javascrybe wrote:dode74 wrote:"Accessibility" is the bane of the non-casual gamer. Sorry, but I disagree with a lot of the above.
I understand. Not saying "very accessible" or even (god help us) "dumbed down". But attracting new players to a community is NEVER a bad thing, and the fact of the matter is right now that I haven't played Blood Bowl with new players since my old league disbanded. All the players I convinced to play "just one game" stopped after that. And they are
NOT casual gamers by
ANY stretch of the imagination.
It's incredible just how much of Blood bowl has been balanced over the years by "adding another die roll" or a chart... Jump Up, Pro, Dauntless, the Injury table, Really Stupid, Foul Appearance, etc. Adding complexity, in sum. It's at the very least a "hard sell" for newcomers. Of course I know all of the rules, I've played them enough, but it's not about me, it's about my son (<--shameless emotional appeal).
I'll buy the new box, obviously, whatever they put in it. If it's the exact same Blood Bowl, I'll just marvel at the figures, alone. If it "freshens up", I have a shot at having a new league sprout up at my local gaming store. Or starting a family league once my two sons reach 10.
Personally if I was teaching someone how to play the game, I would not worry about giving them the rulebook to play. I’d just let them pick a team (out of a choice of Orcs or Humans) and get them playing. They don’t need to know how the Pro, Jump Up or Guard skill works, because I wouldn’t be introducing them to additional skills in the first few games. We’d just stick to the ones that the team starts with, which are Block, Dodge, Sure Hands, Pass and Catch (probably not use a Troll or Ogre to begin with).
Sure Hands, Pass and Catch all basically work the same way, you can re-roll a failed roll related to that skill. Dodge is similar, but also has the defensive ability when being blocked. Block is different, but still pretty simple to understand. If this symbol comes up on the Block dice and you have Block you are ok. If you don’t have Block you fall down.
Don’t worry about the Kick-Off table to begin with, or weather. Kick to them so they get to start on offence (after helping them with their offensive set-up), roll scatter and bounce and let them play.
Explain the different actions – Move, Block, Blitz, Pass, Hand-Off and Foul and give a bit of advice about moving players to assist Blocks, who to Blitz with, when you might want to foul.
There are 4 stats for each player. Movement is simple, it’s how many squares you can move (probably don’t worry about GFIs for the first game). Everyone is Strength 3, so it only matters when blocking with or against Black Orcs. Everyone is Agility 3 apart from Black Orcs. Armour is how hard you are to hurt. The higher the number the better.
Don’t show new players the Agility table, with a +1 for dodging, etc. Just explain that all the players on the field (apart from Black Orcs) dodge away from someone next to them, pick up the ball, throw the ball at the shortest range or catch a pass on a 3+. If a player is next to them when pick up the ball, throw the ball or catch a pass or are next to the square they are dodging to, or if they are passing at the next highest range the roll is a 4+. And so on for 2 players, etc.
Block dice can take a little getting used to, but they are rolled often enough that most people will pick it up very quickly. Assists are probably one of the harder things to understand, but aren’t too complex without the Guard skill being used.
Injuries are stunned, KO’d or Cas (don’t worry about BH, SI or Dead for now).
Play 1 drive (up to 8 turns) with them on offence and then let them play defence. Once they’ve got the hang of the basic mechanics then you can explain things like levelling players up, Kick-Off tables, weather, etc. This can stop new players from being overwhelmed by all the rules at once.
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