F is for Fluff

Introduction

I'm going to start with the Fluff criteria, as it's my most frequent critique of Stunty Leeg proposals. This is because it was the guiding principle of Stunty Leeg expansion. Any new team needed to be consistent with the Blood Bowl/Warhammer Fantasy universe. Any concept that didn't meet this criteria was automatically rejected by MrKlipp?. Some coaches don't think I'm being constructive when I criticize their incompatible background, some of which have obviously been worked on for a fair bit of time. I'd wager that most of them aren't too familiar with the Blood Bowl background and therefore can't truly understand why I critique their ideas base on Fluff. So before you go designing a Stunty Leeg Proposal, I strongly suggest you do a bit of research on the game universe you are trying to design for. To do anything less would be disrespectful.

Blood Bowl Universe and Warhammer Fantasy Relationship

Stunty Leeg is set in the Blood Bowl Universe. This is a parallel universe to the Warhammer Fantasy Universe created by Games Workshop. This is part of the appeal of Blood Bowl and the Stunty Leeg. To ignore the background that the game is set in dilutes the very background that is one of the best parts of Blood Bowl.

Stunty Leeg Vision

Stunty Leeg was built on a vision. A vision of respecting the Games Workshop Universe (Blood Bowl & Warhammer Fantasy). Mr-Klipp (the original head of Stunty Leeg) thought that we had mined the Warhammer Universe for all of the viable options after we had designed a half-dozen Stunty Leeg rosters. He was happy with Stunty Leeg as it stood then. He didn't want to expand unless a new team fit into the established universe. With great care to that vision and with a rather thorough examination of the Warhammer Background a few more teams were added to the Leeg. These teams all have a very Games Worshop-ish background. This took a lot of time and effort, but I gladly gave my time to create a coherent and consistent background for Stunty Leeg. The whole Leeg works in it's entirity. Adding one completely out of place team pollutes the whole entire Leeg. Please respect the Vision that guided the Stunty Leeg through it's rather remarkable growth. Please respect all the work that has been put into this Leeg. Please take the time to learn about the background that the game is based upon before making a proposal. Please design teams that are Fluffy, Unique and offer a Novel playing style and not just one of the three. Even if you don't care about the background, please respect those who enjoy it and think it is a very important part of the gaming experience. And lastly, please don't make me grow to dislike something in which I have invested so much time, energy and creativity.

Mechanics Mesh with Background

I have a feeling some of you are drawn to Blood Bowl just for its game mechanics. I agree that it's a great strategy game. But it's a great strategy game set in a rich universe. A Troll Slayers has Dauntless, Frenzy and a lower AV than other dwarves not because that would be a great way to balance dwarves but because Troll Slayers are reknown for taking on big monsters, are famous for their battle frenzy and have a deathwish and thus don't wear much armour. You could do a systematic analysis of this sort for every player in Blood Bowl. It proves you can create reasonably balanced rosters that are almost solely based on the Blood Bowl Universe's background. Great care and an immense amount of hours was spent designing Stunty Leeg in a similar manner. I strongly advise you not to design a team around a set of skills and then try to retroactively design some fluff around it. I've seen too many examples of this. It tends to create a roster with no coherent feel and with an incredibly weak background.

Do's and Don'ts of Stunty Leeg Fluff

• Don't try to mix fantasy stuff from someone else's universe (see Smurfs for an example).
• Do mine the depths of the Blood Bowl Universe (see Gnomes)
• Don't disregard the established fantasy background (see Elves and Protoelves).
• Do expand on the existing background (see Fairies)
• Don't create a team that doesn't fit into the Blood Bowl paradigm (see non-humanoid Jellies).
• Do bend them a bit (see Squig Herders)
• Don't just add -ling to an existing Blood Bowl team (see Deadlings)
• Do expand on an existing races background (see Fairies)

These 4 Don'ts dilute the background and make me cringe. They make a Stunty Leeg Proposal look incredibly out of place. They only the harm consistent background that the Stunty Leeg has thrived on. While the 4 Do's show creativity and respect, which makes me smile from seeing a well thought-out Stunty Leeg Proposal.

Fluff Examples from Current Teams

• Goblins. The baseline Stunty Leeg Team. It fits the background perfectly because it is taken directly from the Blood Bowl game.
• Goblin Cheaters. A logical extension from the Blood Bowl background. Goblins were reknown for using secret weapons. It only makes sense that the most extreme teams would migrate to the mayhemful Stunty Leeg.
• Nurglings. A simple expansion of the Chaos Background. Small daemons already existed in the Warhammer Fantasy Universe. It was really easy to add them to an already existing Big Guy Daemon (the Beast of Nurgle) to create a Stunty Leeg team.
• Fairies. An expansion of the Wood Elf team background. Takes a basic Wood Elven player (Treemen) and adds some player created positionals (Brownies, Sprites & Leprechauns) that are hinted at in the Warhammer Fantasy background. Note: I'd have renamed the team Fey to be even more consistent with the latest WHFB Army Book)
• Gnome. This team goes far into the past and resurrects an old team. A gnome team was referred to in the 2nd editon Blood Bowl Background (and in the old Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay). This brief mention was given a suitably mayhemful expansion with the creation of the Daredevil Cult modelled on their dwarven cousins Trollslayer Cult. The TNT Event expands on it further.
• Pygmy. This team demonstrates the level of devotion to background that has guided the Stunty Leeg creators. Pygmies made an appearance in the old (2nd?) edition Warhammer Fantasy Armies book. The Slann also appeared in this edition in a version that's very different from the present 'big toad" incarnation (with Lizardmen and Skinks). They had totemic warriors. As they both are situated in the Southlands today, the totemic warrior concept was ported to their geographical cousins the Pygmies.
• Strigoyans. Stunty vampires were the origianl concept for this team. But "Vamplings" just didn't work as a name. It demonstrated the dreaded "-ling" syndrome (taking an existing team and just add "ling"). But after exploring the Warhammer Fantasy background, it was easily discovered that the Strigoyan vampires were just mad and monstrous enough to prey exclusively on stunties and thus were born the Strigoyan team. Note: Thrallings were originally used because the Thrall skill did not exist and the position needed "thrall" in the name for OFAB to work. And I thought we were going to use Strigoyan Accolyte for the Vamplings. I'd probably change Thrallings to Strigoyan Sacrifices today.

Useful Links

• Wiki Article on Blood Bowl
• Specialist's Blood Bowl Site
• Blood Bowl Museum
• GW's Warhammer Fantasy Page
• History of Blood Bowl

Return to EvolveToAnarchism's Guide to Designing Stunty Leeg Teams

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