weebs reached for his handkerchief to wipe off the back of his head and sighed. There were no refunds at the Draft House, but at least the little guy had decent aim.

[Kapouille]

@darkweeble : That was a great read, thanks :) /applause

[Ritashi]

For the record I'm against a league reset. The current Blood Bowl rules are designed to work properly with a perpetual league, and they really do a very good job of allowing a new team to still compete and have fun among the big guys. The current iteration of the PC game doesn't have all the stars, sure, but it still has enough inducements to keep the game interesting. And there is some insulation within the division structure, in that brand new teams won't immediately have to face off against highly developed teams before they can get some basic development in(buy an apoth, buy a 12th or 13th player, grab some Block and Dodge, etc.). Sure if a new team does well it may end up having to face off against teams far more developed than it, but such is Blood Bowl. They'll be at a point where they can compete, though they will be the underdogs, and with a good coach they'll be able to hold their own. If they can't then they'll be pushed back down and get the chance to develop further. It's a good system, and it works. Also, remember teams like mine that just got started this season. If you reset the league, then all the work we put in this season will seem really pointless, since we never got to enjoy the benefits of our development.

[The Brain]

@darkweeble : ENUNCIATE had me laughing for a straight minute. Very well written!

@Ritashi: Here's hoping our teams are in better shape by the end of this season than they were after the last game. :-)

[Nullkigan]

I raised the point because I have played twelve (well, thirteen now) games with my team and only ONE of them was free of inducements. I've gone from F to A and only actually won two divisions. In the division above me there are teams 500 TV ahead and I'm now losing SPP every match because there are killer players on ever high level team (PO/MBers, CL/MBers, etc). We can argue until we're blue in the face about whether the game is designed for a perpetual league (answer is probably not, some teams are great short term others are great long term) but this is NOT a perpetual league due to the resets and new joiners. There IS an effective glass ceiling and whilst it's certainly possible to punch through it, it's neither easy nor fair.

But that's all the noise I'm going to make because I like playing bloodbowl, I'll just have to consider resetting more often so *I* have fun and stay with players who haven't got comparatively overdeveloped teams.

In other news:

Supernumaries (DElf, Nullkigan) 2 - 0 Brolaf Brigade (Norse, Smaug81)
We started in a snowstorm, then it was sunny, then it was raining.

I forgot to turn off Wrestle when a Yhetee both downed a lineself early on in one of Smaug's turns. His next action was to kill a player (apoth'd to BH).

I elf-balled like a lunatic, then smaug tried to counter-elf but was less than successful - partly because my attempt had left players in his backfield. Dice were a bit nice to me, too.

Gained: 13 spp, have to retire a 19spp lineself (-Str,-MV). Net loss :(