TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE WORLD 1

BEFORE WE START 1

WELCOME TO STRIKE OUT! 1

PLAYING THE GAME 1

YOUR CHARACTER 1
DETAILS 1
ACTIONS 1
PILLARS 1
PLAYBOOK 1
PROGRESSION 1
CLOCKS 2
When a PC gets a complication as a result of their action, you can tick a danger clock. 2
ACTION ROLLS 2
SPECIAL MODIFIERS 2
TECHNIQUES 2
MOMENTUM 2
EFFECTS 2
CONSEQUENCES 2
SPECIAL ACTIONS 3

ON THE FIELD 3
GAME PHASES 3
BASIC TECHNIQUES 4
BREAKS 4

PLAYBOOKS 5
THE BRUTE 5
THE WALL 5
THE CENTER 6
THE EGO 6
THE BRAINS 7
THE SNIPER 7

MAKING YOUR GAME 8

THE MANAGEMENT 9
OFF THE FIELD 9
AT THE BIG GAME 9
COMEBACK BONUS 9
ENEMY TECHNIQUES 10
ENEMY TIERS 10
THE ENEMY PLAYBOOK 11
CREATING AN ENEMY TEAM 11
EXAMPLE TEAMS 12

MEDIA INFLUENCES 13

CREDITS 13
ATTRIBUTION 13

Notes 14

To Do: 14
THE WORLD
It is the distant future.
There is no war.
There is no poverty or famine.
There is only sports.
In the deepest, darkest of archives, kept in the moldering
recesses of the world’s universities, there exists tales of the
before times. A time without sports. An alien world, so
distant from the one of the now-now that even the most
well-read of sportorians struggle to think of how society
could have functioned.
With the many crises of old banished far outside of living
memory, humans now are creatures of leisure who spend
their days competing in a variety of ever more dramatic and
esoteric sports. In any era, one may take hold as the
dominant cultural force, only to fall to the wayside as
another game leaps to the fore.
A world without life and death struggle is still not without
strife, however. Personalities still clash, greed and desire still
may take hold even without currency to accrue, and the
driving need to be the best grips the sports-maddened
masses.
This is your place. Your time. Your sport.
BEFORE WE START
Define lines that should not be crossed. Pause or rewind the
game if something uncomfortable happens during a session.
Always make sure everyone is comfortable with the
direction of the story.
WELCOME TO STRIKE OUT!
Strike Out! is a TTRPG about the Strikers, playing a
non-specific sport in a high action sci-fi fantasy setting. One
person is the Manager (MA), the rest are players.
MANAGER (MA): Guide the game, present challenges to the
group. Be a fan of the players. Ask them questions, fill the
world with their answers. If it's cool, let them try or split
complex challenges into clocks.
PLAYER: Narrate what your player character (PC) does. Make
action rolls when things are risky. Give everyone a time to
shine. Fill the world with your ideas. Take risks, and rise up
from failures.
Each player is playing on a team of 2-5 Strikers, and can be
playing cooperatively or competing against each other.
PLAYING THE GAME
YOUR CHARACTER
DETAILS
When creating a new character, write down their details:
‣ Concept: an elevator-pitch version of who the character is.
‣ Appearance: what the character looks like, what they
wear, etc.
‣ Dream: The reason why this character wants to play the
sport.
‣ Ties: 1-3 relations that the character has with certain
people or organizations in the world.
ACTIONS
Assign 4 action dots among the following 5 actions on your
character sheets. At character creation, a single action
cannot have more than 2 dots.
‣ Power: shoot, block, wreck.
‣ Finesse: pass, steal, dribble.
‣ Move: run, jump, dodge.
‣ Focus: concentrate, create, analyze.
‣ Talk: befriend, hype, manipulate.
PILLARS
Your character has 3 pillars, each a 1-3 word skill, physical
abnormality, or other helpful trait. A pillar can technically be
anything, but it’s suggested that you discuss it with your
fellow players and MA, in case they have an issue with it.
Whenever you make an action roll off the field you can name
one of your pillars and explain how it helps you to gain an
advantage.
PLAYBOOK
Next you should pick your playbook, this will give you a
selection of powerful talents to learn. When you make your
character you can pick 2 talents to start with and gain access
to your playbook’s unique technique.
PROGRESSION
After a big story event, or after finishing a match, every PC
gets 1 experience and can mark it on their experience clock,
that goes to a maximum of 3. If you fill the clock, clear it, and
gain a new bonus. This either gets you a new action dot, a
talent from your playbook, or a talent from another playbook.
(This last option can only be done once.).
1
CLOCKS
When the PCs face a complex obstacle, like enemies putting
up stiff resistance, or when you want to inject the tension of
impending danger, don't leave it to a single action roll: draw a
clock.
Clocks are circles divided in up to 8 segments. Generally, the
more complex the problem, the more segments in the clock.
When a PC tries to overcome an obstacle with an action roll,
tick a progress clock with 1 segment for a limited effect, 2
segments for a standard effect, or 3 segments for a great
effect.
When a PC gets a complication as a result of their action, you
can tick a danger clock.
ACTION ROLLS
When there's a challenge that needs to be overcome, and
there's a risk of failure, make an action roll. This resolves the
action of the user, and when outside the sport, any MA
characters that are involved.
The MA will choose an action they think is relevant, and the
player will roll 1d6 for each relevant action dot, and read the
single highest result. If you end up with zero or less dice to
roll, roll 2 dice and keep the lowest.
‣ On a 66, it's a critical success. You achieve your goal and
may choose an additional beneficial outcome of your
choosing. Tick 3 segments of a clock, if relevant.
‣ On a 6, it's a full success. You achieve your goal, receiving
an effect. Tick 2 segments of a clock, if relevant.
‣ On a 4-5, it's a partial success. You achieve your goal, but
there's a consequence (consequence always comes after). Tick 1
segment of a clock, if relevant.
‣ On a 1-3, it's a bad outcome. Things go badly, and there's a
consequence.
SPECIAL MODIFIERS
The MA may opt to declare special modifiers to a roll before
it is made:
‣ The action is risky. Risky action rolls treat partial successes
as bad outcomes.
The action is safe. Safe action rolls treat partial successes as
full successes.
‣ Advantage and disadvantage may add or remove up to 3D6
player’s dice pool respectively. If both are added to a check,
they cancel each other out at a 1:1 ratio.
TECHNIQUES
Characters will also use techniques when on the field, these
will often require an action roll, but unlike a regular action roll
the effect and consequence is predetermined and should
only be modified by the MA if another rule specifically states
it should. A critical success will only add more momentum or
do nothing when using a technique.
Some techniques are reactions, meaning that you can use
them at any time so long as the conditions are met, however,
after using a reaction that character cannot use another until
the start of their next turn.
MOMENTUM
When a player makes an action roll, that roll can generate
momentum. You start every session with 2, and generate
more when you make successful action rolls. You use
momentum to get various bonuses or resist incoming
consequences.
‣ On a 4-5, you gain 1 momentum.
‣ On a 6, you gain 2 momentum.
‣ On a 66, you gain 3 momentum.
When momentum is spent for a roll, that roll cannot in turn
generate momentum.
EFFECTS
When making action rolls results of 4-5, 6, or 66 you will
trigger an effect. Effects are almost always positive, and can
be improved by the MA when in narrative play, here are
some examples.
‣ Completion: The challenge is overcome.
‣ Progress: Tick 1-3 segments on a new or existing task clock,
depending on the degree of success.
‣ Stun: The targeted enemy cannot act during the next team
activation. When an entire enemy team would be stunned
the last enemy targeted ignores their stun.
CONSEQUENCES
If you make an action roll, and you get a partial success (4-5)
or a bad outcome (1-3), you suffer a consequence, and when
you’re off the field these will have to be improvised by the
MA, here are some examples.
‣ Complication: Tick 1-3 segments on a new or existing
danger clock, of the MA’s choosing.
‣ Lost Opportunity: What you tried didn't work, you need to
use another action.
‣ Free Ball : Some techniques can cause a free ball. When this
happens each character in the zone(s) listed can roll a d6,
with the highest rolling character gaining possession. When
the highest rolls are a tie those characters must reroll.
2
SPECIAL ACTIONS
Along with using action rolls and techniques characters have
access to a number of special actions. These can be applied to
different action rolls and techniques at some cost. The same
special action cannot be applied to something multiple times.
PUSH YOURSELF: Consume 2 momentum per push and gain 1
of the following.
‣ Add 1 advantage to your action roll.
‣ Use a different technique (other than score), after a
technique has been resolved.
DASH: Consume 1 momentum when using a technique (Other
than score). You can move 1 zone before or after the
technique resolves.
ASSIST: Consume 1 momentum to add 1 advantage to an ally’s
roll. When on the field the momentum cost is increased by
the number of zones you are away from your target.
ADD TENSION: Ask the GM to add a consequence to your roll. If
you accept it, add 1d6 to your action roll.
DETERMINATION ROLL: To resist your or someone else's
failure. Consume 3 momentum whenever you or a willing
ally sees the result of an action roll. That character can roll
again, ignoring that result.
FLASHBACKS: Call for a scene that has happened in the past
to affect what hasn’t been established in the fiction yet. The
GM sets a cost in momentum, between 0-2, and asks for
action rolls if necessary.
ON THE FIELD
As a group you can discuss the exact aesthetics of your
game’s sport, but it’s all based on a set of rules shared in any
game of Strike Out!
The sport of Strike Out! is played with a single ball. When a
character is in possession of the ball, it will move with them.
The field is made up of 12 zones in a 3x4 pattern, the goals
are in the middle left-most and middle right-most zones,
each one is assigned to the team who deployed nearest. Any
zones that are 1 space apart orthogonally are adjacent.
When distance is measured it is done so orthogonally unless
stated otherwise.
When a character uses the score technique they can score a
point for their team, whenever a point is scored all players
can take a break and the game returns to its first phase
(Deploy Phase). This repeats until a team gets 3 points and
wins.
GAME PHASES
The sport is split up into three distinct phases, the deploy
phase, kick off, and play phase. Any game will need to go
through each of these phases in order before a game can
end.
DEPLOY PHASE
When a game starts, the players may place a token
representing their character in any of the six zones on the
left side of the pitch. The enemy team will place their tokens
in any of the six zones on the right side.
KICK-OFF PHASE
After deployment each player in the three frontal zones can
roll D6 equal to their move and the enemy team roll 1D6,
with the highest total roll starting the next phase with
possession. When ties are rolled, the tied characters reroll to
determine the winner, and when enemies win the MA
decides an enemy in the 3 frontal zones to gain possession.
3
PLAY PHASE
After the kick-off, characters enter the play phase, beginning
the first round. Each player takes a turn, and during that turn
they can use 1 technique. After each player has taken their
turn, and all enemies have responded to those turns, the
round ends, and a new round begins, repeating until a team
scores.
BASIC TECHNIQUES
All PCs, regardless of playbook, have access to these
techniques.
TACKLE: If a character with possession is in your zone, make a
finesse action roll. This cannot be interrupted.
‣ Effect: You or an ally adjacent to you gain possession.
‣ Consequence: Free ball in all adjacent zones.
RUN: Move 1 zone, and then make a move action roll.
‣ Effect: Move again.
‣ Consequence: Lost Opportunity.
PASS: Can only be used with possession. Make a finesse action
roll.
‣ Effect: Give possession to a character up to 2 zones away.
‣ Consequence: Free ball in the zone you passed to.
SCORE: This is always risky. Can only be used with possession
and within 2 zones of the goal zone. You may use this
technique in the goal zone normally, but get 1 disadvantage
for every zone of distance you are away from it. Make a
power action roll. (This action roll is always at least a full
success when you are in the goal zone and there are no
enemies in your zone).
‣ Effect: Score a point.
‣ Consequence: Miss, give possession to the closest enemy
in between yourself and the goal zone. (Including enemies in
the goal zone.)
CONCENTRATE: Gain 1 momentum. Make a focus action roll.
‣ Effect: Gain 2 bonus Momentum.
‣ Consequence: Lost Opportunity.
BLOCK: This is a reaction. Can only be performed when an
enemy uses score, and you are in their zone or the goal zone.
Spend 2 momentum and make a focus action roll.
‣ Effect: Stop the score. Free ball in the goal zone, and its
adjacent zones.
‣ Consequence: You need to jump for it, move up or down.
SHOVE: Make a power action roll.
‣ Effect: Move a character in your zone to an adjacent zone,
if they are an enemy they are stunned.
‣ Consequence: The MA moves you to an adjacent zone.
BREAKS
A break happens between each point scored and deploying,
they’re meant to simulate the things that might happen as
the player character is getting ready for the next part of the
game.
A player should always be clear about what their break
means for them in the fiction of the game, even if it’s not a
fully detailed description.
Once the break ends all effects on the field are cleared and
the game is returned to the play phase.
PEP TALK: Choose another character on your team, make a
talk action roll.
‣ Effect: Your teammate gains 2 momentum.
‣ Consequence: Bad Blood. Explain how your advice is
completely unhelpful. You don’t gain momentum from this.
POP OFF: You can only take this break if you scored or got a
critical success prior to the break. Make a talk action roll.
‣ Effect: Each other member of your team gains momentum
equal to the momentum you gained from this.
‣ Consequence: Lost Opportunity.
DRAMA: Choose any other character, and note them down on
one of your clocks along with your perceived relationship
with them. Whenever you target that character with a
technique you may advance the clock by 1, up to a max of 4.
When you fill this clock you can clear it and gain 1
experience.
INTERVIEW: You are brought out by some news anchor or
reporter to comment on the last part of the game. Make a
talk action roll.
‣ Effect: Good Rep, You get 1 dot in talk until the game ends.
‣ Consequence: Didn’t Come Out Right. You lose 2
momentum.
4
PLAYBOOKS
THE BRUTE
An aggressive battlefield brawler, a striker who hits their
opponents more than the ball.
PLAYBOOK TECHNIQUE
VIOLENCE: Make a power action roll. This cannot be
interrupted.
‣ Effect: Force all characters of your choosing in your zone
to an adjacent zone. Affected enemies are stunned.
‣ Consequence: The MA moves you to an adjacent zone.
TALENTS
FULL-BODIED: When you use tackle, you can use power
instead of finesse. On a critical success, you may immediately
push yourself to use violence at no cost.
GIANT SWING: When you use violence you can move the
characters diagonally.
WALL SLAM: If you use violence in a zone bordering the edge
of the field, you may opt to stun 1 target instead of moving
them.
STABLE FOOTING: Whenever you would be forced to move
you may instead spend 1 momentum.
CARELESS CHARGE: Whenever you perform a technique that
uses a power action roll, you may dash with no momentum cost
in exchange for applying 1 disadvantage.
THE WALL
An imposing giant of the field, a striker with the strength
required to defend any zone.
PLAYBOOK TECHNIQUE
BRACE: Until the start of your next turn, you count as being
in the adjacent zones for the purpose of participating in free
balls, you can roll 2D6 and take the higher result when
participating in free balls, and your block gains the following
benefits:
‣ The momentum cost is reduced to 0.
‣ Gain 1 advantage.
‣ Add “Gain possession, or give any adjacent ally possession”
to the effect.
‣ Immediately use a technique.
TALENTS
VIEW FROM ABOVE: The cost of assist is not increased by
distance so long as you are in the goal zone.
SHOT PUT: When you pass you can give possession to any ally
no matter their position.
PARRY, RIPOSTE: You may dash for free before or after using
the extra technique given by brace block and gain 1 advantage.
SAFE DISTANCE: You count as being in the goal zone when
adjacent to it.
FLICKER: Whenever you end your turn you can choose to
move to the zone you started that turn in.
5
THE CENTER
Moving with perfect precision, a play making striker with
speed and finesse.
PLAYBOOK TECHNIQUE
REV UP: Make a move action roll, and gain 1 dash charge.
Whenever you would dash, you may spend dash charges
instead of momentum.
‣ Effect: Gain an additional number of dash charges equal to
double the momentum gained from this roll.
‣ Consequence: Lost Opportunity.
TALENTS
FEINT: Gain 1 advantage when using pass. On a critical
success you may move an enemy to an adjacent zone if they
were inside your zone or the one passed to.
FLYING TACKLE: When using dash before a tackle, gain 1
advantage. On a critical success, you may immediately push
yourself to use run at no cost.
IN THE ZONE: You may dash both before and after using a
technique (You must pay the cost of both dashes).
SPRING STEP: When an enemy steal forces you to make a roll
you gain 1 advantage. On a critical success you may dash
after the steal has resolved.
WEAVE: When you dash you can move to diagonal spaces.
THE EGO
The team’s golden goose, a striker who makes sure there’s
always a spotlight on them.
PLAYBOOK TECHNIQUE
STEAL THE SHOW: Spend 2, 4, or 6 momentum and use a basic
technique. If that technique causes you to make an action roll
you can ignore 1 disadvantage for every 2 momentum you
spent.
TALENTS
INFLUENCER: You cannot suffer consequences for failing an
interview break so long as your team scored. When you score
using steal the show you can immediately take an interview
without using your break.
ACTOR: You can use talk action rolls instead of the required
rolls and gain 1 advantage when using tackle or rolling
against an enemy steal.
HEEL: When your allies start drama with you, they can
progress their clocks by scoring points or taking possession
from you. When they complete their clock, or you complete
a drama clock you gain 3 momentum.
SIGNATURE MOVE: Whenever you push yourself or use steal the
show on anything you can say you’re using your “signature
move”, this gives you 1 advantage but adds “Underwhelming,
lose 2 Momentum.” to the consequence.
BALL HOG: If your turn ends, and you have possession you gain
2 momentum.
6
THE BRAINS
Fully aware of everything going on at once, a tactical striker
with powerful communication.
PLAYBOOK TECHNIQUE
THE PLAN: You gain plan tokens equal to your talk. Place each
of these tokens in a different zone anywhere on the field.
When you or an ally are in the same zone as a plan token you
may remove that token to gain 1 advantage on their next
action roll of any type and 1 momentum. A character can only
benefit from removing a token once per turn. Plan tokens
disappear at the end of your next turn.
TALENTS
FORMATION MOVEMENT: When an ally in an adjacent zone
uses dash you may immediately dash during their turn.
FLANKING MANEUVER: When you assist, the target character
may immediately dash at no cost.
IN SYNC: You gain the same momentum your allies gain from
rolling when you have assisted that roll.
RUN THE CLOCK: You gain 1 additional plan token. Whenever
a player’s turn ends if an enemy is in a plan token’s zone you
may remove that plan token and stun them.
BLITZ: You gain 1 additional plan token. Characters may
benefit from multiple plan tokens if they removed tokens in
zones they moved through before performing their
technique. Characters may increase the limit on the number
of dashes they can perform in a turn based on the number of
plan tokens removed.
THE SNIPER
Controlling the field from afar, a long ranged striker who can
affect the field at any distance.
PLAYBOOK TECHNIQUE
SCOPE: Spend X (minimum 1) momentum. You can use tackle,
pass, shove, or block (When using block scope becomes a
reaction) as if you were in a zone up to X zones away instead
of your current zone. You may not dash using this technique,
and all action rolls required for them are changed to focus.
TALENTS
ARMED ROBBERY: When you use a scope tackle gain 1
advantage. On a critical success, you may move your target 1
zone.
BLINK: When a free ball happens outside your zone you may
spend X momentum where X is your distance from the
closest free ball zone to participate in it.
OVERLOAD: Whenever you use a scope shove you can double
its cost in order to have it target all characters within the
scope’s range.
OVERWATCH: When using scope with a technique, you may
spend 1 momentum to target a zone instead of a character.
This may be performed even if all conditions required for the
action are not being met. Enemy strikers are aware of this
effect.
In any following turn you may perform the technique as a
reaction targeting character(s) in the zone provided the
required conditions are met.
STOCKPILE: After using concentrate, the zone you performed
the technique in becomes the location of your stockpile. If
you have been inside this zone at any point in your turn, you
will receive 1 momentum at the end of it. This effect stays
until the next point is scored, or another stockpile is made.
7
MAKING YOUR GAME
Each group playing Strike Out! Is going to play it differently,
they’ll tell different stories, play a slightly different sport.
This section will list a bunch of prompts and small modifiers
that you can use for your games.
WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
ROLL 1D6:
‣ 1: Paradise City: The location of the largest stadium in the
world.
‣ 2: Aeon: A land of gods high above the clouds, where the
highest stakes are bet.
‣ 3: Tibil: A nation-sized slum where only the best strikers
can make it big.
‣ 4: Blue Site: A government funded training ground meant
to create the best strikers in the world.
‣ 5: Tama Academy: A school founded by the world’s best
striker where anyone with the right skills can earn a
scholarship.
‣ 6: The Sportslands: A desert wasteland ravaged by
conflict, where all disputes are settled in a game.
WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING?
ROLL 1D6:
‣ 1: Smash Ball: A game played with bats where you try to
score on a net raised off the ground.
‣ 2: Torrent: A game played underwater with 3 dimensional
mobility suits.
‣ 3: Street Hocker: A casual game played by kicking a flat
puck into a goal.
‣ 4: Crystal Conflict: A game played using monsters
controlled by mages, who each need to capture a crystal for
their team.
‣ 5: Star Strikers: A game played over a 17776-mile field
with gigantic mechanized fighters.
‣ 6: Digi-Ball: A computer game once used to train hackers
built around improvised firewalls and getting around your
opponent’s security system.
WHY ARE YOU PLAYING?
ROLL 1D6:
‣ 1: The World Cup: The biggest event in sports history is
coming, it’s time to train up and qualify.
‣ 2: Strikers, FROM SPACE!: Earth has just received its first
extraterrestrial visitors. They come with a warning: a great
evil is coming to destroy the world, and the only thing that
can stop them is with the power of sports.
‣ 3: From the Concrete: You came from nothing. No-one
expects anything from your team, but you have a dream and
these streets will roar your name.
‣ 4: The Shadow Tournament: There exists of a rumor of a
dark side of the sport, an illegal arena hosted by a shadowy
organization with a hidden motive. What could drive you to
participate in such a thing?
‣ 5: Kingdom Of The Crystal Ball: Deep under the earth
ancient crypts have been discovered, full of powerful
artifacts. However, in order to reach them you must defeat
their guardians in a long-lost ritual: Sports ball.
‣ 6: Earn Your Freedom: You’re imprisoned, be you guilty or
not. But you’ve been given one chance to escape, by training
for and winning games you can earn your way to fame and
freedom.
8
THE MANAGEMENT
The management in the world of Strike Out! are not above
their team’s players, nor their characters. Instead, they are
there to facilitate games, and keep their world interesting.
OFF THE FIELD
As management, it is incredibly important for you to know
how to cleanly guide players through a game of Strike Out!
but what that means may not always be clear.
Before you even start it is important that a few things are
established and talked about with everyone involved. Using
the “Making Your Game” section you can figure out what the
themes and broad strokes of your game are, using options
from those charts or answering the questions with your
players.
In addition to establishing your world it is important that the
players establish their characters, be it because the ideas of
those characters overlap in a way that doesn’t sound fun for
a player or because they want to know if the characters
should know each other beforehand.
It’s assumed that the focus of a game of Strike Out! will be
playing the sport, but as important as creating interesting
matches is the setup just before those matches begin. What
are the stakes of the specific match? Who or what on the
opposing side is the main threat to the PCs? Do the PCs
know what exactly will be happening, do they need to do
something to find out?
AT THE BIG GAME
When on the field the players are each expected to make
decisions for their own character, with their playbooks and
personal strategies making that fun and unique, but as the
manager you are expected to control every other character,
most often an entire opposing team. For this reason the
rules for controlling these characters are simplified.
At the start of the match, and after every break, the MA
deploys a team of enemy strikers as described in the deploy
phase.
ENEMY TURNS
Whenever a PC finishes their turn, the enemy team takes a
single enemy turn, where they can use one of their own
enemy techniques, with that one technique serving as the
entire team’s turn
TEAM POINTS
Enemy techniques can be empowered, but these
empowered versions can only be used by spending 1 team
point (TP), enemies start each round with a number of TP
equal to half the number of enemies (rounded up).
INTERRUPTING
Whenever an enemy is in a PC’s zone that PC has 1 difficulty
on any action rolls. By spending any number of team points
the amount of difficulty this adds can be increased by the
points spent.
COMEBACK BONUS
Whenever a team reaches 2 points in a game and the
opposing team is at 1 point or less, the MA gives a comeback
bonus to the losing team. Giving 2 momentum for each point
they are behind to each PC if it’s the player side losing, or
giving 1 extra team point to the enemy team for each point
they are behind if they are losing.
9
ENEMY TECHNIQUES
REPOSITION: Up to 2 enemy strikers move 1 zone.
‣ Empowered: Use a technique other than score.
STEAL: This always uses a TP. An enemy takes possession
from a PC in their zone and moves 1 zone, that PC can make
a move action roll to stop this.
‣ Effect: Block the steal.
‣ Consequence: Nothing.
PASS: An enemy must have possession. Another enemy
adjacent to it gains possession.
‣ Empowered: The passing enemy can move 1 zone before
passing.
SCORE: An enemy must have possession and be in or adjacent
to the goal zone. Unless blocked, the enemy scores a point.
‣ Empowered: This can be used from 1 zone further away.
PUSH: An enemy moves a PC in their zone 1 zone away.
‣ Empowered: This can move a PC diagonally.
ENEMY TIERS
THE ACE: Teams can rarely be characterized in their entirety,
so it is often easier to provide one central character that
their story and themes hang from. This character is the
enemy Ace, a powerhouse who can overwhelm a normal
player with ease. Most often, this character is the enemy
team’s captain, but they could just as easily be an aspiring
young prodigy or a tactical threat who lurks in the
background.
An Ace may choose as many of the talents in the enemy
talents as the MA feels is appropriate to the match’s
difficulty.
STARS: These characters may not be the Ace, but they are
threats in their own right. Known players with a specialized
skill or two under their belt, they can provide sudden
problems to unprepared teams.
A Star may pick 1 enemy talent by default. Some more
powerful Stars can have 2 talents, but going above that
means they should be replaced with an Ace.
PROS: Most teams are made up of Pros. They play the game
well enough, but don’t perform anything noteworthy enough
to give them fame or recognition.
Pros should usually form the majority of an enemy team.
With no special rules unique to their tier, they play using all
the default rules explained above.
CASUALS: These are not regular players in the team but
instead represent people filling in a slot in the roster.
Casuals are a notable step down from Pros, and are used by
the MA to balance out a team that may be too heavy on
powerful strikers, or represent a striker being removed from
play due to a PC’s actions.
A team with any number of Casuals treats the number of
PCs as 1 lower for the purpose of generating starting team
points.
When a Casual performs an action, they may not spend team
points.
10

THE ENEMY PLAYBOOK
Enemies have talents from their own playbook, like PCs the
enemies take from their playbook’s talents as they improve.
TALENTS
BIG NAME: When this enemy gains possession their team may
restore a team point.
BRUISER: When this enemy pushes a PC they can move them
diagonally and always use its empowered version.
BANDIT: When this enemy performs a steal, the target PC
adds 1 difficulty to their roll.
LONG SHOT: This enemy can score when 2 zones away from
the goal zone.
MAGICAL: This enemy can steal from players adjacent to them
if it is the first action performed on their turn.
SETUP: After they reposition, this enemy can transfer
possession from themselves to an adjacent enemy.
VIPER: When this enemy moves they can move to diagonal
zones.
VOIDWALKER: This enemy can move one space beyond the
left and right edges of the field. When they do so they are
moved to a zone horizontally opposite to the zone they left.
DEFENDER: When this enemy is in the goal zone, player scores
have 1 difficulty.
FORWARD: After this enemy is passed to, they may move 1
zone.
CREATING AN ENEMY TEAM
Like in any good sports media the rival teams are just as
important as the protagonists (your players), and to make
the perfect opponents for your game there are a few rules
you’ll need to follow.
A team should generally consist of 1-2 unique characters,
these can be aces or stars, but be aware that two aces can
make for an extremely difficult team. These unique
characters will be the only ones with talents, leaving the rest
as generic pros or casuals.
Once you’ve done this you should consider if you want the
team to have a team talent. Team talents are unique effects
that can be applied to an entire team, typically a team should
only have one team talent if they have one at all, but for
particularly powerful teams you may choose to increase this.
TEAM TALENTS
SKILLED: All other enemies on this team gain the effects of a
talent of your choice.
SPIRITED: This enemy’s team gains double the team points
from the comeback bonus. (This effect does not stack)
SUMMONERS: This team can start a game outnumbered, but
can also create a pro striker on their team, in any zone by
spending a team point whenever they use a technique. These
summoned strikers disappear as soon as they are hit with a
fully successful or critically successful tackle or shove.
DYNAMIC DUO: Assign this talent to two enemies, when these
enemies are in the same zone PC’s in that zone lose 1D6 on
all their action rolls.
INITIATORS: This team can roll 3D6 in the kick-off phase. If
they succeed in the kick-off they can immediately take a turn.
BASTARDS: Once per game when the break starts this team
can interfere. When interfering all players have 1 difficulty on
their break action rolls.
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EXAMPLE TEAMS
Assembling a team can take time, especially when trying to
account for internal synergies or strategies. Because of this
the following section has a list of enemy times
THE PAIN
Look, these people likely shouldn’t be playing the game.
They barely seem to remember the rules most of the time.
Well, most of the rules. They seem very, very well versed in
exactly how much they can hurt you without being

ADJUSTING FOR PLAYER NUMBERS disqualified.

If a lineup lists a number of NPCs as “X” it means that the

team should be filled with that NPC type until it is the same LINEUP
size as the player team. Easy
1 Ace (Bruiser, Bandit)
If the player team is too small for a listing, then subtract X Pros
enemy strikers from the bottom up until they are the same
size.
Normal
Team Talent(s): Bastards
THE BENCHMARK 1 Ace (Bruiser, Bandit, Magical)
This team isn't the best. Nor is it the worst. They stick to the 1 Star (Setup)
basics, play a solid game and go home to their communities X Pros
talking about preserving ‘honest play’. Most fans of the game
think they’re dull, but they have a niche following who think Hard
themselves purists. Team Talent(s): Bastards
1 Ace (Bruiser, Bandit, Magical)
LINEUP 1 Star (Setup, Bruiser)
X Pros
Easy
1 Ace (Viper, Long Shot)
X Pros THE CHAMPIONS
A lineup of heroes, faces you’ve seen on tv ads and cereal
Normal boxes, their members are the best of the best specialized in
anything and everything their team could need.
Team Talent(s): Skilled (Setup)
1 Ace (Viper, Long Shot, Forward)
1 Star (Setup) LINEUP
X Pros
Easy
1 Ace (Big Name, Forward)
Hard 1 Star (Forward)
Team Talent(s): Skilled (Setup) X Pros
1 Ace (Viper, Long Shot, Forward)
1 Star (Setup, Defender)
Normal
X Pros
Team Talent(s): Dynamic Duo (Ace/Star)
1 Ace (Big Name, Forward, Setup)
1 Star (Forward)
X Pros

Hard
Team Talent(s): Dynamic Duo (Ace/Star)
1 Ace (Big Name, Forward, Setup)
1 Star (Forward, Big Name)
X Pros

12
MEDIA INFLUENCES CREDITS
Viewing real sports are an obvious and pivotal inspiration WRITTEN BY: Joel Vreugdenhil
for this game, and you should use your own experiences
when drawing inspiration. While sports related media is not
CO-WRITTEN BY: Kendall Harper
hard to come by, and is often of better quality than the
examples found in this list, we thought we’d share some of
COVER ART: https://twitter.com/BlueStickBoi1
specific media that we drew inspiration from in the making
of this game.
PLAYBOOK ICONS: 789 Lorc
It is not the whole list, of course, and it is not the
be-all-and-end-all of sports-related media, but instead a fun PLAYTESTERS: Kendall Harper, Josh Rosenthal, Debeaunair
little list of things we thought hit close to the tone this game
aims for.
ATTRIBUTION
This work is based on Charge, product of Fari RPGs
ANIME/MANGA (https://farirpgs.com/), developed and authored by
Haikyuu!!! René-Pier Deshaies-Gélinas, and licensed for our use under
Koroko’s Basketball the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
Blue Lock (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
This work is also based on Blades in the Dark (found at
GAMES http://www.bladesinthedark.com/), product of One Seven
Design, developed and authored by John Harper, and
Mario Strikers
licensed for our use under the Creative Commons
Omega Strikers
Attribution 3.0 Unported license
Bloodbowl
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
Windjammers
Lethal League
Rocket League

FILMS
It’s Time To Get Good At Darts
Runningman
Dodgeball
Mighty Ducks
Death Race
WWE Wrestling

WEB SERIAL
17776, The Future of Football

13