The proposed SBU is an extension of the original SLOBS system, but are fictional leagues your cup of tea? If not, could they be? Let's take a few minutes for me to share my experiences with fictional leagues ... maybe after reading them, you may see things in a different light.
Like almost all of us, when we started playing SherCo (or any other baseball game), there were no options. You had to play with real players and teams; that's all that existed. And, whether you know it or not, you've probably played in a ton of fictional leagues over the years. They're called "draft leagues" ... none of the teams you create by drafting all-star teams are real ... they're made up. Sure, they have real players on them ... but Mike Schmidt and Reggie Jackson on the same team? Pure fiction.
See what I mean about "fictional leagues"? We've all played in them. We just never *thought* of them as fictional. But those teams are as real as the Mudville Nine, or the Pioneers and Haymakers.
When SherCo introduced SLOBS in 1981, it marked the first time any game company had given players the blueprints for creating their own universes. Players always had the capability of rating real players using our formulas and giving them fake names, but SLOBS gave you everything you needed to start completely from scratch.
So, what do I like about fictional leagues?
The first is that I am not "tied" to what I expect from a player's performance. If I have 1980 Mike Schmidt [#B16(22)*], I have certain expectations of how he will perform. Schmidt hit a then team-record 48 homers in an MVP and World Championship season. I expect him to do about as well on the tabletop. Except for one thing ... I have never been able to roll very well for Schmidt ... ever. So, I usually walk away disappointed. I understand why ... but it doesn't make me feel any better. But what about USBL HOF first baseman, Tim Kelly (a career #A14)? Well, since Tim isn't real, his #A14 represents, to me, his potential. Maybe he rolls up a .435/9/28 season (his first of four Triple Crowns) ... but maybe he posts a .256/4/19 instead with that same rating. Because I wasn't "expecting" him to replicate anything in this new season, then I chalk it up to fate.
What's the difference, you ask? First, when we play the 1980 season, we know the outcomes and when we replay them in SherCo, we're hoping to see much of what happened in real life play out on our tabletops. We're replaying the past. We want it to replicate the past as closely as possible, given the one-decimal precision of two dice.
But with SBU, even though the ratings are based on the previous season's performances, they represent the potential of a *new* season. We're not taking the A14 from last year to replay last year ... we're using it to generate a new season. And when the dice don't cooperate, we chalk it up to a bad year.
When Schmidt never replicates his heroics from 1980, you can't chalk it up to a bad year ... because you know he didn't *have* a bad year. When Tim Kelly starts with an A14, all you know is that he *should* have a good season ... but when he doesn't, it's just part of his career arc ... and a potential downturn in skill as the B12 he earned this year will color what he does next year.
Fictional leagues also allow you to escape the "trappings of tradition". Wanna play with a universal DH? If you're replaying the 1980 season, you can ... but then you need to designate someone to be a DH from players who all had to play the field during the season, and so are likely locked into your starting lineup already.
In the USBL, we have 20-man rosters (12 field players, 8 pitchers) ... tie games after nine go to a maximum of three extra innings. If still tied, the game counts as a tie in the standings. We used a mandatory rest chart (a copy of which will be included in our SBU concept) ... everyone had to sit out between 2-8 games of a 30-game schedule, allowing all bench players to play 15-16 games each ... so that the re-ratings all had a reasonable sample size.
I have another league going, using a different game engine, in which we have seven-inning games, and eight-man lineups (pitchers don't bat and there's no DH), with a maximum of two extra innings to break ties.
Making up your own universe frees you up to do whatever you've always wanted to try, but have been hesitant to do with the real-life teams because that "wouldn't be realistic". When your league isn't "real", it also doesn't *have* to be "realistic" ... think of that ...
With SBU, we will give you six teams, six stadium charts, the rest chart, a master 30-game schedule (six games vs. five other teams). You can play everything as-is ... or you can draft the six stock teams into six new teams. You can be inspired by our stadium charts to create your own. You could play a season of the SBU ... then use the SLOBS rules to carry you forward from there. Or, you could wait for the next season of the SBU and play it when it comes out. No limits to what you can do!
So there's the reasoning behind my enjoyment of fictional leagues and some stuff that might inspire you to try a fictional league ...
Next up ... how the initial SBU teams are constructed ...
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