Deathball?!

Nothing to do with Blood Bowl, obviously

The football I grew up with. Thanks for the memories, Vinnie.

So I was playing Blood Bowl, a big part of my youth, recently rediscovered, and I thought I’d have a stab at both making it smoother but also making it about, well, football, rather than Football. And i sketched out these rules. I’m going to make some little paper minis for it at some point. Anyway, my main thing was using step-dice for stats, and using a constant target number - 4. And combining tackles and injuries. Just making everything a bit cleaner basically. I’m testing this now, so yeah, a work in progress. But it feels fun.

But before we get into this nonsense, the Melsonian Arts Council are producing a beautiful new edition of their classic mycelial tome:

FUNGI OF THE FAR REALMS

Now back to the violence:

DEATHBALL

DEATHBALL is a game of two halves. Two halves of the pitch, one for each team to protect their goal, marked out by the centre line, and two halves of time, 10 minutes each way, where the two teams take turns to try to get the ball into the opponent’s goal. And the two halves of star striker Torgu Gleam, after Bullgron made an over-enthusiastic last-ditch tackle.

Whoever scores the most goals over the two halves wins. Once ten minutes has passed since Kickoff, you enter Injury Time and the next turn is the last. If both teams have the same score at Full Time, at the end of both halves, the match ends as a draw, unless both teams want to push on for a golden goal in 5 minutes of extra time, where the next goal wins the game.

A DEATHBALL pitch, concrete, grass, mud or sand, is rectangular, and can be any size, but the Association recommends 30 inch by 20 inch or thereabouts. The borders running along the length of the pitch are called touchlines, with goal-lines at either end. The goal is an 8-square-wide net placed in the middle of the end of each half. The four corners of the pitch are marked with corner flags.

In DEATHBALL there are 7 players on each team, including one goalkeeper. The goalkeepers are the only players on the pitch who are allowed to handle the ball.

How to play

At the start of the Turn, roll for the crowd reaction (see table below). During a Turn, every player on the pitch on a team can Run once, and perform one Action. Once all players have performed their Actions, the Turn passes over to the opponent.

If you ever roll a 1 on a check, the active player trips up, ending up in a heap on the floor, and the Turn passes over to the opponent.

If a player ever loses possession of the ball, or if a goal is scored, the team’s Turn is over, and play passes over to the opponent.

Distance

Distance is measured in one inch squares on a gridded pitch in any direction, including diagonals. So a shot could travel in a straight line directly outside the post of the goal, and move diagonally on the final square into the top corner. You curled it into top bins!

Kick off

At kickoff, both teams have to be within their own halves, defending their goal. To start the game, toss a coin. The winner decides who should kick off first, taking the first turn as Attacker, and which goal they want to attack in the first half. The teams swap direction in the second half. The player that Attacks first kicks off from the centre spot, the square at the centre of the pitch.

Abilities

Run – how far you can move in a turn

Sprint – Extra moves outside of Tackle Range

Tackle – Ability to tackle the opponent

Skill – Ability to avoid tackles

Kick – Ability to pass and shoot

Moving around the pitch

Each player can move 4 squares in their turn, modified by their Run Score. Once per Turn a single player on the team can Sprint in addition to their Run and Action, adding their Sprint to their Run. On a 1 they fall over.

Actions (attacker or defender)

• Tackle

• Intercept

Actions (attacker)

• Pass

• Shoot

Once per turn Actions

• Foul

• Last Ditch tackle

Tackles and Interceptions

Every player, no matter who’s turn it is, can attempt to tackle or intercept anything that moves within one square of their base, their Area.

• To intercept a ball, as it passes through their Area, roll the intercepting player’s Skill Die and get a 4 or more.

• To Tackle, the defending player rolls their Tackle Die and the attacking player rolls their Skill Die.

• On a draw, the attacker keeps the ball but can’t run any further.

• If the defending player wins by 1, they get the ball.

• If the defending player wins by 2 or more, they get the ball and the attacker is left in a heap

• If the attacker wins, they dodge the tackle and continue their turn.

Tackle injury severity

Lose by 2- roll a d4 on the injury table

Lose by 3 - roll a d6 on the injury table

Lose by 4 - roll a d8 on the injury table

Lose by 5 or more - roll a d10 on the injury table

Once per turn Actions

• Foul

Once per turn a single attacker and defender can commit a foul off the ball if an opponent is in range, rolling for a tackle, but there’s no ball involved. This counts as their Action.

• Last Ditch tackle

If a player is attempting a shot, the opponent can move one player up to their movement score towards that player and attempt a tackle. On a successful last ditch tackle, rather than gaining possession of the ball, the ball ricochets off the defender and goes over the line for a Corner. It remains the attacking player’s turn and all movement and actions are reset.

• Spectacular!

Once per goal scored, a single player on each team can perform a special action, rolling a check at advantage (roll twice, take the higher as the result). If it comes off, it’s spectacular.

Injuries

Innocuous d4, after tripping up or a light tackle. Get up, run it off!

hard tackle d6 Steady, don’t want to lose yer head

crunching tackle d8 Ooof that was a bit much

Brexit d10 two-footed, all ends up, I heard that from here.

1. Grazed knee - don’t be soft, run it off- minor

2. Sore wrist - minor

3. Bloodied mouth - minor

4. Tweaked hamstring - Niggle

5. Dead leg- Niggle

6. Torn tendon - Niggle

7. Cracked collarbone - Crunched

8. Bashed skull- Crunched

9. Protruding bone - Crunched

10. Snapped spine - Dead

Types of injury

Minor - run it off

Niggle - roll at disadvantage

Crocked - roll at disadvantage and can’t sprint

Crunched - Out of the game

Dead - They’re dead. Kaput. No more. Sayonara. An ex-footballer.

Passing and Shooting

Passing and Shooting success is determined by the player’s Kick Die. When kicking the ball, roll 4 or more to kick accurately. Fail, the player Shanks it, and the ball goes off-target.

When passing or shooting the ball, the ball travels as many squares as the number you roll. To receive it cleanly, the receiver has to roll 4+ with their Kick Die. Otherwise it’s Shanked.

First time shot

A player can attempt a shot even if they have moved and performed an action already this Turn, if they successfully receive the ball.

Shanks

When the ball goes off target, roll a d4

1. Up

2. right

3. Down

4. Left

When the ball goes off target, roll a d8

1. Up

2. Up-right

3. Right

4. Down-right

5. Down

6. Down-left

7. Left

8. Up-left

Starting at the target square, the ball travels in the direction rolled on the d4/d8, by as many squares as the roll failed by. So:

Roll 3 - 1 square

Roll 2- 2 squares

Roll 1 - 3 squares

If the ball is loose, any player moving over that square can automatically gain possession of the ball.

GOAL

If an attacker shoots towards goal, the defending Goalie must roll their Tackle Die above or equal to the attacker’s Kick Die result to save the shot. The The higher the roll, the more spectacular the save.

If the Goalie rolls equal to the attacker’s Kick Die result, the shot is deflected rather than caught. Roll for Shank to discover where it ends up- this can be inside the goal.

The Goalie

The goalie is the only player that can use their Tackle Die to intercept a ball, and can move and sprint in reaction to an opponent’s Shot. They can also use their Tackle Die for a Goal Kick.

Goal kick

If the goalie gains possession of the ball, or the ball goes off their end of the pitch, they can perform a goal kick. At this point, both teams can reset their players’ positions on the pitch. To perform a goal kick, roll the Tackle Die for accuracy. Then roll the Tackle die again and add the two rolls together to find the maximum distance for the goal kick. Fail the accuracy roll and the ball deviates from the target like a Shank, but the ball moves away from the target by the distance rolled on the second roll.

Corner kick

All players on both teams can be placed anywhere on the pitch. An attacking player kicks from the corner.

Referee!!

Any time a Foul is committed, or a player gains an injury from another player, roll for the Referee (typically a d6). On a 4 or above, they see the foul, and the player is sent off. Whenever play is reset they can attempt to sneak back onto the pitch. If they’re spotted (4 or above) they are sent off again.

Optional rule: Offside

Players cannot be closer to the opponent’s goal than two of the opponent’s players at the start of their turn if they don’t already have the ball. If they are, roll for the Referee. If the Ref spots it on 4 or more, offside is called.

On Offside, both teams can reset positions, and the Goalie can perform a Goal kick both teams are Reset and the Goalie performs a Goal kick.

Reset

Whenever play is reset, all players from both teams can be placed anywhere on the pitch. On Kickoff, all players from each team must be in their own half.

Typical Players

Goalie

Defender

• R- 4

• Sp- d4

• Ta – d8

• Sk – d4

• Ki- d4

Midfielder

• Run - 4

• SP- d4

• Ta d6

• Sk d6

• Ki d6

Winger

• Run - 5

• SP- d6

• Ta d4

• Sk d6

• Ki d6

Striker

• Run - 4

• SP- d4

• Ta d4

• Sk d6

• Ki d10

The Crowd (2d6)

2. Unconstrained riot. for each player roll d6. On a 1 roll d10 on the injury table. Match abandoned, with the final score noted as the present score.

3. Pitch invasion. for each player roll d8. On a 1 roll d8 on the injury table.

4. Throwing all sorts on the pitch, for each player roll d10. On a 1 roll d4 on the injury table.

5. The crowd turns. Jeers and boos with every touch. Every roll is at disadvantage.

6. “Yooooooooore crap!”Discouraging chants rain down on the players

7. The crowd is subdued. Bored. A Mexican wave starts up.

8. “Come on you scumbags!” Encouraging shouts and cheers

9. “You’ll never walk aloooone”. Crowd chants resonate around the pitch, rousing the players. Every roll is at advantage

10. Olé! The crowd celebrates every pass. All tackles and interceptions at disadvantage.

11. Wall of noise from the crowd. The team is energised- each player can Sprint this turn.

12. They’re in dreamland! A Wall of noise (see 11). If the team scores, a pitch invasion, where the scoring players are held aloft. If that team is winning, the Match is abandoned, with the final score noted as the present score.