What does it take to be a Blood Bowl Ambassador?

[mzukerman]

This is a role I think is very important to our hobby. I believe very strongly in it. Those of you who have met me at tournaments know that I will take any chance I get to grab a passerby and tell them what a wonderful game it is and even narrate my turns a little bit to let them know what it's like to be on the sidelines. I am always in recruit mode at game stores, and other than work (where I still haven't completely come out of the gaming closet - that comes from working in the financial sector for so long), I talk it up all the time.

So what does it take to be a Blood Bowl Ambassador?

- You need patience. Incredible amounts of patience.
- Carry business cards with your NAF handle and contact information. I recently made one with my email, TFF name, NAF ID and #, league website, and the two tournaments I run along with logos for everything.
- You need to be having a good time, even when you're not. Dice suck but you must have that smile on your face and show that it's still a fun time.
- You should get into the game; talk to your players, be almost a caricature of yourself - it's entertaining and watchers pick up on that vibe
- Have a "No, really! I was there!" story or two to tell interested players. It could be league championship games or an incredible set of rolls to get that goblin to land in the end zone. Something to show the excitement of the game.
- If they are interested in the hobby side of things, put them in touch with the local artisan - you know, the person you wish painted YOUR teams.
- If they are RPGers, play up the fluff. Have the Icepelt book handy so you can show them some great fluff. Or if your league has a newsletter or funny emails, share them. My newsletter has piqued the interest of a number of people who have joined the LIBBL.
- Be ready to show interested parties how to play the game. If you can't do it, make sure you have a few players from your league/tournament group who can do it for you. And more patience.
- When you teach the rules, take a lesson from the BB2 campaign - go in stages. Introduce more complexity as the game goes on. Don't overwhelm them - this is a tough game to learn.
- Lobby/create novice-friendly rules in your league, such as no turn clock, scrimmages that count towards building their teams, co-coaches for the first season, etc. and make sure you tell new players how easy it is to get into your league
- Corollary to the above rule: No SPP farming on new players!!!!! Everybody in the league should know that the league is stronger if everyone works towards getting the novices up to speed as quickly as possible.
- If they are concerned about cost, let them know how cheap this is compared to D&D or Warhammer or, for Nuffle's sake, Magic! Be ready to lend them a team until they find out how much they like it, or tell them they could use Lego figures, or even coins mounted on a base while they figure out what teams they want to play. And they can still get pitches and dice from Impact or any number of vendors if they get into the sport.

That's it off the top of my head. We're all a part of this thriving community and there are a large amount of gamers out there that are either unfamiliar with the game, or have only played it on the computer. Let's convert them into Blood Bowl disciples!

[TheAzman]

Where's that 'like' button? Great post! I'll use some of those ideas.

[DinoTitanedition]

Quite a different approach to mine, but still an entertaining read. I usually don`t flood people with that many "serious" information. In my experience, people who like football or fantasy, are the most likely individuals to have a natural interest in the game. For a person having the first contact with this game I usually give a brief insight into the scenario, where the persiflage of american football has replaced most conflicts in a fantasyworld with generic fantasy races, like dwarves, elves, orcs, humans, and so on.

Then I explain the rules, which I also keep simple:

The meaning of the player values, MV (Movement, how many squares a player can move)
ST (strength, how many dice a player may use for blocking (one at same strength, two when stronger, or even three, when more than twice as strong)
AG (agility, neded to do something with the ball or for doging)
AV (toughness, to see if a player could withstand an opponents try of giving him the business)

And then the "actions":

Moving (what it says)
Blocking (going toe to toe)
Blitzing (moving AND blocking, since you have to choose between one of those and this is the one time per turn you can do both)
Ballhandling (pick up, throw, hand off, catch)

The rest is additional rules to give the gamefeeling more depth. So far I had quite the success getting new players, leading to a two ongoing leagues. I really explain it exactly like that. The old keeping-it-simple strategy had most success in my experience. The thing with the card seems a little over the top in my opinion, especially since there is a lot of smaller non-NAF-organized groups playing the game, relentlessly keeping up their efforts for it. Hows your experience with that? Do people actually bring the card to good use?

[Regash]

Don't you guys forget that your "target audience" is completely different!
mzukerman is based in the US of A while Dino is in Germany.

While most people in Germany still think of business cards as something for bankers and CEOs, it's quite standard for people in the US.
It's a good way to get your contact info out but, being German as well, I'd think a guy at a hobby store giving out cards would be very strange.
But, like I said, it's got something to do with culture and I guess, every culture has their own approach.

I never get out with "must recruit new players" on my mind.
I'll talk about the game whenever the situation makes it sensible.
Germans aren't very fond of small talk with strangers, although that got better in the last couple of years.
But then, I'd never claim to be an ambassador for Blood Bowl.

[DinoTitanedition]

Haha, good point! Totally forgot about that "german nuance". Amusing to see, how one adapts to that unnoticably.

[mzukerman]

Very interesting. I never thought about the cultural nuances where this might change. In the United States, most are usually very open about what their game preferences are, and sharing contact information is just a natural extension of that. However, around the world that may differ. It would be interesting to see exactly what people in each area of the world have done to become that Blood Bowl ambassador that I am talking about. What other methods do people have?

[Regash]

It's been a fair few years but I've been on a vacation on the US east coast, North Carolina for the most part.
And, living in Frankfurt am Main, I'm used to housing areas of the US army here, when we had them stationed here during cold war.
Since my parents both worked with americans, I kind of grew up with them, but still, being in the states was a surprise.

Americans are basically friednly people who love a little chat even with people they don't know. Everyone says "Hi!" and has a smile. Or at least that is my experience for the most part.
People working in service or as vendors are very friendly an helpful and seem to understand when you say you don't need help but sure as hell are back for help if you change your mind.
But all of this makes it no to easy to see, who really is your friend or who ist just a nice guy.
Germans prefer to look disgruntled, just to make sure noone they don't know dare to talk to them. You can sit in a crowded train and hear almost noone talk.
People working in service or as vendors often seem to see a customer as kind of a threat to their easy job. "Kunde droht mit Auftrag" is a funny saying every German has heard before. It means "Customer threatens to place an order" and describes the rather reluctant attitude to their jobs.
But all this means, you know who your true friends are and, most of the time, these friendships are very strong bonds.

This is, of course, very exaggerated on both parts.
I really enjoy the company of americans.
I really enjoyed my time over there.

[sann0638]

Popped this on the NAF, nice article: http://www.thenaf.net/2015/12/blood-bowl-ambassadors/

[spleggy]

It's a little thing but I make an effort to always play with a painted team if I'm in a public space (such as our games club). It's another thing that makes it more visually appealing.