I’m working every day on my upcoming fantasy audiodrama and I need something to do that’s just pure fun. The show's all recorded and we're working on the mixing with the studio while we choose takes, stitch pieces together, and layer on music and ambiance. I'm glad to be doing it, but all this editing needs something to balance it out.
I am going to run a weekly Blood Bowl RPG in which each participant will control a PC in the manner of a traditional TTRPG. Action will take place both on and off the pitch, with an ideal rhythm of one match and one caper per game session. If you're interested in joining, see the Details section below.
By default, the team will have the Old World Alliance as its skeleton: humans, dwarfs, halflings, ogres, and treemen. It will be incorporated in Matorea in the Border Princes region to account for variances from established team types. However, if a solid majority of chartermen (founding players) want to start as some other team type, there's an alternative I'd be willing to consider.
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| Imagery from the NAF Discord |
Chartermen
Founding players (ie those who are with the campaign from the start) will have no seniority over those who join later, but they will get the opportunity to shape the game's starting conditions.
The Team
Here is the default concept:
The coach is Fitzie, an Albionese who travelled across the Middle Sea in his youth and became a caravan guard and then a caravan master. He rode the Old Silk Road from Estalia to Cathay, and he has connections across the continent and among the Sea Elves.
He's been a lifelong Blood Bowl fanatic and has always regretted not playing in his youth, instead beating down robbers from the World's Edge to the Dark Lands.
He made a trip to Sudenberg recently and came into a mysterious windfall. With fortune now in hand, he's decided to found his own Blood Bowl team.
It will be built on an Old World Alliance skeleton because that will require minimal bribery to get incorporated. The call is put out across the lands and seas for Humans, Dwarfs, Ogres, Treemen, and, if necessary, Halflings, to travel to Matorea to become the founding members of this new team.
Anyone who fits one of the above descriptions (even if only roughly) can apply. No undead, lycanthropes, chaos worshippers, and/or elves.
Fitzie loves the clash and the atmosphere of Blood Bowl, but unlike most fans, he recognizes the limits of his strategic acumen. As such, he will leave most decisions to the team while handling what he knows best: transport planning and logistics, so that the team can play anywhere in the world.
Alternate Starting Concept
If there's major interest and near-unanimous agreement, I would consider switching the game's core concept to be a Norscan-core team supplemented by beastmen, lycanthropes, trolls and such. See the second character background team list below.
For the Old World Alliance-style team, you will be able to select your character concept and sprite from a vast array in the following sections.
While I like certain other ideas, like a Bretonnian Knights of the Round Table-style team, it would probably be better for, say, one player to be a Grail Knight and guide Fitzie's team on a quest for a legendary tournament chalice lost when a castle fell before the waves, or whatever the case may be, keeping the team itself more generalist.
Your Character Background
You can draw your character concept and sprite from the following list of teams. By default you can play any non-chaotic Human, Dwarf, Halfling, Ogre, or Treeman, although remember that the use of machines, munitions, and magic is generally a foul that will get you sent off and your gear confiscated for the duration of the game (after the current drive).
This list is not perfectly exhaustive and if you find something that I missed on the FUMBBL website that's within the concept, you're free to use it.
Player Backgrounds
Ind ("Yes he's an Indish ogre. No the trunk doesn't change that. No he's not a mutant!")
Kislev (Werebear transformations are a foul on this team so make sure they count)
Lahmia (Can play escaped commoners but not vampires)
Norsca Format A (only Raider, Valkyrie, or Berserker, must be non-chaos worshipper)
Norsca Format B (only Lineman, Thrower, Runner, or Berserker, must be non-chaos worshipper)
Ogre Kingdoms ("Yes a yhetee's an ogre... do you wanna argue with him?")
Sons of Stromfels (Pirate cultists and wreckers only)
Alt Team Concept Backgrounds
Tzeentch is dominant over Nurgle here, so Pestigors/Bloater Warriors are not available.
Daemons are not available as PCs.
Albion (Not pixie)
Chaos Dwarfs (No hobgoblin)
Chaos Renegades (Only humans, dark elf renegades, trolls, ogres, and minotaurs)
Daemonsmiths (Not iron boar)
Hung (Not chaos hound)
Norsca Format A (Not beer boar)
Ogre Kingdoms (Not gnoblar)
Ogre Kingdoms Variants A (Not gnoblar)
Ogre Kingdoms Variants B (Not gnoblar
Trolls (Only the trolls)
Tzeentch (Only Tzaangors and Tzeentch Warriors)
Wintertooth (Not chaos goblin)
Character Considerations
These teams have a few sprites I haven't seen elsewhere, which you can use if you like. Don't worry about uniforms because I'll adjust the color ahead of time.
If you play a machine, munition, or magic-based concept, your baseline character will be equivalent to a Lineman of the team you got your concept from. When you deploy your character's special capability, your statline will be replaced with the special character's statline. Note that you will likely be sent off for the rest of the match at the end of the drive where you deploy your special capability. After you are ejected, you will be allowed to control one of the team's NPC Linemen. Your baseline lineman chassis will still improve as the team advances.
You can use Star Player sprites, though you can't play the Star Player him/herself, so be sure to choose a background as well. Your sprite doesn't have to be the one next to your chosen background, but should be relevant to it.
Allowing this many character concepts might seem stupid but I want to emphasize that all PCs will begin at a similar power level and will slot into basic team roles. "You might well have been Captain of the Sartosa Spleenrippers, but you're marooned now and we need a Blitzer or the RARG won't let us register." You will keep your chosen player type's statline and skills; this would have faced more intense scrutiny during the time of the AFL.
While most starting PCs will have some Blood Bowl experience, you'll need to travel the world honing your abilities against new opponents before you consider going toe-to-toe with teams like the Orcland Raiders or the Reikland Reavers.
Note that the existential shifts that have taken place since the coming of Blood Bowl mean that big guys like treemen, minotaurs, and Lords of Change are powerful but nowhere near as powerful vis a vis regular humans as in the before times, when wars and storms of magic ravaged the globe.
Rules Adaptations
On-pitch play is going to draw 90% from BBTT norms and standards modified to fit a TTRPG-style d20-head-to-head-roll-dominant system, rather than BBTT's roll-dice-against-set-odds and roll-under-characteristic-dominant system.
When you send me your character concept, I'll provide you with a playbook with the player-facing game mechanics. This will include advanced Skills you'll be able to take after a few level-ups that will reflect your specific character concept.
We'll play on a grid with pitch size and movement derived 1-to-1 from BBTT.
Fights off the pitch will use the same base mechanics (with no referee, of course).
Skills will be available on level up, which will depend on accumulated Star Player Points (SPP). As a TTRPGism, winnings will be evenly split between players, and SPPs will be won by the individual player for the team, with the player receiving a small premium of "discretionary SPPs" that can be spent differently than team "XP SPPs".
There are no hit points; the currency of violence will still consist of push-backs, knock-overs, stuns, fouls, knockouts, and casualties.
The main fundamental difference to keep in mind is that if a player falls prone, or when they attempt to pick of the ball and fail, or otherwise miss a roll, it will not be the end of that team's turn, though it will be the end of that player's activation.
There are two reasons for this. First, this rule would place a huge amount of moral pressure on a TTRPG player to not make any move that could possibly lead to a failed roll that would deny the other PCs their turns. In this RPG, if you fall down, the consequence will be that you leave your tackle zone open for the other team to traverse, but you won't deny the rest of your team their turns.
Second, this opens the possibility for more rushing and aggression by the offense over cautious cage play, which is my preference and in line with both gridiron football and rugby.
The team turn will end when all player activations have ended.
This level of aggression might seem worrisome with regard to long-term team health to a veteran BBTT coaches, so note that PCs will not be nearly as prone to lingering injury as BBTT players.
People accurately describe BBTT as a risk mitigation game, which isn't what I'm going for; rather the aggressive, buoyant feeling of the Blood Bowl world.
On-pitch turn order will be "we all go then you all go then we all go" D&D-style stagger, with BBTT's format of two 8-round halves with possible extra time.
You don't need to know how to play BBTT to join this game; I will adjudicate, and you'll be provided with a player rules reference.
Details
The game will be played on Roll20, with Discord voice and a digital whiteboard as a fallback.
By default we’ll play evening of CT/UTC-5, unless a majority of players are in e.g. the UK or one of the North American coasts. Once we know about the location and availability of the players, we'll set an exact time.
If you would like to join, reach out to me at thespiritofthedepths@gmail.com, davegreggs on Discord, or comment here. I'll get in touch and we'll go over your character concept and what you'd like to get out of the game. I'll provide you with a playbook and the conduct rules (no politics, no perviness, and no disrespect, with 0-1 warning).
If you miss out on the initial draft, don't worry; players entering the campaign later will begin almost as powerful as the team's current average (or they wouldn't have been able to get on the team!).
You can let me know what kind of character you'd like to play up front or later, though if you have preferences vis-a-vis Old World vs Norsca-based teams, let me know ASAP.
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