Quirkworthy

Wildcard is one of the Season 2 MVPs, and as such shouldn’t really be out and about for months yet. However, KickStarts being the odd things they are, and Ronnie having trouble keeping shiny toys to himself, more than a few of you are going to have a model for this young lass before Santa comes down the chimney 🙂

Because new models are always more fun when you can play with them, I’ve got a sneak peek of her rules from an early draft of Season 2. These still have more playtesting to survive through, though I think she’ll work fine like this. She’s certainly worth trying out.

So without further ado… ladies and gentlemen, I give you…

WILDCARD!

Wildcard

One of the current favourites of the crowd is the dazzling Wildcard. Like Lucky Logan, she appears in all the most fashionable commercials, and also like Logan she specialises in pulling victory from the jaws of defeat.

Plays for: genetically pure human teams or Asterians.

Wildcard is a fast and agile human, with a distinctive uniform and a flashing smile. She is a boon to the cameras which often focus on her even when the ball is elsewhere on the pitch.

Her appearance is unlike most of the teams she plays with, with a uniform that is more akin to Asterian body suits in general cut than a normal human DreadBall suit. Her clothing also seems to offer a similar level of defence to Asterian smartsuits, becoming rigid in response to kinetic energy. This allows her to appear only lightly protected, which can encourage unwary foes closer than is usually good for them.

Her playing style and philosophy echoes the lithe and enigmatic aliens too, and she has been known to play alongside them on the few occasions they sought outside aid. On the pitch her movements are almost languid when her team is winning, but as soon as things go awry she redoubles her efforts. Every opposing move is scrutinised for weak points and she is quick to exploit any that she finds. However, as soon as the crisis is over she slips back into a more relaxed style of play. It is almost like she wants to keep the game in balance rather than win it outright.

Even the Odds (Jack)

This ability is exactly the same as Running Interference (see page 42 of the main rules), with the exception of when it can be used.

Instead of a limit of once per match, Even the Odds can be used once in any opposing Rush that begins with the opposing team having a score greater than zero.

Slide (Jack)

The player may Dash as part of any action that allows them to move at least 1 hex.

Note: “Genetically Pure Humans”

In a universe largely populated by aliens and mutants, the term “genetically pure human” simply means what it says: neither mutant nor alien. In the case of who an MVP will play for, genetically pure human teams are currently limited to the Trontek 29ers and the Void Sirens.

Now it’s entirely possible that the table will go a little screwy for some folk, depending on which browser is being used. The internet is like that. So I’ve got a pdf for you as well. It’s the same thing as above, but perhaps in an easier format:

Wildcard v2

I have a confession to make.

I’ve been playing Devil’s Advocate a bit with regard to Jacks, to try and glean your opinions. I’ve prodded the comments only a little, letting you run off and debate/argue rather more vociferously than normal. But this deception has had an important purpose.

Jacks are a slightly problem child for me. On the one hand they do a sterling job of allowing me to define a range of teams in ways I simply could not do without them. I think that they are worth including for this alone because I value this spread and variety of game experiences that they bring. I am, overall, very happy with the way that DreadBall has turned out, but I am a perfectionist and there has been this niggle at the back of my mind that Jacks are just not quite where they should be.

Buhallin has a point when he says that they are a bit underpowered for teams where specialists are available too. I think that he’s overstating the problem a touch, but there is a core of truth there and in the long run it needs to be addressed.

Truth be told, I’ve known this for a long time, long before DreadBall was finalised. So why didn’t I “fix” it before? Well, it’s a very subtle problem, and one that will cause critical damage if the pendulum swings too far the other way, so I’ve erred on the side of caution.

“Critical damage”? I think so. If Jacks are too powerful, then the specialists get marginalised by a team of über-powerful all-rounders. This harks back to the bland and tedious team structures I was trying to avoid in the first place, so you can see why I am not keen. But it’s even worse than that as it endangers the whole structure of the team balance, and though that may sound overly dramatic I don’t think it is. In my view, if Jacks are too powerful then they make a mess of the whole game.

If we say that Guards and Strikers are 10 out of 10 at their specialist role, and 0 out of 10 at the other one, then what are Jacks? Perhaps they are 6 out of 10 at both at present. Well how good should they be able to get? 7? 8? That’s the absolute limit I’d say, and maybe even that is pushing it. If they become 9/10 and retain their ability to do the other specialism too, then why ever take the specialist? The problem that Buhallin et al have been railing against simply presents itself the other way round and we’re back to square 1, if not back in the box and on the shelf.

The real problem here is one of balance, and the tipping point here is very narrow. It’s further muddied by being predicated on Coach skill a great deal, which makes the mechanical solution tricker to gauge and the whole process of fixing it like doing brain surgery in the dark with mittens on. Running stats is all very well, but doesn’t hold the whole answer. So what can we do?

My plan has been to feel my way slowly with this and make any changes in small steps. For most people, Jacks are fine as they are, and are certainly not an issue in one off games and friendlies. In teams like the Greenmoon Smackers they are fine too, and don’t need any changes because they work exactly as intended. This is part of the problem. How do I not break the bits that work (by far the majority) whilst trying to improve the few sections that need slightly enhancing? Remember that the core of what allows DB to play quickly is simple, universal rules. If we’re changing Jacks it’s not just human ones, but goblins too. We need to fix one without breaking the other.

Remember also that we’re not talking about a broken game here, or even a broken player type, but a fairly subtle detail which most people never seem to notice. I don’t like niggles though, and the Jack is not quite sat perfectly where they should be. I want to correct that slight imperfection.

What I’ve been working on is a handful of additional abilities that Jacks can gain through experience. This seems to address the issue without breaking what already works and also without making them unduly potent and therefore causing a much, much bigger problem than the marginal issue we’re trying to fix.

The core two abilities are to allow the Jack to make a Run when they Slam or Throw, like the specialist. This would be 2 abilities, one for each type of action, and the Slam one would also apply to Running Interference, boosting the potency of that unique Jack ability. Breaking it down like this also enforces what I have envisaged all along which is that Jacks have the most to gain by experience of all the player types, and reward the Coaches that groom these players carefully.

Apologies again for the deception, and thank you all for the comments. I’m sure you’ll let me know what you think below 🙂

This page deals with all the rules questions that you might have about any of the games in the DreadBall series (DreadBall, DreadBall Season 2, Ultimate DreadBall). Note that some answers will be different depending on whether the game is a main arena game or an illegal DreadBall Xtreme match. See the DBX FAQ.

Please read the questions and answers below to see if your query has already been answered. If not, feel free to ask in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

If you have any questions on the game rules, or if you see a post on a forum somewhere that does, then please direct them here so that I can deal with them all in a single document. That way questions get answered consistently and everyone gets the benefit 🙂

20140224 DB FAQ

To keep things tidy, comments and questions will be deleted from this page once they have been included in the FAQ.

As Mantic have sent out the digital rules for DreadBall to all the Kickstarter backers it seems like a good time for me to upload a space for people to ask questions they may have about the DreadBall rules.

The site needs a good tidy up and reorganise, but the FAQ page (which will be along in a moment) will allow you to ask things now.

On the subject of FAQs, I’ve been very remiss in not updating the Pandora one, which I know needs doing more urgently than the others. The challenge is the finding the time to get my head sufficiently back into that mode of thinking, which I need to do so that I answer the questions accurately.

Anyway, new DB FAQ (with nothing in it yet) on the way.

Lee – ask away 🙂