Sportsball

Translated from Fa Common the game of Sportsball loses something in translation to other common languages. Literally translating the phrase "The game that owns a ball" is somewhat clumsy therefore the shortened moniker of "Sport's Ball" to indicate the ball is posessed by the sport, but then further shortened to the moniker that it is most commonly known as, Sportsball. The term Sportsball is use in short hand when talking about the game outside of the Fa Empire.

History

It is believed by many in the Fa Empire that Sportsball was originally created by Fa Clan archers that wished to practice their aim and compete to see who was the best shot with a bow. The original Sport's Ball pitch was neither a game, nor did it use a ball. In the beginning two competing teams would stand on opposite sides of a field and fire arrows at a target owned by an opposing team.
How the integration of a ball occurred is lost to history, however, it is known that early versions of Sportsball were played with a variety of different balls made of different substances. These included: Cork, Rubber, Leather and even stone.

Execution

General rules

The current rules of Sport's Ball are officially recorded in the Hall of Imperial Records in the capital city of Kylia. The rules are occasionally revised by the Minister of Culture however the last major revision was made more than forty cycles ago when the weight of the ball was standardized across the league.

Playing Different Positions

• Teams must switch players to different positions after each round point.
• When the offense steps up to serve, the players must be in different positions than they were when they last played offense. The other team does not have to switch. (To track this, the players of Doused & Dangerous used colored wooden markers, passed between their members. Orange was used to signify the server, green the defender, and yellow the striker.)

Two Drops

The offense is given two drops before they must pass the ball over to the defense. Any of the following are considered “drops:”

• If a server fails to serve the ball properly
• If the offense fails to pass the ball
• If the ball is blocked during a pass
• If the offense misses a shot on goal
• If the ball drops during a volley

Fouls

There are several transgressions that can earn a player a foul. When a foul is earned the offending player is put in penalty, off of the field until the end of the current volley. Or the end of the next volley depending on how the foul is committed. The following criteria are considered fouls:

• Slandering the Emperor General
• Magic use of any kind confirmed by the referee. This can include seeing a spell cast, changing shape, manipulating the ball, another player or targets in any way.
• Intentionally injuring a player on the opposing team
• Un-Sportsball like conduct such as attacking the referee, insulting another player or acting with cruelty.
• Flying above the pitch
• Burrowing beneath the pitch
• Damaging the pitch or any target
• Serving from more than ten feet in front of your own target
• Moving out of bounds
• Moving your own or your opponents target

Winning

The match ends when one team reaches a predetermined amount of points, typically 10.

Order of Play (For D&D 5e)

• (The game is best visualized as a combination of volleyball and tennis mixed with archery.)
• Players roll initiative at the beginning of each game and play operates on the initiative order for the duration of the game.
• The server begins by making an athletics or acrobatics check. On a 10 or higher, the ball is in play. The server can choose to make a shot on goal or pass to the striker. On a failed check, the server has used one drop and tries once again. Failing that second time counts as two drops and passes the serve to the other team.
• Once the ball is in play, it passes first to the striker. If the striker is in position they can make a shot on the goal.
• A shot on goal is a DC 10. The person taking the shot makes an athletics or acrobatics check.
• When there is a shot on goal, any defender in line between the person taking the shot and the target makes an acrobatics or athletics check to block the ball from hitting the target. The DC for blocking the shot being the result of the offense’s roll (i.e. the serve or the previous strike).
• If a shot is blocked, and the resulting block roll is 10 or more than the shot taken by the offence the defending team member who stopped the shot intercepts the ball.

Missing a shot or pass

• Should any shot on the goal or pass to a teammate fail to exceed a 10, the shot is considered dropped and the volley is dead. The ball is passed back to the team’s server, who can restart their round if they have a remaining drop.

• Should both serves fail, both drops are used and the serve passes to the defending team.

Defense

• A defender rolls their athletics or acrobatics against the offensive player’s shot on the target. If a defender succeeds on their athletics or acrobatics check, the shot is blocked and the ball is dropped - ending the volley.

• In the event of a tie in the offensive and defensive rolls, the ball falls to the ground using a drop from the offense, ending the volley. The ball returns to the offense if they have a remaining drop.

• When the defender successfully defends a serve or strike, beating the previous roll by 10 or more, they immediately take possession of the ball.

Blocking a pass and Interceptions

• In the event a defending player is between two offensive players during a pass they can try to block the pass or intercept the ball. The player making the pass rolls athletics or acrobatics and the defender rolls their own athletics or acrobatics against the offense. If the defender wins the roll-off, the pass is blocked and the dead ball counts as one drop.
• The presence of a defender, in line between two offensive players increases the difficulty of the pass according to the rules of cover in D&D 5e.

• If the defender wins the roll-off by ten or more they intercept the ball and become the offense. If they miss a shot or drop the ball they retain possession of the ball and still have the standard two drops.

Scoring Points

• Should the defender ever fail their athletics/acrobatics check and let the shot hit the target, the other team rolls 1d6 to determine which part of the target they hit. Shots can be made with hands or feet.

• When the offense makes a shot with their hands the DC for the shot is 10. Scoring is applied as such: On a 1 or 2, they hit the outer ring, earning 1 point; 3 or 4 hits the middle ring, earning 2 points; and a 5 or 6 strikes the center, earning 3 points.
• When the offense makes a shot with their feet the DC for the shot increases from 10 to 16. Scoring is applied as such: On a 1 or 2, they hit the outer ring, earning 2 point; 3 or 4 hits the middle ring, earning 4 points; and a 5 or 6 strikes the center, earning 6 points.

Throwing another player

• Players are allowed to grapple each other and knock each other over as long as there is no intent to injure.

• Players in adjacent squares make an opposed roll. The defender chooses athletics or acrobatics and the attacker must meet or beat their roll in the same skill.

• If an attacker succeeds, they can knock the target prone, preventing them from being able to defend. The attacker can also move their target five feet in any direction including trading places with them.

Modified Rule battlemat

• Before the beginning of each round, players can position themselves anywhere on their side of the pitch.

• The Servers must serve the ball from no further than 10 feet forward of their target.

• The Sportsball has an effective range of 30’ and disadvantage at 35’ or greater.

• The sportsball target has an AC of 10 when a shot is taken with hands and 16 when a shot is taken with feet.

• Hitting the target operates with the following RAW for cover in 5e.
• If the striker has a clear line of sight to the target, the target has no cover.

• If one opposing player is in the way, the target has half cover (+2 to defending roll).

• If two defending players are in the way, the target has ¾ cover (+5 to defending roll)

• If three defending players are in the way, the target has total cover (target cannot be hit by the ball).

• The target can be hit with a kicked shot (DC 16) or a thrown shot (DC 10). The additional DC to each shot is  calculated depending on the amount of cover applied by defenders.

Components and tools

The Pitch

• A regulation Sport's Ball pitch (Battlemat Size) is 60' x 25'. However, the length and width of the field can be reduced to accommodate informal matches. 
• The pitch surface is typically constructed of packed dirt or stone with painted lines on the surface, illustrating the borders of the pitch and the serving lines.

The Targets

• Sport's Ball targets are four feet wife circular fabric sacks and filled with straw or other dried vegetation. 
• The circular face of the target is painted with three concentric rings of decreasing size settled within one another.
• The targets are placed in the center of the field 60 feet apart from one another.
• The outer ring of the target is typically white, the mid ring is typically yellow and the center ring is usually red. Colors are not standardized and can change from pitch to pitch.

The Ball

• The ball used in the game is standardized in size to twelve ounces and bound in a shark leather sack.
• The ball is filled with dried rice grains. While any rice grains are allowed, rice grains grown in the northern coast of the Po Lai Straight are the most commonly used as filling due to their density and strength of grain structure. 

Participants

Positions on a Sportsball pitch are made up of an offensive and defensive side. While it is possible to play the game with one or two people on offense and defense, the most common arrangement of a Sportsball team has three players on each side.

The positions on the offense usually are:
Server - this player serves the ball from the offense to the striker and stays back to defend the home target. They can also take a shot on the opposing team’s target but this is uncommon.
Striker - This person is usually the player who takes the shot on the goal and must be passed to first once the ball is served unless the server chooses to take a shot.
Midfielder - When there are enough players the midfielder is the player who positions themselves to either stay back and defend their target or assists the striker in setting up a shot on the defending team’s target.

The positions for defense usually all take the same role:
Defender: The defending team’s players are all defenders and can position themselves anywhere they want within their side of the pitch at the beginning of play.

Primary Related Location

Po Lai Straight

Important Locations

• Kylia

Related Organizations

• Fa Empire

Related Ethnicities

• Fa Human