Goals And Goals

0. Introduction

Goals And Goals is a roleplaying game for 3 to 5 players plus a GM, based around football (soccer).
The aim is not to simulate an entire match, but rather, to give a glorious highlights package,
focussing on those moments that make or break a team's fortunes, both on and off the pitch. The
players play as the core group of "star" players for their football club, with success both a collective
and individual endeavour.

As well as facing their opponents on the field, players will have the opportunity to develop their
social and personal lives together, under the ever-watchful gaze of the media – whether they want to
be social campaigners, focus on romantic or party lifestyle, or maybe explore the world of business.
But be careful: your social standing will rise and fall with your performance on the field, and if you
don't take care of yourself during downtime, you might suffer on matchday!

The game requires several d12 and d6 dice, two d4 dice, and a selection of other dice of varying
sizes. A pen or pencil and something to write on will also come in handy. A gaming table and
identifiable counters are optional, but may help to visualise the players on the pitch. The most
important ingredient is your imagination, and ability to throw yourself into the world.

Goals And Goals is intended to be gender inclusive, in that there is nothing in the rules that are
influenced by gender. Players are encouraged to play as any gender they choose, and the
competitions you choose to create for your games can allow any combination on a team if the
players are happy with that. While the real world segregates by gender, there is no need to worry
about that in Goals And Goals.

Since it is a fantasy, while the settings are written with the present day sport in mind, I absolutely
encourage players to create fantastical or science fiction settings for their games, and create teams
of Goblins facing off against Dwarves or Androids against Aliens. Play as mech pilots using their
giant 'bots to play the sport, or anything else that feels like it might be a fun world to host
professional (or semi-professional) sports leagues. If playing a multi-species league, try using the
Difficulty system to simulate teams representing species of different sizes, or use the abilities to
represent what you think your Character's species might excel or be weak at.

Finally, while the theme doesn't automatically lend itself to any of the common issues, it is always
advisable to hold a Session Zero and lay out Lines and Veils (things that aren't a part of the game at
all, and things that can be implied but not described) before you begin. For instance, if your
character manages to hook up with a sexual partner at a social event, no one needs to know exactly
what the two get up to if anyone at the table has said they'd rather not hear it. (The GM might add
that a full description is published in the tabloids the next day, but even then, no one needs to give
that full description unless everyone at the table has expressed their consent to that sort of content at
the gaming table.) Other situations that might require Lines or Veils could be: injuries; dietary
habits; bad behaviour by fans; or anything else that a player at the table brings up as an issue.
1. Choose Your Team

Before you can start to play football, first you need to be part of a team. The players, along with the
GM, should brainstorm a cool-sounding name for their side, along with the nickname the fans
affectionately use to call them. If you want to go the extra mile, you might try designing a logo and
team motto.

Depending on whether you want to play an entire season (full campaign), a cup tournament (until
you're knocked out) or just fancy a quick friendly against a touring side (a one-shot), your GM may
already have told you what level of football your team normally plays at. If you're playing a one-
shot friendly, this is not really important. If you're playing a full season, your team will likely be
facing teams of similar levels to themselves, while if you're playing a knock-out cup, you'll likely
face a wide variety of different abilities as you work your way towards the final. At the end of these
rules, there are some example set-ups for GMs running cups or championship seasons.

While the difficulty of your opponents are set relative to your own position, your natural skill level
will depend on what level your team plays at.

You could be playing in the semi-pro leagues (known as "non-league" football in the English
system). You could be playing in the lower professional divisions. You could be playing in the top
tier of your domestic league. Or you could play a league or tournament at the International level
(such as the UEFA Champions League, or play as a national side in a tournament such as the Africa
Cup of Nations, the UEFA Euros, or the FIFA World Cup).
2. Characters

Every player character is in some way a star for the football team. Whether it is for your attacking
flair, their steadfastness in defence, their creative play in midfield, or some other reason, the fans
identify with you and see you as an icon representing their dreams of glory, and their chances of
achieving it. It would be unthinkable for a manager to leave you out of the squad (more on which
later) and if he or she did so, there would be questions asked before kick-off (and after the final
whistle, depending on the result).

As well as choosing a position to play, you will need to choose what your role in the team is, as
interpreted by the media and fans.

There are 19 abilities, divided into 4 skill areas: Tackling, Ball Control, Passing and Shooting. In
each skill area, your character will have a number of points to distribute between the different
abilities. These abilities will make the difference between losing out to an opponent or finding a
way to keep them at bay.

A character can play at any position, but it is advisable to choose different positions for each
player's character, or at least, to ensure there is a range of different positions represented. If
everyone chooses to play centre-forward, you're going to struggle when the opposition is on the
attack!
2.1 Positions

Choosing a position to play gives extra points in relevant skill areas:

Position Skill Area 1 Skill Area 2

Central Defender (DC) Tackling Passing
Full Back/Wing Back (FB,WB) Tackling Ball Control
Winger (ML, MR) Passing Ball Control
Central Midfielder (MC) Passing Choose one of Ball Control,
Passing or Shooting
Striker/Centre Forward (ST) Shooting Choose one of Ball Control or
Shooting

2.2 Roles

A player's role is shaped by their abilities and particular skillset. When you choose your role,
therefore, your character gains an extra ability point for two of their abilities. Below are given some
examples of roles and the typical effects they would represent. It is perfectly okay to choose your
own combination of abilities to enhance, and come up with a suitable name for the role you have
created for yourself. These are given as suggestions:

Role Ability 1 Ability 2

Defensive
Stopper Aerial challenge (Tackling) Foot in (Tackling)
Stalwart Shoulder-to-shoulder Hold possession (Ball Control)
(Tackling)
Tight marker Intercept pass (Tackling) Foot in (Tackling)
Ball winner Sliding challenge (Tackling) Shoulder-to-shoulder
(Tackling)
Midfield/Creative
Wide Option Crossing (Passing) Dribbling (Ball Control)
Playmaker Long ball (Passing) Crossing (Passing)
Fan Favourite Backheel (Passing) Short Pass (Passing)
Attack-Minded Into Space (Passing) Curling Shot (Shooting)
Attacking/Striker
Wonderkid Backheel (Passing) Fierce shot (Shooting)
Poacher First touch (Ball Control) Tap-in (Shooting)
2.3 Skill level

Your character's basic skill level depends on what level of football their team plays at. The lower
down the football league system they are, the lower the basic level of training and skill will be.

In general, you start with 5 points in each Skill Area, and add 3 points for each level you are above
the bottom (Semi-Professional) rung you are playing at.

The following table shows how many points you get for your skills:

Level Points per Skill Area

Semi-Professional (Non-League) 5
Lower Leagues (Championship, Lg 1, Lg 2) 8
Top Tier (Premier League) 12
International 15

Share these points out between the abilities in the Skill Areas, on top of the points you already got
for your Position and Role choices.

In the following example, Yasmin has decided she wants to play as Xavier Bonton, a Playmaker
Midfielder who plays for a Lower League team, which she and her friends decided to call Villary
North End. This means Xavier has a total of 8 points in each category. He has two extra points for
his Passing abilities, because of his midfielder position, and his role as a Playmaker gives him an
extra point each on Long Ball and Crossing.

Yasmin decided to spread out Xavier's Tackling skill points roughly evenly, with his weakest
abilities being Sliding Tackles and Aerial Challenges.

She made his Ball Control more focussed, with 3 points each for Dribbling and Knocking the ball
past the Opponent, while his First Touch and Holding possession abilities are very weak, with only
1 point each.

Yasmin made the most of Xavier's Specialisms by putting most of her Passing points into those two
abilities. She feels he is not very coordinated, so his Backheels and Passing into space suffer.

Xavier is not very good in front of goal, but Yasmin decided his trademark move is a long-distance
Lob to beat the keeper off his line, so she gave this ability 4 points, and just one point for every
other Shooting ability.

Her Stamina is explained in the next section (she is playing with two other team-mates). The other
entries, for Reputation and Notoriety, will be explained in their own section.
2.4 Stamina

Stamina is a crucial part of Goals On Goals. The harder you have to work during the match, the
more energy you use up, and the more difficult you will find it towards the end of the match to
make the types of play you're used to.

In a match, your stamina has a physical meaning: it's the total number of dice you are allowed to
use throughout the match. You can choose on any play how many stamina points (and how many
dice) you want to roll to improve your chances of success. You can also choose to make a laid-back
play, and roll with disadvantage, if you don't want to spend any Stamina. ("Disadvantage" means
rolling two dice, and taking the lower of the two results.)

The amount of Stamina you have access to at the start of the season depends on how many star
players there are on the team. In order to keep things balanced, and maintain the challenge fot teams
with more players, their Stamina is reduced accordingly so that the team as a whole has a similar
number of points.

Number of Players Stamina per Character Total Stamina

3 13 39
4 10 40
5 8 40
-6- -7- -42-

Midfielders may find they use more Stamina than other positions, so with the GM's permission,
players may choose to donate one of their starting Stamina points to a teammate instead if they
expect that character to be more active on the field.

The Stamina system makes it possible to work around Players who have to miss a session, and their
absence can be explained in-game as an illness or training injury. Similarly, new players can be
added as transfers or substitutes brought in to cover, if Players want to take turns in joining
sessions. Once the season/campaign is in progress, if you are below the usual number of players,
increase the Stamina available for each Player temporarily by the difference in the table above. For
each additional Player, reduce the Stamina by the reverse amount. For example, if you normally
play with 4 Players, and for the next session only 3 are available, give everyone a 3 Stamina boost
for the match. If you add a Player to your four Player table, then for that session, take away 2
Stamina from each Player for the match.

Numbers for 6 Players are included, but at the moment it is not recommended to play with that
many, because it becomes much harder to balance the Stamina, and each Player may find they have
to sit out or role with disadvantage on more highlights.
2.5 Off The Field

While you have your abilities in the game, Goals And Goals is not just about the matchday
achievements. As a top player for your club, you have some level of media and social profile as
well, and what you do with that is up to you. Choose two or three things that you would like your
character to achieve in their non-footballing life, and in between matches, you will roleplay their
attempts to advance their goals through the social events they take part in.

There are five broad categories of activities outside of the footballing world. Here are some
suggestions of goals your character might have in each of these categories:

Suggested Goals

Creative This could include hobbies, art, music, writing and other activities in this vein.

Social This could include dating and/or romance, developing friendships or partying hard!
Causes This could include charities, politics, activism or other ways of affecting society
Status Within the game. Such as, efforts to improve your contract or earn a big transfer deal
Business Making money outside football – endorsements, investments, property, etc

Try to choose goals in different categories to begin with, so that, for example, when you go to a
Social event, you're only working on one goal. If you want a storyline where you make friends and
also find romance, then perhaps you could set it up so that you make some friends, and once you're
satisfied with your success in that regard, your friends will help you find a potential partner, whom
you can then get to know and build a relationship with.

2.6 Description, Personality and Background

Now you have all the essential gameplay elements together, it's time to add some flavour for your
fans.

Some of your fans will be all about your bodily appearance. What do you look like, how do you like
to wear your club strip? Are you tall and rangy or small and nippy? Thick and muscular or slim and
lithe? What key words will the newspapers and twitter fans use to identify you from the team, and
what will your groupies talk about when they say why you're the one they want to be with?

Equally, what key words will describe your personality? It might be a good idea to choose three or
four words that represent your character's media personality, in front of the cameras, and another
two or three words that show how this differs from their private self. (Of course, they could both be
very similar, but try to find one or two ways in which there's a distinction so you understand their
motivations fully.)
Finally, make a few notes about their history. Why did they become a footballer in the first place?
What was their experience of early youth games and training like? How did they get signed by their
first club? Is their current club their first, or did they sign from someone else? Is your character a
young player on the way up, or in the prime of their career, or could they be a former star who's
signed from a higher-profile or more successful team, but in the current set-up is still very much one
of the best in the club?

How do their family, culture or peers outside the game feel about their sports career? Have they had
to give something up in order to pursue this dream? How has this shaped their attitudes towards the
things they want to do in life?

Once you've given your character a nice, rounded backstory, it's time to put them on the playing
field.
3. Matchday

For the footballer, this is what it's all about. This is where you earn your money, make your
reputation, and show the world what it's all about. It's time to pit your skills against those of the
opposition, and find out who comes out on top.

3.1 The Opposition

An opposition team is made up of eleven team members. It is the GM's job to keep track of them
and how they are dealing with the actions of the player characters. The GM can choose a formation
if they are familiar with footballing tactics, or stick to the tried and tested 4-4-2 formation. That is,
four defenders (including a left fullback and a right fullback, four midfielders (usually including a
left winger and a right winger), and two strikers. The eleventh position is the goalkeeper.

The GM's team members each have just 3 ability scores. These are Speed, Strength and Accuracy.
These numbers provide the difficulty level for the skills your characters use in the game. Paying
attention during the match to which members of the opposition have which scores could mean you
are able to exploit favourable match-ups between your skills and their abilities.

Opponent Ability Skill Used

Foot-in challenge
Dribbling
Passing into space
Speed Crossing the ball
Curling shot
Fierce shot
Sliding challenge
Aerial challenge
Shoulder-to-shoulder challenge
Strength Hold possession
Short pass
Long ball
Headed shot
Intercepted pass
Knock the ball past the opponent
First touch (on receiving a pass)
Accuracy Backheel pass
Tap-in shot
Lobbed attempt on goal

Typically, forwards or strikers will favour Accuracy so their attempts on goal are more threatening.
Positions on the wings (wingers, fullbacks or wingbacks) will use Speed. Defenders find Strength
useful, while Midfielders tend to be more balanced, but can specialise in any of the three areas.
All Opponent Abilities start with a baseline of 5. For each team member of the opposition, the GM
distributes bonus points between their three Abilities. The amount of bonus points per player is
determined by the relative abilities of the two teams facing one another. If you're struggling to make
the players at similar positions different enough from one another, you can choose not to use every
point, and allow there to be a "weak link" in the team.

The weighting is such that a semi-professional team struggling in their division will find it almost
impossible to beat a top-tier team expected to finish high in the table, and there is more variation of
ability between teams in the same league, whereas the gulf in class when your team plays a team
from a higher or lower division means that the variation within each league has less of an effect on
the prospects of beating the other team.

The table below shows how many points the GM has for each player, to share between the three
abilities. Each league level is split into three sub-divisions, depending on whether the teams
prospects are to finish higher, lower or in the middle of the league table.

As a general rule, avoid assigning an ability level higher than 10 unless your Players are a Semi-Pro
team facing Top Tier opposition, because the players only have a d12 to work with, and setting up
very difficult tests will discourage them at earlier levels. However, since 15 points would be enough
to max out every Opposition team member, once you get to the widest gaps in level, it is more
advisable to max out two abilities and leave the other as low as possible: this gives the Players a
chance to work out what that Opponent's weakness is and target it with appropriate moves and skill
tests. Remember that the point of the game is to have fun, so a thoroughly frustrating sequence of
failures should be avoided if possible.

Players Team Semi-Pro Lower League Top Tier

Opponents Low Mid High Low Mid High Low Mid High
Low 9 8 7 6 5 5 4 3 3
Semi-
Mid 10 9 8 6 6 5 4 4 3
Pro
High 11 10 9 7 6 6 5 4 4
Low 12 12 11 9 8 7 6 5 5
Lower
Mid 13 12 12 10 9 8 6 6 5
League
High 13 13 12 11 10 9 7 6 6
Low 15 14 14 12 12 13 9 8 7
Top
Mid 16 15 14 13 12 12 10 9 8
Tier
High 16 16 15 13 13 12 11 10 9

Example team sheets will be given at the back of this document.

3.2 Match Duration

Goals And Goals is not a game that aims to simulate an entire match. As a result, the duration of a
match is more flexible than you might imagine. Goals And Goals focusses on the highlights
moments, when the players' characters have a chance to shine (or fall flat on their faces).

Before each half, the GM rolls two d4, one for the Players' Team, and one for the Opposition, and
keeps this roll secret. The GM then adds +1 to both rolls. The GM also adds +1 to the "better" team
as determined by the rankings above, if they are in the same league, +2 if they are one league apart,
or +3 if they are two leagues apart (i.e. Semi-Pro versus Top Tier).

Finally, if the Players' Team is considered the underdog (the Opposition team members have 11
points or more according to the Difficulty table), the Players may choose to surrender one Stamina
point each, in order to gain a +1 to their d4 roll. This represents the extra effort required between
the highlights to earn this extra chance of score.

These dice rolls and the scores added to them, provide the number of highlights for each team
where that team starts with possession of the ball.

It is, of course, entirely possible to have a dreary match with only two chances for each team in
each half. Equally, in a one-sided half between mismatched teams, you might find the dominant
team has 7 chances compared to their opponent's 2.

It is up to the GM whether or not to tell the players at this point how many chances each team has in
the coming half of football. It is also up to the GM to decide in what order to play the chances out in
the game. However, it is recommended that as far as possible, the play should alternate between
attack and defence for the players. For instance, if the Players Team has 3 chances and the
Opposition has 5 chances, you might play the highlights in the following order:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
O P O O P O P O

While these chances may start with one team in possession, if the other team wins possession of the
ball during the highlight, that team is allowed to try and put together a counter-attack, so just
because one side seems to have a huge advantage in chances, their opponent can still hope to turn
the tables on them.
3.3 The Football Pitch

For the purposes of Goals And Goals, the football pitch is divided into a 3 x 3 grid, which can be
described vertically as "Own Third", "Midfield" and "Opposition Third", and horizontally as "On
The Left", "Central" and "On The Right".

Players can choose where their Character lines up, within reason for their position, each time play
resumes, although at Kick-off, they must not be in the Opposition Third.

3.4 Choosing How A Highlight Starts

Every highlight needs a way the action starts. At the start of the game, it's a kick-off from the centre
spot. Every other highlight will start when one of four possibilities: a Goal-kick, a Free-kick, a
Throw-in, or Winning a tackle.

The GM will also need to determine where on the field the action restarts. It is recommended that
highlights should not start in the Opposition Third, so rolling a d6 to choose a segment of the pitch
is one way to keep things varied. The GM can also choose based on how they feel the game has
gone so far, and if there is a particular narrative they want to build. This can also guide how to
choose the restart method.
To keep things randomised, the GM (or a Player) can roll another d6 and use the following table to
decide how play restarts:
Dice roll Method of restart
1 Goal Kick (Long for Midfield, Roll the ball out for Own Third)
2 Throw-in (If Central, treat as Goal Kick instead)
3 Free Kick
4 NPC teammate wins the ball with a tackle, and passes to nearest Player
5 Goal Kick if underdogs, otherwise Free Kick
6 Throw-in if underdogs, otherwise NPC team mate wins a tackle.

You can use this table both for the Players Team and the Opposition.

3.5 Playing The Match

It's the moment everyone has been waiting for. The referee blows his whistle, and the centre-
forward kicks off. The game is under way!

The first highlight of the match should always begin with the kick-off. The GM can opt to toss a
coin and have a Player call for it, to determine whether the Players or the GM choose the kick-off
team. Alternatively, it can be decided by whichever team has the most chances in the half. (The
second half must kick-off with the other team, and it is up to the GM to decide how well the balance
of the second half chances works to allow that also to be a highlight.)

When the Players' Team is in possession of the ball, one Player at a time will have control of the
ball. Opponents will try to block their progress or win possession. During this contest, the Player
takes on the role of a radio commentator reporting on the match and describing what happens. The
GM will from time to time interject with an Opponent's action and ask the Player to choose a Skill
to use in dealing with the challenge, which could be a Ball Control skill if they wish to retain
possession themselves, or a Passing skill if they wish to pass control to a different Player. Skills
should be appropriate to the situation, and the type of challenge. (It's no good using a Short Pass if
your team mate is on the far side of the pitch.) The Player then continues their commentary based
on the outcome of the roll, to describe how their Character either beats the challenge, loses
possession, or is temporarily prevented from achieving their aim but retains possession.

The outcome of a challenge is determined by rolling as many d12 dice as the player wishes to spend
of their Stamina on the outcome. In most cases, one success is enough. However, if more than one
Opponent is closing in on the Character, then the Player will need to beat each of those Opponents,
effectively needing more successes. (When rolling with disadvantage, roll one extra d12 and ignore
the highest number rolled.)

A Success means rolling higher than the Opponent's relevant Ability score. A Partial Success is
achieved if you can beat the Ability score only by adding your Skill modifier to the dice roll.
Anything else is a Fail, and the Opponent wins possession of the ball.
In general, on a Partial Success, the attacking Character is delayed long enough for a second
Opponent to arrive, making their next move harder to achieve.

A Player can also at any time attempt a Shot On Goal, the Difficulty Level of which is determined
by the Opponent Goalkeeper's rating in the matching Ability. The Shot On Goal must be of a type
that makes sense based on the Character's position relative to the opponent's goal (so no attempting
a tap-in from your own third of the pitch!). The number of Successes needed for the shot will
depend on your position relative to the goal (see diagram below).

Add 1 if the Character is attempting the shot while being challenged by an opponent.

On a Partial Success, the ball remains in play, either rebounding off the crossbar, or cleared by a
defender. The more Partial Successes there are, the farther back down the field it rebounds. If there
is a Player Character in the segment it rebounds to, they retain possession and can continue the
attack. On a Fail, the ball goes out for a goal kick and the highlight is over.

If the Player rolls enough Successes, however, the goal is scored! The Player can then describe the
shot, the goalkeeper's attempt to save it, and of course, their Character's spectacular celebration
afterwards.

The GM marks up the score for the team, and play moves on to the next highlight.
3.6 Defending

When you lose possession to an Opponent's tackle, or when the Opponent starts a highlight with
possession of the ball, your team is Defending.

When Defending, your Characters will need to use their Tackling skills to stop the Opponents from
scoring.

The GM will describe where on the pitch the action is, and how the Opposition team members are
bringing the ball forwards. The Opposition will try to stay away from the stars, which is to say, the
Players' Characters, so Characters can move around the pitch to try to close down the Opposition's
attack to force them to pass, or to move into the same sector and attempt a tackle. The GM should
pass the commentary around the Players so each can describe their action, including an attempt to
intercept a pass or to tackle the Opponent.

As with attacking moves, when a Character attempts a tackle, they roll as many d12 as the number
of Stamina points they wish to spend. The target for the roll is the Opponent's relevant ability. So
attempting a Sliding Tackle would aim to beat the Opponent's Strength ability. If the Player can
only beat the ability by adding their Skill, this is a Partial Success and the Opponent retains
possession but is forced to pass the ball to a team mate. The next tackle will be harder to achieve,
because the two Opponent team mates work together to try to bypass the challenge.

If the tackle is successful, the Players' Team wins possession. If the highlight started with them in
possession, the highlight ends here. If it started with the Opponents in possession, they now have a
chance to counter-attack and try to score.

As soon as the Opponents have the ball in the Players' Third of the pitch and no Character in the
same sector, their Striker will attempt a shot. The GM will describe the shot, and choose an
appropriate Ability to use. Whichever Player has had the least to do in this highlight takes the role
of Goalkeeper, and roles 1d12 to score above the stated ability. A success means the Goalkeeper
saves the shot. A failure means the Opponent scores. Either way, the Goalkeeper commentates on
the attempt.

Whether or not they score, the highlight ends with the goal attempt.
3.7 Fouls and Fumbles

Occasionally, a Player will roll a 1 when they attempt an action. If they have no successful rolls on
the attempt, this counts as a critical fail. The outcome is as bad as it could be for the team, and for
the Character.

The following table shows the effect for each Ability Area on rolling a critical fail:

Ability Effect
Ball Control is used when an Opponent is tackling you. A critical fail
Ball Control means that the tackle lands hard, causing an Injury. Roll 1d4 and
subtract 1. The Character loses this many Stamina points.
The ball is struck wildly and evades team mates and defenders alike to
Passing
roll out of play. The highlight comes to an end in ignominious fashion.
A shot straight at the goalkeeper, who distributes it quickly. The
Shooting
Opponents gain possession in Midfield and have a chance to attack.
Your tackle is mistimed and brings down the attacking player, and the
referee awards a free kick. The Opponents gain possession in the sector
Tackling
where the foul happened. If this is in the Players' Third, the Opponent
will attempt to score from the free kick.

Narrate the embarrassing event for your Character, and how they react.

3.8 Dirty Play

Not every player in the game of football plays strictly by the rules, and some seek to gain unfair
advantage either though bad tackling, trying to trick the referee, or using a surreptitious hand on the
ball to gain control.

These methods of cheating are also available to Characters in Goals And Goals. Instead of rolling to
beat the efforts of the Opponent, a Player may declare that they are going to use a Dirty Play to
come out on top. A Dirty Play action costs no Stamina, but comes with the risk of receiving a
yellow card. Two yellow cards, and you're out of the match! (A Player whose Character has been
sent off for two yellow cards, is now always in charge of the Goalkeeper.) So if the referee spotted
your foul once, you should be extra careful on future plays.

When in possession, you can Dive, or Handball. When defending, you can make a Bad Tackle.

Roll 1d12. To get away with your Dirty Play, roll 6 or higher. If you have already received a yellow
card, however, the referee will be watching you much more closely. Now you have to roll 9 or
higher to get away with it.
If you fail, the highlight is over, unless the Dirty Play took place in the Centre of your Own Third,
then the Opponents are allowed a shot on goal first – the GM will determine whether this is a
penalty kick or free kick from the edge of the penalty box. The Goalkeeper rolls, and narrates the
outcome before the highlight ends.

If you succeed, however, you get the following benefits:

Dirty Tactic Outcome

Use two dice to take a shot on goal. Normal difficulty applies, but the
Dive shot costs no Stamina. Alternatively, roll to Cross the ball to another
Character, who can attempt to score with normal costs and difficulty.
Play the ball past the current Opponent(s), without spending any
Handball
Stamina. May retain possession, or pass to the nearest team mate.
Win possession of the ball without using Stamina. Nearest team mate
Bad Tackle
receives the ball to start the counter-attack.

3.9 Moment Of Brilliance

Every player has the potential for a moment of brilliance where despite the odds being against them,
they pull of something spectacular to beat their man, or score a goal. In Goals And Goals, each
Character has one chance per match to do something amazing. Whenever a Player's skill check has
failed completely, the Moment Of Brilliance allows the Character to pull off a special move to
overcome the odds and make an incredible success instead.

The Player declares they are going for a Moment Of Brilliance, and rolls 3d12. However, to
succeed they must hit a 12 on one of the dice.

This is a high-risk, high-reward option. Succeed, and the Player gets to narrate the amazing results –
including a goal, if they are out of their own third of the pitch. A Success only costs 1 Stamina
point. You also gain an additional 2 Reputation to use in the down time activities later.

Fail, and you lose 3 Stamina points, 2 Reputation points, and the GM describes how the incredible
intentions end up with embarrassing results. The Opponents have the ball, and the chance to attack.

3.10 Half-Time

Football, as the saying goes, is a game of two halves. As mentioned already, before the start of each
half, the GM rolls to determine how many highlights there will be for each team in possession.
Half-time is also a chance for a team regroup, analyse what happened in the first half, and
encourage one another to bring home the win in the second half. Players are free to roleplay all of
this while the GM sets up the course of the highlights still to play.

Players also have the opportunity to regain some Stamina points. Roll 1d4 each, and add the result
to your remaining Stamina for the match. Once again, the Players have the opportunity to spend a
Stamina point each in order to gain an extra highlight in their favour, if they feel like they might
need it (and can spare the Stamina).

Unlike the first half, the second half does not normally start with a highlight from kick-off. The GM
may decide to do so, if the team with most highlights in the second half did not also kick off in the
first half.

3.11 Fatigue

Towards the end of a match, particularly one that is full of action and highlights, it is possible that
one or more Characters will run out of Stamina points. While it is possible to continue the match
playing using the Laid Back approach, rolling every challenge with disadvantage, sometimes the
outcome will be crucial enough that a Character will push themselves to find a little extra.

This allows a Player to roll more dice than they have Stamina for. The Player will then mark these
dice as Fatigue points on their character sheet. Fatigue points stay on the sheet until the next match,
when they are subtracted from your Stamina points at the start of the match, meaning you will find
it harder and harder to maintain fitness for an entire match if you keep on using Fatigue. So it is a
risk to weigh up the short-term need versus the long-term costs.

A Player can spend time with the Team Physio during the Downtime phase of the game to try to
remove one or two Fatigue points before the next match, but there is no guarantee it will fully
restore your Stamina ready for the contest.
4. The End Of The Match

Once every highlight from the two halves have been played, the final score of the match is known.
The Players' Team can celebrate, if they've won, or analyse their failures if they lost.

4.1 Extra Time and Penalties

If you're playing a match in a knock-out competition, it won't do to leave things with the scores
level.

Before playing extra-time, every Player rolls 2d4 and regains that many Stamina points to use in the
final phase of the match. (Take off any Fatigue points already taken in the match).

Extra time consists of four highlights, alternating between the two teams. A high Stamina roll at the
break will therefore give the Character a strong advantage.

If at the end of extra-time the scores are still level, proceed to the Penalty Shoot-out.

To play the penalty shoot-out, Players take it in turns to play Rock-Paper-Scissors against the GM.
Each game represents one penalty each. If the GM wins, then the Player misses their penalty, but
the Opponent scores. If the Player wins, they score but the Opponent misses. On a draw, both sides
score their penalty. Whatever the outcome, while playing, the Player and GM must narrate the run-
up, shot and attempted save.

If the scores are level after 5 penalties, continue into Sudden Death: the first side to win a game of
Rock-Paper-Scissors wins the shoot-out.

4.2 Consequences

Winning and losing, or even earning a hard-fought draw) are all important consequences, of course.
In a cup match, the effect on the season will be obvious. The GM might have a little extra work to
do to be able to explain what a league match means to your team's position in the table, but that will
also soon be clear.

But there are consequences of the match for your Character, too.

We already talked about Stamina, and how Fatigue from the match can carry over into the next
contest. There are also consequences for your Reputation, and life beyond football.
With the match over, the media (played by the GM) way want to interview the star players. This is
an opportunity to develop any ongoing storylines the Players may have embarked on with their
Characters, or just to celebrate (or commiserate) after the epic struggle the game just witnessed. Be
careful – what you say may feed through to your other relationships, including the team's manager!

Your Reputation is the level of influence and attention you are able to attract when pursuing your
non-footballing interests. In the Downtime phase, you spend these points to make progress in those
interests.

Notoriety points work against Reputation, and negate an equal number of your points when you
earn them. They also build up over time so a particularly dirty player might build up a reputation
and this could influence their Downtime contacts in various ways.

These are the ways you can earn Reputation or Notoriety points (each one only applies once –
scoring two goals in the match is still only +1 Reputation):

Action Points Earned

Your team wins the match +1 Reputation
You scored a goal in the match +1 Reputation
You scored a penalty and saved one in a shootout (Beat the GM +1 Reputation
at Rock-Paper-Scissors)
You scored three goals in the match (a hat-trick) +2 Reputation
(Defenders only) Your team didn't concede any goals in a half +1 Reputation
(Defenders only) Your team kept a clean sheet in the match +2 Reputation
You succeeded on a Moment Of Brilliance +1 Reputation

You committed a foul (rolled 1 when attempting a tackle) +1 Notoriety

You got away with a Dirty Play action +1 Notoriety
The referee gave you a Yellow Card +2 Notoriety

Take your Notoriety gained away from your Reputation to see what your overall Reputation change
is from the match.
5. Downtime

The stadium is empty again, and the weekly cycle starts again. Training and studying tactics for the
next match, with the team manager, (and doing your day job, for the semi-pros!) during the day –
and in your time off, the chance to enjoy the benefits of being a star.

Every Player has three chances to use their Character's time. There are, broadly, three types of
action to carry out in these activity slots. These are: Extra Training, Physio, and Pursue Interests.
Note: if your Character suffered an injury in the previous match, they must spend at least one
activity slot with the Physio, to be ready to play the next match.

5.1 Extra Training

Extra Training is how you develop your player's skill levels beyond the original skill points you
gave them. If you feel you need to work on your Sliding Tackle, for instance, you would start a
project to earn an extra point in that skill.

A Project is a six-segment "clock" that gradually fills up over two or more sessions with the coach
until the coach is satisfied you have advanced in your ability. If you change your mind which ability
you want to work on, the clock sets back to zero, and you have to start again.

You fill your Project clock by rolling 2d4 and taking the higher score. However, because Goals And
Goals is about the relationships between team mates as much as it is about the results on the field, if
two or more players share training time, each of them gets a bonus 1 segment on their clocks,
regardless of which skill they each are developing. Feel free to roleplay the interactions before,
during and after the training session.

5.2 Physio

A trip to the team Physio can work wonders for a battered and bruised Character. It is also the
simplest action to take in Downtime.

Roll 1d4 and add the result to your Stamina points for the next match.

It is strongly recommended to take a session with the Physio after experiencing Fatigue during a
match, and compulsory after an injury in a match.
5.3 Pursuing Interests

This is where you spend your Reputation points to make the most of your life as a football star, and
where you get to roleplay the most about that side of things.

You start the season with a Base Reputation of 6 points. Every time you finish a match with a
positive Reputation change, you add 1 to the Base Reputation you use next week. Your total
Reputation points for the week are your current Base Reputation plus your Reputation Change.

The same calculation works for your Base Notoriety, except that this starts at zero. Every time your
Notoriety outweighs your Reputation, your Base Notoriety goes up by 1. Your Base Notoriety
doesn't affect the Reputation points available for Pursuing Interests, but the GM may take it into
account in determining how the media, potential love interests, and businesses, treat you. (Of
course, some people may like your bad-boi image for various reasons, and the GM may allow this
to work in your favour on occasion.)

When you spend an activity slot on Pursuing your Interests, choose which goal you want to work
on, and what event you plan on going to in order to do so. Let your imagination run wild and use
your creativity to come up with all kinds of different ways you might get a chance to push things
forwards. It doesn't all have to be nightclubs for your Social interests, a big office meeting for your
Business interests or a charity fundraiser for your Causes. Chance encounters at other events make
for excellent roleplay opportunities, so anything you fancy, go for it!

Any time a Player declares they are Pursuing Interests, once they've described what event their
Character is going to, any other Player can add their Character to the event, providing a chance to
improve the effect of the event for you, and take some benefit for their own goal in the same
activity area. This still counts as them using an activity slot.

It costs one Reputation point to go to an event in the first place. The person attending then chooses
how many Reputation points they want to spend on their event dice. As long as they have enough
Reputation to cover the cost, the number of points spent is the number of sides the die they will roll
for the effect of the event will have.

If a team-mate is attending the same event, the team-mate has to pay the initial 1 point cost, and
then half the points spent by the Player declaring the event. These points are added to the dice total.
The same effect is true of each team-mate attending the event.

For example: if Annabelle spends 5 points to send her Character to lobby a politician for her cause,
she would be able to use a d4 to earn progress towards her Cause. If Yasmin decides her Character
wants to go along too, it only costs Yasmin 3 points, but Annabelle's effect dice is upgraded from a
d4 to a d6. If Mpho also decides his Character wants to be part of meeting the politician, then Mpho
also only pays 3 points, and Annabelle now is allowed to roll a d8. In return, Yasmin and Mpho will
earn half the points towards their own Causes as Annabelle does.
After rolling the effects die, roleplay how the event goes, with the GM playing any other people at
the event. If any Player makes a bold, outlandish or otherwise remarkable gesture or claim during
the roleplay, reroll the effects die, aiming to equal or beat the score shown previously. Doing this
adds an extra point to everyone's reward from a successful evening. Failing means everyone loses a
point. (This means it is better to roll very low if you fail, because the next roll will be more likely to
beat the new score shown).

If anyone rolls a 1, then something they did had a bad effect on them physically – for instance,
eating or drinking too much, slipping and hurting themselves somehow, or perhaps just spending
the whole night lying awake and cringing at their faux pas. Whatever it is, they lose 1 Stamina point
for the next match.

The roleplay continues until everyone agrees it has reached a natural conclusion, or until the effects
die has been rolled a third time after the initial roll. Add up the effects of the event on the goals and
mark these points as Attention against the relevant area on your sheets.

Having good levels in areas that don't immediately concern your current goals is still useful. Once
one of your areas has more than five points, you gain an extra Reputation Point for the next week
for each area that has more than half the points of your highest area.

5.4 Loss of Attention

Each week you don't put any effort into pursuing an interest area, the amount of Attention that area
has decreases. If it's a Cause, then the media move on to other stories. In Business, your potential
partners have other deals to get on with. In your Social life, your friends or dating partners feel
neglected if you don't hang out with them. And so on.

At the end of the week's activities, when all your activity slots are used up, you lose as many
Attention points on each area, as half the number of weeks since you last did anything in that area
(rounded up). So for the first two weeks, you lose 1 Attention point. On the third week, that goes up
to 2 Attention points. If you leave it 5 weeks, you'll start losing 3 Attention points!

Early in the game, you won't have enough points to attend more than one event a week (or two, if
you split your time between your team-mates' events, so you'll need to work on building Reputation
and maybe focussing on one interest at a time.

5.5 Saturday Beckons

Once every Player has had a chance to use up their 3 activity slots, the week has come to an end.
The GM has an opportunity to set the scene for the next match, and perhaps roleplay a pre-match
interview with one or more of the Characters.

This is probably the best point to take a break if your game is being played over several sessions in
real life. Let the anticipation of another epic clash full of heroic performances build until next time.
6. Notes For The GM

There is a lot that needs to be done behind the scenes to make sure that a game of Goals And Goals
flows easily, and much of that work will fall on you as the GM. This section is designed to give a
little bit of help or short cuts if the process of creating several football teams full of NPCs gets a
little overwhelming, or the prospect of working out how to arrange the fixtures in a season is just
too much.

Above all, your goal as GM is to enable the players at your table to have a good time together in the
shared experience of the football match and the lifestyle surrounding it. So feel free to interpret the
rules and advice in these pages in any way that aids that purpose.

In general, Goals And Goals is likely to work best when played in person or with some form of
visual communication. The suggested rule for resolving penalty shoot-outs with a game of Rock-
Paper-Scissors, for example, works best on that assumption. Other methods could involve using
"spoiler" tags in a chat/discussion room to declare which way the goalkeeper and penalty-take goes,
and these can be revealed once both are posted (relying on both to post in quick succession).

The game definitely benefits from having a "pitch" map on which to place markers for your NPC
Opponent players, and the Characters. While the rules are hopefully simple enough for "theatre of
the mind" to work with a little effort, being able to move your markers and depict the current
locations in time with the commentary without having to keep a simplified version in your head, is
an advantage for this sort of game. When playing "theatre of the mind" it may be beneficial to use a
smaller number of distinct abilities for your team, having both wingers have the same stats may
help keep track of what to ask for when a Player attempts something.

While one-shot sessions of Goals And Goals are possible and encouraged, the game is designed
primarily with longer campaigns, or "football seasons", in mind, to allow the development of
Character goals and abilities to create storylines and opportunities. With that in mind, you are left to
your own devices to choose a strength of opposition and a backstory for the match, in your one-shot
session.

Below, you will find some suggestions for seasons/campaigns to run, which will save you some of
the effort in creating teams and fixture lists. Once you're confident, and feel like experimenting, you
can use these as a basis to make your own teams, or start from scratch using the rules from Section
3.1 above.

A table converting each skill a Player might use into the appropriate difficulty from your NPC
player is added at the end.
6.1 Cup Run

The Players' Team are this year's surprise giant-killers in the national cup competition. Depending
on how long a campaign you want this to be, you can choose how many rounds away from the Final
they are when we pick up the story, but the idea is that they are a lower league or semi-pro team
who are earning the right to go up against the biggest teams in the country, and maybe even go all
the way to glory. The aim of the campaign is for the Players to take their team as far as they can.

For this campaign, you will need at least one Opposition Team for each round of the contest, and
you will need a range of opposition strengths, from the top to the bottom of the challenge levels.

You can decide how rigidly you want to enforce the difficulty gradient as the Players progress
through the competition: if you want to control which team they face each week, and gradually
increase the difficulty, you can simply tell your Players whom they've been drawn against in the
next round each session. If your Players want the full randomised nature of the FA Cup Draw, you
can perform your own draw with the names of the teams you've prepared placed into a bag and a
different Player each week draws out the name of the next Opponent. If you want to hold back the
very hardest teams for later in the campaign, you can do this so the Players have a chance to
develop their abilities or just to allow them a relatively easy ride early on, while still having
something depend on the Draw.

We strongly advise holding back the strongest Opponent for the Final regardless of the Draw, so
you have a sense of a "grand finale" to round off the campaign.

Here, then, are eight teams from easiest to hardest, that you can arrange as you wish in a Cup Run
campaign in which your Players' Team are a talented Semi-Pro squad. Feel free to fill in the blank
parts of the names, or rename them entirely. Give the players names too, if you want.

If you plan to use a Cup Draw in your campaign, try starting with Hamlet, Borough and Athletic in
the bag for the first round, and each draw after that, add the next team down the list, while
discarding the team that's just been beaten. For a shorter campaign, you can leave out either of the
12 Difficulty teams, and either of the 14 Difficulty teams.
 Hamlet - Semi-Pro - Difficulty: 7 - Formation: 4-4-2
Player Position Strength Speed Accuracy
2 Right Back 10 7 5
3 Left Back 8 8 6
4 Central Defender 10 6 6
5 Central Defender 9 6 7
6 Central Midfielder 8 6 8
7 Left Winger 5 9 8
8 Central Midfielder 7 7 8
9 Striker 6 6 10
10 Striker 5 8 9
11 Right Winger 5 10 7
13 Goalkeeper 8 6 8

Borough - Semi-Pro - Difficulty: 9 - Formation: 4-4-2

Player Position Strength Speed Accuracy
2 Right Back 8 9 7
3 Left Back 9 9 6
4 Central Defender 10 7 7
5 Central Defender 10 6 8
6 Central Midfielder 8 7 9
7 Left Winger 6 10 8
8 Central Midfielder 7 8 9
9 Striker 6 6 10
10 Striker 5 8 9
11 Right Winger 5 10 7
13 Goalkeeper 8 8 8
 Athletic – Lower League - Difficulty: 11 - Formation: 5-3-2
Player Position Strength Speed Accuracy
2 Right Wingback 10 10 6
3 Left Wingback 8 10 8
4 Central Defender 10 6 10
5 Central Defender 9 7 9
6 Central Defender 10 7 9
7 Left Midfielder 9 8 9
8 Central Midfielder 8 8 10
9 Striker 6 10 10
10 Striker 8 9 9
11 Right Midfielder 8 9 9
13 Goalkeeper 10 9 7

Wanderers – Lower League - Difficulty: 12 - Formation: 4-4-2

Player Position Strength Speed Accuracy
2 Right Back 10 10 7
3 Left Back 9 9 9
4 Central Defender 10 7 10
5 Central Defender 9 8 10
6 Central Midfielder 9 8 10
7 Left Winger 5 9 8
8 Central Midfielder 9 9 9
9 Striker 10 7 10
10 Striker 7 10 10
11 Right Winger 10 10 7
13 Goalkeeper 10 8 9
 Rovers – Lower League - Difficulty: 12 - Formation: 5-3-2
Player Position Strength Speed Accuracy
2 Right Wingback 10 10 7
3 Left Wingback 9 10 8
4 Central Defender 10 7 10
5 Central Defender 10 8 9
6 Central Defender 10 7 10
7 Left Midfielder 9 8 10
8 Central Midfielder 8 8 10
9 Striker 7 10 10
10 Striker 8 9 10
11 Right Midfielder 9 9 9
13 Goalkeeper 10 9 7

City – Lower League - Difficulty: 14 - Formation: 5-3-2

Player Position Strength Speed Accuracy
2 Right Wingback 10 11 8
3 Left Wingback 12 12 5
4 Central Defender 12 6 11
5 Central Defender 11 7 11
6 Central Defender 12 7 10
7 Left Midfielder 8 12 9
8 Central Midfielder 10 7 12
9 Striker 7 12 10
10 Striker 11 8 10
11 Right Midfielder 7 11 11
13 Goalkeeper 12 5 12
 Real – Lower League - Difficulty: 14 - Formation: 4-4-2
Player Position Strength Speed Accuracy
2 Right Back 11 11 7
3 Left Back 11 9 9
4 Central Defender 12 7 10
5 Central Defender 11 8 10
6 Central Midfielder 9 10 10
7 Left Winger 5 9 10
8 Central Midfielder 9 8 12
9 Striker 12 7 10
10 Striker 7 10 12
11 Right Winger 10 12 7
13 Goalkeeper 9 8 12

FINALISTS:

United – Lower League - Difficulty: 15 - Formation: 4-3-3

Player Position Strength Speed Accuracy
2 Right Back 12 12 6
3 Left Back 10 11 9
4 Central Defender 11 7 12
5 Central Defender 12 11 7
6 Central Midfielder 12 6 12
7 Left Midfielder 7 12 11
8 Right Midfielder 10 8 12
9 Striker 12 12 6
10 Striker 6 12 12
11 Striker 12 6 12
13 Goalkeeper 6 12 12

Good luck!
6.2 League Season

When most people think of a season of football, what they picture is the league season: a round-
robin contest in which typically, every team in the league plays every other team twice: once at their
own ground, and once at the opponent's ground.

This adds an extra layer of difficulty for the GM: not only do you have to create all the teams in the
league, you have to work out who plays who else at the same time as your players are facing their
match, and simulate their scorelines. And you have to keep track of all the points, goals for and
against (and the goal difference), so you can give your players a neat league table to show how they
are progressing. For this reason, it is best to have relatively small leagues.

You can use any rules you like to govern your league, but the standard rules used by most football
leagues in the present-day system use the following:

A win is worth 3 points. A draw (scores level at full-time) is worth 1 point. Losing earns no points.
If there is a tie in the number of points scored, the tiebreaker is the goal difference, and then away
goals. The Team Sheet template at the end of this document has boxes to keep track of the
individual team's results. A league table template with space for up to 12 teams is also provided to
help you.

6.3 "Quick Start" League

Below, tables and fixture lists for a 6-team league. You will also find 5 non-player teams to
populate a 6-team league and enable you to play that league.

You could also run this league alongside a Cup Run campaign for a longer season, alternating
between League and Cup matches until your Players are knocked out of the Cup.

The Goals-And-Goals SuperDuper League

Away Team
PLAYERS Hamlet Athletic Borough Wanderers United
PLAYERS X 1 2 3 4 5
Hamlet 10 X 4 9 2 3
Athletic 9 5 X 7 3 1
Home
Borough 8 6 10 X 5 2
Team
Wanderers 7 8 6 1 X 9
United 6 7 8 4 10 X
 Players Team HOME Players Team AWAY
PLAYERS v Hamlet United v PLAYERS
List 1 Athletic v United List 6 Borough v Hamlet
Wanderers v Borough Wanderers v Athletic
PLAYERS v Athletic Wanderers v PLAYERS
List 2 Hamlet vs Wanderers List 7 United v Hamlet
Borough v United Athletic v Borough
PLAYERS v Borough Borough v PLAYERS
List 3 Hamlet v Wanderers List 8 Wanderers v Hamlet
Borough v United United v Atheltic
PLAYERS v Wanderers Athletic v PLAYERS
List 4 Hamlet v Athletic List 9 Hamlet v Borough
United v Borough Wanderers v United
PLAYERS v United Hamlet v PLAYERS
List 5 Athletic v Hamlet List 10 Borough v Athletic
Borough v Wanderers United v Wanderers

You are free to play the lists of fixtures in any order, of course, although it is satisfying to see an
alternation of "home" and "away" fixtures. In order to avoid repetitive fixtures for the Players, one
suggested sequence (and the resulting fixture list for the Players) is given below.

Week List Home/Away Opposition

1 1 Home Hamlet
2 6 Away United
3 2 Home Athletic
4 7 Away Wanderers
5 3 Home Borough
6 10 Away Hamlet
7 4 Home Wanderers
8 8 Away Borough
9 5 Home United
10 9 Away Athletic

To resolve the NPC matches, you can use any method you like but one suggestion is as follows:

Roll two d4 dice that are distinguishable from one another. One of these represents the home team,
the other represents the away team. Look up the two team's difficulty ratings. If they are equal,
subtract 1 from each side and treat the result as the full-time score for the match. If one of them is
higher, subtract the difference from the other team's roll, and treat this new scoreline as the final
score. This will give a slightly high-scoring league overall (since teams with advantage can't have a
goalless game) but will do for most situations.
If you want to make your players feel more involved, you could invite them to choose a team to roll
for in these matches and share the dice rolling responsibilities.

You could also make up the scores yourself in such a way as to create a narrative for your players
through the season, with an eye on how the season might turn out.

There now follow six teams set up with a clear favourite to win the League, and a clear favourite to
go down. Can the Players' Team break out of mid-table and challenge the favourites for the title,
and promotion to the next league? (If you choose to run a Cup Run alongside this, you may observe
that Borough and Athletic have the same player stats as the Cup Run teams. If your Players are a
Semi-Pro team in the League, you can treat these as being the same teams in the Cup and League.)

Hamlet – Relegation Candidates - Difficulty: 8 - Formation: 5-3-2

Player Position Strength Speed Accuracy
2 Right WingBack 10 7 6
3 Left WingBack 9 8 6
4 Central Defender 10 6 7
5 Central Defender 9 6 8
6 Central Defender 8 6 9
7 Left Midfielder 5 10 8
8 Central Midfielder 7 7 9
9 Striker 7 6 10
10 Striker 5 8 10
11 Right Midfielder 5 10 7
13 Goalkeeper 8 6 8

Borough – Mid-Table Rivals - Difficulty: 9 - Formation: 4-4-2

Player Position Strength Speed Accuracy
2 Right Back 8 9 7
3 Left Back 9 9 6
4 Central Defender 10 7 7
5 Central Defender 10 6 8
6 Central Midfielder 8 7 9
7 Left Winger 6 10 8
8 Central Midfielder 7 8 9
9 Striker 6 6 10
10 Striker 5 8 9
11 Right Winger 5 10 7
13 Goalkeeper 8 8 8
 Athletic – Mid-Table Hopefuls - Difficulty: 9 - Formation: 4-4-2
Player Position Strength Speed Accuracy
2 Right Back 8 9 7
3 Left Back 9 9 6
4 Central Defender 10 7 7
5 Central Defender 10 6 8
6 Central Midfielder 8 7 9
7 Left Winger 6 10 8
8 Central Midfielder 7 8 9
9 Striker 6 6 10
10 Striker 5 8 9
11 Right Winger 5 10 7
13 Goalkeeper 8 8 8

Wanderers – Mid-Table Hopefuls - Difficulty: 9 - Formation: 4-5-1

Player Position Strength Speed Accuracy
2 Right Back 8 8 8
3 Left Back 9 10 5
4 Central Defender 10 7 7
5 Central Defender 10 6 8
6 Central Midfielder 8 6 10
7 Left Winger 6 10 8
8 Central Midfielder 7 8 9
9 Central Midfielder 8 8 8
10 Striker 9 8 5
11 Right Winger 5 10 7
13 Goalkeeper 10 5 9
 United – Promotion Favourites - Difficulty: 10 - Formation: 4-3-3
Player Position Strength Speed Accuracy
2 Right Back 8 9 8
3 Left Back 10 9 6
4 Central Defender 10 8 7
5 Central Defender 10 6 9
6 Right Midfielder 7 9 9
7 Left Midfielder 6 10 8
8 Central Midfielder 7 9 9
9 Striker 6 6 10
10 Striker 5 8 9
11 Striker 7 9 7
13 Goalkeeper 10 8 7

These tables and team sheets should now give you enough to run an entire season of ten matches for
your players! Borough have been labelled as the Rivals in the contest, which you can discuss with
your players whether it is a historical, or geographical, rivalry (it could, of course, be both).
6.4 Skill Difficulty Reference Table

This table will help you quickly find which Difficulty ability to use when a Player attempts to use
an Ability.
Skill Ability Difficulty
Sliding Tackle Strength
Aerial Challenge Strength
Tackling Shoulder to shoulder Strength
Foot in Speed
Intercept Pass Accuracy
Hold Possession Strength
Dribble Speed
Ball Control
Knock ball past Opponent Accuracy
First Touch Accuracy
Short Pass Strength
Long Ball Strength
Passing Crossing Speed
Pass Into Space Speed
Backheel Accuracy
Header Strength
Curler Speed
Shooting Fierce Speed
Lob Accuracy
Tap-in Accuracy

7. Character Sheets

On the next pages, you'll find a blank character sheet for the player characters, and a blank team
sheet for the GM to plan his opposition teams.
 GOALS AND GOALS
CHARACTER SHEET
Name: Team: League: Level:

Position Bonuses
Role Specialisms

Tackling Ball Control

Ability Level Ability Level
Sliding Tackle First Touch
Aerial Challenge Knock Ball Past Opponent
Foot in Dribbling
Shoulder-to-Shoulder
Hold Possession
Challenge
Intercept Pass

Passing Shooting
Ability Level Ability Level
Into Space Header
Short Pass Tap-In
Long Ball Curler
Crossing Fierce
Backheel Lob

Base Available
Stamina Reputation Notoriety

Goal Level Last Action Taken

Business
Causes
Creative
Social
Status
Description:

Personality:

Background:
 Goals And Goals Team Sheet

Team Name
League & Level
Difficulty Rating

Player Position Strength Speed Accuracy

Goals For Goals Against Goal Difference League Points

Notes:
Goals And Goals League Table
League Name:

Team Goals Goals Goal League

For Against Difference Points