History TabletopGame / BloodBowl

* FeatherBoaConstrictor: The 4th Edition Vampire Cheerleader model wears snakes around her neck as part of her outfit, giving her an evil burlesque dancer look.

* TheChewToy: Halflings in the fluff[[note]]yes, even more so than goblins, who are at least noted for being good at ''something'' relevant to the game, even if that something is [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat foul play]]; [[MajoredInUnderwaterBasketWeaving all halflings really have going for them]] is [[SupremeChef cooking skills]] (and [[FragileSpeedster being somewhere between humans and skaven in terms of speed]] if you're ''really'' looking for something to praise them for)[[/note]]. The rules currently limiting teams to 16 players were instituted after a Norse vs. Halfling match that led to several hundred dead or injured players. [[BlatantLies By sheer coincidence]], that very same match also instituted a rule banning giants from playing the game.

* SkillGateCharacter:

%% ** The fluff describes Dark Elves as doing this.

** Some of the teams venture closer to Difficult But Impractical. Ogre teams, for example, are incredibly hard to play, but capable of incredible feats of brutality; however, any way you slice it, they're ''[[CompetitiveBalance just not as good as most other teams.]]'' [[JokeCharacter They're regarded as a gimmick team included in the game for fun, rather than serious competitors.]]

* DumbMuscle: All Big Guys in the game have negative traits that backfire on them. The most common one is "bone-headed", which makes the character stand around dumbfounded and lose all his actions and tackle zones for a round. "Really stupid" is "bone-headed" on steroids and has an even greater chance of activating unless you've got a non-stupid player to poke the Big Guy in the leg. "Wild Animal" makes the character stand still and bellow challenges at the enemy for a turn, and activates a lot unless the player [[BloodKnight is being ordered to punch somebody]]. Finally, Treemen are liable to take root and stand still for the remainder of the drive, and Deathrollers will be sent off by the ref as soon as he's done quaking in fear of them (though that last one can be by-passed with a bribe, unless, of course, you rolled a one while doing it). All of these characters also have the Loner trait, which makes them too dumb to use re-rolls properly (Ogre teams are the exception; their Ogres are still bone-headed but not loners; similarly, Treemen on Halfling teams are not loners as well).

* FootballHooligans: Blood Bowl fans have a reputation for being just as drunken, violent, anti-social, and unpleasant as the players, with one piece of background information stating that they believe something should be done about the minority of fans who just want to watch the game rather than start a fight. The game itself represents this with random chances of riots, pitch invasions, and other fan violence happening whenever there is a kick-off. Fans will also beat up any player who's unfortunate enough to pushed out of bounds and into the crowd.

* GentleGiant: The star player Morg n' Thorg is mentioned to be perfectly nice off-pitch and safe to be around unless you're an interviewer misspelling/mispronouncing his name. He is kind to children, (relatively) nice to his fans, and was used as a spokesman for a successful road accident reduction ad campaign. On the pitch... Not so much.

* LuckManipulationMechanic: Many abilities (such as Sure Hands, Dodge, or Pass) allow to reroll failed actions without using a team reroll, others add to whatever dice roll you make (Accuracy adds +1 to pass rolls) or decrease the rolls made by your enemies (Prehensive tail adds -1 to enemy dodge rolls).

* SkillGateCharacters:

* SkillGateCharacter:

* TheChewToy: Halflings in the fluff. The rules currently limiting teams to 16 players were instituted after a norse vs. halfling match that led to several hundred dead or injured players. [[BlatantLies By sheer coincidence]], that very same match also instituted a rule banning giants from playing the game.

** Orcs: ''Brute.'' Orcs are the inventors of Blood Bowl and their teams are some of the most renowned in the league. Their playstyle favours bashing holes in the opposition's defensive line and exploiting those gaps with their excellent Blitzers. They are strong and well-armoured but relatively slow, and their ball handling skills could use some work. Overall a team for people who believe the best defence is a good offence.
** Dwarfs: ''Elitist Brute.'' Dwarfs would seem like the perfect Blood Bowl players -- compact, tough and stubborn. They refuse to die or give up, and this suits defensive play really well. Their blocking ability is extraordinary and any Dwarf who gets knocked down will be back up to fight again later. As you might expect, their short legs make them terrible runners, barely as fast as the slowest members of other teams, so smart positioning is incredibly important when playing Dwarfs.
** High Elves: ''Elitist Ranger.'' High Elf teams are often comprised of Princes, noble sons and other {{Blue Blood}}s, making them some of the most arrogant and best-outfitted players out there. Their ball handling game is absolutely first-class, they are hard to catch and pin down, and decently well-armoured as well; however, they are still slight of frame and easy to injure, and this is a bad thing given the exorbitant rates some of them ask for!

** Skaven: ''Spammer Guerrilla.'' They may be wimpy, they may be cowardly, but boy, Skaven are fast! Even the elves struggle to cover the gaps in their lines and prevent a lightning-fast rat touchdown. Skaven can even score a touchdown on the very first turn without giving the other team a chance to do anything, with a bit of luck and skill. Unfortunately, their lack of muscle and armour mean any clash will go horribly for the rats and they are likely to be injured or killed. But Skaven life is cheap anyway.
** Chaos: ''Brute''. "If all the opposing players are dead then scoring is irrelevant", sums up Chaos' playbook. Games with Chaos more resemble street brawls than ball games, as the horrifying ensemble drive up the centre pitch, maiming any opposition foolish enough to get in the way. Their mutations add new abilities to complement their raw power, but they still lack mobility and diversity; they don't even have dedicated catchers or throwers. Forget the ball and just look for fights!

** All the teams have TV values where they reach an optimal peak, the crutch teams being those excellent at low TV while doing less well at high-level play (2500 and up team value) because they lack the stats and skill access to compete at those levels. Examples of good low-TV teams are the WeakButSkilled or UnskilledButStrong teams like amazons, norse, and dwarves, as well as undead and orcs.
** Certain players, particularly catchers, start their career with skills which make them the team's natural scorer. Natural scorers then get SPP from touchdowns, gaining extra skills that make them even better at it. Since every skill costs more than the one before it, these players can suck up nearly all of their team's touchdown XP with relatively little benefit. Unfortunately, since any player can be hit by permadeath or a crippling injury, especially if they're a fragile scorer, over-relying on that high-level player can become a team's AchillesHeel. Many guides recommend taking moderate risks with passes to spread out XP, particularly early on.

* TheBigGuy: Most teams have access to a player designated as the Big Guy, a model with natural strength of 5 or more, which you can take in extremely limited numbers (normally 1; goblin and halflings can take 2 and Chaos Pact has 3 different ones). They tend to have good armour, the Mighty Blow trait (or alternately Claw in some Big Guys), lousy agility, subpar movement, the Loner trait, and some other drawback (Bonehead, Really Stupid, or Wild Animal), and lack of access to General Skills: Big Guys can knock your opponents' linemen senseless and little else. However, if a Big Guy somehow gets hold of the ball, it will be... quite difficult for the opposition to strip it away. The Ogre team is half made up of these players. Two specific subversions are Undead Mummies and Khemri Tomb Guardians. Both have strength 5 and limited numbers, and beginning players may think of them as Big Guys. However, they are not considered to be Big Guys, specifically because they do not have any major drawbacks (beyond low mobility and lack of general skills -- and for Tomb Guardians, they have the Decayed trait and replace Mighty Blow with Regeneration) and therefore no reason not to take them.

* BloodKnight: The orcs and dwarves are notorious for putting higher imperative on downing the other side's players than getting the ball. Almost every bashing team is also this trope, to a ''slightly'' lesser degree.

* BoobyTrap: Some teams, particular Goblin and Skaven teams, will go to any lengths to hinder their opponents, including laying traps on the Blood Bowl pitch itself. These traps can range from simple tripwires hidden in the turf to more esoteric, magical traps such as a concealed Rune of Unwilling Flight. In-game, various editions have represented these traps with various Dirty Trick Special Play Cards that can be used by a coach during the game to hinder opposition players.

** The Block skill. For any player which is going to be doing any fighting (pretty much all of them), not taking block or its counter skill Wrestle puts them at a considerable disadvantage against anyone who has.

* CannonFodder: The lot of a ''Blood Bowl'' lineman, or any other 0-16 player (a player you can buy up to 16 of, meaning they have no limit on their number), is usually to mark and occupy opposing players that could otherwise harm your more valuable limited players. They are replaceable with journeymen if they die, and usually cost as much to replace as an average match result. Elves and dwarves (whose players are really expensive) avert this, and the Lizardmen and Chaos Dwarves invert it, as their 0-16 players are the only ones with a snowball's chance in Lustria of actually handling the ball with any rate of success (which makes the bigger, more specialized players the distractions and muscle that stops the enemy team from pummeling the linemen).

* {{Permadeath}}: Roll badly enough on the injury table, and this is fate that awaits your star player.

* ShaggyDogStory: The comic is mostly about Kalter Morder, an assassin undercover in the Blood Bay Hackers, who takes contracts on opposing players. After the Dwarf Giants game, he receives a contract on one of his own teammates, star player Dunk Hoffnung, and is told to make it look like an on-field accident. He's constantly foiled by the chaos of the game throughout the season. After the Hackers win the championship, Hoffnung is momentarily distracted by his amorous fiancée, and Morder moves for the kill... [[spoiler:only to be killed by the team's coach, who has decided to "cut" him from the team.]]

* UnskilledButStrong: As a general rule, basic players who start with very good stats for a role (Saurus, Black Orcs, Chaos Warriors, etc.) start with no innate skills necessary to fill that role, which balances them somewhat with poorer-statted specialists who start with those vital skills (most teams' blitzers have Block, for instance). No Big Guys (models with base strength 5 or higher) have normal access to the General skills either, limiting access to the all-important Block. The sole exception is the vampires, who start with both good stats (four strength AND four agility) and a few great abilities (most notably hypnotic gaze), but come with their own issues...

** Dwarf deathrollers are hard to knock over, as they are machines. But they ''are'' machines, and their sheer bulk means anything that hits them hard enough to knock them over will wreck them.
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: The High Elf Star Catcher Bo Gallanté is thought to be the most hansom player ever to have taken to the Blood Bowl pitch. Sporting long blonde hair, that won him Lauriel Elflock's Fabulous Follicles Award three years running, Bo is so good looking that his mere presence is liable to drive his less attractive foes into fits of rage, driving them to fight as hard as possible to spoil his pretty face.

* LuckManipulationMechanic: Many abilities (such as Sure Hands, Dodge, or Pass) allow to reroll failed actions without using a team reroll, others add to whatever dice roll you make (Accuracy adds +1 to pass rolls) or decrease the rolls made by your enemies (Prehensive tail -1 to enemy dodge rolls).

** Orcs: ''Brute.'' Orcs are the inventors of Blood Bowl and their teams are some of the most renowned in the league. Their playstyle favours bashing holes in the opposition's defensive line and exploiting those gaps with their excellent Blitzers. They are strong and well-armoured but relatively slow, and their ball handling skills could use some work. Overall a team for people who believe best defence is a good offence.

* TheAce: Griff Oberwald, Star Blitzer and captain of the Reikland Reavers, is said to be the most talented human to ever pick up a Blood Bowl ball with a plethora of awards, good looks and a massive fan following. Griff’s game rules represent this by giving him the best overall stats and skills of any human player but at the cost of him being the second most expensive individual Star Player in the game.

* ArchEnemy: In their background information, the Athelorn Avengers, the most famous Wood Elf team to ever play the game, have considered the Darkside Cowboys, the most famous Dark Elf team, to be their greatest enemies since their first match against them resulted in more than half the Avengers starting roster suffering career ending injuries and the rest suffering from years of psychological trauma. The fans of the two teams in particular seem to have taken this animosity to heart with augments between the two groups often resulting in violence that surpasses the game itself.

** The chainsaw (wielded by certain star players and the goblin loonie) adds a +3 to armour break rolls, making it superior to the Claw for anything with an armour lower than 10. The disadvantages are that the chainsaw is illegal and will be taken off-field at the end of a drive, and because it is a special attack and not a block, it will either pierce armour or do bugger all (as opposed to a block, which knocks players down for a turn even if they succeed at the armour roll). It also has a 1 in 6 chance of backfiring on the wielder.

* ArtificialStupidity: The AI in the video game is infamous for this, to the point that veterans routinely warn new players to avoid playing any practice matches against the computer... copying its tactics is a sure-fire way to finding yourself on the receiving end of a CurbStompBattle, and even learning how to exploit its flaws won't help against human players, few of which would ever make such glaring errors. The only two reasons that the AI ever wins matches against human players are [[RandomNumberGod Nuffle]] and the fact that the AI [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard doesn't play fair]].

** Ogre teams can field up to six ogres. Six ''[[LightningBruiser OGRES!]]'' Only the Khemri can even ''approach'' that kind of muscle! Unfortunately, while they don't have Loner like ogres on other teams do, they still suffer from Bonehead, making them painfully unreliable, they still don't get General skill access (meaning you need a doubles roll to give them even something as basic as Block), and their only other players are Snotlings, who are... [[{{Understatement}} weak]].

** The Troll comes with the trait "Always Hungry," which comes into play when it [[FastballSpecial wants to throw a goblin]], and runs the risk of the Troll deciding that they would rather eat their teammate instead.

* TheBigGuy: Most teams have access to a player designated as the Big Guy, a model with natural strength of 5 or more, which you can take in extremely limited numbers (normally 1; goblin and halflings can take 2 and Chaos Pact has 3 different ones). They tend to have good armour, the Mighty Blow trait (or alternately Claw in some Big Guys), lousy agility, subpar movement, the Loner trait, and some other drawback (Bonehead, Really Stupid, or Wild Animal), and lack of access to General Skills: Big Guys can knock your opponents' linemen senseless and little else. However, if a Big Guy somehow gets hold of the ball, it will be... quite difficult for the opposition to strip it away. The Ogre team is half made up of these players. Two specific subversions are Undead Mummies and Khemri Tomb Guardians. Both have strength 5 and limited numbers, and beginning players may think of them as Big Guys. However, they are not considered to be Big Guys, specifically because they do not have any major drawbacks (beyond low mobility and lack of general skills — and for Tomb Guardians, they have the Decayed trait and replace Mighty Blow with Regeneration) and therefore no reason not to take them.

** One of the stadium enhancements in ''Blood Bowl II'' is a Bloodweiser stand, which serves wonderfully intoxicating and violence inducing brews to your patrons. Naturally, this makes the Pitch Invasion and Get The Ref! kickoff results more likely to happen, perfect for adding another dollop of carnage to a game.

* CannonFodder: The lot of a ''Blood Bowl'' lineman, or any other 0-16 player (a player you can buy up to 16 of, meaning they have no limit on their number), is usually to mark and occupy opposing players that could otherwise harm your more valuable limited players. They are replaceable with journeymen if they die, and usually cost as much to replace as an average match result. Elves and dwarves (whose players are really expensive) avert this, and the Lizardmen and Chaos Dwarves invert it as their 0-16 players are the only ones with a snowball's chance in Lustria of actually handling the ball with any rate of success.

** In the fluff, the Skavenblight Scramblers are the only team to ever win the Blood Bowl twice in a row. The first time, they did this through guts, skill, and tenacity (well, as much as you'd expect from the average Blood Bowl team...), whereas the second time, they did it by sending slaves to die by their multitudes while the real team spent the entire season rigging their home stadium with booby traps, pitfalls, and other horrible ways to maim their opponents in the final!

** Humans: ''Generalist.'' Humans have all the expected players (Catchers, Throwers, Blitzers) plus the Ogre and no outstanding weaknesses, and so their team is extremely adaptable. Face the team with the strategy they lack - if you face a bashy team, play a clever positioning game; if you face a wimpy team, bash their heads in. The obvious weakness of course is everybody is better than you at a certain type of play.

** Dwarfs: ''Elitist Brute.'' Dwarfs would seem like the perfect Blood Bowl players - compact, tough and stubborn. They refuse to die or give up and this suits defensive play really well. Their blocking ability is extraordinary and any Dwarf who gets knocked down will be back up to fight again later. As you might expect their short legs make them terrible runners, barely as fast as the slowest members of other teams, so smart positioning is incredibly important when playing Dwarfs.
** High Elves: ''Elitist Ranger.'' High Elf teams are often comprised of Princes, noble sons and other {{Blue Blood}}s, making them some of the most arrogant and best-outfitted players out there. Their ball handling game is absolutely first-class, they are hard to catch and pin down, and decently well-armoured as well; however they are still slight of frame and easy to injure, and this is a bad thing given the exorbitant rates some of them ask for!
** Dark Elves: ''Elitist Technical.'' Dark Elves play quite similarly to their goodly kin, but prefer a more malevolent and direct game that goes through the opposition rather than around them. They are not as fast but they are stronger and able to survive and prevail in clashes that the High Elves could not. Any casualties on the pitch are going to cost the treasury big time, and likely will be the Witch Elves - anyyone familar with Dark Elves know what these ladies are capable of, so they are attractive targets for the other team.
** Skaven: ''Spammer Guerrilla.'' They may be wimpy, they may be cowardly, but boy, Skaven are fast! Even the elves struggle to cover the gaps in their lines and prevent a lightning-fast rat touchdown. Skaven can even score a touchdown on the very first turn without giving the other team a chance to do anything, with a bit of luck and skill. Unfortunately their lack of muscle and armour mean any clash will go horribly for the rats and they are likely to be injured or killed. But Skaven life is cheap anyway.

** Bretonnians: ''Elitist Generalist.'' In the fair land of Bretonnia, every knight dreams of the Bloodweiser trophy and they travel far and wide for the chance to one day lift it. With dirt-cheap linemen (incompetent peasants drafted to play with the knights) and excellent Blitzers, Bretonnia is a team that likes brawling. However the team is centred around these players; they need to well-supported or they will be crushed, and if they are crushed then you will lose. Their passing and running game is also impeded by their heavy armour.

** Certain players, particularly catchers, start their career with skills which make them the team's natural scorer. Natural scorers then get SPP from touchdowns, gaining extra skills that make them even better at it. Since every skill costs more than the one before it, these players can suck up nearly all their team's touchdown XP with relatively little benefit. Unfortunately, since any player can be hit by permadeath or a crippling injury, especially if they're a fragile scorer, over-relying on that high-level player can become a team's AchillesHeel. Many guides recommend taking moderate risks with passes to spread out XP, particularly early on.

** AI teams in the ''Blood Bowl'' video game are not bound to standard rules for XP gain and their team values are generated automatically, leading to the computer suddenly re-acquiring two new level 3 players after your last match put their star players down for good. AI vs AI matches being auto-resolved lead to hilarious score results that would be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve for a human, and their skill gain is not bound to the same rules humans must obey and leads to teams with an ungodly high frequency of doubles and stat gains, while their number of touchdowns, injuries and [=MVPs=] recorded would make it impossible for them to be that high level. One AI team, the Lizardmen Itzi-Bitzi Blockers, seems to exist just to wave this fact in the player's face -- it's a 10-man skink team (with a kroxigor) where ''all the skinks have block as their first skill'' (a doubles skill for them). 'Unlikely' doesn't begin to cover it.

* DenserAndWackier: To the main ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' universe, being more tongue in cheek and humorous. Sure, it's still probably a crappy place to live, but at least it's a ''funny'' crappy place to live.

** Hubris Rakarath is a player so feared that the reporters avoid talking about him, as it may incur his wrath.

** The Dark Elf Star Player Horkon Heartripper was once an infamous assassin hired by the Ashbane Vendettas to kill an opposition blitzer. Unable to take out the player before the game, Horkon launched his attack during the game itself and ended up taking out half his target's team and accidentally scored a touchdown in the process. Such talent was immediately in high demand and the Vendettas hired the assassin in the spot.

Each team moves one player at a time, and if any player fails an action, then a turnover is called, and their entire team's turn is ended -- this means that coaches quickly learn to prioritise actions and get very good at working out the best sequence of events to affect dice multipliers. That said, once a player is moved, the previous acting player will be inactive for the rest of the turn, forcing coaches to take risk quite frequently. This nature of the game is lampshaded by the named-in-the-fluff RandomNumberGod, Great God of Dice "Nuffle" (a pun on the NFL), as entire games can turn on a single failed dice-roll. Experienced coaches sometimes refer to a spectacularly unlikely yet gravely devastating failed roll as being "Nuffled".

** As in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', the ''Blood Bowl'' version of the Lizardmen are the {{Mayincatec}} servants of the Old One with three main races: the man-sized Saurus that have thick scaled hides, viciously sharp teeth and fangs, muscular tails; the smaller, amphibian Skink that have slick-scaled skin, short tails and crested heads; and the ogre-sized, crocodilian Kroxigor. The Lizardmen are also very important to the historic backstory of ''Blood Bowl'' as they were the original race to introduce Nuffle and his sacred game to the world. In-game, the Lizardmen are a traditionally a Tear 1 team with a good mix of fast and tough players.

* MultipurposeTongue: Chameleon Skinks, introduced into Lizardmen Teams during 5th Edition, use their long, sticky tongs to interfere with the ball during a game. This is represented by the Chameleon Skinks having the Pass Block skill and their model being shown catching the ball with their tongue.

* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: The Scarcrag Snivellers are unique amongst Goblin teams as they attempt to win their games fair and square without any trolls, fouling, chainsaws or any other secret weapons. Despite this the team has had some limited success in the background material and have actually managing to survive a few seasons without being totally wiped out, something even more traditional Goblin teams struggle with.
* MythologyGag: In the sequel video game, Bob hails a game of Humans versus Orcs as being "...the most classic of all Blood Bowl matchups." Then he begins musing that, if he were to create a [[HomeGame board game]] of the sport, those would be the teams he'd include in the starter set. No points for guessing what the in-box teams were for every edition of the tabletop game were.

** Ogre Star Player Morg'n'Thorg once boasted that he could probably beat an entire 16-player Halfling team by himself, and outraged by his arrogance, a team called the Moot Mighties challenged him to do so. While not supported by the actual game rules, according to the fluff, the result of the game was.... Not pretty, for the Halflings.
** Certain players -- especially Star Players -- have stats and skills that make them appropriate to play in any position, be it fighting in a melee or running to score. This occasionally results in a spectacular drive in which one player tackles the opposing ball carrier, picks up the ball, dodges their way through the rest of the opposing team, and runs in a touchdown almost unaided by their team mates.
* OurGnomesAreWeirder: One of the 5th Edition [[FlavorText "Did You Know…" box-outs]] mentions the Glimdwallow Geezers, a team of white bearded, pointy hat wearing players who entered into Halfling only tournaments. Thinking they were a team of elderly Halflings the other teams went easy on them until it was revealed that they were actually Gnomes, at which point the Halfling fans gave the deceptive Gnomes a beating.
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Those werewolves who play Blood Bowl are tormented creatures driven into a wild frenzy by their conflicted nature and are prone to outbursts of crazed violence, something that would make them the prefect Blood Bowl player if they could confine such violence to the opposition. As such, werewolves almost exclusively play for Norse Teams (who don't care about such incidents) Necromantic Horror teams (where any damage they cause to their own side can be easily repaired by the Necromancer Coach).
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Two kinds. Zombies (which are more or less the linemen of the Necromantic and Undead teams) are of the voodoo variety (although they are corpses); high armor and regeneration makes them hard to take down for a unit of their cost, but tied for the third slowest unit in the game. Nurgle rotters, on the other hand, are more on the line of plague zombies; they are faster and have the same armor, but have decay, which means they are very prone to injury. Any unit they (or another Nurgle unit) kill may turn into a rotter.

* PluckyGirl: Former pig farmer turned Star Blitzer Karla von Kill has had to deal with low-level sexism from Cablevision reporters, as well as major injuries caused by Minotaur that apothecaries said should have ended her career, but has been determined to push onwards regardless. Karla’s attitude was ably demonstrated during the 2492 Blood Bowl final, where she attempted to stop the Mighty Zug, only to be knocked out for her trouble. Karla didn’t let this stop her, however, and once she regained consciousness, she immediately singled out Zug again and actually managed to knock down the famously solid Blocker, something that gained her a nod of respect from Zug himself.

* RealityWarper: The Slann Mage-Priests that hire themselves out to Amazon and Lizardmen in the 5th Edition of the game are able to use their reality altering powers to assist their team. The Reality Blinks spell can, if cast correctly switch the positions of two players as the Slann alters realty so that the players had taken different directions. If cast incorrectly however it can lead to both players being [[{{Intangibility}} stuck between dimensions]].

-->'''Jim:'''(facepalming) We can't all be brain-dead morons obsessed with murder, Bob. Some of us are polite, genteel bloodsuckers.

* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: Dwarfs were among the first of Nuffle's priests, so they feel that they are allowed to adjust the rules at their pleasure.

* SeriousBusiness: Blood Bowl has basically replaced full-scale war, and even, in a fashion, brought about peace; even the forces of Chaos no longer try to slaughter the world, instead of focusing on dominating the Blood Bowl tournament. In fact, the first game stopped a battle between Dwarves and Orcs, two races that have been fighting for generations.

** Orc teams have tough, cheap players with close-to-average stats and are easy to learn the game with, but in high-level play their lack of a good throwing game or ability to score quickly (barring the odd goblin throw) means they're very predictable.

* StatusEffects: The Druchii Sports Sorceresses, who hire themselves out to Dark Elf and Elven Union teams in the 5th Edition of the game, are able to cast the unique spell 'One Thousand Cuts'. This spell is an insidious Curse that reduces an enemy player's Move, Strength and Agility characteristics for a drive.

* SupremeChef: As with most of their representations in fiction [[{{Hobbits}} Halflings]] are renowned for their culinary abilities. This is represented in the game by allowing teams to hire Halfling Master Chefs as coaching staff[[note]]Halfling teams get to hire them at a reduced price[[/note]]. The abilities of a Master Chef's are so great that they have a chance of greatly inspiring their team, granting them an extra re-roll, and distracting the opposition with the delicious smells coming from the dugout, costing them a re-roll in the 5th Edition of the game.
* TacticalRockPaperScissors: Most teams have certain set-ups that they have trouble against, but none so bad as Amazons vs Dwarves or Chaos Dwarves. Amazons have the advantage of all starting with Dodge (making them harder to hit) to compensate for not being especially tough; Dwarves have the advantage of all their basic players starting with Tackle (which negates Dodge) and are ''much'' more durable in melee, compounded by the Amazons being a mainly bashing/running team (see GlassCannon). It's so bad the best advice you can give to an Amazon player facing Dwarves is [[CurbStompBattle "try to bring at least a few players home alive."]][[note]]It IS possible to beat Dwarves with Amazons, but by Nuffle you're going to have to work for it -- and be VERY lucky.[[/note]]

* {{Teleportation}}: The alternate version of Blood Bowl known as Dungeonbowl, sponsored by [[WizardingSchool the Colleges of Magic]], involves teams playing through a network of caves and tunnels linked together by magical teleporters. The Elven Union team, the Celestial Comets, are particularly adept at using these teleporters and when they switched to regular Blood Bowl they brought some with them that they would install on a pitch before a match. The 5th Edition of the game represents this with the Celestial Comets 2489-2490 Hall of Fame Squad that includes special rules allowing their players to make a special Teleport Action to move between the teleporters during a game.

* ThenLetMeBeEvil: The legendary Dark Elf Star Player Jeremiah Kool of the Darkside Cowboys was so skilled that many pundits and commentators accused him of using magic to enhance his game. Believing that if you are accused of something you didn't do you may as well make sure it is true, Jeremiah helped the Cowboys start the Underearth Academy of Offensive Sports Magic and, after his retirement from the game, became the Cowboy’s Offensive Magic coordinator.

* UnnecessaryRoughness: This is basically the entire premise of the game, to be honest. You can make tackles with freaking ''chainsaws''. Lore-wise, High Elves have an "unusually" high number of being on the receiving end of this by everyone else.
* UnskilledButStrong: As a general rule, basic players who start with very good stats for a role (Saurus, Black Orcs, Chaos Warriors, etc.) start with no innate skills necessary to fill that role, which balances them somewhat with poorer-statted specialists who start with those vital skills (most teams' blitzers have Block, for instance). No Big Guys (models with base strength 5 or higher) have normal access to the General skills either, limiting access to the all-important Block. The sole exception is the vampires, who start with both good stats (four strength AND four agility) and a few great abilities (most notably hypnotic gaze) but come with their own issues...

* VerticalKidnapping: During the 2459 Lustrian Superleague semi-final match between the [[RatMen Queekwell Queasers Skaven]] team and the [[LizardFolk Tlanxla Terradons Lizardman team]], the great flying lizards that the Lizardman team was named for began grabbing Skaven players from the field and either dumping them into the crowed or taking them back to their nests for a snack. The Classic Plays special rules published in Issue 450[[note]]January 2020[[/note]] of ''Magazine/WhiteDwarf'' includes rules for representing these random Terradon attack with a random chance of a Skaven player being abducted from the field.

* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: It's also entirely possible for a player to stop his own drive dead in the water with a turnover by fouling and getting caught, or failing a block intended to injure an out-of-the-way player, ''before'' running or passing the ball. Most experienced players will know better than to do this.

* DumbMuscle: All Big Guys in the game have negative traits that backfire on them. The most common one is "bone-headed", which makes the character stand around dumbfounded and lose all his actions and tackle zones for a round. "Really stupid" is "bone-headed" on steroids and has an even greater chance of activating unless you've got a non-stupid player to poke the Big Guy in the leg. "Wild Animal" makes the character stand still and bellow challenges at the enemy for a turn, and activates a lot unless the player [[BloodKnight is being ordered to punch somebody]]. Finally, Treemen are liable to take root and stand still for the remainder of the drive, and Deathrollers will be sent off by the ref as soon as he's done quaking in fear of them (though that last one can be by-passed with a bribe, unless, of course, you rolled a one while doing it). All these characters also have the Loner trait, which makes them too dumb to use re-rolls properly (Ogre teams are the exception; their Ogres are still bone-headed but not loners; similarly, Treemen on Halfling teams are not loners as well).

* EcoTerrorist: Although nothing was proven, the dryad Star Player Willow Rosebark has been implicated in the vandalism of a number of stadiums constructed from wood taken from sacred groves. She will also offer her services to teams playing opponents known to cause damage to arboreal environments.

** The 5th Edition Halfling Star Player Cindy Piewhistle is a professional baker who took up Blood Bowl to advertise her wares. During the game Cindy is known to throw scalding hot pies at the opposition, which have the same effect as the bombs thrown by some other players.

* ExperiencePoints: During League Play, players on a team can earn experience points to gain levels, receiving a new skill or characteristics increase for each level gained. To earn experience points a player must perform specific actions during a game, with most editions rewarding scoring touchdowns, making successful passes, making an interception and causing casualties with various of points.

* FanService: Mind you, the humanoid cheerleaders are certainly attractive, and there are several teams with lots of scantily-clad hotties on them, most obviously the [[AmazonBrigade Amazons.]]

** Chaos Pact and Underworld include this as a gameplay mechanic: The teams are made up of a RagtagBunchOfMisfits of various races who hate each other, so whenever you want to pass the ball between races you need to roll the dice first to see if they're willing to pass the ball in the first place.

* FastballSpecial: The "Throw Teammate" skill (innate to ogres, trolls, and treemen) allows the throwing of characters with the "Right Stuff" skill (snotlings, goblins, and halflings). 5th Edition Goblin teams even have access to the Doom Driver player, a goblin who specialises in being thrown, using crudely made artificial wings to guide their path towards the End Zone. Throwing players down the pitch is a popular tactic for those teams able to do so as it allows for the possibility of a one-turn touchdown if the player is lucky. If the player is unlucky then their goblin ball-carrier is liable to be eaten by the team's troll.

* TheFixer: The 5th Edition (In)Famous Couching Staff character, Fink da Fixer, is renowned for getting his colleagues absolutely anything they want a few seconds before they want it. In-game, Fink's abilities count as three regular assistant coaches and he has the special ability that help with bribing the referee.

* FlavorText: As usual with a Creator/GamesWorkshop game, ''Blood Bowl'' has quite a bit of background material in the various {{sourcebook}}s including in-universe game and career stats for famous players and teams, and multiple 'Did You Know…' box-outs that give random, and often humorous, snippets of background information.

* ForTheEvulz: [[spoiler: The Skavenblight Scramblers in the second game come up with an EvilPlan to summon a Verminlord in the final game of ''Blood Bowl II'' to murder the opposing team and the spectators.]] Why? Because they felt like it.

* FrankensteinsMonster: Flesh Golems, who fulfil the role of [[MightyGlacier Blockers]] on Necromantic Horror Teams, are created from stitched together bits of various corpses and share the traditional look of Frankenstein’s Monster. The most famous Flesh Golem to have played the game is the Star Player Frank N. Stein who was unfortunately killed during an incident involving a werewolf and a mob armed with torches and pitchforks.

** The 5th Edition Chaos Chosen Star Player Gobbler Grimlich is a revolting mutant resembling a hybrid of human and toad with a massive mouth, a long, sticky tongue and elastic legs that allow him to move in great leaps.
* FootballHooligans: Blood Bowl fans have a reputation for being just as drunken, violent, anti-social and unpleasant as the players with one piece of background information stating that they believe something should be done about the minority of fans who just want to watch the game rather than start a fight. The game itself represents this with random chances of riots, pitch invasions and other fan violence happening whenever there is a kick-off. Fans will also beat-up any player pushed into the crowed.

* GentleGiant: The star player Morg n' Thorg is mentioned to be perfectly nice off-pitch and safe to be around unless you're an interviewer misspelling/mispronouncing his name. He is kind to children, (relatively) nice to his fans, and was used as spokesman for a successful road accident reduction ad campaign. On the pitch... Not so much.

** Similarly, Wood Elf Wardancers and Dark Elf Witch Elves are very good natural blitzers but are very expensive and very vulnerable to counter-attacks. Wardancers in particular are nightmares; a Wardancer built for taking the ball away will generally only fail to get the ball away if she suffers from poor rolls on the part of her coach (against a target without Sure Hands, a Wardancer with Wrestle and Strip Ball has a 98% chance of knocking the ball loose on a 2-dice block). Wardancers beginning with Block and Dodge is almost enough to elevate them to LightningBruiser status, but, sooner or later, a Wardancer is going to wind up prone, and when she does, a brutal multiple-player game of KickThemWhileTheyAreDown is sure to follow.
** To the great surprise of most beginning players, Amazon teams actually fall under this. A lot of people mistake them for a running or passing team, but they don't have dedicated runners, their speed is strictly average (6 on all players), and their passers and receivers are pointedly unspectacular compared to most races (they don't get any agility 4 players or any other special advantages). However, Amazon blitzers are one of the few classes in the game to start with Dodge AND Block (the infamous "Blodge" combo), they can have up to 4 on their starting lineup, and all their other players get Dodge, meaning they can get Blodge after their first level-up. Amazons actually play as a bashing team, relying on Block to let them stand up to bigger, tougher teams like Orcs and Chaos, but their armour value of 7 means that they're alarmingly fragile.

* HiddenWeapons: Players with the "Stab" and "Weeping Dagger" Extraordinary skills (such as Dark Elf Assassins and Skaven Gutter Runners respectively) are able to sneak knives of various types onto the pitch to use during a game. Unlike the bombs, chainsaws and steamrollers used as secret weapons by other players, these knives are easy to conceal from the gaze of the referee and so their use will not get the player sent off for using them during the game.

* HomeFieldAdvantage: 5th Edition introduced rules that allow teams to purchase their own stadiums during league play. Playing at home has a number of advantages for a team, including allowing them to choose the stadium Attribute rather than rolling for it randomly, seeing more of their fans turn up resulting in a higher chance of getting certain bonuses, and having less chance of payers being injured if they are pushed off the pitch.

* IResembleThatRemark: In the story mode of Blood Bowl II, after Jim says Bob needs to overcome his problem with the elves, Bob says that he's not racist. He simply hates elves and wishes they would all die.

** [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat If the referee notices a player doing this they will get sent off and be unable to return for the rest of the match]]. At the same time, the ref is often an EasilyDistractedReferee, so fouling is encouraged, especially with goblins.
** Many teams have access to a Star Player who specialises in attacking downed opponents, such as Hubris Rakarth for the less moral Elf teams, Bilerot Vomitflesh and Lord Borak for various flavours of Chaos team, and Big Jobo Hairyfoot for Halfling teams. In-game this is represented by these players having the Dirty Player skill that makes fouling more effective.

* CardCarryingVillain: The Evil Gits team in the fluff.

** In the background material, certain Star Players will send some teams into palpitations of dread when they see them in their opponent's roster. The famous Minotaur Grashnak Blackhoof in particular is known to cause entire teams to lock themselves in their dugout and refuse to take to the field, not that a something as flimsy as a door will stop the rampage of the 'Great Black Bull'.

* GreenThumb: The Horticulturalists of Nurgle, specialist Wizards available to hire by Chaos Chosen, Chaos Renegade and Nurgle teams, are able to cause the weeds and grass of a Blood Bowl pitch to writhe with life before they rot to nothing. The Horticulturalist is able to use this ability in an attempt to trip opposing players trying to 'Go For It' or to knock them from their feet with a rapid bloom of putrid fauna.

* GuestStarPartyMember: Mercenaries, Journeymen, and Star Players are all hired for single matches out of your inducement money. They all have the Loner trait as well, making them unreliable.

There was a comic adaptation released by BOOM! Studios in 2008, and a four volume series of novels by Matt Forbeck following the career of Dunk Hoffnung, Quarterback of the Blood Bay Hackers. There also exists an old, 1990s DOS-age game, rudimentary as far as graphics go, but highly entertaining due to multiplayer requiring only one computer. [[http://www.bloodbowl-game.com/ A second video game adaptation]] was released in 2009, developed by Creator/CyanideStudio. ''Blood Bowl 2'' was released on September 22, 2015. The release of the 5th Edition of the game in 2016 resulted in the rerelease of the novel series in [=eBook=] format and has seen the release of a number of [=eShort=] stories.

* BerserkButton: The 5th Edition Wood Elf Spite Star Player Swiftvine Glimershard is said to get extremely irate if she even thinks someone has called her something such as adorable, small, delightful or fey. Using such insults in the presence of the shot tempered sprite can cause serious repercussions, as one Underworld Denizens team discovered when they were mysteriously slaughtered in their own locker room after a match.

** While all Ogres are continuously hungry, the 5th Edition background material mentions that the Ogres who play for the Gnoblar Goblars are infamous even amongst their own ever-hungry kind, getting their names for their habit of killing and eating their smaller servants and teammates if the are even slightly late in delivering their meals.
* TheBigGuy: Most teams have access to a player designated as the Big Guy, a model with natural strength of 5 or more, which you can take in extremely limited numbers (normally 1; goblin and halflings can take 2 and Chaos Pact has 3 different ones). They tend to have good armour, the Mighty Blow trait (or alternately Claw in some Big Guys), lousy agility, subpar movement, the Loner trait, and some other drawback (Bonehead, Really Stupid, or Wild Animal), and lack of access to General Skills: Big Guys can knock your opponents' linemen senseless and little else. However, if a Big Guy somehow gets hold of the ball, it will be... quite difficult for the opposition to strip it away. The Ogre team is half made up of these players. Two specific subversions are Undead Mummies and Khemri Tomb Guardians. Both have strength 5 and limited numbers, and beginning players may think of them as Big Guys. However, they are not considered to be Big Guys, specifically because they do not have any major drawbacks (beyond low mobility and lack of general skills -- and for Tomb Guardians, they have the Decayed trait and replace Mighty Blow with Regeneration) and therefore no reason not to take them.

** Heady Brew, an Inducement that can be purchased by 5th Edition Halfling and Ogre teams, is a potent ale brewed by the Halflings of the Moot that can drive even the most placid Stunty to violence. In-game, this inducement allows a small number of players with the Stunty skill to be dosed with Heady Brew, giving them the Dauntless, [[TheBerserker Frenzy]] and [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy Really Stupid]] skills.

* CareerEndingInjury: Injuries that lower stats and increase the chances of getting more and[=/=]or worse injuries. For low-level players, this is pretty much an end of the road, while high-level players are able to keep playing because their skills are too valuable to get rid of.

* CombatReferee: A number of referees mentioned in the background material have gotten tired of not being listened to during a game and decided to enforce their decisions with violence and, in at least one instance, a chainsaw. In-game, one of the 5th Edition Famous Referee characters who can officiate a game is Jorm the Ogre who has a chance of physically attacking a random player on a team that commits a foul.

** Vampires have one of the best stat lines of any non-specialist player in the game (starting with a 4 in strength AND agility as well as an above-average 8 armour), regeneration, can hypnotise enemy players, and to top it all off, can select skills from almost any discipline. Unfortunately, they also suffer from [[WarmBloodBagsAreEverywhere Blood Lust]], meaning that for ''every action they try to take'', they have a 1 in 6 chance of either latching onto one of their nearby Thrall teammates and draining him (knocking him out of the game) or running off the field to attack a spectator (causing the action to fail, ending your turn, and moving the Vampire to the Reserves box). Additionally, Thralls themselves aren't very spectacular players.

** Chaos Pact can hire three Big Guys, a mutated dark elf to do ball handling, and their marauder linemen have ''incredible'' MagikarpPower potential with their skill access. However, three Big Guys means three chances of going stupid each round (and unlike ogre teams, they aren't guaranteed to make the reroll), and the whole team has animosity.

* UnPerson: A bit of an unusual one: Slann teams are pretty much treated by Games Workshop as though they didn't exist, but Games Workshop has no creative control over the rulebook. In other words, the race is still in the rulebook, but no supplementary material, models, or mentions of the team exists in any Games Workshop-controlled media. Meanwhile, the second ''Blood Bowl'' video game introduces the Kislev Circus, [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubsitute who have the exact same stats and skill access as the Slann, but completely different models]].

* BalefulPolymorph: Turning opposition players into toads and frogs is a fan-favourite tradition for Hireling Sports-Wizards and one that has been present in a number of editions either as a spell or as a special play card.

** Chaos: ''Brute'', UpToEleven. "If all the opposing players are dead then scoring is irrelevant", sums up Chaos' playbook. Games with Chaos more resemble street brawls than ball games, as the horrifying ensemble drive up the centre pitch, maiming any opposition foolish enough to get in the way. Their mutations add new abilities to complement their raw power, but they still lack mobility and diversity; they don't even have dedicated catchers or throwers. Forget the ball and just look for fights!

** The sequel manages to reign in some of the impossible skill combinations of the first, while managing to turn this UpToEleven in other ways. Prepare to see multiple instances per match of AI teams carrying out what would take miraculous luck to do even ''once'' for a human player.

* RugbyIsSlaughter: Turned [[UpToEleven up to 11]]. The recent video game contains various references to an Albion League which is even more vicious and brutal than Old World Blood Bowl, in a direct invocation of this trope. The closest the sport gets to an unnecessary roughness rule is "don't let the ref catch you bringing a weapon onto the field". The key words here being "[[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught catch you]]".

** Dwarf teams are the orc team UpToEleven: They're even slower and even better at making giant man-piles to crush their opponents, but they're even slower, less dodgy, and only have one way to win, making them extremely predictable and thus easier to counter if you know what you're doing.

* UpToEleven: Takes every bit of American league and college football (along with rugby) and amps them up. Thought football was violent? Bring in the chainsaws and cannibalism. Hear all those analogies about how football was a lesser kind of war/coaches are generals, et cetera? Turn football into a wargame. Think the NFL's a huge megacorporation that enthralls a nation? Have it as a literal God. No one likes a player? Murder them. Think coaches are really old? Have them as literal zombies. Think certain football stars are prissy, overpaid primadonnas? Have an entire team of them that ''refuse to play''. Hear about the bounty programs NFL teams would illegally use to knock out rival players from a season (or even life)? How about having it a staple of the game, and replace "knock out" with more murder.

* RulesAreForHumans: Due to AI teams receiving random generation of skills, there is a full possibility you can encounter AI players with the Frenzy + Grab combo, which is illegal.

* PowerCreepPowerSeep: The PC game's ''Chaos Edition'' introduces the Khorne team, whose BigGuy is a Bloodthirster. As a Big Guy, it is very good at its role, but only has Strength 5, same as the Ogre and the Kroxigor. In normal ''Warhammer'', a bloodthirster has twice the strength of those two units and could single-handedly destroy a regiment of ogres.

* TutorialFailure: The tutorial of the 2010 computer game is lacking in explaining the actual mechanics -- expect to spend some hours reading the rulebook -- to the point where the tutorial actually seems to [[GuideDangIt expect the player to have one handy]] -- or a lot of trial and error.

* UnPerson: A bit of an unusual one: Slann teams are pretty much treated by Games Workshop as though they didn't exist, but Games Workshop has no creative control over the rulebook. In other words, the race is still in the rulebook, but no supplementary material, models, or mentions of the team exists in any Games Workshop-controlled media. In the second ''Blood Bowl'' video game, the Slann team shows up as Kislev Circus, which has the exact same stats and skill access but different models.

* KillEmAll: Standard Chaos tactics; it works especially well against Halflings, where it's common to knock the entire team, including the Treemen, out of commission (every round a team has no players to field, the other side gets an automatic touch-down).