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Gutter Bowl Leagues

Though there is no governing body for games of Gutter Bowl, and matches that are held are by no means official, there are still plenty of leagues that take place throughout the Old World, run by self-appointed 'commissioners' who fancy themself as a bigshot and are angling for a job in the big leagues of Blood Bowl! Gutter Bowl leagues are usually organised between different streets or local taverns in an area as a way to decide which of them is the best, or who has to pick up the tab from the previous night's drinking!

The very nature of Gutter Bowl is a lawless, violent free-for-all, though even those in charge of such a league know that there must be some very loose rules that teams need to abide by to ensure that not every game descends into an all-out brawl over petty disagreements, garden border disputes and whether or not that guy in the pub looked at them funny!

A Gutter Bowl league largely follows the same structure as a normal Blood Bowl league and much of the post-game sequence remains the same as outlined on pages 68-73 in the Blood Bowl Rulebook. However, there are a few differences to the post-game sequence which are outlined here.

POST-MATCH SEQUENCE

With games of Gutter Bowl being significantly less covered than the likes of Blood Bowl games, some aspects of the post-game sequence differ slightly to show the difference in the style of the game. This ranges from the amount of winnings, the accumulation of gold pieces, and even what happens if a Gutter Bowl player impresses enough to be whisked away to the big leagues!

WINNINGS

Gutter Bowl may be popular, but it certainly doesn't draw in the amount of money that the likes of Blood Bowl does! Most spectators will try anything to watch the game for free, whether that be climbing on the roofs, sneaking through the crowd, or just growling at those attempting to collect money until they leave them alone! The main way that Gutter Bowl teams raise their cash is from the bookies, who are always on hand to take bets from coaches, players or anyone else who wants a flutter.

Winnings work completely differently for games of Gutter Bowl. To determine the amount of winnings your team has earned from the bookies, follow the steps below:

  • Roll a D6 and multiply the result by 10,000.

  • Add 10,000 if your team won the match.

  • If your team scored 3 or more Touchdowns, add 10,000.

  • If your team caused 3 or more Casualties, add 10,000.

The final number is the amount of gold pieces your team earns from the game as winnings.

CAUSING CASUALTIES

With games of Gutter Bowl following what are more like guidelines than actual rules, fouling is far less frowned upon than it is in the bigger leagues. As a result, players will also gain 2 Star Player Points for causing a Casualty as a result of a Foul action.

PLAYERS LEAVING FOR THE BIG LEAGUES

For those that play, Gutter Bowl is very much a hobby, rather than a profession. Most players aren't paid at all, and those that are will usually be paid in pints of Bloodweiser rather than actual gold. Normally, this is because Gutter Bowl players aren't very good; if they were, they'd be off playing for one of the proper Blood Bowl teams, rather than clobbering each other around the streets for nothing more than a couple of coppers and half a bag of pork scratchings!

That said, every now and then, some players actually do show a modicum of talent which coincides with the game they are playing being watched by a Blood Bowl team's talent scouts. Sometimes, this is a player that has dreamt of being a star but hasn't made it yet and so had to use Gutter Bowl as a way to get noticed; other times, it is a young starlet that is part of the under-23s roster of a Blood Bowl team that has been sent to the streets to gain vital experience and toughen up; and in some instances, it is just an old codger looking for a scrap, who happens to have the game of their life before being swept off to the big leagues!

Regardless of how these players are recruited, their Gutter Bowl coaches won't be able to stop them from leaving (at least not legally!), though they will be compensated by the Blood Bowl team with a moderate sum of gold - at least, a moderate sum of gold to a team that has very little gold in comparison to a Blood Bowl franchise that could easily afford to buy the entire street twice over!

Before step 3 of the post-game sequence (before any player advancement), there is an additional step where scouts from professional Blood Bowl teams may look to recruit any players that have shown enough promise to be given a tryout.

After each game, roll a D6 for each player on your roster that has gained at least one Skill or characteristic improvement over the course of the league. If the roll is greater than the total number of new Skills and characteristic improvements the player has then they have not been scouted and will remain on your team. If the roll is equal to or less than the number of new Skills and characteristic improvements the player has then they have been scouted by a Blood Bowl team and are whisked off to the big leagues. As compensation, your Gutter Bowl team gains an additional 20,000 gold pieces.

EXPENSIVE MISTAKES

Unlike their bigger counterparts that play professionally, Gutter Bowl teams do not usually amass great sums of gold; and they certainly don't have the likes of treasurers or administrators to keep an eye on where all that gold is going! It's far more likely that a team's gold is 'looked after' by a well-meaning, but often inept, member of the team who has all the intentions of using the cash to help the team out by purchasing kits, practice balls, and anything else they need, but is far more likely to either lose some of it or be coerced by their team-mates to use it for a lengthy drinking session at the local pub!

In a Gutter Bowl league, do not follow the rules for Expensive Mistakes as listed on page 73 of the Blood Bowl Rulebook. Instead, if a team has 100,000 gold pieces or more stored in its Treasury during this step of the post-game sequence, their head coach must roll a D6.

On a 4+ everything is fine: the head coach has managed to prevent any of the players pinching the team's profit and has resisted the urge to blow it all on expensive top-shelf beverages in the tavern!

On a 1-3, some money has gone 'missing' either into the pockets of those looking after it, or those entrusted to guard it have been convinced that the best way to help their team-mates is to boost their morale with Bloodweiser and Warpstone Whiskey - not that they needed much convincing, if we are honest! The team must immediately halve the amount of gold pieces in their treasury, rounding down to their nearest 5,000.