Adding Bloodbowl

By sinister6, in WFRP Gamemasters

I know this isn't for everyone as it leads an element to goofyness to the game but I thought I would share.

My group is a group that really appreciates a strong story over fighting so I decided to take a risk by having a tavern broadcast via a crystal ball a bloodbowl match. My thought was that the players had just gone through a really grim adventure (eye for an eye) and this might provide a stark contrast. It went amazingly well as not only did my players find the game fascinating (5 of the 6 players know nothing about warhammer) but they went so far as to make bets on who would win the game.

Then of course the inevitable question came up. Why are orcs getting along with humans enough to play an organized sport? I knew that question had to be answered to make any sense or realism out of the situation. So I told my players that everyone is paid an incredible amount of gold to play. That pretty much was believed by my group and made sense, but had an unexpected result. The players briefly considered career changes to blood bowl players. LOL

So to stop that, I had about 5 players die during the course of the game which made them rethink their carreer change.

In the end I'm glad I added this element as a brief diversion from the seriousness of the runious powers and the grim world. I know it may be to goofy for some but I thought I'd share.

fwiw, I'm just putting the final touches to my 5-a-side Snotball minigame using v3 rules. I'll try to finish the first draft this week. So, if they do have their hearts set on professional sport, they could use that. Here's the ic intro:

Given the rise of Snotball across the Old World and beyond as a recreation for the people, it was inevitable, I suppose, that sooner or later the merchant class were to get hold of it, and shape it into something which could make a profit.
5-a-side Snotball was the brainchild of the Tanners and Leatherworkers’ Guild of Kemperbad and it soon became extremely popular. Because of the small sides involved it was possible to run a game without the entire city grinding to a halt for a week (a day to play the game and the rest of the week to recover). And because the game only took an hour to play and took up only a short stretch of street, gambling was much easier to accommodate and control.
Soon the T&LGK were playing teams from all over Kemperbad and the environs, including the United Metalsmiths Guilds, Reik Valley Farmers, Kemperbad City Watch, and the Amalgamated Stirseite Lift Luggers and Crane Operators Association. It was not long before these loose affiliations emerged as professional teams playing an organised and largely fairly regulated league program.
The first season of the Kemperbad Premiership (as it was strangely called) degenerated into riots and murder and the whole thing looked like it might be banned by the town council. But after a meeting of the Chartered Guilds Association, the official Snotball Association rules were drafted and the second season began in something approaching order and civility.
This second season, soon renamed the first season, was won by a team sponsored by the rich Goldsmiths’ Guild, Real Gold, which set the precedent very early for wealthy organisations buying up all the best players and attempting to dominate their league through financial might.
Some of the games of this first (second) Snotball Association season were witnessed by a visiting merchant from Marienburg, and he was not slow to see the commercial potential of the sport. As soon as he arrived back in Marienburg he began organising a league made up of teams from all the various boroughs of the city (Not Elfgemeente!).
At about the same time the 5-a-side Snotball format was spreading from Kemperbad to Altdorf, Middenheim and the other cities of the Empire, it was brought to the further corners of the Old World and beyond by Marienburger sailors.
Today, the game is organised at the highest Imperial level with the official champions of Altdorf, Midddenheim, Nuln, Talabheim, Kemperbad (for historical reasons), and three other invited teams from across the Empire playing each other in a knockout format. The surviving two teams meet at the Bernebau stadium in Middenheim for the final of the S.A. Cup.
Across the Old World and beyond the game is also catching on. An Imperial representative team recently played a Staadtholder’s team in Marienburg which ended in a diplomatically favourable 0-0 draw. Teams from Magritte and Miragliano are also gaining fame across the Old World for the elegance of their attacks and the brutality of their defence. It is rumoured that the game is even played in the dwarven halls and in the elven cities, though that probably stretches credibility.

Thanks for Sharing That! It's about having fun! Too many GM's lose sight of that...ROFL!!

~Veronus

Sinister said:

I know this isn't for everyone as it leads an element to goofyness to the game but I thought I would share.

My group is a group that really appreciates a strong story over fighting so I decided to take a risk by having a tavern broadcast via a crystal ball a bloodbowl match. My thought was that the players had just gone through a really grim adventure (eye for an eye) and this might provide a stark contrast. It went amazingly well as not only did my players find the game fascinating (5 of the 6 players know nothing about warhammer) but they went so far as to make bets on who would win the game.

Then of course the inevitable question came up. Why are orcs getting along with humans enough to play an organized sport? I knew that question had to be answered to make any sense or realism out of the situation. So I told my players that everyone is paid an incredible amount of gold to play. That pretty much was believed by my group and made sense, but had an unexpected result. The players briefly considered career changes to blood bowl players. LOL

So to stop that, I had about 5 players die during the course of the game which made them rethink their carreer change.

In the end I'm glad I added this element as a brief diversion from the seriousness of the runious powers and the grim world. I know it may be to goofy for some but I thought I'd share.

BRILLIANT!! I have always wanted to throw Blood Bowl into a WFRP game. I love bloodbowl so much that i felt it should be in a game somewhere.

IME I use gobliniods (orcs goblins snotlings) to bring light heartedness to my games. That or overly silly/insane npcs.

You are absolutely right to lighten the mood occasionally. Just look at horror movies. There are jokes purposely sprinkled into the mix as a way to break tension and realign people to the horror. Humans by nature become desensitized by stimulous. Its a product of our adaptibilty. Change Up is good and blood bowl is great.

I would like to give some thought to how you could run a Blood Bowl players campaign..... That could be super freakin fun.