Bonus Idea (smaller)

[Acerak]

I'm also going to post a bonus idea today, completely unrelated to the "New Idea (big)" topic. It's just something nice to spice up games and expand the idea of the Team Re-roll. Here's how it works:

SPECIAL TRAINING

Team Re-rolls represent how well-trained a team is. Coaches spend a lot of time working with players in practice, but the lessons don't always stick without experience. That's why a player needs a certain amount of SPPs to gain skills, etc.

But players do occasionally learn something useful for the coming game. If you use this Special Training rule, your coach can spend extra time with one player in anticipation of the upcoming game. This takes time away from the team as a whole, of course, but the player usually benefits from the extra attention.

To use Special Training, nominate a player on your team and name any skill the player can take normally. For example, you might say, "Speedy the Goblin is going to train to use the Catch skill for this game." (Note that you cannot nominate stat increases, traits, or any skills outside the skill categories normally allowed to the player!)

Next, roll a D6. On a roll of 2 or more, the player gains the skill for this match only. On a roll of 1, however, the extra time is wasted on the player, and he gains nothing for the match.

Once you make your roll, write the skill in pencil on your game sheet to signify that the player learned it. (If you rolled a 1, of course, you can't write down the skill!) Cross one of your Team Re-rolls off your roster (again, in pencil) to represent the extra time spent with that particular player. Note that you don't actually lose the Team Re-roll for good - you just can't use it this week. Also note that you lose the Team Re-roll for this week whether or not the player learned the skill! You focused so much on helping one player that the team as a whole was not as well prepared this week.

For example: The Def Pass Ambushers (3 Team Re-rolls) get ready to play a game against the Tilean Merchants. The Merchants are a ball-hawking squad with several Pass Blockers, so the Ambushers coach decides to spend some time with his star thrower, Karg Vyragon, showing him how to avoid throwing interceptions! The coach tells his opponent that Karg will try to learn the Safe Throw skill, after which the Ambushers coach rolls a D6. On a roll of 2 or more, Karg gets Safe Throw for the game, and the Ambushers coach writes it in pencil and crosses off one of his 3 Team Re-rolls for this game. On a roll of 1, however, Karg wasn't paying attention this week, so he can't use the skill, although his coach must still cross off one Team Re-roll for this game!

Because coaches have only so much time to prepare between games, a coach may not make more than one Special Training roll per game.

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Also free of charge, I'm going to post two "extra" versions of this rule for leagues who want to tone it down or spice it up:

* LIMITED: Same as above, but the player needs to roll a 4 or better to learn the skill for the game.

* EXPANDED: Same as above for normal skills. In addition, a player can learn a trait from his allowed skill categories OR a skill from a non-allowed category. Announce the desired skill or trait and roll a D6. On a roll of 4 or more, the player may use the skill or trait for the game. (For Chaos and Skaven players, Physical traits represent the temporary favor of their patron deities for the extra effort they've devoted to carnage and mayhem! Note that you must show the mutation on the model in order to use it.)

Cheers!

-Chet

[Lucien Swift]

i think this has merit as an optional rule for leagues that want to include it, but i wouldn't want to see it codifiedinto the official league structure...

...but as a model for optional expanded intermatch team-building rules, it's quite well at-home.

[Acerak]

...but as a model for optional expanded intermatch team-building rules, it's quite well at-home.

I'm not sure if Phil missed this point or not, but just to reiterate: the player gains the skill for that game, and that game only.

Right! And now I'm off to spend Independence Day in Moscow. Ronnie would be so disappointed in me if he was aware of his surroundings

-Chet

[Lucien Swift]

i get it... i just think that it's a better optional rule than core rule...

[Zy-Nox]

It sounds ok but I guess it needs testing,
I think it would work better at 4+ and maybe have this modified by the number of assisstant coaches,who apart from kickoffs do little else.
ie. +1 per coach but a roll of one always fails.

[High & Mighty]

I like it and wouldn't mind it, but I don't know if the confusion that might ensue of having to add a skill for one game and take off a reroll for one game would be worth it.

It is a nice way to specialize for an upcoming game without having to waste a permanent skill roll on a player who gets a skill roll just before a big game but you know in general, won't be useful later. Kind of like "I'm in a league with 8 orc teams and two amazon teams. I should probably develop to play the orcs and then specially train someone in tackle before those norse games."

Don't know if that's good, but it seems realistic.

[Deathwing]

Useful leg up for some teams. Chaos, Amazons, Undead etc need TRR for ball handling skills. Trade 1 TRR to give any one player Sure Hands? Has to be worth it, with certain teams (particularly in their first few games) it'd be a bit of a no-brainer IMO at 2+.
4+ is interesting though..

[High & Mighty]

It sounds ok but I guess it needs testing,
I think it would work better at 4+ and maybe have this modified by the number of assisstant coaches,who apart from kickoffs do little else.
ie. +1 per coach but a roll of one always fails.

I like that alot. Rookie teams are just getting started so they won't have the experienced coaching staff to spend that much time with one person but later in team development (when you've got a reroll to spare and some coaching staff) the reward is worth the risk.

And for those stat-hungry people, keep track of the skills your retired players had before they became coaching staff and you can then only teach these skills to the current players...yes I know, no way it would work, but would be some nice fluff. (I can keep that catcher with 2 nigglers on my roster who only shows up to 70% of the games, or make him an assistant coach and he teaches someone else to catch 83% of the time.

[neoliminal]

I'm also going to post a bonus idea today, completely unrelated to the "New Idea (big)" topic. It's just something nice to spice up games and expand the idea of the Team Re-roll. Here's how it works:

This is a nice variation of the rule I suggest for assistant coaches...

[DoubleSkulls]

I like the idea - especially if it incorporates Assistant Coaches.

[Thadrin]

increased chances of it working related to the number of assistant coaches?
Sounds like a good idea...I don't think in these days of tightened purse strings we'll be seeing people maxing out on assistants.

[Lucien Swift]

yeah, it'd be nice if they would find something useful for assistants and cheerleaders to do beside affect occasional kickoff table rolls...

that's been rich fodder for house rules for years... maybe it's time we all started tossing the ways we've used thm into a hat and perhaps we'll pull one out htat's worth perpetuating...

here's my cheerleader rule:
The mission of cheerleading squad is leading the crowd in inspiring the boys on the field. Once per half, you may roll a number of d6 equal to the number of cheerleaders you have. If any die comes up a ‘6’ you may immediately gain an inspirational re-roll as the cheering fans lift up the player’s spirits and push him on to better things. This reroll functions in eh same manner as a team reroll.

still, even though we didn't make people have models for their cheerleaders and added this rule, most people found better things to do with their money... but a few people would use it to good effect...

[Lucien Swift]

hey thads...

...don't warn them about what? i keep meaning to ask...

[Thadrin]

Its a line from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".
Willow (....oh....Alyson Hannigan.... ) gets woken up and thats the first thing she says. I'm not sure which episode, but most likely in season 3. You never get told what Willow was dreaming so I've no idea what we shouldn't warn them about.

(Note: the last couple of posts refer to my old Sig line - "Don't warn the Tadpoles". I have since replaced it with a line from Babylon 5.)

[sean newboy]

i knew i recognized that line from somewhere