RMBL House Rules

[Balrog]

Just for fun I decided to post all the house rules my league uses. Comments/suggestions are welcome.

RMBL House Rules

Stunty Teams and Big Guys:
Big Guys on Stunty teams do not cost double.
Goblins may have 0-2 Trolls who count as team players.
Halflings may have 0-2 Treemen who count as team players.

Dwarf Team:
Dwarves may not have an Ogre ally, instead Dwarves may have 1 Deathroller who counts as a team player.

Player Cost MA ST AG AV Skills
Deathroller 160k 4 7 1 10 Mighty Blow, Multiple Block, Stand Firm, Special: Deathroller

Secret Weapons:
Each team is allowed to have one secret weapon player, except for Goblins who can have four (but each weapon must be different). Only linemen are allowed to have secret weapons (exception: Chaos Dwarf Blockers).

Weapon Cost Penalty Teams used by
Ball & Chain 20k 8+ Goblin
Blunderbuss 30k 10+ Chaos Dwarf, Dwarf
Chainsaw 60k 8+ Chaos, Chaos Dwarf, Dwarf, Goblin, Human, Norse, Orc, Undead
Explosive Bomb 40k 8+ Chaos Dwarf, Dwarf, Goblin
Pogo Stick 20k 10+ Goblin
Poisoned Dagger 10k 10+ Amazon, Chaos, Dark Elf, Human, Lizardmen, Skaven
Stink Bomb 20k 10+ Goblin

Pushing Players Into the Crowd:
If a player pushes another into the crowd, the blocker may follow his victim into the crowd (to beat on him some more). Roll for injury as normal on the victim, including any modifiers by the blocker (Mighty Blow, Claw, etc). If the victim is injured then the blocker receives the casualty SPPs. Of course the blocker also gets injured by the crowd.

Armour and Injury Rolls:
Each coach rolls his own injuries. A player with Pro may use this skill to reroll his own injury. Pro is the only way to reroll injuries.

Stunned Players Becoming Prone:
At the beginning of a team's turn, all of that team's stunned players automatically become prone and cannot take any other actions this turn (obviously).

Apothecaries:
An apothecary can be used to heal an injury inflicted on a player who was pushed into the crowd.

Picking Up and Catching the Ball:
At no time are you obliged to pick up or catch the ball. Not picking up or catching the ball results in an automatic scatter and no turnover.

Pass Action:
Once the range ruler has been used then the passing player may no longer move, however the target of the pass can be selected after all measuring is done.

Fumbles:
Range modifiers to not affect the Pass die roll when checking if a fumble occurs.

Throw Team Mate:
A successful TTM action (pass is accurate and player lands successfully) is worth 1 SPP (completion) for the Big Guy. TTM can target squares occupied by a player.

Interceptions and TTM:
A thrown team mate can be ‘intercepted’ by another player with the TTM skill. Use the normal rules for interception, if the interception is successful then the thrown team mate is knocked to the ground instead of being caught. Roll for scatter to see where he lands, and roll armour and injury as normal, adding the pass blocker’s armour and injury modifying skills (e.g. Mighty Blow).

Glory Rule:
If a team starts a turn with a player possessing the ball and able to score without any die rolls, then the coach may not voluntarily end his turn without scoring. The player holding the ball may not perform any other actions besides running into the end zone to score, following the easiest path. If the turn ends on a forced turnover then this rule does not apply.

Ageing:
The ageing rule is not used in the RMBL.

Skills and Traits

Diving Tackle
The decision to use this skill comes before the dodge roll.

Frenzy
The total number of blocks that can be thrown is: player's MA/2 (round down).

Jump Up
Jump Up is a skill, available only to players with AG 3 or more.

Leap
Leap cannot be used to jump over standing Big Guys.

Mighty Blow
Gives +1 to armour and injury rolls.

Piling On
The decision to use this skill comes before the armour roll.

Pro
Can be used to reroll a player’s own injury.

Strong Arm
Can be used to throw a Short Pass in conjunction with the Dump Off skill.

Stunty
This is a Physical Trait available to players of ST 2 or less (and access to Physical skills). Players with the Stunty trait receive a +1 injury modifer on their injury rolls, have max AV 7, -1 to their Pass rolls, and no access to General skills.

Bonehead/Very Stupid
Players with this trait automatically regain their tackle zones at the beginning of their team's turn.

Wild Animal
Wild Animals must move first. Roll a die (substract 1 if this player was Wild last turn), if the modified result is <=1 then he goes Wild! The Wild Animal will block/blitz the nearest player, friend or foe, and without any team mate assists. If there are several players within the same distance then choose the target at random from those players (always choosing foe over friend). If there are no player’s within normal blitzing distance then the Wild Animal can do nothing that turn (he’s too busy gnawing on a bone he found). If the Wild Animal blitzes, this uses up his team's blitz action for that turn. If the Wild Animal is knocked over, no turnover occurs. However, if the Wild Animal attacks a team mate and knocks him down, then a turnover occurs.


Handicap Table
The RMBL uses the MBBL2's handicap table.

[manusate]

Nice post, thank you.

[Balrog]

Thanks Manu.
Anyone else got any opinions on the house rules we use? I feel this post got lost amongst all the other posts... feedback would be greatly appreciated.

-Balrog

[Haar]

Naturally, there's some stuff I like and some I don't. I like most of the rules, they seem like fun enhancers. I don't like the rule where you don't have to pick up the ball if you don't want to. It seems a little counter to the spirit of the "glory rule", which I like. I've also made the case elsewhere that this is abusable. I like the change to Jump Up, it fixes the Mummy Problem without making it suck. I think Aging is a Good Thing, and I also like the current Wild Animal / Bonehead rules.

My feeling about big guys is that they're supposed to be bad. They're rookies who were just drafted, know very little about Blood Bowl, and think that their bulk and strength is all that matters. Bonehead was good the way it was, and so was WA. Put piling on on your Minotaur, and stop worrying about WA.

That's my two cents. The other stuff, I liked, such as the TTM stuff, passing changes (especially the bit about the ruler), and the 'poth.

[gallowin]

Your league seems to favor hitting (duh, it's blood bowl). There are a few things I like/dislike
Likes
Pushing players in to the crowd Helps solve the question of getting SPP from crowd injuries
Using Pro skill on injuries PRO, it's not just for big guys any more
Wild animal imposing -1 on next roll While flipping prone players automatically was always a handicap with WA teams, I like the thought of them going nuts on their own team
SPP for accurate TTM Nuff said
Intercepting TTM Someone posted a star player big guy who carried a board and could hit the players down easier

Dislikes
Dwarves losing the ogre. I play with a dwarf on a cavebear using ogre stats to get around the fluff.
Glory rule This is just a ME thing. But I understand why you've put it there.
Mighty Blow By doing both armor & injury (unless you've changed the other armor/injury skills) you keep big guys from getting Piling on, RSC or Claw. Current rules say only one skill can modify armor/injury
Strong arm This skill only gives you a better mod not longer range. Otherwise you should be able to Strong arm a Hail mary and get accurate on a 6.

I've got mixed emotions regarding aging. In two season I've suffered more than any other team.

Hope the feedback helps

[Deathwing]

Stunned Players Becoming Prone:
At the beginning of a team's turn, all of that team's stunned players automatically become prone and cannot take any other actions this turn (obviously).

We automatically unstun all players of the moving team that began the turn stunned at the end of that moving players turn.
It makes it 'impossible to forget' (the same as your rule), and eliminates any possible confusion between who's already rolled over that turn and who's free to stand/move etc. It's not always convienient to turn prone players through 90 or 180, especially in the middle of a scrum.

[Joshua Dyal]

I actually like most of them. I'm also considering a hybrid of sorts between LRB and some of the stuff that I miss from standard 3rd edition.

[Longshot]

i dont like the glory rule, sorry but some of you say that it is unfair but i believe that for some teams it is unfair to be forced to score.

[Balrog]

I don't like the rule where you don't have to pick up the ball if you don't want to. It seems a little counter to the spirit of the "glory rule", which I like. I've also made the case elsewhere that this is abusable.

I understand that you think that this is abusable, but 4 seasons of playing with this rule in our league has demonstrated that it isn't at all abusive in practice. Best I can say is to give it a shot for a few games.

I think Aging is a Good Thing, and I also like the current Wild Animal / Bonehead rules.

I don't mind ageing that much, but the other coaches refused to play with it. I really dislike the current WA rule, but opinion on that is extremely varied.

-Balrog

[Balrog]

Dislikes
Dwarves losing the ogre. I play with a dwarf on a cavebear using ogre stats to get around the fluff.
Glory rule This is just a ME thing. But I understand why you've put it there.
Mighty Blow By doing both armor & injury (unless you've changed the other armor/injury skills) you keep big guys from getting Piling on, RSC or Claw. Current rules say only one skill can modify armor/injury
Strong arm This skill only gives you a better mod not longer range. Otherwise you should be able to Strong arm a Hail mary and get accurate on a 6.

Hope the feedback helps

The feedback does help, thank you.

You're right about the Ogre and Dwarves, I guess it's a situational thing. If a player really wanted an Ogre instead of a Deathroller I would allow it, especially with that Cavebear idea (that's pretty neat, although I would want to see a mini).

The Glory rule was devised by all the coaches in the league, but it isn't for everybody.

Mighty Blow can affect both armour and injury but it doesn't have to. You can choose to use Piling On for amour and MB for injury, it's your choice (before the armour roll of course).

-Balrog

[Haar]

I don't like the rule where you don't have to pick up the ball if you don't want to. It seems a little counter to the spirit of the "glory rule", which I like. I've also made the case elsewhere that this is abusable.

I understand that you think that this is abusable, but 4 seasons of playing with this rule in our league has demonstrated that it isn't at all abusive in practice. Best I can say is to give it a shot for a few games.

I'll be the first to admit that I have never played with this rule, so I'm just whistlin' dixie.

I play a really strong defensive game these days (I'd much rather break a play than make one). I am often in the situation where there is a loose ball between a bunch of people. Right now what I do is I shove a defender into it (hopefully with a knockdown), and hope it takes a good bounce. It is chancy, and can always backfire, but if you plan well you can stack the odds in your favor. It also doesn't cause a turnover if you screw it up (try picking up a ball in 3 TZs without a Big Hand!). So if this rule were available to me, it would help me in a way that is not in the spirit of the rule.

I see the spirit in keeping mummies and the like from having to try and pick up a ball they don't want to have (or the coach doesn't want them to have).

One suggestion: exempt Big Guys from this rule. They already don't listen to the coach (no TRRs for them). It'd be neat fluff.