Starting a new league, advice would be helpful.

[graeme27uk]

Hi,

Starting a new league, and last time I played was a "few" years ago. So I have been thinking back and how to tweek a few things. I would like your opinions on the following:

1) Hiring Star Players

In my view they are unique, so if two coaches want to hire the same star player for a match then they need to bid on the star player with the coach willing to spend the most money getting the star player.

2) New star players

Linked with above really. Create new star players so that there is a large base for coaches to choose from. However this means making new star players and costing them. I have used JJ's formula but I am guessing that is for "rank and file" players not star players. So how do I work out the cost of a star player?

3) Creating the stars of the future

If a player has some star player points and is for whatever reason removed from a team's roster, then they can return but as a star player, gaining Loner as normal. This could give access to cheap star players.

4) Skilled Mercenary Players

Sort of like above but allow players to spend inducement funds on skilled mercenaries, paying 20k for each skill (they can roll as normal as if levelling a player of that type).

5) Gate affects funds

I remember that the Gate used to affect the winnings of the participating teams. So something along the lines of rol 1d6 per FF (sum of both teams) then multiply by 10,000. Winner gets 2/3 and loser gets 1/3 of the Gate.

6) Is it worth pushing up the starting funds of teams?

7) Special balls

Could include rules for the use of various balls (Chaos, Squig, Magic, Cannon, Power, etc...) These would also add a constant value to the Gate roll depending on the ball. Both coaches would need to agree before hand.

Special Weapons

On a double you can give players a special weapon (Ball & Chain, Chainsaw, Stab, Bombardier) gaining the use of that weapon but also Secret Weapon.

I'll read through other league's house rules then maybe edit this and add/delete more.

[Ulthuan_Express]

1) Hiring Star Players
In my view they are unique, so if two coaches want to hire the same star player for a match then they need to bid on the star player with the coach willing to spend the most money getting the star player.
The rulebook's standard "The player takes both amounts of cash and turns up for neither team" is better here than "I've got 10k extra to bribe him with".

2) New star players
Linked with above really. Create new star players so that there is a large base for coaches to choose from. However this means making new star players and costing them. I have used JJ's formula but I am guessing that is for "rank and file" players not star players. So how do I work out the cost of a star player?
There's a fairly large base of star players to choose from already - how many would coaches in a league realistically take?

3) Creating the stars of the future
If a player has some star player points and is for whatever reason removed from a team's roster, then they can return but as a star player, gaining Loner as normal. This could give access to cheap star players.
Sounds like an organisational nightmare to me.

4) Skilled Mercenary Players
Sort of like above but allow players to spend inducement funds on skilled mercenaries, paying 20k for each skill (they can roll as normal as if levelling a player of that type).
Mercenaries can already take extra (chosen) skills for extra cash, can they not?

5) Gate affects funds
I remember that the Gate used to affect the winnings of the participating teams. So something along the lines of rol 1d6 per FF (sum of both teams) then multiply by 10,000. Winner gets 2/3 and loser gets 1/3 of the Gate.
Further down the line that will generate enormous amounts of winnings. Is this what the funds for the all Star Players would come from?

6) Is it worth pushing up the starting funds of teams?
1.1M is a good League number, I've found. Gives Elves the ability to have a substitute, but allows uber-builds for Dwarves, Orcs, Lizardmen, etc. 1,050 is also pretty good.

7) Special balls
Could include rules for the use of various balls (Chaos, Squig, Magic, Cannon, Power, etc...) These would also add a constant value to the Gate roll depending on the ball. Both coaches would need to agree before hand.
Perhaps a "Squigball (or whatever) Round", so that every team in Game 2 has to play with one would be a better idea, rather than whenever two coaches agree.

Special Weapons
On a double you can give players a special weapon (Ball & Chain, Chainsaw, Stab, Bombardier) gaining the use of that weapon but also Secret Weapon.
Insanity. Possibly awesome, but also possibly horrible in practice.

[DoubleSkulls]

Starting a new league... first season? I'd just play the rules exactly as they are in the rulebook and have a fairly open and short season.

Keep it simple. The game is pretty good vanilla and extra house rules can just confuse those who aren't as familiar or dedicated. If you want to increase the randomness and fun maybe just give everyone two free 50k cards each game.

[voyagers_uk]

yeah before you change things up, I would suggest getting used to your league mates... then form a small committee on rules so that you have consensus and look at the proposed changes individually and as a whole.

[lod1926]

If you want to add some spice w/o making things real complicated, you could make “Home Field” Kick-off Charts. In a league I had played in, the Com made one up for each race with a couple of twists and turns in it. Some beneficial to the home team (race) and a few that didn’t. Some were as simple as an extra TRR that type of thing. He kept the Riots and such in there, just made a larger chart. They were also very humorous based on the different races and their tendencies. It was sort of based on Andy Hall’s Jungle Ball Chart and I'm sure there are others.

[mattgslater]

I've actually tried a lot of what you're suggesting.

The new rules obviate #1; back in the day, that was a fun rule. #2 is not a good idea: you open the door to balance issues, for little gain if you do it right. #7 would be a fun rule for one round of a Chaos Cup tournament. The others either have some merit, or in the case of #8, demand a longer explanation.

#3 and 4: I had a league with a season structure, and every offseason veteran teams would have a certain risk of losing players to contract issues. Those players would join cut players on the Waiver Wire. Players off the Waiver Wire get a cost to hire and an inducement cost, and if induced as Mercs still earn SPP; if a player induced off the Wire skills, the next player to hire or induce him is the one who makes the improvement roll and selection. (That's important). You may hire only players who fill roster spots on your team, though some players, like Ghouls or Goblins, could be hired by more than one race. We had a table of what races could induce what others; for instance, Amazons could induce Amazon, Norse, Dark Elf, Slann, or Lizardman players, including Yhetees and Kroxigors.

#5: I like the idea of a relationship between Gate and Winnings: it adds value to FF and is thus an incentive to play for the W over the T. I've done it before. It didn't work very well, made the rich richer. But I'd like to try it again. The key is in Spiraling Expenses. Here's how I'd try it if I tried it again.

1) +1 gold for each team per fan in attendance (both sides), rounded down to the nearest 10k.
2) SE increments:
0: <1,000,000 gold
1: 1,000,000+ gold
2: 1,500,000+
3: 1,750,000+
4: 2,000,000+
5: 2,100,000+
+1: +100,000
If you play a sked league, you can speed it up a bit, with +2 gold per fan and an extra 1,250k increment. That adds 10k-20k per match

#6) Nah, but there's no great reason not to. Used to be you needed to buy FF. You don't anymore. Even with the proposal above, it makes more sense to just drop your "rounding errors" into FF, if that.

#8) Not a fan: SWs aren't very good to begin with, and there's no good way to cost them. But it's okay; there's already a watered-down version in place that does a better job of costing than any roster option can. Most teams can induce a saw. If you want a B&C but aren't a fan of Goblins, play Skaven and keep your TV trim so you can induce Fezglitch. Overdogs can get into the game too, with Petty Cash: SWs and Wizards are pretty much the only thing anybody spends Petty Cash on.

Hey, you could implement that table above, with the +2 gold, and just keep the increment going at 250k beyond 2M. Veteran teams would always be able to stay fully-stocked, journeymen would be rare after 20 games, and you'd see lots of Petty Cash opportunities if you're the Secret Weapon type.

[Daht]

In practice the star player/merc issues are minor, since you don't have too many teams pulling 200k out of their treasury to buy a SPP, usually they are from inducements. Easy rule if you want them unique - underdog buys first.

FF to gate I'm a fan of, I liked the older rules for cash. Ultimately you want to balance your formula between gate bonus and spiraling expenses so it doesn't get out of control for the high level teams..

special balls can be fun, playtest first and if it's a new league with lots of new coaches best to creep those in over time after more/most players are familiar with the general game

SW idea is a lot of fun, tho the teams with more than chainsaw access have positionals for them now. Chainsaw is really the only 'universal' skill, make it rare like snake-eyes and cost 30k, and it's fun, and with SW being auto-eject not unbalancing.