In Blood Bowl, when the game starts you roll to see what kind of weather there is for the day.
Not many miniatures games take this into account and it is something I always liked in Blood Bowl.
In fact, the weather could change during the game.
Unlike some sports in our world, the game is never called no matter how bad the weather gets.
The weather chart is likely to result in a nice day, with no effect on the game, but there is a chance for other types of weather with various effects.
The weather table is rolled on with 2d6 (two 6 sided dice, added together):
2: Sweltering Heat: at the end of the drive roll a d6 for each player, on a 1 they can't play the next drive, they're just too exhausted.
3: Very Sunny: Bright sunlight causes all passes to have a -1 to the roll
4-10: Perfect Blood Bowl Weather
11: Pouring Rain: Wet weather causes -1 to catch, intercept or pick up the ball.
12: Blizzard: Snowing very hard: Go For It fails on a 1 or 2 (not just a 1 as normal) and only quick & short passes of the ball can be attempted.
It is a nice table. I like the weather system.
But I can't help thinking that it could be 'fluffier' with some changes.
I was thinking that some of the teams could be affected by the weather in different ways, to reflect the nature of the team. Nothing too extreme. I don't want to unbalance the game, but tweak just enough to give some added flavor to the teams and be a bit more realistic for their background.
Not many miniatures games take this into account and it is something I always liked in Blood Bowl.
In fact, the weather could change during the game.
Unlike some sports in our world, the game is never called no matter how bad the weather gets.
The weather chart is likely to result in a nice day, with no effect on the game, but there is a chance for other types of weather with various effects.
The weather table is rolled on with 2d6 (two 6 sided dice, added together):
2: Sweltering Heat: at the end of the drive roll a d6 for each player, on a 1 they can't play the next drive, they're just too exhausted.
3: Very Sunny: Bright sunlight causes all passes to have a -1 to the roll
4-10: Perfect Blood Bowl Weather
11: Pouring Rain: Wet weather causes -1 to catch, intercept or pick up the ball.
12: Blizzard: Snowing very hard: Go For It fails on a 1 or 2 (not just a 1 as normal) and only quick & short passes of the ball can be attempted.
It is a nice table. I like the weather system.
But I can't help thinking that it could be 'fluffier' with some changes.
I was thinking that some of the teams could be affected by the weather in different ways, to reflect the nature of the team. Nothing too extreme. I don't want to unbalance the game, but tweak just enough to give some added flavor to the teams and be a bit more realistic for their background.
KHEMRI
The Khemri team are mummies and skeletons of Ancient Egypt. They are very old, and are at home in the dry heat of the desert. So why should they care about 'Sweltering Heat'? If anything, they should love it.
So for a Khemri team, Sweltering Heat and Very Sunny would have no adverse effect at all.
However, moisture would be a problem for them with all their wrappings, so if there is either Pouring Rain or Blizzard they would suffer the effects of both for either weather condition.
This might be a slight advantage since Sweltering Heat can be a very bad thing, but the Khemri team is a serious underdog, so I don't think it'd be unbalancing.
NORSE
The Norse team are the Vikings of the Blood Bowl world: they hail from the frozen north.
They are quite accustomed to the snow, so a Blizzard is regrettable but not a tragedy as it is for some.
The Norse would not suffer the Go For It penalty from a Blizzard: they are used to trudging through snow, though the Blizzard would still reduce their passing to quick and short passes as normal. They are not used to severe heat however, and it winds them quickly: During Sweltering Heat they suffer the same Go For It penalty that normally comes from Blizzards.
SLANN
The Slann, those leaping amphibians, surely would not be troubled by a little rain?
Slann would suffer no effects from playing in Pouring Rain. They are perfectly adapted to rain and water, handling a ball in such an environment is not a problem. Snow is another matter. The extreme cold of snow slows their reflexes: a Blizzard applies both the penalties of a Blizzard as well as the normal effects of Pouring Rain.
VAMPIRES
The Vampire team has two distinctly different player types: Vampires & their human thralls a.k.a. juiceboxes.
Vampires should have trouble in the sun. And no, not because they sparkle.
In Very Sunny weather the Vampires (not the Thralls) suffer not only the effects of Very Sunny but also Pouring Rain: the bright light is very distracting. Vampires are especially light and agile on their feet however, some even say they can nearly fly, so in Blizzards, much like the Norse, they do not suffer any penalty for Go For Its, but passing is limited as normal.
The Thralls treat all weather effects as normal.
I have to tried keep advantages and disadvantages roughly equaled while maintaining their racial characteristics.
Granted, there would be some differences in game play since one of these teams could have different effects than their opponent, giving them a slight advantage or disadvantage compared to their opponent, but then, it is for the sake of fun & fluff, and teams already have different strengths and weaknesses and are not, and are not supposed to be, perfectly balanced with each other. So I think that is fine to have some small additional differences.
What do you think?
Can you think of any other teams that should have changes to their weather effects?
I think this could be an interesting concept in other miniatures games as well.
And now, something to enjoy.
It says censored, but it's perfectly safe for work.
If you find it offensive you only have your own dirty mind to blame ;)
Enjoy!
Yes! I've been moaning about this for years. I'm not sure if Lizards should have weather effects as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of the weather myself. That said, however, how about changing Very Sunny. You could firstly add in that if the weather is very sunny both teams roll a D6. The team with the higher roll is playing with their backs to the sun and are unaffected but the losing team are playing into it and so suffer the effects. If the roll is tied then the sun is high enough in the sky to affect both teams. Secondly, when playing into the sun, any player with Block must roll a D6 when blocking/being blocked. A roll of 2+ means they can use Block as normal. On a 1 the sun is in their eyes and they just don't see the punch coming so Block can't be used.
ReplyDeleteThat might unbalance it a bit too much though.
Sounds like a great addition to the weather effects!
ReplyDeleteFor me more fluff means more fun.
Thinking about snow and blizzards my mind wanders to the Lotr and the Pass of Caradhras scene: how hard it was for Hobbits and Gimli and Legolas just floated above the snow.
So Dwarfs (Hobbits and Chaos Dwarfs too) should have even more troubles: GFI only on 4+ maybe. On the other hand tere are even smaller guys in BB: Goblins and Snotlings... But these players are underdogs as it is so I would leave them be. In fluff terms it could be thought that players who are light of feet and dont weight too much are considered to stay above the gathering snow. So no penalties for small goblinoids on blizzard, GFI fails only on 1.
This seems like a good idea.
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess I don't have an opinion yet. My dwarves aren't finished and I had to cancel my first game because of a sudden business trip I had to go on. Personally I don't think dwarves would be bothered my any kind of weather they are far to stoic to let it bother them!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you should start running your own tournament to make use of these and fine tune them!
ReplyDeleteThe Q'ermitt tournament uses custom pitches and many of the pitches have alternate kick off or weather.
I"m not a fan of weather or kick offs. But as they are there, some extra fluff to them would be good. Why not make more use of Home and Away fixtures? 2nd Ed Companion book had Dark Elves playing underground and ignoring weather, but suffering when playing outside in the sun. Would be a lot of work to make it fluffy and to balance it for all races though. The pitch surface could be included - long grass affecting GFI rolls etc
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input folks, nice to see the different ideas :)
ReplyDeleteBarks: I debated to myself about lizards, and decided I don't think they'd be affected differently. I could imagine they wouldn't mind Sweltering Heat.. it wouldn't harm them, but they might become torpid, enjoying it too much to be willing to play, blizzard would slow their cold-blooded metabolism, so that explains the more difficult go for it, even very sunny, they're still going to squint.
Be4ch: That is an interesting idea for sunny. If done, i'd think it might also call for taking height & stunty into account.. a goblin would be in the shade from an Ogre, etc ;) might be too much work to figure out. But I don't think i'd go as far as applying it to blocks.
Turms: I do love that part of the story. Not sure Blizzard is really meaning chest-high snow though ;) but it could certainly be an idea for custom pitch's weather, or maybe additional spells for wizards. hmm.
Thanks Sean!
Kris: I had thought of having dwarves shrug off sweltering heat for that reason, but didn't want to give them an advantage without balancing with a disadvantage, and haven't thought of one for them and weather yet.
Tristan: I do want to run a tournament at some point, I have an idea for a theme I think would be fun, but haven't looked into the interest level possibilities yet.. Blood Bowl is thinner here than some regions.
Aman: I can understand why some people don't like those aspects, but I like the random effects for the chaos it makes and for making people take those potentials into account in their plans.
Long ago I was in a league that used home fields, where a team could invest treasury into creating a home pitch, selecting a type they wanted, and they had different small effects like that.
I do like that idea a lot, I'd just still want some teams to be effected by weather in different ways regardless.
I may write up the different home fields and effects I've compiled as an article.