Goblin Hockey




The most violent ball game this side of skull gorge!



The game:

You see four thickset Goblins kitted out in full body armour, wearing heavy steel helmets and wielding fierce battle clubs, on a rough walled-in field. Two humans participate from the safety of the sidelines, each controlling a team of two Goblins.
A baby gelatinous cube is brought out onto the field (still snug in its egg) and placed at the centre of the rough pitch. The game is set. The Goblins wait with baited breath for the egg to 'hatch', for the violence to begin.
The crowd hushes and every nervous clink of armour can be heard. Suddenly a burst of magical power thunders from the hand of the referee and the egg is smashed open, the crowd erupts, the 'ball' bursts out, and the Goblins make a mad dash for the centre. Frantically attacking the infant gelatinous horror (the 'ball' of this game),
the Goblins desperately force it towards their opponents' goal.
But the Goblins attack not only the 'ball'. In Goblin Hockey anything goes! Shoves, pushes and full blooded blows are traded between the players, while the human controllers utilise specially sanctioned magical powers from the sidelines, granting the Goblins bursts of speed or power. The humans magically throw the opposition out of the path of the ball, instantly teleport their Goblins around the field... and use many others extraordinary tactics.
All in the name of entertainment; each round of this violent game continues until the 'ball' is in one of the goals, or until both of the Goblins on one team lie unconscious on the field.
That's Goblin Hockey!


Set up:

  • Click here to download the game board and print it out for yourself. Print out the four pages, trim off any white edges and stick the board together. I have used a combination of clear contact and duct tape to make a fold-out board. Click here to see an overview of what the board looks like. Here you can see how the board can be assembled from the top and from the bottom.

  • Click here to download a printable version of these rules.
  • Each player takes three dice. One 20 sided 'battle die' (d20) and two 6 sided 'power dice' (d6). If you don't already have some, d20s can be bought from just about any gaming shop on the planet.
  • Each player chooses two medium miniatures, and places them within the goal squares at their end. Any sort of tokens can be used to represent the Goblins, drafts or chess pieces work well.
  • One more token is placed at the centre of the board to represent the baby gelatinous 'ball'. You may chose to use a clear d6, or for fun you could use a jelly lolly (each time a goal is scored the goal scorer gets to eat the ball).
  • Each player takes one 'Magic Card' from the deck. Click here to download a pack of Magic Cards and print them out for yourself. Print out the pages and cut out each of the cards to make a pack.



To start the game:

  • As the egg suddenly hatches (to see who gets to act first) the two players
    each roll all their dice. The player with the highest total number showing
    gets to go first.

  • This player gets to move his Goblins first. The Goblins must leave the goal
    area on their first turn and may not return again until a goal is scored.


On each player's turn, he may command first one, then the other Goblin to one of the following actions:

  1. Move up to six squares and then attack (the ball or another player).

  2. Attack first and then move up to six squares.
  3. Move up to nine squares.
  4. Do nothing.
  • During his turn, a player may use a Magic Card, obeying the instructions on the card and then returning it to the bottom of the Magic Card Deck.

  • Before any attack role is made, the play must state which Goblin is making the attack and who she is attacking.
  • One Goblin must have his complete turn before the other Goblin may act. Moves and attacks may not be interspersed.


Moving:

  • The player may command his Goblins to move horizontally, vertically or
    diagonally.

  • When moving horizontally or vertically, you count each square as one.



  • Goblins may also move diagonally with each second diagonal step counting as two. (Moving diagonally the player must count 1, 23, 4, 56).



  • You can intersperse straight and diagonal moves, but every second diagonal move still counts as two.



  • Goblins may not move diagonally around a corner (that is through a wall), but must make two steps around the edge of the wall.
  • Goblins may move through a square occupied by his team mate, but not through an opponent's square, or the square occupied by the ball.
  • A Goblin must end his movement in an empty square.
  • Sometimes when a Goblin moves close past an opponent, their opponent will get a free attack against them. More on this later.


Attacking the ball:

  • When a Goblin is next to the ball, he may attempt to hit the ball across the field with his weapon, hands, feet, head, chest or any other part of his body.

  • The player rolls his battle die (d20) and the two power dice (d6) - all at once.
  • If the player rolls a 1O or better on the battle die, the Goblin makes good contact with the ball, hitting it across the field.
  • The player must now choose to move the ball the distance showing on either of the two power dice. For example if the player has rolled a 6 and a 3 (on the power dice), the ball may move (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) 6 or 3 spaces. Remember to count every second diagonal step as 2.
  • Unlike a Goblin, the ball cannot turn during it movement.
  • Sometimes if the ball rolls through the squares next to a Goblin, he may get
    a free hit of the ball (more on this later).

  • The ball may move through squares occupied by friendly Goblins, and even through the Goblin who hit the ball in the first place. This can be a way of denying opponents free hits on the ball (but more of that later).


    Attacking another Goblin:

  • The Goblins may also attack each other instead of the ball.
  • The player rolls all the dice as per normal.
  • A 10 means the Goblin has landed a solid blow on his opponent. If a six appears on either of the power dice, the Goblin's opponent is knocked out cold.
  • This poor Goblin will now lie unconscious on the field until revived by his team mate.
  • To revive a team mate, a Goblin must move over to be next to his poor friend and use up his attack, slapping his unconscious friend back to reality. No roll is required to successfully revive a teammate.
  • The freshly revived Goblin uses his turn to struggle to his feet and get his bearings, and may then rejoin the game at his next turn.



Critical hits:

  • If the player rolls a 20 on an attack roll against the ball or another Goblin (not including free attacks), the Goblin making the attack gets an extra turn.

  • The first attack roll is completely resolved and if the Goblin hasn't moved yet he then moves.
  • After the Goblin's normal turn is complete, he may then take a whole extra
    normal turn.

  • If this extra turn includes an attack roll that is also a 20, then the very lucky Goblin will get another extra free turn...
  • A Goblin can NOT score a critical hit on a Free Attack roll (explained below). So a 20 rolled for a free attack is just counted as a normal hit.


Fumbles:

  • If the player rolls a 1 while the Goblin is attacking the ball, the Goblin botches his club swing badly.

  • The opposing player uses the dice already rolled by the fumbling player, but HE instead gets to choose which power die to use and also the direction of the ball's movement (as if it was his own Goblin who hit the ball).
  • If the player rolls a 1 while the Goblin is attacking an OPPONENT, the unfriendly Goblin gets to make a free attack against him instead. That is one single roll of the three dice (with a 10 or more on the battle die and a six on either of the power dice knocking the silly fumbling Goblin out).
  • A Goblin can NOT fumble on a free attack roll. So a 1 rolled for a free attack is just counted as a normal miss.



Free attacks on other Goblins:

  • FOR A SIMPLE VERSION OF Goblin Hockey SKIP ALL THE RULES ON Free Attacks.
  • Red the Goblin 'defends' or 'guards' all the squares next to her (that is the eight squares around the square she occupies). However, Red does NOT 'guard' squares occupied by opposition Goblins.
  • If Bluey the Goblin runs into one of these defended squares and then carries on his way, without stopping to defend himself, Red the Goblin will get a free attack against him. That is, one single roll of the three dice (with a 10 or more on the battle die and a 6 on either of the power dice knocking Bluey out).
  • This free attack happens just before Bluey leaves the defended square.
  • Red doesn't HAVE to take this free attack, and if Bluey is going to travel through more than one defended square, then Red can decide WHEN she wants to attack her blue opponent.


    Red may attack Blue just before he leaves square one OR two (but not twice).


  • Red may only take one free attack during Bluey's movement, so if she misses on this attack roll, Bluey may move freely through the rest of Red's defended squares.
  • Unlike the D20 system, the first square of movement is not subject to free attacks. Red only gets a free attack against Bluey if she First Enters then Leaves one of her defended squares.


    No free attack here, since the Blue Goblin does NOT first enter then exit one of the shaded squares.



    No free attack here, since the Blue Goblin does NOT first enter then exit one of the shaded squares.



    Both the red Goblins will get a free attack against the blue Goblin (just before he leaves square 1 and - if he survives - just before he leaves square 4.



Free attacks on the ball:

  • FOR A SIMPLE VERSION OF Goblin Hockey SKIP ALL THE RULES ON Free Attacks.

  • The same rules apply to the movement of the 'Ball' as applied to the
    movement of Bluey.

  • If the ball passes into one of the squares defended by Red and continues to roll on its way, Red may have a free attack on the ball - rolling all three dice.
  • If Red's attack roll is successful (she rolls more than 10 on her 'battle' die), then the ball's movement is interrupted and Red will now control which direction and how far the ball will go.
  • The distance the ball now travels is determined by the power dice that Red rolled as part of her free attack.
  • Remember that Red may take her free attack in any of her defended squares that the ball moves through.
  • Also remember that if Red misses the ball, it will continue on, unaffected through the rest of her defended squares, since she can only take one free attack for every time the ball has been hit.
  • There are NO fumbles on free attacks, so if Red rolls a 1 during this free attack, it is treated as just a normal miss.
  • There are NO criticals on free attacks, so if Red rolls a 20 during this free attack, it is treated as just a normal hit.
  • Of course if Red hits the ball past herself, she does NOT grant herself a free hit.
  • Goblins MAY take free hits at balls that are passing them because someone ELSE just took a successful free hit (with NO limit) So sometimes the poor little gelatinous cube ends up bouncing back and forth like a kind of bizarre ping-pong ball!



Bouncing:

  • If the 'ball' is hit at a wall it will bounce off as would a normal ball.

  • If the 'ball' is hit at an opponent (and the opponent misses any free attacks) it will bounce off the opponent as if the opponent were a wall).

  • If the ball is hit at a team mate and the team mate either misses or chooses to not take a free attack, the team mate may decide to:
    1. let the ball pass through him or;

    2. let the ball bounce off him as if he were a wall.



The goal:

  • The aim of Goblin Hockey is to get the little gelatinous 'ball' into one of the three goal squares.

  • The three goals squares are marked at each end of the field by a hashed net pattern.

  • If the ball (by any means passes) into one of these goal squares, a goal is scored, the winning team receives a point, both players take a new Magic Card and the game is restarted.



Magic cards:

  • A Magic Card sanctions (allows) a human player to utilise extraordinary magical means to assist her Goblin team.

  • Each time a new gelatinous 'ball' is brought out, the game restarts and each player receives one 'Magic Card'.
  • He may also keep any unused Magic Cards from previous rounds.
  • Anytime a player rolls a 7 on the 'Battle die', he may also draw an additional Magic Card.
  • A Magic Card may be used at anytime during the player's turn.
  • Each card includes a detailed description of how the card effects play, and when and how it may be used.



Scoring the game:

  • Each time a goal is scored the winning player receives one point.

  • You may chose to play:
    1. play best of 5 rounds, where five goals are scored and the player with
      the most goals at the end wins the game, or first to 3 points, where
      the first player to score three goals wins.

    2. play for a set time, seeing who can win the most points;;
    3. not keep score at all, but just laugh mercilessly at your opponent
      each time you score!


That’s Goblin Hockey!