Mercy rule?

[JPB]

I though a bit more about your scenario, (not sure if it's still relevant?). I don't know what the current concession rule is, but it used to be that players with 51+ SPP may leave the team. And as you said it “ruined the Ogre team”, I assume that was part of the problem? And if so, you may consider to only drop that part. Especially in a league where the concession rule needs to apply (which is really the flaw of the rule, as that should never happen. It's basically designed to be a nuclear bomb. And just awful design really, and only lingers on as no one gives a shit about people who actually end up having to use it.)
You may also consider replacing it with different punishments. In addition to no MVP and winnings, you may consider cash considerations to the winner (half of the treasury perhaps), loss of fan-factor, or if you need a rougher one, permanent loss of a team re-roll (demoralized team), which may be a better punishment than losing players (re-rolls are important, expensive during leagues, but not as permanently damaging as losing 51+ SPP players.) If you need it even harder, a 4+ per TRR, but that may end up being just as crippling as losing players, and 1 TRR (possibly 2?, roll a D6: 1-3 is lose one, 4-6 is two?) may be enough scaremongering, but won't be as devastating when you actually have to drop the bomb on a team (as they run out of time etc.).
Could that help? Or have you already moved on/figured it out?

[Bludbowler]

Every league I have ever played in has lost at least two or three coaches by mid season due to excessive casualties with no hope of rebuilding their teams, myself included. I have three ideas to make that less of an issue over time:

1. Allow Journeymen to be hired to bring a roster up to 16 players, but only if there is not enough money in the coach's treasury to hire any more players from the team list, and he has no rerolls or coaching staff.

2. Allow coaches the option to avoid positioning players on the line of scrimmage for a kickoff if they do not have 11 players available to place on the field.

3. If either coach has fewer players available to set up for a kickoff than the opposing coach, the opposing coach can only place an equal number of players on the field.


Just sayin'.

[Christy42]

1. Why would they end up with no rerolls?

2. Elves and most teams would love to have 10 men and another knocked out with that rule

3. So dwarves (who rely more on having a players on the field than most teams) should be punished for casualties.

Just give a recovering side a "sympathetic medic" in addition to any apothecaries they have. They work just like an apothecary but can't affect KOs and any player badly hurt remains in the casualty box. This is done to them being a proper medic and not one that gets players back on the field quickly. Also some extra income (as they have lower expenses). This should mean any remaining stars can stick around for a bit and they can buy back positionals.

As for who the rule should activate for I would say common sense (the glorious cop out for house rules) E.g. any team using journey men players and can't buy back a decent player. If the spend money on rerolls/inducements/coaching staff the bonuses go away.

That should give them plenty of ability to recover without giving them a large advantage.

Personally I am happy with teams getting wiped but if you want to avoid the above should get them back on their feat quickly enough.

[Regash]

he was down 0-5 to a Necro team, with 5 Ogres, 2 Snots, and a re-roll going into turn 11

In our TT league, it was customary to just ignore the concession and note this down as a final score, as if 16 turns had been played.
But, to be honest, it's always been a gentlemens agreement rather than a rule.
And we never had very competitive players in our league, so I guess it was just an unwritten rule, kind of...

[fidius]

There has to be some reason to discourage coaches from just playing a half and quitting. That would happen a lot in my league if not for the concession rule. My coaches are still building their basic skills, including pitch-vision and heart. So if you're brand new and up against a coach with a better handle on the spatial elements of the game, it's easy to fail a gut check and just wanna quit on a winnable game.

Our league had certain coaches who would punish new players with a total pasting too. The league would have been better off without them.

The game is fun even when being pasted if both players are light-hearted about the game. If one or both players lack social skills (which, let's be honest, applies to the majority of us gamers), you have the opportunity for poor sportsmanship.

Personally I think if you get to the bottom of why you NEED the rule codified, you might also learn why players aren't enjoying themselves.

[mattgslater]

My coaches are having plenty of fun.

The main problem was that it was late at night and there was no drama left (except the scary kind).

I think what motivated this question in the first place was an unspoken division in etiquette between the TT league community and the online community. On, say, FUMBBL Ranked, you're expected to keep your foot on the gas until the wheels come off, every game, and clicking through your turns from the start of a drive is explicitly a no-no (it's okay to stay down if pinned).

[Roblematic]

I like the idea that sometimes you might want to nerf conceding, but i think it come down to the two player to talk it out at the table. You cold argue it a little unfair to stop a game before some has had chance to score there 10 touchdown and if a league come down to TD differences I could see people being less than happy if they had to stop play early.