DA Crunch

[Stonekloud]

Hello, I have a smal league in my area. Just a bunch of friends who like drinking and playing blood bowl. We play by the LRB5 rules, no real changes. We started talking last week about doing a draft. I know with the LRB5 rules this is kinda hard to do. But, I think it would help the teams that got beat down last season. Its just 6 of us who play two teams each. Anyway, here is what I was working with and wanted any suggestions you guys might have.

1. 5 rounds
2. Only the teams with the 5 lowest TV's are allowed to pick in the first 2 rounds.
3. Players will not have races or positions until drafted. Race is chosen by the team, the position is random.(you would draft say a guy who is stronger than avg IE +1 str)
4. All skills are open to any player in the draft. (gonna use a rolling systems, kinda like in the 2nd ed star players).
5. Picks can be traded or sold, all players sign contracts for what the value would be.


95% of the players will have 1 skill, the other 5% would have 2. This would count as the player having SPP. So if the player has two skills he could only get 5 more total(just like normal). I know this would give say a goblin +1 str, so i would start with 50 players with random skills. (we have 12 total teams) Im working on the numbers right now, but would work on %. Like a ogre team it would be a 50/50 shot between ogre or snotling.

I know the idea is to use underdog status for the lower teams, so they can get stars and card and so on. But, this just seems like a fun thing to do. I am not saying this is how the game should go, just my corner of the world.

[DoubleSkulls]

Are you proposing randomising the skills the draftee has? Or just the number & type of upgrade? I'd probably prefer the latter as its simpler.

A high size of the pool means that there will be more extreme examples (so more 2 skills one of which is +ST or +AG for instance).

[TalonBay]

I think the draft idea is great, one of the things I really like about the NFL.

I'd add positional as one of the factors in the players description, so you might have an option on a positional with a regular skill or would you rather trade up/down for a lineman with +STR?

Sounds great for a long term league.

[Stonekloud]

Are you proposing randomising the skills the draftee has? Or just the number & type of upgrade? I'd probably prefer the latter as its simpler.

A high size of the pool means that there will be more extreme examples (so more 2 skills one of which is +ST or +AG for instance).

I was planning on all skills being random. I understand the concern over the +agi and +str. I was actually pushing for skills and not stat upgrades. The feild would be around 48 players, I could always shorten the rounds. The skills would be random, then the draft would happen, so you would draft someone who has block. Then it would be decided the race by team. Then it would be decided position.

The reason I wanted it to be random, is because you never know if the pick will work out, he might be strong in the combines, and not be able to play the position. I will work up what I am talking about. My only concern is some races might get skills they dont have access to.

[DoubleSkulls]

I can see a couple of issues if you do that then.

1) You've got to generate 48 skill combos. That can take some time etc
2) The more you have the LESS effective it is to pick skills. You'll have more players available with the right combo of skills for the next player
3) More choice means less advantage going first
4) How many players are teams picking up? I assumed that you mean this is to hire additional players going into season 2 - but now I'm wondering if this is initial team creation? If its the former then who has the cash to buy 5 players?

I'd recommend fewer available players - have maybe two rounds with the best two teams missing the first round (so 10 players available). Then each "draftee" becomes either one or two skills (say 6 on D6 to have two skills?). Then for each skill make the roll - normal, double, 64,55, +AG or +ST. Then let the coach pick the skill choice and position. Its much simpler and will remove any issues around skill availability.

One thing I did in 3rd ed was random skill selection and TBH I don't think its necessary any more since the skills are more evenly powered and the combos not quite as effective.

[MadLordAnarchy]

This is a good idea in principle (I base my alternative ruleset on this principle). If you're going to deviate from the base, why have races at all?

[Jural]

It sounds like fun, and since you have a small group, it will be fun!

Seriously, make it as complicated as you like. Use an Excel spreadsheet or a computer program to create 1000 players if you like, all with different skills and positions.

The only difficulty is that every team has such a different number of positionals!

That's why it makes sense to assign the "positional" number to 16, and then use a 16 man roster with all of the positionals (and big guys, etc) filled to calculate. It will make the draft more lineman heavy than most teams, but it should work out. For example:

Human:
1 Ogre
2-5 Blitzer
6-9 Catcher
10-11 Thrower
12-16 Lineman

Orc
1 Troll
2-5 Blitzer
6-9 Blocker
10-11 Thrower
12-16 Lineman
(alternately, add in 3 blitzers, 3 blockers, and 3 goblins, then only 4 linemen)

Chaos
1 Minotaur
2-6 Chaos Warrior
7-16 Beastman

Halfling
1-2 Treeman
3-16 Halfling

So a player would be generated with a number 1-16, and each coach would look up that value and see what player that was on his roster.

Skills would be difficult to do simply, as giving out general skills to mummies, skinks, and Ogres would vastly improve the teams. I like Ian's idea of just rolling the advance for each player and noting the roll (6+6, or 3+5....)

Basically, you can make it as complicated as you and your friends want to deal with. Personally, the idea sounds fun, so just run with it!