BLOOD BOWL & ILLEGAL DRUGS
By Mats Berglund
(thanks to the good folks at YBBL for the rules)
In the late 2480's, when Blood Bowl and the NAF were flourishing, huge amounts of money was involved in the game. Winning games was very lucrative, losing them on the other hand, could lead to less money in the treasury and getting behind more successful teams. Many players at this time was paid for their efforts on the pitch and some players who were more greedy than others realised that if there was a smart way to cheat, they could be rich faster.
The dark elf blitzer Jarom Jager is believed to be the first player who tried illegal drugs. His team The Mistmoor Thorax Thorns won three games in a row and clenched the last play off position in the NAF, Jager, who had inflicted eleven casualties, was rewarded with the sum of 55,000 gold crowns. Unfortunately, The Mistmoor Thorax Thorns never reached the semi's as Jarom Jager was found dead on his hotel room just before a crucial game against the Reikland Reavers. The Thorns stood no chance without their star blitzer.
The next season several players began using illegal drugs. One of them was the skaven gutter runner K'nikh Verminov who, after scoring five touchdowns in one game, was exposed as a drug-user. The NAF and the media was appalled by the event, some coaches though, were delighted. The NAF began drug-testing players while coaches hired alchemists to make designer drugs which were harder to find. Players were payed to take drugs, or simply just drugged by their teams and the game reached its highest standard ever!
First after a couple of years the side-effects showed up. Former Blood Bowl players collapsed at ceremonies and tv-shows and after commentator and ex-player Hans Düggdorf died during a live transmission of a charity game between The Darkside Cowboys and The Chaos Allstars, players refused to continue taking drugs. A few went on but were hunted down one after another by NAF officials or revealed by team-mates and sent off as galley slaves in the Black Gulf.
Several years afterwards some players has begun using steroids and other illegal drugs again. They are payed by their coaches to do it and take them before important games.
Using steroids and dope
There are two classes of illegal drugs:
Steroids cost 20,000 per player and game and increases a player's strength by 1 for that match only.
Dope cost 20,000 per player and game and increases a player's movement allowance by 1 for that match only.
There's always a risk that drugged players are exposed. Roll two dice after each half, on a roll of 10 or more the player is revealed as a cheater and must miss the rest of the match AND the next one too. In addition, an exposed player may NOT receive a MVP.
Whether or not a player succeeds in hiding his secret he must make a test for side-effects after each game he uses drugs. Roll one die, if the score is 1 consult the table below.
Its possible to give a player both dope and steroids. The penalty roll is unchanged and is only rolled once after each half, but the player must check for side-effects twice.
| D6 | Side effects | |
| Steroids | Dope | |
| 1 | Migraine, miss next game | Exhaustion, miss next game |
| 2 | Paranoia, miss next game | High pulse, miss next game |
| 3 | Abnormal hair growth, miss next game | Low blood pressure, miss next game |
| 4 | Agressive against team-mates, miss next game | Uneven breathing, miss next game |
| 5 | Returning paranoia or migraine, niggling injury | Lovered immune response, niggling injury |
| 6 | Schizophrenia, player obtains Wild Animal skill permanently. | Bad asthma, -1 MA permanent |
Restrictions:
Undead: only ghouls will feel any effects of drugs.
Big Guys: of the big guy list, only the following are able to use drugs: Harpies and Troglodytes. Other Big Guys are either morally disinclined to use them, or would maim any doctor trying to stick the needle in.
Little 'Uns: Little guys are more prone to the bad effects of drugs, due to their tiny metabolism. They suffer side effects on a roll of 1-3.
Vampires: Vampires themselves are not affected by illegal drugs (tho the thralls and ghouls are)
Brettonians: Brettonian Knights would never think of using drugs to enhance their game (tho the peasants try from time to time)