During our recent Uod campaign, I've even joked about making an OSR style game from the Blood Bowl rules, pointing out where mechanics like block dice roll calculations would be great improvments to combat. Thinking about how the passing/interception rules could streamline shooting missile weapons into a melee. Unseriously commented about using the Kickoff Table for initiative.
But I couldn't let go of the initiative ideal. I'm a fan of phased initiative (movement, missile, etc) in some form. Other games have made the mechanics for player oriented. Rolling to see if players were acting before or after the opponents rather than rolling for the opponents themselves. It occured to me that if putting the rolls all on the player side, why even compare numbers. OSR style games use random tables for all sort of things, why not initiative and why not more than order of actions.
The goal isn't to recreate Blood Bowl as D&D. I'll start with the Blood Bowl items and slowly replace them with cooler or more combat orientated craziness. I could crowd-source a cool list of events, but we still need to determine the order of events in a round. I'll probably edit this table 4 or 5 times to make D&D-friendlier as a decide which makes more sense, "crazy things that happen during combat" or "variations on 'who goes first'". Ultimately I'll need to come back to address what happens on subsequent rounds. The results assume side-based initiative that is normally random from round to round.
Initiative Table v0.1 - roll 2d6
2 - Get the Ref:"The fans exact gruesome revenge on the referee for some of the dubious decisions he has made, either during this match or in the past. His replacement is so intimidated that he can be more easily persuaded to look the other way. Each team receives one Bribe that can be used once during this game to attempt to ignore one call by the referee on a D6 roll of 2+."
- Adapted: Is this divine intervention? Not sure yet how this should manifest in the game fiction.The BB intent is allow "characters" break the rules. Mechanically maybe allow each side to ignore a single hit or failed save. That's not fun enough. We'll come back to this.
3 - Riot:
"The trash talk between two opposing players explodes and rapidly degenerates, involving the rest of the players. If the receiving team’s turn marker is on turn 7 for the half, both teams move their turn marker back one space as the referee resets the clock back to before the fight started. If the receiving team has not yet taken a turn this half the referee lets the clock run on during the fight and both teams’ turn markers are moved forward one space. Otherwise roll a D6: 1-3 both teams’ turn markers are moved forward one space. 4-6 both teams’ turn markers are moved back one space."
- Adapted: Melee occurs without hesitation as someone's trigger finger gets itchy. On a d6 roll of 1-3 both sides can have combatants move into melee before spells or missiles go off. On a roll of 4-6 a single opponent for each side must (or maybe a round of missile fire wihout melee?) Still not as fun.
4 - Perfect Defence:
"The kicking team’s coach may reorganize his players – in other words he can set them up again into another legal defence. The receiving team must remain in the set-up chosen by their coach."
- Adapted: The PCs side can change into melee if desired before any reaction from the other side. They take all normal activity first like normally winning initiave. Maybe everyone on that side can take a "move" action before normal round phases of a round.
5 - High Kick:
"The ball is kicked very high, allowing a player on the receiving team time to move into the perfect position to catch it. Any one player on the receiving team who is not in an opposing player’s tackle zone may be moved into the square where the ball will land no matter what their MA may be, as long is the square is unoccupied."
- Adapted: One PC can charge into melee or take other action before everyone else. The player's side wins initiative.
6 - Cheering Fans:
"Each coach rolls a D3 and adds their team’s FAME and the number of cheerleaders on their team to the score. The team with the highest score is inspired by their fans’ cheering and gets an extra ReRoll this half. If both teams have the same score, then both teams get a Re-Roll."
- Adapted: This will be a pretty common result on 2d6 so it may need to be swapped. Roll d3 + the number of combatants (? hirelings/minions? just non-fighter types, but what about monsters) and that team gets initiative. Re-rolls would be cool for a single combat event, but for round by round this makes sense. Still trying to find the spirit of the result.
7 - Changing Weather:
"Make a new roll on the Weather table. Apply the new Weather roll. If the new Weather roll was a ‘Nice’ result, then a gentle gust of wind makes the ball scatter one extra square in a random direction before landing."
- Adapted: Outside? Weather event? Indoors/dungeon? Gust of window blows out torches? Some other random event? That's in spirit, but as a practically use of the most common result, both side act simultaneously. Rolled on the first round of combat? Hell yeah, change the weather, have a bunch of bats flying through the space, whatever - in addition to simultaneous action.
8 - Brilliant Coaching:
"Each coach rolls a D3 and adds their FAME and the number of assistant coaches on their team to the score. The team with the highest total gets an extra team Re-Roll this half thanks to the brilliant instruction provided by the coaching staff. In case of a tie both teams get an extra team Re-Roll."
- Adapted: Like the number "6" result above, not sure how to make the calculation. Maybe casters can get a spell off, then round proceeds?
9 - Quick Snap!
"The offence start their drive a fraction before the defence is ready, catching the kicking team flat-footed. All of the players on the receiving team are allowed to move one square. This is a free move and may be made into any adjacent empty square, ignoring tackle zones. It may be used to enter the opposing half of the pitch."
- Adapted: One of the PC's opponents can charge into melee or take other action before everyone else. The opponent's side wins initiative.
10 - Blitz!
"The defence start their drive a fraction before the offence is ready, catching the receiving team flat-footed. The kicking team receives a free ‘bonus’ turn: however, players that are in an enemy tackle zone at the beginning of this free turn may not perform an Action. The kicking team may use team Re-Rolls during a Blitz. If any player suffers a turnover then the bonus turn ends immediately."
- Adapted: The PC's opponents side can change into melee if desired before any reaction from the other side. They take all normal activity first like normally winning initiave. Maybe everyone on that side can take a "move" action before normal round phases of a round.
11 - Throw a Rock:
"An enraged fan hurls a large rock at one of the players on the opposing team. Each coach rolls a D6 and adds their FAME to the roll. The fans of the team that rolls higher are the ones that threw the rock. In the case of a tie a rock is thrown at each team! Decide randomly which player in the other team was hit (only players on the pitch are eligible) and roll for the effects of the injury straight away. No Armour roll is required."
- Adapted: A block or stone or rock, tree branch or whatever represents something above falls on someone. Each side rolls 1d6 + and add the highest HD on their side to see who is hits. Ties mean both. They take some damage TBD. Still need to find the random malice in spirit of the original.
12 - Pitch Invasion:
"Both coaches roll a D6 for each opposing player on the pitch and add their FAME to the roll. If a roll is 6 or more after modification then the player is Stunned (players with the Ball & Chain skill are KO’d). A roll of 1 before adding FAME will always have no effect."
- Adapted: Wandering monster / animal / herd / flock of signat seagulls flies through. Roll d6 + HD for everyone. Those rolling over 6 get knocked down and take no action that round. If this is a one-time event, maybe they take damage. Then roll d6 like normal to see who goes first. Coming back to this one.
Go Bay Of Ice Buccaneers!
