D&D General Major League D&D

[Paul Farquhar]

That is basically Rounders...

 

[R_J_K75]

Typically: college sports teams are associated with a university or college. Minor league sports teams are associated with smaller towns. Major league sports are associated with States or larger metropolitan areas.

Waterdeeps Field of Triumph and New Olahm College come to mind.

 

[Celebrim]

I recognise “Major League” as an American phrase but I realise I don’t actually have a clue what it is. Could you explain for those of us who live elsewhere? It’s (American) football related, I assume?

It's equivalent to the phrase "First Division" in Europe (your "Premier League"). It means the highest level of competition.

It's taken from the oldest and most complex sporting organization in US professional sports, "Major League Baseball", which is the only US professional sports structure that has as roots as deep as something like the English football league system. However, the two have evolved in very different directions. While the hierarchy of the English football league system is built from a time when all the teams were more or less equal amateur clubs, and in theory they still compete in that manner and any could be promoted up to the first division with sufficiently skilled play, the US league hierarchy is strictly professional with a single club at the top of a pyramid of smaller franchises that feed successful players up to the highest level.

See also "Major League Soccer".

 

[Celebrim]

That is basically Rounders...

Unsurprising, since if you go back to before we split from the crown, they were basically the same game.

It's a bit of irony that in America, baseball or "Rounders" as you call it is considered a manly sport, while in England it's mostly played by school girls, where as in England Association Football is considered a manly sport, while in the USA it's considered to be mostly fit for school girls.

 

[R_J_K75]

while in the USA it's considered to be mostly fit for school girls

I think you mistyped, that would be called Cricket or Polo.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Unsurprising, since if you go back to before we split from the crown, they were basically the same game.

It's a bit of irony that in America, baseball or "Rounders" as you call it is considered a manly sport, while in England it's mostly played by school girls, where as in England Association Football is considered a manly sport, while in the USA it's considered to be mostly fit for school girls.

And Rugby is played in full plate in the USA. Presumably so the players can dump-stat dexterity and put some extra points into intelligence, so they can understand the esoteric scoring system.

 

[Celebrim]

And Rugby is played in full plate in the USA. Presumably so the players can dump-stat dexterity and put some extra points into intelligence, so they can understand the esoteric scoring system.

There is significant intelligence required from many of the positions on an Gridiron football team, but the scoring system is not that different from Rugby League, which is not surprising because back before we broke from the crown they were basically the same sport. They just evolved and got formally codified differently.

"Touchdown" (Try in Rugby): 6 points, versus 4 points in Rugby League
"Extra Point" (Goal Kick in Rugby): 1 point, versus 2 points in Rugby League
"Field Goal" (Drop Goal in Rugby): 3 points, versus 1 point in Rugby League
"Safety" (Penalty in Rugby): 2 points, also 2 points in Rugby League

Now, as for the intelligence required, Gridiron football is the most tactically complex sport on the planet, owing to the fact that it relies so heavily on complex set pieces and relatively little on improvisation.

To give an example for the unversed that might give a glimpse into this:


The real dump stat in Grid Iron football compared to Rugby or Soccer is Constitution. On the spectrum of the importance of power versus the importance of endurance, American football is much closer to Sumo Wrestling than Soccer (with Rugby in the middle). It is a mistake to assume those fat guys in American Football aren't dexterous and fast. They may weigh 320lb but they are plenty graceful. What they can't necessarily do is run continuously for long periods.

Incidentally, that's one of the problems soccer has catching on in the US. In the US there is a bias that for a sport to be manly, it requires a man of significant size to play it well. Soccer with its emphasis on endurance and speed tends to favor smaller men, which goes against the American stereotype of a roughly 6'4" 240lb man as being ideal in physique.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

With Major League D&D, I'd want to know what Jobu's domains are.

 

[Maestrino]

Oh, man. Corporate sponsors for an adventuring party. I just had some GREAT ideas for my Acq Inc campaign...

 

[Undrave]

I'm imagining an announcer yelling excitedly "And he rolls a...CRIT! CRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!! It's a crit! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD HE'S SMITING! HE'S SMITING WITH A THIRD LEVEL SLOT!"