The roots of Henball lie in the ancient game called 'Caid', a primitive form of rugby. Caid used to be played all over the Sword Coast, with teams from the Frozenfar down to Amn competing for large prizes of money. Legend has it that a team of Druids was especially successful at this and remained unbeaten for several seasons until a clever coach from Ruathym exploited a loophole in the Caid rules, namely that nobody ever defined what a Caid ball is supposed to be made of. He substituted the usual ball with a live chicken, enraging the Druid team which subsequently withdrew itself from the game. However, the audience loved the random element that the fleeing chicken brought to the game, and that day Henball was born.
Each team consists of 5 players and 2 reserves. Players are taken from the field when they are badly wounded (or dead), and when a team has no reserves left it will simply have to play with less people. One team wears red, the other a yellow. Only official Henball uniforms are accepted (see note 1), and cloaks, helmets, shields and weapons are not allowed on the field. Both teams are required to bring a coach and a physician.
The game is managed by a referee. The referee keeps an eye on foul play, and starts and ends the match. Mistreating the referee is a capital offense (see note 2). The referee wears a black suit.
There are a few basic moves in Henball: grab a chicken from the field, pass or throw the chicken to another player, and block (or run over) a player. Blocking is permitted on opponents that have the chicken or on anyone trying to stop you when you have the chicken yourself. Blocking players when none of you has the chicken and/or deliberately maiming your opponent are considered foul play.
You score points by running into the goal while holding the chicken. Points can be deducted when foul play is detected or when you accidentally run into your own goal. Matches are generally over when one side reaches 10 points, but the referee can decide to play a shorter or longer match by changing the amount of points needed to win a game.
This game isn't easy to balance and therefore I strongly suggest to play it with specially made level 2 characters. This will force you to pay a lot of attention to what you put in which statistic.
The suit you get gives you a new feat called Player Tool 5. The easiest way to use it is via a quickslot shortcut. On the table below you look up your own status on the right side, and then what your target is at the top. For instance: I have the ball, and I use the feat on somebody in my own team who is far away. As you can see I will throw the ball to that player. In the second table you can see the mechanics involved.
| Target is in my team | Target is opponent | Target is referee | Target is ball | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close By | Far Away | Close By | Far Away | Close By | Far Away | Close By | Far Away | |
| I have the ball | Pass Ball | Throw Ball | Run Down | Throw Ball | Pass Ball | Throw Ball | - | - |
| Target has the ball | - | Run To | Block | Run To | - | Walk To | - | - |
| None of us has the ball | - | Run To | Foul Play | Run To | - | Walk To | Pick up ball | Move to ball |
These are the basic actions that you can perform in Henball. The game isn't ready yet and if people like the concept I'll add special moves and stuff like that.
| Action | Die | Modifiers | Fumble | Result needed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pick up ball | d10 | +Wis Player | - | 2+ | - |
| Block/Run Down | d10 |
+ Str Player - Str Target |
2- | 6+ |
On a block your target will suffer ( Roll - 6 - Con mod ) wounds. When you fumble you will suffer ( 2 - Roll - Con mod ) wounds. The blocked player will go down for 1 + wounds rounds and lose the ball if it is in his/her possession. |
| Pass/Throw Ball | d10 |
+ Dex Target + Int Player |
- | 9+ |
If you are close by your target you will pass the ball, which can't be intercepted. If the ball is thrown any opponent standing between you and your target automatically tries to intercept. |
| Intercept Ball | d10 |
+ Dex Interceptor - Int Player |
- | 7+ | See above. |
| Foul Play | - |
- |
- | - | Not in use yet. I guess this will involve a Cha based test to see if the referee gets a message that you have been fouling. |
Note 1: This rule was implemented after a season that saw the debut of the Dark Dancers, an all female, all Drow team that played with just a yellow or red headband. This proved to be such a distraction for the other teams that the Dark Dancers won the season with an unprecedented score of 147 points. The only team that managed to score some goals against the Dark Dancers were the otherwise spectacularly unsuccessful Blind Raiders. The Dark Dancers are also known to be one of the few teams that never played an arena that wasn't sold out.
Note 2: This rule was implemented after a dispute between Bugha the Butcher of the Luskan Boys and referee Foppy Applebottom which ended in the the latter being drastically reduced in size and lifespan. The Henball Referee Union then demanded that any player who physically abuses the referee would be executed on the spot. This demand was deemed to be excessive by the Henball Players League and therefore rejected, leading to a three season strike by the referees. Those three seasons are still known as "The Bloodshed" because of the brutality players displayed in the absence of a referee. The League was eventually forced to meet the Union's demands: they could no longer organise a match because too many players had been killed or maimed.