Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Deathball!

I have a secret passion. I'm a massive fan of 'future sports' comics, TV and films. When I was a kid I was enthralled by Harlem Heroes, Inferno and Mean Arena in 2000 AD. They really connected with me in a way that I could never really explain. Maybe it was the mixture of SF and sport? The theme of heroic sacrifice? The inevitable setting in 'working class' venues? I have no idea, but it has lived with me into my adult life, festering. Recently, 2000 AD has reprinted Harlem Heroes and Mean Arena in their entirity which has triggered my interested again and naturally my game writing gene kicked in!

The product of all of this was squeezed out in the last 24 hours as a simple 'pick up' game called Deathball. The central mechanic is a simple target number roll but the real meat of the game comes in linking a characters personal issues into their ingame performance. Tougher issues make it easier to succeed but failure is inevitable and the crash from a tough issue could take the character out of the game permanently. Does it work? Who knows - its just meant to be a bit of fun.

http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/deathball/deathball.pdf
http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/deathball/deathballsheet.pdf

Neil

ps. my other childhood obsession was big production musicals. Expect 'Fiddler on the Roof: The CCG' anytime soon...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Arent you supposed to be working on D&H?

*cracks whip*

Andrew

Anonymous said...

An interesting little game, though I think it would work best as a little one shot (Which isn't covered by your rules).

I can't see in a league season enough game system to actually do that much unless you turn it into a SkY Dream Team or ITV Footballers wives kinda game.

I did like the original 2000AD stories, but I think theres a good reason why these types of stories aren't huge ongoing series, as without a more substantive plot hook I can easily see the same story being told again and again.


O nice little one shot though, and nicely put together as a pamplet. :-)


David

Vodkashok said...

Well, I reckon you could rattle through a relegation game or a cup game in one sitting. Its not your deep and meaningful self exploration stuff - its just gaming fluff.

And Andrew - been there, done that.

Neil

Anonymous said...

Then why havent I received my pdf version of the final document?

Slacker

:)

Andrew

Vodkashok said...

You just want a pdf? And here was me going to slip you a printed version tomorrow night as well. Oh well, whatever takes your fancy! *grin*

Actually Deathball came to life between 11.15pm and 1.20am last night, with some slight tweaks this morning. It took up no D&H time. A literal splurting onto the page.

Or screen, whatever

Neil

Anonymous said...

Please keep those kind of comments to yourself. Some of us have fragile imaginations!

Anonymous said...

Indeed.

Also, print copy please, professionally bound, D&D hardback size.

And not with all the text in that annoying SotC format.

Please..

andrew