Urban Brawl

What is Urban Brawl?
In 2022, the rumble a la mode for French street gangs who wanted to settle something was a fight on a piece of neutral territory by two armed teams. The side the scored the most goals in a simple ball game one the beef. Sort of a cross between "get the guy with the ball" and the gunfight at the OK Corral.

That was the beginning, but certainly not the end. Beginning with a French corporation's sponsoring of prizes for these sort of games, the sport grew by leaps and bounds. In 2037, the first North American championship the "Super Brawl" was held, and in 2046, the first international Urban Brawl World Cup was held (and has been held every two years since). Teams flourish in almost every nation on earth. In North America, only the Pueblo and Trans-Polar Aleut nations ban the sport.

THE GAME
Urban Brawl on this continent is governed by the North American Commissioner of the Internationaler Stadtskrieg Sport Verein (the ISSV, or the International Urban Combat Sports Union). Legaue franchises are limited to 24 teams but, every two years following the World Cup playoffs, the top non-franchised teams can challenge pro teams for their slots.

The professional game is played in Brawl Zones. Brawl Zones are selected in secret by the ISSV before the season begins, and the list includes twice as many as the league will actually need. Brawl Zones cover a depressed area of urban sprawls, usually an officially uninhabited area such as the local Barrens. The ISSV surveyors look for an area where the squatters are all SINless so they don't have to move people out before a game.

A Brawl Zone measures roughly 4 city blocsk long by 3 city blocks wide (550m long by 420m wide minimum, 680x510 maximum). The game area must be bounded by open streets on all sides. Teams know what cities their games will be in at the beginning of the season, but they don't know exactly where and don't find out until 24 hours before a match.

During the game, Brawlers can go anywhere they can reach in the zone during the game. Inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs, don't matter. The more detailed knowledge a brawler has about an area, the more edge he's got. Shadowrunners have been known to pick up hefty nuyen by doing covert scouting runs into the other team's turf. They've also been known to get dead mixing it up with ISSV security. 24 hours after the zone is activated, cameras put in place, etc., the game begins.

The Brawlers
Urban Brawl players can use any cyberware they can get into themselves, period. Thirteen brawlers go into the zone at the beginning of a quarter. Replacements are made between plays. If all of the offensive brawlers on a single side get taken down during a single play, by wounds or surrender, that team is the victim of a "wipeout"—the other team wins no matter what the score.

Positions
Offensive: Scouts (Light Armor (B3/I2), Personal Sidearm), four per team. Bangers: Medium Armor (B4/I3), personal sidearm. Four per team. Heavies: Medium Armor (B4/I3), personal sidearm, and either an Assault Rifle, SMG, or shotgun. 2 per team. Blaster: Light armor (B3, I2), but carries an LMG in a gyro-mount. One on a team.

Non-Offensive Positions (can't carry the ball):
Outrider: Medium (4/3) armor, a motorcycle, and a cycle-mounted assault rifle, SMG, or shotgun. Can fight and can carry any other brawler on his cycle (except the ball carrier). Medico: Heavy Armor (B6/I4), white coloring, non-combat position, can't be attacked unless on the outrider's bike without penalty. Carries well-stocked medkit.

The ball is a round, soccer-ball sized item that weighs about half a kilogram, made of dense plastifoam, and coated with bright glo-paint visible at 50m.

The game is divided into four 30 minute quarters. Each "play" lasts a maximum of five minutes or until one of the following conditions is met: (a) A goal is scored; (b) Clock runs out on the quarter; (c) The ball is declared "dead" or (d) A wipe out takes place. If a goal is scored or the clock runs out on the play, both sides begin the next play back in their home goals. If a ball goes dead, the opposing side (the one whose ball did not go dead) can either start play from their own goal or resume play with their opponents back at THEIR goal. The clock stops between plays, because it can take a while for the teams to walk a couple blocks, clear casualties to aid stations, medical treamtent, reload, etcetera. Average playing time is about 4 to 6 hours from start to finish including a 10 minute rest between quarters and 15 minutes of halftime.

GAME PLAY
Traditional offense vs. defense doesn't really work; both teams do both things at once. Each team carries a ball and tries to score while preventing the other side from scoring.

Once play starts, the team has 30 seconds to get the ball out of its goal block (and if they fail, a freeze penalty is called on everyone on the team except the ball carrier). They have another 30 seconds to get the ball out of the three blocks adjacent to their goal street. If the ball stays in the same blcok for more than 60 seconds, or is carried back into its own team's goal block for any reason, the team is again frozen until the ball carrier moves into a legal blcok.

Any ball carrier can pass or hand the ball to any other offensive brawler at any time. If the ball hits the ground, the team has 10 seconds to recover it or it is declared dead (and it also goes dead if picked up by an offensive brawler on the opposing team).

Brawlers keep playing until they are disabled by their wounds or surrender. They surrender by triggering a pattern of bright Neolux yellow tubing woven into their univorms, and there's a particularly broad pattern of yellow running up the spine. Surrendered brawlers can take no action, but can reenter the game on the next play. Medicos can attend wounded brawlers, but can't be transported until combat on that block of the Brawl Zone ceases either by moving elsewhere or stopping at the end of the play. Players can NOT be magically healed and return to the game (they can be magically healed, but they will be taken out of that game of Urban Brawl).

SCORING
A circle four meters in diameter is marked by colored glo paint somewhere on the steret at each end of the Brawl Zone. This is the goal. A team may move its goal toa different block on the boundary street at the beginning of each quarter. A team scores if the ball carrier gets the ball into the opposing team's goal. As long as the ball is in the brawler's hands or somehow attached to his body when he gets into the goal, it doesn't matter if he's alive or dead or was blown 10 meters across the pavement by the opposing team's Blaster and hits the goal area in two pieces. So long as one of the pieces is in contact with the ball, it counts as a goal.

There are three types of penalties in the game: Wounds, Kills, or Freezes. A wound penalty immobilizes a player for the rest of the play; a kill penalty kicks the brawler out of the game and infractions that cause death or injury may be prosecuted in some jurisdictions and can't be replaced till the next quarter, and a freeze penalty means that the entire *team* can't move (except for the ball carrier in most cases).

Reasons for penalties include: Arson (kill penalty), Deliberate attack on surrendered/disabed brawler (kill), Deliberate attack on brawler under penalty (wound if miss, kill if hits), Illegal Intelligence (receiving info from outside the zone during a game, the team forfeits), Insufficient Offense (see earlier note about freeze penalty for not moving, can also be called if the officials think that the ball carrier is in hiding or doing something else cheesy), Leaving the Brawl Zone (wound), Roughing the medico (kill), Roughing the Officials (kill), Unauthorized Ball Carrier (ball is then called dead), Unnecessary Destruction of Property (anything that involves blowing stuff up just for the frag of it, wound penalty), Unsportsmanlike Conduct (arguing with the officials or blowing up the cameras, mostly ;), wound or kill penalty), and Use of Unauthorized Firearm (wound penalty).