"Somethin' Extra": free cards per season

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siggyllama
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"Somethin' Extra": free cards per season

Post by siggyllama »

I've read about leagues that give free money to each team, per game, to be spent only on Special Play Cards (or combined with Inducement or Petty Cash to purchase cards). I think this is a great idea, to get the cards more involved in gameplay and to introduce a little more randomness and zaniness to the game.

However, it it feels a bit off to me that the circumstances depicted in the cards would occur in every run-of-the-mil game. If you go by the fluff, or even RL sports, most teams save up their best (and dirtiest) tricks for their big rivals, while a smaller number of teams earn a reputation for underhandness with small cheats on a regular basis.

To illustrate this, I'm considering the following house rule for my scheduled perpetual league:

"Somethin' Extra"
The annals of Blood Bowl are filled with tales of teams resorting to all manner of trickery off the pitch in order to gain an extra edge on it. It has become standard practice for teams to set aside a dedicated budget in order to fund these "extracurricular" activities, and will dip into these funds whenever they think the upcoming match requires a little "Somethin' Extra". Some teams tap the fund regulalry, as they can't resist the temptation to cheat a little in every game, while other teams save up their special plays and dirtiest tricks for that big rivalry or championship game.

At the beginning of each season or tournament, each team receives a dedicated Somethin' Extra fund, equal to 50,000gp per game. During the Inducement Phase of the Pre-Match Sequence, after Petty Cash has been spent and Inducment money has been calculated, a coach may spend any available amount from their Somethin' Extra fund. These funds can only be spent on Special Play Cards, but can be spent on any number or denominiation of cards. Somethin' Extra funds can be combined with Inducements or Petty Cash to purchase larger denomination cards. Any gold left in the Somethin' Extra fund at the end of the season or tournament is lost permanently.


Note that, due to the timing of spending the funds, they don't affect Team Value.

I anticipate these effects:

1. Adds an extra layer of macro strategy (especially in knockout tournaments!) when deciding how to divide the funds among games on the schedule.

2. Adds to league fluff and enhances rivalries.

3. *Might* help out beginning teams, since I assume the developed teams would save their funds to spend against other developed teams.


Questions:

1. Am I nuts to have Somethin' Extra funds *not* add to TV? My thinking:
a. While it unbalances individual games, it evens out over the course of the season.
b. It further helps the undeveloped teams against the more devleoped teams (assuming the developed team saves their funds for other developed teams, as above).
c. I don't see how this rule ever benefits the underdog otherwise. But maybe I'm missing something.

2. Timing: do you think I have the timing right, making this all happen while purchasing Inducements?

3. Am I riksing a runaway effect where the most developed team can more easily keep its closest rivals at bay?


Other thoughts? Any balancing issues I should be aware of?

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TalonBay
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Re: "Somethin' Extra": free cards per season

Post by TalonBay »

Sounds to me like there will be lots of games where the cards add a small amount of colour while not unbalancing things (a good thing), several where they don't contribute (either because the card was ineffective or wasn't used) and a few where they have a big impact on the balance.

Sounds interesting to me but then I like a little extra added on top of the regular rules to add variety (our league has round events to add this sort of thing).

You'll probably only really see the impact after a couple of seasons as players work how best to use/abuse it.

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Re: "Somethin' Extra": free cards per season

Post by Bludbowler »

Back when the BB 3rd edition "Deathzone" suppliment was new, I seem to recall that both teams received at least one Random Event/Dirty Trick/Magical Item card to make things interesting. There was also a table that awarded extra cards to teams with significantly lower Team Ratings to balance things out, sort of like Inducements in the current rules.

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