Passing - a change

[Greyhound]

All the changes proposed above boost a team or another but leave the lizardmen dead last.

Improving the passing skills, even if you give passblock a boost is not helping, you have to give stunties a chance to disrupt the passing game as well! Not everyone has G access. And please let's not givre the Saurus skill-starved another must pick skill.

Improving dodging and cage breaking is also going to make the lizardmen job a lot harder. The stunty carrier will struggle.

Any ideas to boost the "other" non passing teams?
Undead and necro will also still be hoping for a double to get access to these passig skills, which means they may not be able to have the option to build a passer

[dode74]

Lizards are a non-passing team for more reasons than the skills. The low AG saurii and the stunty skinks combined with pretty good mobility says "don't pass, ever!" to me. Hence I didn't even consider them.

UD/Necro are good at low TV, and should have a double by high TV which is where they need the boost.

[Texasaggie]

I think the OP is a good way to address the issue not so much because it makes passing alot more viable but because it makes stalling alot less viable for some teams. The whole point of stalling is to lower your opponents chances to get a score before the half while not hurting your own chances to score before the half. Right now stalling till turn 7 is a good idea against the majority of teams because only a handful can reliable score in 2 turns. This changes biggest impact is it allows alot more teams the ability to score in 2 turns so now true bash teams will have to weigh the risk of weighting till turn 8 and possible not scoring at all if something goes wrong or scoring on turn 7 and giving the opponent a reasonable chance to equalize before the half. The teams that can now score in 2 turns may find it more beneficial to run in a score on turn 3 or 4 opposed to turn 7 or 8 because the chance of a second score in the half is much higher then it is now. I also think it will make throwers more viable because you don't need 2+ players built for the play anymore so i say great idea.

[dodolulu]

This isn't a serious proposal... just random musings. I suspect the real answer is making a running game less reliable for scoring, so passing is a relatively more successful technique.

That is, indeed, the converse approach. It would also resolve garion's issues, which might actually make it more appealing. I'll have a think...

to reanimate this thread after reading the scally09´s thread and iterate on this idea without altering the whole dodge-dynamic: what about a change to the strip ball/sure hands dynamic?

without sure hands, youll lose the ball after every block against you, as long as the attacker doesnt roll attacker down, because... well, your hands arent sure enough to hold the ball in a block situation.

with sure hands you lose the ball only when you go down.

if the attacker has strip ball, bc will lose the ball no matter the block dice without sure hands and on pushes with sure hands.

or in short, bc loses ball at:

unskilled bc / us attacker: bdown, push, defender stumbles, defender down
sh bc / us attacker: defender stumbles, defender down
sh bc / sb attacker: push, defender stumbles, defender down
us bc / sb attacker: attacker down, both down, push, defender stumbles, defender down

one thing i fear is that khemri would drop by a large margin, because the bouncing ball is a nightmare for them.

[fidius]

Sorry for the necropost.

How about instead of transferring the RR, you introduce a pass mechanic that says the catch is an additional +1 on a 6 after modifications. This becomes 5-6 with Accurate, and 4-6 with Accurate + Strong Arm, unless the throw is inaccurate at those rolls.

Fidius

[fidius]

Another way to undo cages (if this is the object here) is to make leap a general skill, or you could allow multiple blitzes a turn - which would certainly lend its self to more passing plays, however this like all the suggestions so far would benefit elves more than any of other races.

Three more potential ways to lessen the effectiveness of cages, in the form of new/modified skills:
1) Trash Talk (A): A player with Trash Talk skill cancels all blocking assists from adjacent opposing players, whether they have Guard skill or not. However, if the block is performed by the player with Trash Talk, all adjacent opponents are treated as if they had Guard, whether or not they are in opposing tackle zones.

2) Frenzy (G): permit switching targets for the second block.

3) Headlong Tackle (S): A player with Headlong Tackle skill can blitz a target player up to one additional square in a straight line from where they end their movement, provided the intermediate square is empty and they have 2 movement points (or GFIs) left (one for the square, one for the hit). The hit is made as if the player was blocking from the empty intermediate square. When the player makes the hit, his turn is over, and will end the turn prone regardless of the result of the hit. If the block would not normally have resulted in an armour roll, no armour roll is made.

I agree with Garion that you'd certainly have to come up with something to counter the boost you'd be giving elves (AG4 and A access anyway), but these would certainly encourage a screening/passing game...!!

Fidius