Fan Resource: Alternate Duckbob Rules

Duckbob

Duckbob is the game to which Duck are addicted that is described in The Quester's Guide to Duck. Full rules for playing it as a tabletop game are provided the Quester's Guide, as well as a few additional or optional rules. If you've played Duckbob, you might like to try some of these variations on the standard rules. Yes, we have an set of in-house teams, most of which are called "The Swamprats", for reasons that go back a long way.

Strike Rank/Turn Sequence

In the rules, Strike Rank is rolled once and kept for the whole game. This massively helps speed up play as turns rush past, but it is perfectly possible to re-roll Strike Rank each turn. If you wish to vary the Strike Rank, but do not wish to go through the overhead of re-rolling every turn, try some or all of the following:

• reroll Strike Rank/Turn Sequence at every Free Throw or Restart;
• reroll Strike Rank/Turn Sequence after a basket has been scored;
• set the character taking the Free Throw/Restart to be the highest in turn sequence, with everyone else below him (this can make for some sneaky moves with players intentionally throwing the bob out-of-bounds).

Quick & Simple Damage & Ducks

Duckbob Hit Point Table
SIZ+CON	HP
11-15	7
16-20	9
21-25	11
26-30	13
31-35	15

This option speeds up and simplifies attacks, damage and player creation but deviates from the core RuneQuest combat mechanics.

Hit Locations and Hit Points
Instead of individual hit locations and armour points, each player has a single 'hit location' from which all damage ('Dam') is taken. This is given HP equal to the total of the normal Chest and Arm HP (provided in the table to the right for each total of SIZ+CON). When a player reaches 0 damage he is unconscious and must be taken off the pond but can be healed at a rate of 1 point per round. Whenever a player is attacked (see the core Duckbob rules) and the damage exceeds his AP, roll d20 as normal: on a roll of 1-12 or 19-20 a Penalty and Free Throw is awarded as the hit Duck has been hurt somewhere on his body or head. On a normal hit, Dam inflicted is reduced by the AP. On a critical hit or successful Precise Attack, damage bypasses armour completely.

Weapon Damage
Each weapon does a fixed amount of damage equal to its average damage plus the player's average Damage Modifier, referred to as 'Dam'. A paddle, at 1d6+1 damage, does 3 Dam and a Strong Duck with a paddle, 4 Dam. Unarmed Dam for most Duck is 1, unless the Duck is Strong, in which case it is 2 Dam.

Armour Points
All Duckbob players wear normal Duckbob protective gear that provides them with 2AP.

Building Teams

Duckbob Team Building Table
Mod	Cost	Effect
Average	0	CA: 3, SR: +14, STR 10 (Bat range 10, Throw range 5), DEX 15, HP: 11, plus +100 skill points to allocate on top of base skills.
Armoured	0	Provides +1 AP of protection but Boating, Catch, Swim, Dodge, Bat and Throw skills are reduced by 5% each.
Fast	2	The player, normally a Bob-Chaser, has 4 CA and +2 SR
Muscular	1	The Duck has +1 Bat range and +1 Throw range (equivalent to STR 11)
Quick	1	The Duck has +2 SR (equivalent to DEX 16-18 and INT 14-16)
Strong	2	The player, normally a Basket-Keeper, has +2 Bat range, +1 Throw range and does 1 extra Dam on a hit (equivalent to STR 12 and SIZ 10-12)
Tough	1	The Duck has +2 Hit Points

All the members of Duckbob team have the same base skills as given in the Duckbob rules, and each has 100 additional skill points, allocated as described in The Quester's Guide to Duck. In addition, each team can make one player a Star and one or two Veterans (see below).

Teams also have up to five fixed Player Modifications ('Mods') that they can allocate to any player they wish. Duckbob players are assumed to be more sporty than other Duck. The base (Average) attributes for Duckbob players, the Mods and the cost of each Mod (for example, a Fast Duck counts as taking 2 Mods), are given in the Duckbob Team Building Table.

Stars have +2 HP, +1 SR, and +30 skill points (+130 total) whilst Veterans have -2 hit points (9 average), -1 to their SR, Bat range and Throw range, and +30 skill points (+130 total).

The Duckbob Player Profession

Due to lack of space, the Duckbob Player profession was left out of the professions table. For an amusing twist on the standard Duck, do try the following. It's a little more complex than normal professions, in that multiple increases of +5% can be applied to the same skill, or even to a skill already taken (for example, if +10% Throwing is taken, a further +5% or even +10% can also be taken as part of the "pick 5" option. Note also that due to the specialisation, the skills do not add up to 50%.

Profession	Basic Skills	Advanced Skills
Duckbob Player	Boating +10%, Athletics (Catch) +10% Pick one at +10% from*: Staff [Strike (Paddle)/Bat], Throwing, Unarmed [or Martial Arts] Pick five at +5% from: Athletics (Swim), Disguise, Dodge, Resilience, Staff, Throwing	As part of +10% options: Martial Arts [or +10% Unarmed Strike]

If you wish to contribute more, or want to give details of your own games, do let us know (see our Contact Page for details).

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Page Updated 7^th August 2007 Halfbat Copyright © Sceaptune Games