New pitch suggestions

[CplSaint]

Just some rules I've been kickin' about. I'd appreciate some feedback.

xxxBLOOD ON THE PITCHxxx
----------------or-----------------
How to get Popkhorne for Free!

Blood Bowl is played in hundreds of provinces and areas of the Old World and also by the Lizardmen, Norse and Skaven in the New. With the difference in climate, local wealth and building skills of the locals, Blood Bowl pitches vary immensely from place to place. Consider the difference between the Zodwort Cuttaz and the Storm Giants’ Stadia. Both are the regulation 90 paces long, but the Cuttaz’s (a goblin team) is little over 50 yards in length, while the Giants’ (a giant team, a species not noted for inventiveness regarding names) is more than thirty leagues. (A fact that led to three members of the visiting Bright Crusaders collapsing from exhaustion before reaching the sideline from the bench. The Crusader’s captain, Hugo L’Avian, gained the unusual accolade of being the only team-captain of a major-league team to be flattened by the coin toss.) It seems to me that it’s only sensible to have a few games played on different surfaces.

When forming your team, you may choose one of the pitches of your very own, from the list below. All games played ‘at home’ are on this pitch. The pitch must be obviously modelled as such – you cannot use the standard Blood Bowl pitch to represent a Swamp, for example. Obviously, if your opponent doesn’t want to play on a ‘special’ pitch, then you must respect that and play on a ‘normal’ pitch. Feel free to grumble and moan…

PITCH SURFACE AVAILABLE TO
Grass-------------------All teams
AstroGranite-----------All teams
Ice and Snow----------Human, Norse, Dwarf, Chaos, Chaos Dwarf,
Dark Elf, Khemri, Necromantic
Swamp-----------------Lizardmen, Norse, Skaven, Amazon
Wasteland--------------Khemri, Necromantic, Orc, Goblin
Cavern-----------------Chaos Warriors, Chaos Beastmen, Skaven,
Goblins, Dwarfs
Dirty and ‘Orrible------Goblins, Orcs, Snotlings, Humans
Unstable----------------Norse, Skaven, Goblin, All Chaos teams, Lizardmen
Wooded-----------------Wood Elves, Treemen
Sheltered---------------High Elves, Humans

EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT PITCHES:
Grass: This is a ‘catch-all’ variety that also includes astroturf, moss, heather etc. Grass pitches are standard Blood Bowl pitches. Unless otherwise noted, every Blood Bowl game will be played on a grass pitch. Normal rules apply.

Astrogranite: Astrogranite pitches also include such pitches as underground caverns and all types of rocks and are distinguished by having an exceedingly hard surface. Astrogranite pitches are unforgiving to fall on, and all players that fall over suffer an additional +1 to the injury roll. Note this does not affect armour.

Ice and Snow: This pitch is probably grass underneath, but the weather is so cold and chill that it is covered in permafrost or drifts of frozen ice and wisps of snow. The rules for ‘Blizzard’ conditions apply ALL the time – do not roll for weather. In addition, any model that falls over onto the pitch will slide one extra square – e.g. if blocked over, the model will slide TWO squares rather than one. On a ‘both down’ result, both players will slide one square directly backward. A player that falls over as a result of ‘Going for it’ will slide an extra square. This rule does NOT apply for being pushed back. Note that the ball still scatters from the square that the player dropped it.

Swamp: This pitch is a boggy morass, set in deepest jungle, surrounded on all sides by mouldering temples or humid forests, filled with chattering animals. Lizardmen teams find it very hard to find stable ground, and their pitches are often fairly small or not completely solid. In general, the main pitch is fairly normal, but the wide and end zones are quite marshy. Any player that falls down for any reason in the wide zones or end zones is knocked into onto a slushy mix of soil and water. He must spend his ENTIRE move standing up next turn, rather than the three squares as normal. This affects big guys differently – a big guy knocked over will sink into the ground and will not be available until the next drive, when he can be dug out. This applies to Rat Ogres, Treemen, Ogres, Minotaurs, the Deathroller, Trolls, Bull Centaurs etc. In addition, the soft ground means players are less likely to be injured: –1 on injury rolls.

Wasteland: This pitch is dry, cracked and probably covered in a dusty film. Fan Factors are halved for both teams – the fans just can’t make it out to this remote location. In addition, team wizards, apothecaries, assistant coaches and other coaching staff will only turn up on the roll of a 4+ at the start of the game. This roll is made for each individual separately – e.g. apothecary is one roll, wizard another etc.

Cavern: Mostly owned by Goblin, Dwarf or Skaven teams who prefer to play underground, these pitches are either massive natural caves or specially designed subterranean areas. Passing is reduced to short passes or less owing to the low light levels and low ceiling.

Dirty and ‘Orrible: Badly maintained, covered in old bones, blood stains, with the occasional missing patch of turf, how does this differ from a regular Blood Bowl pitch? Dirty and ‘Orrible pitches are particularly badly maintained. They may not be completely flat, or heaps of (best left unidentified) material cover the wide zones. The ball, if left loose on a wide zone, will roll 3 squares towards the main field every turn till it reaches it. Once there, it remains still. Players may only attempt to ‘go for it’ once per turn on the pitch, owing to the very real danger of twisting an ankle in a pothole.

Unstable: The pitch is built on an iceberg, treacherous crag, above an old mine, or the ground is simply very thin or marshy. In addition, the pitch is often not flat. Players can fall through or sink into the ground. When a player is knocked down, if a double is rolled for the armour roll, the player has fallen through the pitch and is moved to the reserves box. (NB. Injury rolls are taken as normal.) Before each match, nominate an end of the pitch. The ball will roll D3 squares towards that end every turn if left free. Remember to change ends at the end of the half! Players knocked off the pitch are automatically injured – roll a D6:
1-3: Badly Hurt
4-5: Seriously Injured
6: Dead! Dead! Dead!

Wooded: This pitch is set in the middle of a arboreal forest, and look awfully pleasant as the light shines through the trees’ leaf mosaic, dappling the pitch with spots of warm light, and caressing it with soft drifts of leaves during the Autumn. Just the place to despoil with a good game of Blood Bowl! Sadly, teams that play in the forest are often not keen to cut down their trees, and thus the pitch is often covered in small saplings, and sometimes large trees! Roll a D6 when the pitch is acquired:
1: The pitch is absolutely surrounded by trees, and there are D6 on the pitch, in the wide zones. Set half the trees up in any wide zone/end zone (at least four squares from the halfway line) and allow your opponent to set the other half up. If you have an odd number of trees, your opponent may set it up.
2-3: The pitch has D3 trees, set up as above.
4-5: The pitch is relatively clear, but there are myriad saplings, that prevent players ‘going for it’ more than one square per turn.
6: The pitch is absolutely clear, and normal rules apply.
Trees just block the square they are on, and have no further effect on the game except for blocking movement.

Sheltered: Some pitches are enclosed, indoors or otehrwise sheltered from the elements. All games played on this pitch will be blessed with 'nice' weather. In addition, the lack of wind allows kicks and passes to be safer and more accurate. Passes may never be intercepted (The 'Pass Block' skill can still be used) and kicks scatter half distance, rounding up.

Well, there they are - if you love the rules (or hate them!) post up some comments. They've been pretty exhaustively playtested, and I've got a very positive response. Thanks in advance!

[sean newboy]

I like em.

[DoubleSkulls]

Nice ideas. Here's some feedback.

Astrogranite: Its probably better to effect armour than injuries - you don't want to give power teams too much of an advantage.

Ice and Snow: How about rolling for weather but keeping the GFI's failing on a 1 or 2 (to reflect the icy surface).

Swamp: BC's aren't big guys, and are only S4. What about Jump Up?

Wasteland: Is anyone going to choose a ground where they get half the gate?

Dirty and ‘Orrible: You might want to consider moving the ball D3 squares at the end of each player's turn, and using the throw-in template to determine direction. This should work for unstable too.


Unstable: Automatic injury is too harsh for pushing players out of bounds. Tone this down to say players are KO'd (no thick skull) instead of being stunned if pushed out of bounds to reflect them not being able to find their way back.

Wooded: Trees should interfere with passes too! Maybe an automatic interception attempt by the tree. On a 4 or 5 the ball hits a branch and drops below the tree. On a 6 it gets stuck and the drive must be restarted.
Can you leap over trees?

[Longshot]

like the idea of differents pitch.
will read it carefully.

[voyagers_uk]

This is good and similar to Neo's stadia rules and the Jungle stuff in the annual.

I like colour and this might be something to try out.

[Fenryll]

Great idea, i will use them !!
just a thing:

In 2nd editions: Undead oftenly ply in Cavern and Goblins in swamp

[CplSaint]

Cheers for the feedback; here's some comments.

Astrogranite: Its probably better to effect armour than injuries - you don't want to give power teams too much of an advantage.[.quote]
Actually, affecting armour rolls benefits more power teams; since they will succeed in more armour rolls, more people will be injured. By affecting the injury roll, fewer people are hurt, but those that are are likely to be more injured. However, I see what you're saying and it does seem weird that injury rolls actually mean fewer people are hurt!

Ice and Snow: How about rolling for weather but keeping the GFI's failing on a 1 or 2 (to reflect the icy surface).

Sounds fair enough, I'd have no problem playing on a pitch like this. Would you keep the sliding rules?

Swamp: BC's aren't big guys, and are only S4. What about Jump Up?

BC's aren't big guys, but are very heavy. I can see this one going either way; so perhaps we should leave them out for the moment. We only have one Chaos Dwarf team here, and he has no BCs, so any feedback would be useful. Jump up uses all MA, but you are allowed to block as usual - otherwise it becomes too useful a skill. Remember these rules only apply in the wide zones.

Wasteland: Is anyone going to choose a ground where they get half the gate?

I should hope so! It's a good leveller for Rookie teams, since the stronger team is likely to be more hurt by the loss of apothecaries, wizards, cheerleaders etc. I see the problem though... Perhaps the fans who DO make it are so fanatical that they pay the team to get them there, so full gate applies; or gate as usual -1 from each die?

Dirty and ‘Orrible: You might want to consider moving the ball D3 squares at the end of each player's turn, and using the throw-in template to determine direction. This should work for unstable too.

Bit too complex - the rolling ball is already a bit annoying... To be honest, this pitch is the one I'm least happy with. Perhaps:

Dirty 'n' 'Orrible Version 2: Go for it rolls only SUCCEED on a 5-6. Owing to the poor nature of the pitch, its changing rooms and water, team morale is very low. Reduce Team Rerolls by 1, to a minimum of 1.

Unstable: Automatic injury is too harsh for pushing players out of bounds. Tone this down to say players are KO'd (no thick skull) instead of being stunned if pushed out of bounds to reflect them not being able to find their way back.

Whu..? Players pushed off the pitch always suffer an injury on a regular pitch; this rule just means that players can fall through the ground too.
On another note, the rules here are wrong - they should read 'Players can fall through the pitch in the wide or end zones', so you're safe in the main pitch.

Wooded: Trees should interfere with passes too! Maybe an automatic interception attempt by the tree. On a 4 or 5 the ball hits a branch and drops below the tree. On a 6 it gets stuck and the drive must be restarted. Can you leap over trees?

I like this rule a lot! Passes through a tree are intercepted on the roll of a 6. (This is a free interception, and may be made in addition to normal interceptions.) If intercepted, the ball scatters once from the tree's square. No, you can't leap over a tree. They block ALL movement!

Cheers, and keep the comments coming!

[DoubleSkulls]

Actually, affecting armour rolls benefits more power teams; since they will succeed in more armour rolls, more people will be injured. By affecting the injury roll, fewer people are hurt, but those that are are likely to be more injured. However, I see what you're saying and it does seem weird that injury rolls actually mean fewer people are hurt!

Maybe make it simpler still 7,8,9 are KO's. This gets more players off the pitch without making it so deadly.

Ice and Snow: Sounds fair enough, I'd have no problem playing on a pitch like this. Would you keep the sliding rules?

Yes. I quite like the idea but you have to deal with sliding off the pitch and sliding into other players (what happens to them both - I have this image of a CW flying along the ice knocking over players like a bowling ball).

Swamp: BC's aren't big guys, but are very heavy. I can see this one going either way; so perhaps we should leave them out for the moment. We only have one Chaos Dwarf team here, and he has no BCs, so any feedback would be useful. Jump up uses all MA, but you are allowed to block as usual - otherwise it becomes too useful a skill. Remember these rules only apply in the wide zones.

I really don't like this concept. Maybe swamp should make dodges harder? No +1 to dodge? All the mud slows everyone down? And how about it takes 4/5 MA to stand up, using normal rules if you've got < 4 MA. Jump up then stays the same.

Wasteland: I should hope so! It's a good leveller for Rookie teams, since the stronger team is likely to be more hurt by the loss of apothecaries, wizards, cheerleaders etc. I see the problem though... Perhaps the fans who DO make it are so fanatical that they pay the team to get them there, so full gate applies; or gate as usual -1 from each die?

But they are stuck with low income for ever! Which means they'll never get to compete with the big boys. This one needs a serious rethink. You could just double the home FF, and halve it for away games. I can't image anyone wanting to take this.

Dirty and ‘Orrible: You might want to consider moving the ball D3 squares at the end of each player's turn, and using the throw-in template to determine direction. This should work for unstable too.

Bit too complex - the rolling ball is already a bit annoying... To be honest, this pitch is the one I'm least happy with. Perhaps:

Dirty 'n' 'Orrible Version 2: Go for it rolls only SUCCEED on a 5-6. Owing to the poor nature of the pitch, its changing rooms and water, team morale is very low. Reduce Team Rerolls by 1, to a minimum of 1.

Unstable: Whu..? Players pushed off the pitch always suffer an injury on a regular pitch;

Yes, but not casualties.


One thing that would be nice is grounds that favour passing/running teams.

Ideas:

indoors - weather is always perfect.
lush pitch - no armour rolls on failed dodges & GFI's.
soft ground - +1 Av for everyone.

Ian

[voyagers_uk]

- I have this image of a CW flying along the ice knocking over players like a bowling ball).

Strike!

did anyone ever see that Santa/Elf Bowling game, that popped into my head when I read Ian's post. so cool.

[CplSaint]

Maybe make it simpler still 7,8,9 are KO's. This gets more players off the pitch without making it so deadly.

V. Cool and nice 'n' simple - I'll run with this one for our upcoming league!

Yes. I quite like the idea but you have to deal with sliding off the pitch and sliding into other players (what happens to them both - I have this image of a CW flying along the ice knocking over players like a bowling ball).

Whoops! Sliding rules have been updated - if a player hits another player (standing or prone), he/she/it is immediately stopped. I have no problem with players sliding off the pitch - Dozy gitz shouldn't have stayed so near the crowd!

I really don't like this concept. Maybe swamp should make dodges harder? No +1 to dodge? All the mud slows everyone down? And how about it takes 4/5 MA to stand up, using normal rules if you've got < 4 MA. Jump up then stays the same.

I like these rules a lot better than my own - Dodges at +0, MA-1 and stand up takes 4MA.

But they are stuck with low income for ever! Which means they'll never get to compete with the big boys. This one needs a serious rethink. You could just double the home FF, and halve it for away games. I can't image anyone wanting to take this.

Remember teams don't always have to play on this pitch; I imagine leagues taking place on a cycle of pitches, with perhaps 1 special pitch for every 3 normal pitches. Wasteland pitches are unattractive; these rules are meant to be flavoursome, not fair.

Unstable: Whu..? Players pushed off the pitch always suffer an injury on a regular pitch;
Yes, but not casualties.

I'm confused here - Players pushed off a pitch suffer an injury. Players pushed off or submerged on an Unstable pitch suffer an injury. Nowhere (as far as I can see) do the Unstable pitch rules mention 'casualties', by which I assume you mean Badly Hurt, Seriously Injured and Dead. The Unstable rules simply mean that on the roll of a double for the armour roll, the player counts as Submerged (the equivalent of having gone into the crowd). I'd liek to get this cleared up, so if I'm just being monumentally stoopid, please tell me!

One thing that would be nice is grounds that favour passing/running teams.

There already is - check out Sheltered pitches, below Woodland. The rules are repeated here for convenience:

Sheltered: Some pitches are enclosed, indoors or otherwise sheltered from the elements. All games played on this pitch will be blessed with 'nice' weather. In addition, the lack of wind allows kicks and passes to be safer and more accurate. Passes may never be intercepted (The 'Pass Block' skill can still be used) and kicks scatter half distance, rounding up.

A second idea, inspired by your swamp ideas was:

Muddy: This pitch is soft and forgiving to fall on, and armour rolls are made at -1. In addition, the mud makes it hard to get a grip on anyone. Skills like Mighty Blow, Dirty Player and so on that affect AV rolls have no effect. Note this does not stop traits like Claw etc working.
Muddy pitches are available to everyone except High Elves

Further comments? Cheers, by the way![/b]

[DoubleSkulls]

I misunderstood your original post, I thought you meant that the team would play all its home games on their pitch. Hence my opinion that no one will choose Wasteland as home pitch.

Unstable: Players knocked off the pitch are automatically injured – roll a D6:
1-3: Badly Hurt
4-5: Seriously Injured
6: Dead! Dead! Dead!

That's where I'm getting the idea of casualties. Normally you still have make the injury roll to get a cas.

Let us know how the rules work out

Ian

[Colin]

2nd ed had some rules for different pitches, but not this extensive. These ideas of yours might be worth trying out for fun.