How to run a school BB club

[Stig]

Thank you everyone who has played one of our students at tournaments. It's been such a fun and welcoming experience for them, they can't wait for the next one.

I've been asked to put up my thoughts about running a school BB club. Here goes..

Guide to running a school Blood Bowl club

What is a school Blood Bowl Club?

The most important aspect of a school Blood Bowl Club is that it acts as a hangout for like-minded individuals. We can all get together and discuss what the collective noun for a group of snotlings is without attracting funny looks from the rest of the school community. A lot of students come not necessarily to play but just enjoy the vibe; it’s a very inclusive environment.

For this to work, you really need to live in the club and take an interest in all of the games the students are playing. If you love it, they will. If you find it tiresome, so will they.

Many different games are played not just Bowl. Most students dabble in D&D, 40k, Magic the Gathering etc, however they tend to gravitate towards Blood Bowl because it’s the best game and works better than the rest in a school environment. It helps to be familiar with other games so you can help out.

Within a school, it should be recognized as a legitimate co-curricular activity, which allows for:
• Some money to be available
• A regular place to play – I suggest lunchtime plus after school on TWO weekdays. Currently it's Tuesday & Friday lunchtime AND after school. Best is in your classroom, if you’re lucky enough to have a room to call home.
• Tournaments added to the school calendar, ie team excursions to be recognized as legitimate school trips (yes, this requires all the planning etc too…)
• Awards to be handed out in assembly

Starting out

Advertising
If your school has an event at the start of the year that advertises the clubs and societies, make sure you get at least a couple of tables – try to make the BIGGEST display (because bigger is better, right?) Showcase your painted teams, stand up open hardback rulebooks with the gorgeous artwork, and stand up boxed-game covers. The artwork on these is so large and striking that it immediately creates a terrific looking display when upright on a table.

After the club is up and running, it's possible for student volunteers to actually play demo games to showcase the club. They would love to do that as opposed to other duties they may be assigned, and it gets students who are walking around involved in playing.

At the event, it’s good to have a sign up sheet so you can create a mailing list.

After the event, create a poster for the Gaming Club and/or Blood Bowl league and print it off on A3

If there are announcements, advertise the club in assembly, but also name other games such as MTG, DnD, etc which students will be more familiar with.

Purchases
Hopefully the school will make some money available – this will depend on the school, but a club like this has very few running costs, do make it clear that what you ask for is just what you need at the outset.

Teaching Blood Bowl to newcomers
See the article:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=45505

What you need

A lot of what we use in school has generously been donated by the BB community, for which the ECBC and the Catzbowl are hugely grateful. Set out below is what is needed to start out
• Posters, indicating the time and place of the club
• League Spreadsheet for the Development League
• Online Blood Bowl League manager software – OBBLM. I think this can be found at http://www.thenaf.net
• Lots of D6, counters, Block Dice, D8 etc, plus a set of tiny drawers to put them in (such as the ones that hold screws and nails)
• Boards, preferably ones with the dugouts, kick-off-table and scatter integrated. Most modern boards do that
• A copy of the boxed game
• At least 4 teams owned by the school for students to use. Races unimportant.
• Blank rosters
• Custom quick-reference chart for beginners.
• If it goes well, a trophy for the League Champion, a trophy for the Cup Champion, and a trophy for the Development League Champion

The Blood Bowl Competitions

There are 3 Blood Bowl Leagues that are needed:
The main league
• For the experienced coaches, usually having played in the Development League for a year.
• It’s run using OBBLM software; with SPP, cas etc.
• Requires commitment to play all of the games in the schedule
• Super fun, as players develop and die
• Runs Autumn and Spring terms – not the summer (but usually spills over a bit!)

The Development League
• Run using an “open” system, where coaches are free to play as much or as little as they like. So yes – those who play more are likely to get more points, but at this point it’s all about encouraging playing.
• Resurrection tournament, where teams are selected using the NAFC ruleset (which really helps when the students go to tournaments!). Each game the teams revert to their TV1100 with added skills.
• Runs Autumn and Spring terms. Around March, the top 4 go through to the semi-finals
• See attached for blank spreadsheet that I use


The summer cup
In schools the summer term tends to be very disrupted, so it’s good to get as much done before that, so one knockout competition is all that I can reasonably fit in:
• Uses NAFC Day 1 skill package and rules
• Straight knockout
• Top 8 in the League are seeded
• From the semi-finals onwards, NAFC Day 2 skill package is used
Can be set up easily on

http://www.challonge.com

The winners of the competitions

In the end, you will finish with:
League Champion
Summer Cup Champion
Development League Champion

Each of the above could also have most TDs, most CAS, or any other amusing prize. Here’s where you can give them some of the old dice you amass over the years of playing Blood Bowl. Feel free to come up with other awards, maybe best painted too.

Can you play as the teacher?

Of course! Though take a handicap; stunty teams are always good, but can be overpowered. Halflings with Karla? That’s powergaming... Other options include
• Only skeletons
• Only linemen
• Silly rosters eg no rerolls

But do help and teach others whilst you play

A good house rule is to give a student who has painted their team a free reroll for a painted team bonus

Other Games

Games that work well are
• Talisman
• Heroquest
• Red Dragon Inn

Benefits

Schools do recognize the benefits of having a Blood Bowl club:
• Provides a home for like-minded individuals
• A strategy game, it can encourage students’ thinking skills
• Gives students who probably won’t be in any sports team the opportunity to taste competition
• Provides an opportunity for students to find their “thing” that their good at, something that’s so important for building confidence
• Gives the school a unique selling point, ie “look what we do here”. If the school has an open day, do ask for a Blood Bowl room!

But what about BB7s?

I’m very much a believer of in-at-the-deep-end, so I just go straight in to proper Blood Bowl. It’s possible to do a half of a proper game in a lunchbreak, and the second half after school.

I’ve found that student’s don’t like being taught something, then told it’s not the real thing and there’s something else to learn.

I wouldn’t want to teach a newcomer BB7s, then the week before going to a tournament have to tell them that what they’ve learnt isn’t quite good enough to play properly and that there are some extras. If they’ll end up enjoying and being good at Blood Bowl they can go straight in.

Out of school tournaments

Tournaments are generally very welcoming to students. Make sure to get them in the calendar and buy some t-shirts! A good website is

http://www.streetshirts.co.uk

The beginner’s rule

When learning the game, it’s inevitable mistakes will be made. Assists will be missed, modifiers forgotten etc. Our rule is that

There is no going back on a previous result – results of rolls stand

Although this can be thought to encourage cheating, an environment of trust and camaraderie should be encouraged. As you are there yourself as the teacher, they can ask you for help. It also encourages students to know the rules, and gives them a responsibility to do that.

What do students get out of it?

Obviously they have a good time and they learn some valuable strategy & probability, but it’s worth noting that they enjoy the game for different reasons. Some will want to powergame, some think playing stunty is the best fun ever whilst others want to create crazy rosters – don’t shoehorn students' enjoyment of the game into a different sort than it naturally flows.

It’s worthwhile reading an article about different types of MTG player – Timmy, Johnny, Spike. The MTG design team recognized that there are basically 3 types of player. I think this holds true in BB as well, especially given that it’s also a customizable game that can be played competitively against an opponent:

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2002-03-08

Each person will enjoy BB in a different way - help them to get the most out of it for them. That's not necessarily winning as many games as possible.

Summary

It’s your club, enjoy it. If you have a good time, so will the students. It takes a lot of time and commitment, but is really worth it. Nothing like playing BB during lunchbreak. Remember to encourage enthusiasm. Ignore silly and suboptimal play.

And of course, have fun!

If you have a BB club at your school, drop me a PM and maybe we could get a friendly fixture together. Any other questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

[lunchmoney]

Fantastic read. Should be useful for everyone looking to start a club

[Pipey]

Agree, this is marvellous. Thanks for sharing your work on this!

[Leipziger]

Excellent work Stig. Lots of really useful information there. Do you mind reposting it/if I put it on the NAF website?

[Stig]

Sure thing, please do put it on the NAF website, and feel free to correct typos etc.

Another good thing to have is a school logo. With that you can make custom t-shirts (both the Catzbowl and ECBC have one); as well as custom dice.

I could make a zip folder with all the things I find useful - where would be a good place to put that? It would include:

- spreadsheet for Development League (attached to first post)
- custom reference chart for school beginners
- printable pitch
- blank roster
- CRP book to print off and hand out
- template for posters

[Leipziger]

I’ll have a look and see if could be hosted on the naf site. If not you could save those things to Dropbox and make it public/shareable?

[Jip]

Lovely job. Differing opinion with regards to 7s, having used it well at my last school, but anything that works is a go’er. Nice one.

[Stig]

Exactly, teachers and schools are different so as you point out whatever works is a goer!