[3.5] Fantasy Football?

[playswithfire]

So, with the superbowl a little less than two weeks away, it occurred to me that it might be interesting to try to play a game of football using the DnD 3.5 rules.

Let me know if someone else has already done this, as my idea is incomplete.

What I've thought of so far:

Throwing a pass would consist of two parts: the thrower making a ranged attack at a particular grid square and the receiver being in the correct square and making a successful grapple attack on the ball.
Handing off the ball would be a touch attack against the person receiving the ball.
Either just a bluff check or the feinting action can be used for play action fakes.
Tackling is a trip attempt.
Disarm can be used to try to knock the ball out of a runner's hands.
A successful grapple maintained for a second round on a runner with the ball counts a ending forward progress and ends the play
Linemen would bull rush and grapple each other for position


What I'd still need to do:
Exact stats on the ball
What level would the characters be?
What would the AC of the target square be when passing?

Thoughts?

[Mushroom Ninja]

Handing off the ball would be a touch attack against the person receiving the ball.


I'm not so sure about this rule. It would mean that having a high dex would be a disadvantage if you are trying to recieve a ball handed to you.

[RandomLunatic]

Blood Bowl. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Bowl) 'Nuff said.

[Shalizar]

(Insert deity of your choice here), I Understand Sports Now!

[Ascension]

All I've got to say is that you've got to try to describe it to the players in such a way that they don't realize your fantasy equivalent football is really football (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_it_Was,_Was_Football).

[RTGoodman]

Here's a critique and some ideas.


*Throwing a pass would consist of two parts: the thrower making a ranged attack at a particular grid square and the receiver being in the correct square and making a successful grapple attack on the ball.

Use a normal attack vs. the ball's AC to see if you catch it. Probably AC 13 (+10 base, +3 size), as it'd be close to a Diminutive "creature."


*Handing off the ball would be a touch attack against the person receiving the ball.

Eh, I'm not sure about this. Maybe the receiver would just make an attack like above, but with a +2 bonus since the quarterback is going to be helping the receiver get the ball.


*Either just a bluff check or the feinting action can be used for play action fakes.
*Tackling is a trip attempt.
*Disarm can be used to try to knock the ball out of a runner's hands.
*A successful grapple maintained for a second round on a runner with the ball counts a ending forward progress and ends the play
*Linemen would bull rush and grapple each other for position

Sounds good. I can't think of any problems with that.


What I'd still need to do:
Exact stats on the ball
What level would the characters be?
What would the AC of the target square be when passing?

1. Probably just a Diminutive object with no Dex score. That'll give it a +3 size bonus to AC, as I said above. It has a range increment of 15 ft. and can be throw up to 10 range increments rather than the normal 5 for a thrown weapon. That means you can throw it 5 yards with no penalty, or up to 50 yards (albeit with a -20 penalty). Anything else you'd need?
2. Ideally it should be something that could be played at all levels. Basically, it's up to you.
3. Use the rules for throwing a splash weapon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#throwSplashWeapon). Basically, the square is AC 5, but you'd take any range penalties from the "weapon" (i.e., the football).

[Tsotha-lanti]

I'd think you'd also need pretty specific rules for where the ball goes when you miss a throw. D8 for direction, deviates 1 square for every range increment of the throw?


Blood Bowl. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Bowl) 'Nuff said.

Bloow Bowl is but a pale imitation of the glory that is Trollball. You can't beat a game where you may have to punch the ball in the skull to make it stop running away and biting you in a panic.

Admittedly, when played live at cons and such, they don't actually use a live trollkin (child, I suppose) as the ball. :smallfrown: Disappointing, I know.

Edit: Also, I don't think those Blood Bowl sissies are allowed to actually bring weapons into the field, are they? As in maces and flails...

[RangerStranger]

You could have the person throwing the ball make an attack roll on the reciever down field with the reciever having a full dex bonus since he is moving and all range penalties applied for throwing an object of a similar size. A concentration check would be required from the thrower if is under pressure. A failed concentration check could result in a -5 penalty to his throw attempt. Then have the reciever make an attack roll (or grapple/touch attack) on the ball with the AC varying upon how well the quarterback threw the ball. You could aslo have any defenders with in a reasonable distance make an attempt at swatting the ball or even catching it themselves. The AC for this would also vary depending on how well the QB threw the ball.

Have it set up so that the defender and reciever make opposed checks for the ball in tight situations. If the reciever wins and he catches the ball, if the defender wins he manages to swat the ball. If the defenders wins by say 5 or 10 he forces an interception. Concentration and jump checks could also give bonuses and penalties to their attack rolls.

[Prometheus]

I attempted to make something like that once - the trick is to prevent it from degenerating into one of the following scenarios a) casters own everyone, b) casters don't get to play, c) everyone kills each other and than the survivors put the ball in, or d) the game is won really quickly.

The best I could come up with is that a) 90% of combat/skill/magic training is inapplicable or disallowed, b) most of the variation in player abilities comes from ability scores (including mental ones), c) each PC/NPC gets a single signature move that reflects their build.

That said, I'm not sure the D&D 3.5 system is the best way of doing it. Instead I would take another game and adapt it. As said earlier, the mini-game would receive input from the D&D world and the results would impact the D&D world, but the in between would be a better suited game.

I don't have time right now, but check for Blitzball homebrews - one of which might do it right.