Elite Athlete Background for 5E

Moving along in knocking out some basic rules that will eventually allow me to play with toy soldiers the way I imagine...

My take on 5E backgrounds, btw, isn't necessarily "by the book"...even though RAW allow for a lot of customization on this front anyway.  The 5E standard seems to be for a background to provide two skill proficiencies, two tool or language proficiencies, a package of starting gear, one bonus feature that enhances roleplay, and tables for generating one or more personality traits, bonds, ideals, and flaws.

I just want to generate backgrounds that are somewhat balanced with this but don't get bogged down in tiny details.  Now, I also understand that the tables for bonds, flaws, etc. are probably what many people like the most about 5E backgrounds - and they're certainly the part that takes the most work to create - but those are details that can easily be trimmed.  And while I LOVE that rules emphasizing roleplaying are so prominent in the 5E core, I have found that all of these character details are more than I actually feel like processing before playing a character for the first time.  Maybe if my group was a "one campaign for years" crew, I would appreciate taking the time to get to know each character using these tables.  However, we jump around enough that I prefer to just allow some character personality traits to emerge in gameplay.

Anyway, all of that is to say...here's my really simple Elite Athlete background to use when playing with toy soldiers:

Elite Athlete

Sport:  ________

Skill Proficiencies:  Athletics + your choice of Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Insight, Perception, Deception, Intimidation, or Performance (based upon the specific sport and position)

Additional Proficiencies:  Weights, ________ Equipment

Feature:  Legend in This Town - You are well-known in the region(s) in which you regularly played while achieving the greatest successes of your sports career.  In this area (which can vary greatly in size depending upon the nature of the competition and the level of success), you are treated as a high-level celebrity, gaining access to anything available for a price to the general public and to many things unavailable even for money.  This includes entrance to clubs, invitations to major events, and the audience of the region's power brokers if you so desire.  Fans and admirers will often offer to buy you drinks in local establishments.  They will also request a lot of photos, autographs, and moments of your time to share their appreciation for you.

From 3DJoes.com...

In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of...

The Sun Belt Conference baseball tourney would be set to begin in Montgomery, AL, on May 19.  I thought my new baseball scorebook was going to be delivered today...which would be a key piece toward getting my own version of it using a simple, homebrewed tabletop baseball simulation underway.  It didn't arrive yet, but the more key piece is actually getting all the teams in the league statted out, anyway, and I'm still dragging on that.  I do think I've nailed down most of the final details to make the game as fully playable as I expect it to be, though.

For documentation's sake, the new rules are below.  As a recap from my last post (sample player stats can be found in that blog entry)...

For each at-bat, just roll a d100.  If the result is 1-50, check the pitcher’s table; if it’s greater than 50, check the batter’s. Finally, if the result is “In Play”, roll another d100, check it on the hitter’s “In Play” table, and resolve the play.

New additions:

1.  Stolen Bases - Every player now gets a Speed rating of A, B, or C.  For now, I'm just using a quick-and-dirty method to determine this based on their number of stolen bases per trip to first.  Ratings A-B-C successfully steal on d% rolls of 75-65-55.

2.  Sacrifice Bunts - If the at-bat's first d100 roll is a HR or "In Play," the sacrifice bunt has successfully moved the runner(s) over.

3.  Sacrifice Flies - Keeping this one really simple.  Runners score from third on any outs to the outfield.

4.  The Big d100 Table of Randomness - This is the one that's going to take me a little more time to work out, as well.  I want a big table to roll on whenever a 100 is rolled in the game, for somewhat rare events like balks, weather delays, and fights.  I'll post it when it's done!

I'm also thinking I need to get something in there to model pitchers' tiring out.  Maybe I should just have a consistent 6-2-1 pattern for innings pitched by the starter and relievers...?  Or even 6-1-1-1...?  One of those could work...

Once again, everybody stay safe out there!

Revisiting an obsession of 13-year-old me

Strange times lead to strange activities.

Ah...who am I kidding, this isn't a strange activity for me at all.  I've mentioned before that I enjoy following sports (especially those of my Georgia State Panthers) and, like pretty much everything I enjoy, I occasionally follow its threads to their obsessive and geeky ends.  (That's shown up in, say, the 1d6-skill-system-based football microgame I worked on way back when.)

So, you may have noticed that sports aren't really going on right now (although I saw a rumor that maybe they'll be playing baseball in South Korea...?).  In a strange way, it's almost seemed to me like a tiny contribution I could make to the world, to fill that void in a very small way that I can control.  In thinking about this, I've drifted back to one of the first games I ever put real effort into designing, a baseball simulation that I worked on back when I was around 13 (the reason I bought my first-ever "funny dice").

This isn't a complicated "simulation" at all.  It's just a d100-based resolution system in which the results of each at-bat can be determined by one or two rolls.  It uses a "50-50 method" of following the pitcher's stats half of the time and the batter's the other half...which I found out in reading around lately is a somewhat controversial paradigm among those who enjoy tabletop baseball games like Strat-O-Matic (which might have to be a post for another time).

For each at-bat, just roll a d100.  If the result is 1-50, check the pitcher’s table; if it’s greater than 50, check the batter’s. Finally, if the result is “In Play”, roll another d100, check it on the hitter’s “In Play” table, and resolve the play.

Image by Cindy Jones from Pixabay.

Some examples with a GSU batter and pitcher:

Merejo, Elian
GSU – LF
---
98-100 HR
87-97 BB
78-86 K
51-77 In Play
---
In Play
86-100 2B
41-85 1B
36-40 OUT (fly 9)
31-35 OUT (fly 8)
26-30 OUT (fly 7)
24-25 OUT (fly 6)
21-23 OUT (ground 6)
19-20 OUT (fly 5)
16-18 OUT (ground 5)
14-15 OUT (fly 4)
11-13 OUT (ground 4)
9-10 OUT (fly 3)
6-8 OUT (ground 3)
4-5 OUT (fly 1)
1-3 OUT (ground 1)


Watson, Ryan
GSU – P
---
19-50 In Play
16-18 HR
12-15 BB
11 HBP
1-10 K


Results:

First AB: First roll is a 9. Check Watson’s table...Strikeout.

Second AB: First roll is a 61. Check Merejo’s table...In Play. Second roll is a 22...ground out to SS.

Third AB: First roll is an 89. Check Merejo’s table...Walk.


I'm just working out some rules for stealing bases and need to write out what I see as the most reasonable way to resolve baserunners' advancing in different situations, and I think it'll be complete enough for now.  I have a spreadsheet going that turns stats into player tables pretty easily, and my plan is to play out the conference championship tournament that we won't end up getting this year.

More to come.

Stay safe out there!