Playing on Ice-Flows

[grimfang]

Rules for Playing on Ice Flows.

Ok.. I have tested this idea once.. its interesting, to say the least. It does a decent job of reflecting just how unpredictable it is to play on a floating chunk of ice, but it really does not disrupt the flow of the game too much! Now we can ressurect the Arctic Cragspiders!

Setting up the Ice Flows.
You will need to make 18 blocks of ice…. Each block should by 4 squares x 4 squares. (paint the grid on them, so you can still see the spaces when players are on them!) Use thin cardboard…. Paper will not be practicle for this (I cut up some empty cerial boxes… just painted the back sides.)

Before the game, each coach grabs 9 blocks of ice. He must place them on His half of the pitch.. they may touch, but may not overlap. After the ice is in place, the coaches may start the game as normal.

At the start of a coach’s turn, he must SHIFT the blocks of ice on his half of the field. This must be done BEFORE any actions are taken. If the coach takes any action before shifting the ice, an illegal procedure may be called. (The ONLY exception to this is the WILD ANIMAL actions… they are uncontrollable, and act too quickly.)
For each ice flow on your half of the pitch, roll for scatter. The flow will float one space in that direction. If the flow hits another block of ice, it will stop, and the flows have CRASHED (see below.)
After the flow has shifted, roll a d6. On a roll of 2-5, nothing happens. On a roll of 1, the entire block of ice is ROTATED 90 degrees clockwise. On a roll of 6, it is rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise. Naturally, any players standing on the ice-flow will be rotated with it!

Crashed Flows.
When a flow crashes into another flow, it will shake violently. Make and AG check for all players standing on the flow that crashed (not the one that it hits.. that would be too much shaking!) Players that fail this roll are placed face-up on the ground.. do not make an armor roll.. this will not cause injury. If a player was holding the ball and falls, the ball scatters as normal.

Drifting Flows
It is possible that an ice-flow will shift in a direction that takes part of it off the pitch! No Problem.. carry on! However, if the ENTIRE flow shifts so far that NONE of it is on the original pitch area, then the flow has DRIFTED away. All players on that flow are placed in the reserves box (they are ok, they just had to swim back, and need to thaw out!) That flow will remain out of play for the duration of the half!

Open Water
The spaces between the ice-flows are considered to be open water…. Far too fridged for anyone to jump into willingly. Players may not run across the water (unless they have the Ultra-rare “walk on water” skill!) Players must run around these gaps in the ice, or they may use the LEAP skill to jump across, as if it were a prone player in the square. If the LEAP attempt fails, the player falls into the water, and must be placed in the reserves box.
Players who are PUSHED or Knocked Back into the water may attempt to land in an available adjacent square if possible. The coach rolls a d6.. on a roll of 1, the player falls into the water, and is placed in the reserves box. On a 2-6, the player manages to land in a solid space.. apply any other effects of the block as normal.
If a player with the ball falls into the water for any reason, the ball will scatter as decribed below.

BALL IN WATER
If at any time the ball falls into the water, it is launched back into play by the various sea creatures in the water (???? Hey.. it’s the best explaination I could think of right now!) Simply roll for scatter, moving the ball d6 spaces in the direction indicated. NOTE: if it lands in water again, it scatters again! After it has scattered d6, it will bounce one more square in a random direction.

Ok… I think that’s it. I am sure I am forgetting something. Let me know.
Also in the works.. plans for Snowballs (any player may use.. not a secret weapon, and perfectly legal since it is a part of the field!)

[Redfang]

unless they have the Ultra-rare “walk on water”skill

Shouldn't that be a racial characteristic, or at least a trait

Sounds interesting though

[Shasta McNasty]

heh....
sounds like a bit of fun, but maybe a little complex for regular use. Might give it a go on a few one-off games.

[Styrofoam King]

Considering there is a long compilation of trick Balls to use, Stadiums, and Referees, should we make a compilation of different pitchs?

[Lucien Swift]

after much experimentation with pitch rules, i've found that the method that allows the game to still play out in teh most satisfactory manner is to avoid the trap of making up global rules for every action on the pitch and a host of new game effects, and instead allow new kickoff and weather tables to do the work for you...

for example, in my league, i wanted one of the stadiums used to be a goblin stadium (a la the one shown in the 2e handbook with the gator popping through the bottom of the pitch)... istead of concocting rules that affected every turn and forced players to learn new mechanics, i created a custom kickoff and weather table that accurately brough the flavor i wanted to simulate to the game, while leaving the majority of the game's play unaffected, and therefore, inherently balanced with matches at other stadiums....

so, for the "swamp dome" i have weather effects for fog and torrential rains, and i have kickoff events for alligators int he dugout, slipping in the mud, getting overwhelmed by swamp gas, etc... the weather effects use the same mechanics as the existing tables, just renaming them to contextually appropriate values, and the kickoff results are all resolved when rolled, and once resolved, allow gameplay to continue unchanged from the base game...

the overall experience adds a valuable and quite fun level of "flavor" and "fluff" to the match, but you can still honestly say that you played a game which can be taken in consideration as equal to all other games for a league setting (avoiding the dreaded "yeah, i lost, but i had to play on the stupid ice floe with all those weird rules this week, so it shouldn't count" arguments...)

anyway, full outlines for all the stadiums i currently use can be found at the lustrian premier league's website... http://web.tampabay.rr.com/phio/

and as you can see, it would be no great challenge to take those frameworks, and using the mechanics there, change the semantics and schtick to an ice stadium, or a desert stadium, or anything else you wanted...

[Snew]

I love Grotsnot brand mustard!

Very nice Lucien.