:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.: : Earth's Dreamlands : Info on: RPG's, :(313)558-5024 : area code : :RPGNet World HQ & Archive: Drugs, Industrial :(313)558-5517 : changes to : : 1000's of text files : music, Fiction, :InterNet : (810) after : : No Elite / No porn : HomeBrew Beer. :rpgnet@aol.com: Dec 1,1993 : :.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.: =======================> GET FUDGE.RULES Getting File: SERVER:[GRASS]FUDGE.RULES;4 Subject: FUDGE July93: Part 1 of 4 FUDGE: Freeform, Universal, Donated Gaming Engine A Free Role-playing Game (RPG). By Steffan O'Sullivan Version: July 4, 1993 "Back Cover Blurb" ---------------- FUDGE is a freeform RPG "engine." This means that the rules are guidelines, not unbreakable laws. Each GM *must* do a certain amount of work customizing the rules to her tastes, supplying the body of the gaming "vehicle" - FUDGE is just the engine. This is unavoidable in a freeform game that is trying to appeal to a wide variety of gamers. Fortunately, this also means that supplements from *any* game company are compatible with FUDGE! FUDGE is specifically for people who want a good bedrock to build their own system on. If every commercial RPG details certain things in ways you don't like, then FUDGE may be what you're looking for. If you have created a great game setting (or translated one from fiction), but no other game system's rules seem to do it justice, perhaps FUDGE can help you. If, on the other hand, you demand fully fleshed-out rules or a world background detailed by a game designer, then you may wish to read no further . . . In its current edition, FUDGE is intended for experienced Game Masters. That is, at this time there is no introductory "What is role-playing" section, nor detailed explanations of how to handle any given situation. However, a glossary of FUDGE-specific terms is presented at the beginning of each new major topic. The game can work with novice *players*, as long as the GM is experienced. Note: the word "freeform" in this game has nothing to do with the live role-playing style known in Australia as free-form. In FUDGE, the word simply means a flexible, simple, casual set of RPG rules, requiring much to be filled in and improvised by the GM. ====================================================================== Legal Notice ------------ Version: July 4, 1993 FUDGE is copyright 1992, 1993 by Steffan O'Sullivan. It may be freely copied and distributed by any means desired. This legal notice must be included with each copy of FUDGE. No charge may be made for FUDGE beyond a maximum US$6 fee (at 1993 rates) for materials and shipping, without written permission from the author. A publisher who wishes to include FUDGE in a book of copyrighted source material or adventures may do so, so long as (1) the publisher's copyrighted material is longer than the amount of FUDGE material included, (2) this legal notice and at least Chapter 1 of FUDGE are included, (3) the words in this legal notice and those in Chapter 1 of FUDGE are not changed in any way, and (4) there is no extra charge for including FUDGE in the book. FUDGE was first published in 1992 on internet, and was written by Steffan O'Sullivan (sos@oz.plymouth.edu) with an extensive amount of high-quality input from Andy Skinner. Other valued contributors include Martin Bergendahl, Thomas Brettinger, Robert Bridson, Travis Casey, Paul Jason Clegg, Peter F. Delaney, Jay Doane, Brian Edmonds, Shawn Garbett, Ed Heil, Bernard Hsiung, John H. Kim, Christian Otkjaer, Bill Seurer, Larry Smith, Stephan Szabo, and others on rec.games.design on internet. Groo the Wanderer (TM) is a trademark of Sergio Aragones, and use of the name does not challenge the trademark status in any way. ====================================================================== Terminology Notes: ----------------- To avoid confusion, "he, him," etc., are used to describe a player and PC, and "she, her," etc., are used to describe a Game Master and NPC. FUDGE is divided into six Chapters, each of which is divided into Sections. The decimal point in Section numbers is a true decimal. For example, Section 2.35 comes between Section 2.3 and Section 2.4. Table of Contents ================= 1 FUDGE Overview 2 Character Creation 2.1 Character Creation Terms 2.2 Levels 2.3 Traits 2.31 Attributes 2.32 Skills 2.33 Gifts 2.34 Faults 2.35 Personality 2.4 Allocating Traits 2.5 Subjective Character Creation 2.6 Objective Character Creation 2.61 Attributes 2.62 Skills 2.63 Gifts & Faults 2.64 Trading Traits 2.7 Uncommitted Traits 2.8 Random Character Creation 2.9 Minimizing Abuse 3 Supernormal Powers 3.1 Supernormal Power Terms 3.2 At Character Creation 3.21 Powers Available 3.22 Associated Skills 3.23 Combat Powers 3.3 Non-humans 3.31 Strength and Mass 3.32 Scale Correlations 3.33 Cost of Scale 3.34 Racial Bonuses and Penalties 3.4 Legendary Heroes 3.5 Magic 3.6 Miracles 3.7 Psi 3.8 Superpowers 3.9 Cybernetic Enhancements 4 Action Resolution 4.1 Action Resolution Terms 4.2 Rolling the Dice 4.21 Using a Table 4.22 Tableless Dice Method 4.23 Success Rates 4.3 Action Modifiers 4.4 Unopposed Actions 4.5 Opposed Actions 4.6 Combat 4.61 Melee Combat 4.62 Multiple Combatants in Melee 4.63 Ranged Combat 4.64 Non-human Scale in Combat 4.7 Damage and Healing 4.71 Subjective Damage System 4.72 Objective Damage System 4.73 Knockout Damage 4.74 Healing 4.8 Critical Results 4.9 NPC Reactions 5 Character Development 5.1 Subjective Character Development 5.2 Objective Character Development 6 Tips and Examples 6.1 GM Tips 6.2 Character Sheet Example 6.3 Character Examples 6.4 Animal & Creature Examples 1 FUDGE Overview ================= FUDGE (Freeform, Universal Donated Gaming Engine) is a roleplaying game. The basic rules of FUDGE contain no world background whatsoever. They may be used with *any* gaming genre, and some customization tips are included. However, those using basic FUDGE rules must do a lot of work to create - or adapt - a world suitable for gaming. FUDGE may be used as an engine for other game designers, however. It may be used by any publisher who has a good world to game in. FUDGE is ideal for this because its word-based descriptive levels are easily translated to any other game. If you are reading this overview in such a book, it may or may not include all the FUDGE rules - the publisher is free to sum up or omit certain sections. This overview will tell you what you are missing in such a case, so you can judge if it's worth hunting down the full FUDGE rules. The basic premise of FUDGE character creation is freedom of choice. If an existing game has a brilliant game mechanism in an otherwise lackluster set of rules, you can easily import the brilliance into FUDGE without bringing along the mediocrity. Do you like the way game X handles psi, game Y combat, and game Z sanity? Use them all freely with FUDGE. Every GM has the right to add or delete attributes, skills, or other character traits. While a game designer may strongly feel that certain attributes are necessary in her system, and others are not, you may disagree. FUDGE allows you the freedom to customize any game to your tastes, and includes many examples of character creation, using different collections of traits. In addition to supplying tips on how to include or delete character traits, two different systems of character creation are included in FUDGE: subjective and objective. Chapters 2 and 3 cover character creation in FUDGE. The latter is only needed if you are dealing with powers beyond the realistic human range: magic, super heroes, aliens, psi, etc. FUDGE has a simple, consistent action resolution system: roll two dice; adjust your trait level up or down according to the dice result; determine how well you succeeded or failed. If two or more characters can influence the outcome of an action, they all roll, and results are compared. FUDGE includes two different ways to read the dice: one requires a table on the character sheet, the other does not. Combat is just an extension of the action resolution system. Two different systems of damage tracking are included in FUDGE: subjective and objective. Throughout FUDGE, the GM is given options for a more realistic campaign, or a more "epic" (or "legendary" or "cinematic") campaign. Any genre can be played at any point between the realistic-legendary opposing stances. Experience is very straightforward in FUDGE. Two different systems are included, subjective and objective, of course. The basic FUDGE rules can be obtained free via anonymous ftp on the Internet at soda.berkeley.edu in the directory pub/fudge/rules. Many FUDGE options, such as a complete working magic or psionic system, can also be found at that site, in other /pub/fudge directories. (These samples and options are occasionally referred to in the FUDGE rules as the Addenda.) The current version of FUDGE and the Addenda (on Macintosh or IBM diskette, or nicely typeset hard copy,) can also be obtained from Dream Quest Publishing, P.O. Box 838, Randolph, MA 02368. Write for current shipping and handling charges. 2 Character Creation ===================== 2.1 Character Creation Terms ----------------------------- Trait: anything that describes a character. A trait can be an attribute, skill, inherited gift, fault, supernormal power, or any other feature that might describe a character. The GM is the ultimate authority on what is an attribute and what is a skill, gift, etc. Attribute: any trait that *everyone* has, in some degree or other. See Section 2.31, Attributes, for a sample list of attributes. On a scale of Terrible...Fair...Superb, the average human will have an attribute at Fair. If the default for an unlisted trait is Poor, it's probably a skill. If the default is non-existent, it's either a skill or a gift. Skill: any trait that isn't an attribute, but can be improved through practice. The default for an unlisted skill is usually Poor, though that can vary up or down a little depending on the skill. Gift: any trait that isn't an attribute or skill, but is something positive for the character. Some GMs will define a certain trait as a gift, while others will define the same trait as an attribute. In general, if the trait doesn't easily fit the Terrible...Fair...Superb scale, it's probably a gift. Fault: any trait that limits a character's actions, or earns him a bad reaction from other people. Supernormal Power: although technically gifts, supernormal powers are treated separately in Chapter 3. Level: each trait is described by one of seven adjectives. These seven descriptive words represent *levels* a trait may be at. In addition, the Objective Character Creation method grants the player free levels, and demands he keep track of them. In this case, one level is required to raise a trait to the next better adjective. 2.2 Levels ----------- FUDGE uses ordinary words to describe various traits of a character. The following terms of a seven-level ascending sequence are suggested: Terrible Poor Mediocre Fair Good Great Superb These levels should be written on each character sheet for easy reference. The GM may alter this list in any way she desires, including expanding or shrinking it. For example, if Superb just doesn't sound right to you, then use Awesome or even Way Cool if desired. Some people have problems with the words Mediocre and Fair - change them to whatever terms make sense to you. These seven terms will be used in the rules, however, for clarity. The best way to remember the order is to compare adjacent words. If, as a beginner, your eventual goal is to become an excellent cook, for example, ask yourself if you'd rather be called a Mediocre cook or a Poor cook? Would you rather be called a Fair cook or a Mediocre cook. And so on. There is an additional level that can be used in FUDGE, but is not listed above: Legendary, which is beyond Superb. Those with Legendary Strength, for example, are in the 99.9th percentile, and their names can be found in any book of world records. IMPORTANT NOTE: not every GM will allow PCs to become Legendary! Even in games that *do* include the Legendary level, it is not recommended that any character be allowed to *start* the game as Legendary. Regular use of Legendary tends to dilute Superb, which is unfortunate. Superb represents the 98th to 99.9th percentile of any given trait, which should be enough for any beginning PC! Of course, if a player character gets a bit overconfident, meeting an *NPC* Legendary swordswoman can be a grounding experience. . . If someone really *has* to begin play as a Legendary swordsman, strong man, etc., doing the GM's laundry for a half a year or so (in advance, of course) should be sufficient bribe to be allowed to start at that level. Of course, working towards Legendary makes a great campaign goal, and so PCs may rise to that height, given enough playing time and a generous GM. 2.3 Traits ----------- Traits are divided into Attributes, Skills, Gifts, Faults and Supernormal Powers. Not every GM will have all five types of traits in her game. These traits are defined in Section 2.1, Character Creation Terms. 2.31 Attributes ---------------- Gamers often disagree on how many attributes a game should have. Some prefer few attributes, others many. Even those that agree on the number of attributes may disagree on the selection. While FUDGE discusses some attributes (Strength, Fatigue, Constitution, etc.) in later sections, none of these are mandatory. The only attribute that is assumed is Damage Capacity, and even that is needed only if you use the Objective Damage system (Section 4.72). Damage Capacity may be called Hit Points, if desired. It may simply be part of Constitution (or Hardiness, Fitness, Health, Body, etc.) as a single attribute, or be a separate trait - see Section 6.3, Character Examples. In FUDGE, Damage Capacity only determines how wounds affect a character, and is an attribute on the Terrible ... Fair ... Superb scale. See Section 4.72, Objective Damage System, for details. Here is a partial list of attributes in use by other games; select to your taste, or skip these altogether: Body: Agility, Aim, Appearance, Balance, Brawn, Build, Constitution, Coordination, Deftness, Dexterity, Endurance, Fatigue, Fitness, Health, Hit Points, Manual Dexterity, Muscle, Nimbleness, Quickness, Physical, Reflexes, Size, Smell, Speed, Stamina, Strength, Wound Resistance, Zip, and so on. Mind: Cunning, Education, Intelligence, Knowledge, Learning, Mechanical, Memory, Mental, Mental Strength, Perception, Reasoning, Smarts, Technical, Wit, and so on. Soul: Channeling, Charisma, Charm, Chutzpah, Common Sense, Coolness, Disposition, Drive, Ego, Empathy, Fate, Honor, Intuition, Luck, Magic Resistance, Magic Potential, Magical Ability, Power, Presence, Psyche, Sanity, Self Discipline, Social, Spiritual, Style, Will, Wisdom, and so on, and so on! Other: Rank, Status, Wealth. Note that most games combine many of these attributes, while others treat some of them as gifts or even skills. In FUDGE, if you have the desire, you can even split these attributes into smaller ones: Lifting Strength, Carrying Strength, Damage-dealing Strength, etc. At this point, the GM might decide how many attributes she deems necessary - or she might leave it up to each player. (Commercial games range from 0, 1, 2, 3, etc., to over 20.) See Section 6.3, Character Examples, for some possibilities. 2.32 Skills ------------ Skills are not related to attributes or their levels in FUDGE. Players offended by this are encouraged to design their characters logically - a character with a lot of Good physical skills should have better than average physical attributes, for example. On the other hand, FUDGE allows a player to create someone like Groo the Wanderer (TM), who is very clumsy yet extremely skilled with his swords. The GM should then decide what level of skill depth she wants. Are skills broad categories such as "Social skills," or moderately broad abilities, such as "Inspire People, Parley, and Market Savvy," or are they very specific abilities such as "Barter, Seduce, Repartee, Persuade, Fast-Talk, Bully, Grovel, Carouse, Flatter, Bribe," etc.? Note that an attribute is, in some ways, a *very* broad skill group, and skills may be ignored altogether if desired. An area that must have special consideration is combat skills. The broadest possible category is simply that: Combat Skills. A very broad range might break that down to Melee Weapons, Unarmed Combat, and Missile Weapons. A somewhat narrower approach would break down Melee Weapons into Small Melee Weapons (knives, blackjacks, etc.), Medium Melee Weapons (one-handed swords, axes, maces, etc.) and Large Melee Weapons (polearms, spears, battle-axes, two-handed swords, etc.). Or each group in parentheses could be listed as a separate skill for a very precise list of skills, and someone skilled at using a broadsword might know nothing about using a saber, for example. Each choice has its merits. Broad skill groups that include many subskills make for an easy character sheet and fairly competent characters, while specific skills allow fine-tuning a character to a precise degree. See Section 6.3, Character Examples, for an idea of how broadly or finely skills can be defined in a game. 2.33 Gifts ----------- A gift is a positive trait that doesn't seem to fit the Terrible... Fair... Superb scale that attributes and skills fall into. However, this will vary from GM to GM: a photographic memory might be a gift to one GM, while it will be a Superb Memory attribute to another. Some GMs will define Charisma as an attribute, while others might define it as a gift. To one Game Master, a character either has Night Vision or he doesn't; another will allow characters to take different levels of it. Or gifts might come in levels, but the levels don't coincide with the levels used by other traits. For example, Status might be three- or four-tiered, or even nine-tiered instead of fitting into the seven levels of attributes and skills. Wealth might come only in five different levels - whatever each GM desires. The choice is yours. Not every GM will have gifts in her game. Supernormal powers, such as the ability to cast magic spells, fly, read minds, etc., are technically very powerful gifts, but are handled separately in Chapter 3. Likewise, traits above the human norm, such as a very strong fantasy or alien race, are treated by definition as supernormal powers. In general, if a gift isn't written on the character sheet, the character doesn't have it. 2.34 Faults ------------ Faults are anything that makes life more difficult for a character. The primary faults are those that restrict a character's actions or earn him a bad reaction from chance-met NPCs. Various attitudes, neuroses and phobias are faults; so are physical disabilities and social stigmas. There are heroic faults, too: a code of honor and inability to tell a lie restrict your actions significantly, but are not signs of flawed personality - see the next section. Some faults are superfaults: the converse of supernormal powers, such as a trait far below the human norm (e.g., a pixie's Strength). These are discussed in Section 3.1, Supernormal Power Terms. 2.35 Personality ----------------- A character's personality may or may not be represented as an actual trait. Courage might be an attribute, a gift or even a fault. In the first case, Superb Courage and Terrible Courage have obvious meanings. As a gift, high courage might give the character a positive reaction from people he meets. These would either have to see him being courageous, or have heard of his deeds, of course. However, both very courageous and very cowardly might be faults because they could limit a character's actions. A very courageous character might not run away from a fight even if it were in his best interest, while a cowardly one would have a hard time staying in a fight even if he stood to gain by staying. Or a character's level of courage might not be a quantified trait at all, but something the player simply knows. "Moose is very brave," a player might jot down, and that is that. It doesn't have to count as a high attribute, gift or fault. This can hold true for most personality traits - ask the GM how she wants to handle specific temperament traits. However they are handled, most characters benefit by having their personalities fleshed out a little. 2.4 Allocating Traits ---------------------- Character creation in FUDGE is written as if the player is *designing* the character. The GM may allow randomly determined traits if she desires - a suggested method is given in Section 2.8, Random Character Creation. There are no mandatory traits in FUDGE. The GM should inform the players which traits she expects to be most important, and the players may suggest others to the GM for her approval. The GM may even make a template, if desired: a collection of traits she deems important (with room for customization), and let the players define the level of each trait. When a character is created, the player should define as many character traits as he finds necessary - which may or may not coincide with a GM-determined list. Any traits that are not defined will be at one of three default levels: For attributes: Fair. For most skills: Poor (easier skills might be Mediocre, while harder ones are at Terrible). For most gifts, supernormal powers and certain GM-defined skills: Non- Existent. (That is, it is non-existent to a given character. The trait itself exists in *some* character, somewhere!) Each player should expect the GM to modify his character after creation - it's the nature of the game. The GM should expect to review each character before play. It would, in fact, be best if the characters were made in the presence of the GM so she can answer questions during the process. 2.5 Subjective Character Creation ---------------------------------- The easiest way to create a character in FUDGE is for the player simply to write down everything about the character that he feels is important. Any attribute or skill should be rated using one of the levels Terrible through Superb, as described is Section 2.2, Levels. The GM may also tell the player in advance that his character can only be Superb in one or two traits, and Great in another 3 to 5 traits. (This may be broken down: 1 Superb attribute, and 1 Superb skill, for example.) This limitation helps the player define the focus of the character a bit better: what is his best trait (what can he do best)? If the player has a Jack-of-all-Trades in mind, most of his character's traits will be rated Mediocre to Good. In FUDGE, a character with a trait at Fair will succeed at ordinary tasks 72% of the time - there is usually no need to create a superstar. The player and GM then meet and discuss the character. If the GM feels the character is too potent for the campaign she has in mind, she'll ask the player either to limit the character's power, or take some faults that will balance him. See also Section 2.9, Minimizing Abuse. The GM may then need to suggest areas that she sees as being too weak - perhaps she has a game situation in mind that will test a trait the player didn't think of. Gentle hints, such as "Does he have any social skills?" can help the player through the weak spots. Of course, if there are multiple players, other PCs can compensate for an individual PC's weaknesses. In this case, the question to the whole group might then be, "Does *anyone* have any social skills?" 2.6 Objective Character Creation --------------------------------- For those who don't mind counting numbers a bit, the following method creates interesting and well-balanced characters. 2.61 Attributes ---------------- The GM should decide how many attributes she deems necessary - or she might leave it up to each player. She then allows players a number of free attribute levels equal to half the number of attributes (round up for more cinematic games, down for more realistic games). For example, if she selects four attributes, each player starts with two free levels to raise his attributes with. NOTE: for a more high-powered game, the GM should allow a number of free levels *equal to* the number of attributes chosen. All attributes are considered to be Fair until the player raises or lowers them. The cost of raising or lowering an attribute is -3 Terrible -2 Poor -1 Mediocre 0 Fair +1 Good +2 Great +3 Superb Thus, a player may raise his Strength attribute (which defaults to Fair) to Good. This will cost him one free attribute level. He could then raise Strength again to Great which would cost another free level. This would exhaust his free levels if there were only four attributes, but he would have one more if there were six attributes, and eight more free levels if there were 20 attributes. When the free attribute levels have been exhausted, any further raising of an attribute must be done by lowering another attribute an equal amount (see also Section 2.64, Trading Traits). From the last example, Strength can be raised one more level, to Superb, if Charm is lowered to Mediocre to compensate for the raise. If the GM leaves the number of attributes up to the players, she may simply tell them to take half as many free levels as attributes they choose. But if a player chooses an attribute and leaves it at Fair, that attribute does *not* count towards the total of attributes which determines the amount of free levels. That is, a player cannot simply add 12 attributes, all at Fair, in order to get 6 more free levels to raise the others with! GM-mandated attributes left at Fair *do* count toward the total of free levels, though. 2.62 Skills ------------ Each player has a number of free skill levels with which to raise his skills. Suggested limits are: For Very Broad Skill Groups: 15 levels. For Moderately Broad Skill Groups: 30 levels. For Very Specific Skills: 40 to 60 levels. Ask the GM for the allotted amount, which will give you a clue as to how precisely to define your skills. Of course, the GM may choose any number that suits her, such as 23, 42, or 74 . . . see Section 6.3, Character Examples. All skills have a default value of Poor unless the player raises or lowers them. (The GM may make exceptions: very easy skills might be rated Mediocre unless altered, and very hard ones Terrible. She'll tell you when she reviews your character sheet, or she may have a list of hard and easy skills already made up - ask her.) Certain skills will start at non-existent. These might be things like Languages, Karate, Nuclear Physics, or Knowledge of Aztec Rituals, which must be studied to be known at all. In this case, it costs one level to raise the skill to Terrible. It would take 4 levels just to get such a skill to Fair, for example. For ease in character creation, see the table on the Character Sheet Example, (Objective Character Creation method) Section 6.2. The GM may limit the number of Superb and Great skills each character may have *at character creation*. For a high-level game, no limit is necessary. For a more realistic game, the GM might set a limit of 1 Superb skill and 3 or 4 Great skills, maximum, for example - see Section 6.3, Character Examples. These limits can be exceeded through character development, of course. Once the free levels are used up, a skill must be dropped one level (from the starting Poor to Terrible) to raise another skill one level. (See also Section 2.64, Trading Traits.) All choices are subject to GM veto, of course. It is possible to mix different breadths of skill groupings. A GM who has little interest in combat can simply choose Unarmed Combat, Melee Weapons and Ranged Weapons as the only three combat skills. But this does not stop her from using all the individual Social skills (and many more) listed as examples in Section 2.32, Skills. If this option is chosen, the broad groups should cost double the levels of the narrower groups. But it is awkward to mix skill group sizes within the same areas. For example, it is difficult to have a generic Thief Skills group that can be raised one level at a time, and also have individual skills of lockpicking, pick-pocketing, palming, security-device dismantling, etc. If she *does* wish to do this - and it's not recommended - then the broad skill group *in this case* has a maximum limit of Good, and *triple* cost to raise - or more, if the GM so mandates. If the GM is using very broad groups, a player may raise a very specific skill (such as Poker, for example, instead of general Gambling skill). The only reason to take a specific skill when the GM is using broad-based skill groups is to fit a character concept - do not expect the character to be equally adept with the other skills in the group. This would be true for Groo the Wanderer (TM), for instance, who would simply raise Sword skill, even if the GM is using the broad term Melee Weapons as a skill group. Groo would have, in fact, a Poor rating with all other Melee weapons, and this would accurately reflect the character. 2.63 Gifts & Faults -------------------- If the GM has gifts in her game, each player has two free gifts (suggested). Any further gifts taken must be balanced by taking on a fault to balance it, or by trading traits. 2.64 Trading Traits -------------------- During character creation, free levels may be traded (in either direction) at the following rate: 1 gift = 2 attribute levels = 6 skill levels. 1 attribute level = 3 skill levels. So a player, with only three free attribute levels, but 30 free skill levels, may trade 3 of his skill levels to get another free attribute level, or 6 skill levels to get another free gift. A player may also take extra GM-approved faults at the following rate: 1 fault = 2 attribute levels = 6 skill levels. However, the GM may rule that a particular fault is not serious enough to be worth 2 attribute levels, but may be worth 1 attribute level or 3 skill levels. On the other hand, severe faults may be worth more attribute levels. 2.7 Uncommitted Traits ----------------------- Whether the character is created subjectively or objectively, each character has three (or more, if the GM is so inclined) free uncommitted traits. This means that at some point in the game, the player will realize that he forgot something about the character that should have been mentioned. He may request to stop the action, and define a previously undefined trait, subject to the GM's approval. Only a very lenient GM will allow this to happen during combat time, though! Also note that the GM-set skill limits (such as 1 Superb, 3 Greats) are still in effect: if the character already has the maximum number of Superb skills allowed, he can't make an uncommitted trait a Superb skill. 2.8 Random Character Creation ------------------------------ Some players like to roll their attributes randomly. Here is one possible method to use in such cases. Alternate techniques can be easily designed. Have the player roll 2d6 for each *attribute*. The results are: 2 = Terrible 4 = Poor 3,5 = Mediocre 6-8 = Fair 9,11 = Good 10 = Great 12 = Superb The GM needs to decide if the player still gets the standard number of free levels or not. She may also restrict trading levels. For *skills*, the results are read as: 2-5,12 = Terrible 6-8 = Poor 9-10 = Mediocre 11 = Fair In this case, the player still gets the standard number of free levels, or the GM may allow only half the normal levels. The GM can let the players choose their gifts and faults, or she may wish to make up separate tables of gifts and faults, and have the players roll once or twice on each. For example: Gift Fault ---- ----- 2 Nice Appearance Poor Appearance 3 Tough Hide Weak Eyesight 4 Charismatic Stinks 5 Keen Hearing Terrible Liar 6 Detects Lies Easily Gullible Etc. Obviously, conflicting traits should be rerolled. 2.9 Minimizing Abuse --------------------- Obviously, character creation in FUDGE can be abused. There are many ways to avoid this: A) The GM can require that the character take another fault or two to balance the power. ("Okay I'll allow you to have all that . . . but you need a challenge. Take on another weakness: maybe some vice (perhaps a secret one), or be unable to tell a believable lie, or anything that fits the character concept that I can use to test you now and then."); or B) She can simply veto any trait (or raised/lowered combination) she feels is abusive. ("I see you raised Battle-Axe in exchange for lowering Needlepoint. Hmmm.") This allows the GM to customize the power level of a game: for high-powered games, allow most anything; for less cinematic campaigns, make them trade equally useful trait for trait; or C) She can simply note the character weaknesses and introduce a situation into every adventure where at least one of them is significant to the mission ("You'll be sent as an emissary to the Wanduzi tribe - they value fine Needlepoint work above all other skills, by the way . . ."); or D) She can use the "disturbance in the force" technique of making sure that more powerful characters attract more serious problems. ("The bruiser enters the bar with a maniacal look in his eye. He scans the room for a few seconds, then begins to stare intently at you.") [End Chapter 2. FUDGE continued next file ...] -- - Steffan O'Sullivan sos@oz.plymouth.edu X-NEWS: wharton rec.games.frp.archives: 468 Path: netnews.upenn.edu!dsinc!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!darwin.sura.net!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!gatech!news.ans.net!rpi!goldm From: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.archives Subject: FUDGE July93: Part 2 of 4 Message-ID: <221fd9$46s@usenet.rpi.edu> Date: 14 Jul 93 17:22:49 GMT Sender: goldm@operators.its.rpi.edu Reply-To: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan) Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc Organization: Plymouth State College - Plymouth, N.H. Lines: 636 Approved: goldm@rpi.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: operators.its.rpi.edu FUDGE: Freeform, Universal, Donated Gaming Engine A Free Role-playing Game (RPG). By Steffan O'Sullivan Legal Notice ------------ Version: July 4, 1993 FUDGE is copyright 1992, 1993 by Steffan O'Sullivan. It may be freely copied and distributed by any means desired. This legal notice must be included with each copy of FUDGE. No charge may be made for FUDGE beyond a maximum US$6 fee (at 1993 rates) for materials and shipping, without written permission from the author. A publisher who wishes to include FUDGE in a book of copyrighted source material or adventures may do so, so long as (1) the publisher's copyrighted material is longer than the amount of FUDGE material included, (2) this legal notice and at least Chapter 1 of FUDGE are included, (3) the words in this legal notice and those in Chapter 1 of FUDGE are not changed in any way, and (4) there is no extra charge for including FUDGE in the book. FUDGE was first published in 1992 on internet, and was written by Steffan O'Sullivan (sos@oz.plymouth.edu) with an extensive amount of high-quality input from Andy Skinner. Other valued contributors include Martin Bergendahl, Thomas Brettinger, Robert Bridson, Travis Casey, Paul Jason Clegg, Peter F. Delaney, Jay Doane, Brian Edmonds, Shawn Garbett, Ed Heil, Bernard Hsiung, John H. Kim, Christian Otkjaer, Bill Seurer, Larry Smith, Stephan Szabo, and others on rec.games.design on internet. Groo the Wanderer (TM) is a trademark of Sergio Aragones, and use of the name does not challenge the trademark status in any way. [Continued from previous file:] Table of Contents (This File) ============================= 3 Supernormal Powers 3.1 Supernormal Power Terms 3.2 At Character Creation 3.21 Powers Available 3.22 Associated Skills 3.23 Combat Powers 3.3 Non-humans 3.31 Strength and Mass 3.32 Scale Correlations 3.33 Cost of Scale 3.34 Racial Bonuses and Penalties 3.4 Legendary Heroes 3.5 Magic 3.6 Miracles 3.7 Psi 3.8 Superpowers 3.9 Cybernetic Enhancements 3 Supernormal Powers ===================== If your game doesn't have any supernormal powers, you don't need to read Chapter 3 at all. This includes such genres as modern espionage, WWII French resistance, gunslingers of the Old West, swashbuckling Musketeers or pirates, and any historical gaming in general. Please feel free to skip ahead directly to Chapter 4, Action Resolution. On the other hand, those who play in games with non-human races, magic, psi, superpowers, etc., will need to read this chapter before character creation is complete. 3.1 Supernormal Power Terms ---------------------------- Supernormal power: any ability that is beyond the capability of human beings as we know them. They are basically very powerful gifts. Some may have associated skills (which are taken separately, using the normal skill rules). Often abbreviated to Power. Superfault: any fault that goes beyond the human norm. These are often associated with supernormal powers to help balance the cost (such as limiting a Power to certain situations) or can be associated with fantasy or alien races. In the Objective Character Creation system, the GM sets the value of each superfault - it may be the same as an ordinary fault or worth more. Power: a supernormal power. Mana: an invisible substance that can be detected (or even created) and manipulated by magicians to alter matter, time and space. Magic: the art of influencing events through manipulation of mana, or through compelling supernormal beings from another dimension, or channeling power from some other source. Magic may be studied by humans, but it is inherent in some races, such as the Fay. Miracle: magic performed by a deity. Holy persons can attempt to work miracles by invoking their deity. Psi: any power that involves mind over matter, time or space. Superpower: any supernormal power that is an inherent ability, whether because of mutation, exposure to radiation, a gift of space aliens, etc., or granted by a device, such as an alien-science belt. Examples of superpowers can be found in any comic book store, and include super strength, the ability to fly, see through walls, cling to ceilings, become invisible, etc. Cybernetic Enhancement: any mechanical or electronic enhancement to a normal body that gives the character supernormal powers. Non-human Races: certain fantasy and science fiction races have abilities beyond the human norm, such as being much stronger, or able to fly, etc. Most of these abilities could also be classified as Psi or Superpowers, so they are not treated separately, except for Mass and Strength. Note that androids and robots are considered races for rules purposes. Scale: in the discussion of non-humans, a race's Strength is rated in *Scale*. Human Scale equals 0. A race of greater than human average strength would be Scale 1 or more, while a race of lesser average strength than humans would be Scale -1 or less. Individual creatures can then be of Fair strength, or Good strength, etc., relative to their own species. 3.2 At Character Creation -------------------------- Supernormal powers may or may not be available in a given game. They are not appropriate to all genres. The best way to design a supernormal character is through close discussion with the GM. A player should describe what he wants the character to be able to do, and the GM will decide if that's within the limits she has in mind for the game. If not, she'll make suggestions about how to change the character to fit her campaign. Supernormal powers are treated as very powerful gifts, with availability set by the GM. The GM may decide that each player can take 2 Powers, for example, or 5, or more. The player may make a case for further Powers, but may need to take superfaults to balance them. Some Powers might be so effective that they are worth more than other Powers. In the Objective Character Creation system, the GM may set the cost of a certain supernormal power equal to two or three "average" supernormal powers. In some cases, the GM will probably veto player suggestions outright: Omniscience is a good example! The GM may decide that supernormal powers may be pooled with other traits for trading purposes. In this case, 1 (average) Power is worth 2 gifts. This is most likely done by a player who wishes to play a magician in a fantasy setting. He will need to trade some skill, attribute, or gift levels to buy magical Powers. Undefined Powers are non-existent - that is, they do not have a default value of Fair, like attributes, or Poor, like skills. If a supernormal power is not defined for a character, he can't do it. 3.21 Powers Available ---------------------- The GM needs to design the type, number allowed, and drawbacks of Powers in her game. Some examples: Types of Powers: the GM may allow only magic, or only psi, or only superpowers, etc., or some combinations of the above. In addition, she needs to decide how finely a supernormal power is subdivided: is ESP a generic Power, or is it split into separate Powers such as Precognition and Clairvoyance, for example. Is magic subdivided into spells, or groups of spells (such as elemental magic) or simply the ability to break the laws of nature in any way that can be imagined, and so on. Number of Powers allowed: the GM may allow only one Power per character, or 20 Powers (or even more if they are individual spells), or anything in between. Drawbacks of Powers: Using a Power might have no inconvenience, or it might be physically or mentally taxing, or time consuming, or unreliable, or uncontrollable, or have side effects, or only work in certain conditions or with certain materials, or be risky to the character, or be limited to a certain number of uses per day, or affect the mental stability of the character, etc. 3.22 Associated Skills ----------------------- If a Power logically requires a skill to use it efficiently, the skill must be bought separately. For example, the superpower Flight allows a character to fly, and usually no skill roll is needed. But the ability to make intricate maneuvers in close combat without slamming into a wall requires a roll against a Flying skill. (The GM may ignore this and simply say that the Power Flight means never needing to make a roll for any flying maneuver.) Another common skill is Throwing: hurling balls of fire or bolts of energy at a foe. Or the GM might rule that being able to aim it comes with the power for free: no roll needed, it automatically hits the target every time unless they make a Good degree task Dodge. This can be especially true with magic: the ability to cast spells at all may be a gift, but to do it right is a skill, or even many different skills. 3.23 Combat Powers ------------------- If a supernormal power can be used to attack a foe, the GM must determine (preferably during character creation) the strength of the Power for damage purposes. An offensive Power is usually handled as a propelled weapon, such as a gun, or as being equivalent to a certain melee weapon. This can just be expressed in terms of damage, though, such as Ball of Fire, +6 damage, or large Claws, +3 damage. In the case of a magical attack, the more potent the attack, the greater the penalty to the character to use it. This can be a penalty to the skill level, greater fatigue, and/or some other disadvantage. 3.3 Non-humans --------------- Some campaigns will have characters (or animals, etc.) with traits beyond the human norm. In particular, characters with Strength well above or below the human range are very common. Examples include giants, superheroes, pixies, aliens, ogres, intelligent rabbits, etc. In FUDGE, Strength and Mass are rated by the GM in terms of *Scale* for different races. Most other traits that may be different for non- humans are handled with a *Racial Bonus or Penalty* rather than being on a different Scale - see Section 3.34. Humans are of Scale 0, unless some other race is the game-world norm. (E.g., if all the PCs are playing pixies or giants. In these cases, the PCs' race is Scale 0, and humans would be a different Scale.) Non-human races can have a positive or negative number for Scale, depending on whether they are stronger or weaker than humans. 3.31 Strength and Mass ----------------------- Each level of Strength is defined to be 1.5 times stronger than the previous level. So a character with Good Strength is 1.5 times as strong as a character with Fair Strength. [Note that this progression is not necessarily true for any other attribute. There is a wider range of strength in humans than dexterity, for example. In that case, Superb Dexterity is only about twice as good as Fair Dexterity.] Scale increases in the same way: a Scale 1, Fair Strength individual is 1.5 times stronger than a Scale 0, Fair Strength individual. This holds for each increase in Scale: a Scale 10 Superb Strength creature is 1.5 times stronger than a Scale 9 Superb Strength creature, for example. At this point, it is tempting to say that a Scale 1 Fair Strength is equal to a Scale 0 Good Strength. This is true for Strength, but not for Mass. Scale really measures Mass, or Density, and Strength just goes along for the ride. In this case, Mass has a specific meaning: how wounds affect you. It may or may not coincide with the scientific definition of Mass. It takes more human-powered hits to weaken a giant than a human, for example. She may not really be a healthy giant, but her sheer bulk means that human-sized sword strokes don't do as much relative damage to her as they would to a human - unless they hit a vital spot, of course. Likewise, a pixie can be healthy and robust, but not survive a single kick from a human. The difference is Mass, and the strength related to it. A Scale 1 Fair Strength fighter has an advantage over a Scale 0 Good Strength fighter, even though their Strengths are equal. The Scale 1 fighter is less affected by the other's damage due to his mass. Therefore, do not blithely equate Scale 0 Good with Scale 1 Fair. In particular, do not let your PC human Superb Strength fighters claim they are Scale 3 Fair Strength - they will be able to shrug off sword blows if you do! This is explained in Section 4.64, Non-human Scale in Combat. Of course, the GM may envision a less massive but harder to kill race than humans. However, such a case is not likely to be grossly different. It is best handled by a Racial Bonus (Section 3.34), either as some sort of Toughness Gift (Tough Hide, or Density - either one would subtract from damage), or by a bonus to Damage Capacity. If the GM doesn't want to link non-human Strength and Mass - say she has Pixies of Strength Scale -6 and Mass Scale -4 - then combat between two Pixies would not work the same as combat between two humans. In this case, they will have a harder time hurting each other than humans would. This may actually be what she wants: a super- strong superhero who can dish out punishment but can't take it can be represented by Strength Scale 10, Mass Scale 2, for example. Strength can vary within each race just as it can for humans. You can have Scale 10 Superb Strength Giants and Scale 10 Terrible Strength Giants. Unlike Strength, though, it is not recommend that Mass vary much within a race. If you do allow Mass to vary for an individual, it should never be worse than Mediocre or better than Good. In fact, it is far better to call Good Mass a Gift, and Mediocre Mass a fault than treat it as an attribute. See also Section 4.64, Non-human Scale in Combat. 3.32 Scale Correlations ------------------------ The GM should refer to the following table when assigning a Scale to a race. This only has to be done *once*, at race creation. First, she should decide how much stronger (or weaker) the average member of race X is compared to the average human. For example, she might decide that Ogres are 3 times stronger than humans, and pixies are 8 times weaker (which equals 0.12 times as strong). She then needs to look up the closest numbers to these strength modifiers on the table below, and read across to find the correct racial scale for Ogres and Pixies in her world: Strength Modifier: Scale: Strength Modifier: Scale: 0.01 -11 7.5 5 0.02 -10 10 6 0.03 -9 15 7 0.04 -8 25 8 0.06 -7 40 9 0.1 (Pixie Fair) -6 60 10 0.15 -5 90 11 0.2 -4 130 12 0.3 -3 200 13 0.5 -2 300 14 0.7 -1 450 15 1 Human Fair 0 650 16 1.5 1 1000 17 2.3 2 1500 18 3.5 (Ogre Fair) 3 2500 19 5 4 4000 20 In these particular examples, Ogres are Scale 3 creatures, while Pixies are Scale -6. (You may envision Ogres and Pixies differently, of course.) The Scale number is figured in to damage in combat, and all weapons and armor are assumed to be of the same Scale as the wielder. [Note that these numbers have been rounded to the nearest useful number. They are only roughly 1.5 times the previous number, but close enough for game purposes.] Other examples: a GM reads in a Medieval text that a dragon is "as strong as 20 warriors." Looking at the table, 20 times the human norm is Scale 8. However, since the average *warrior* is probably of Good strength, she chooses Scale 9 for the average dragon in her world. Of course, an individual dragon can still have Poor Strength compared to other dragons. This is simply listed as Strength Poor (-2), Scale 9. This same GM wants PC leprechauns to be available. While they are very small, she decides their magic makes them a bit stronger than their size would otherwise indicate: Scale -4. So a Good Strength leprechaun is as strong as a Terrible Strength human in her world. The GM can also use this table to determine relative lifting strength or carrying capacity of characters or beasts if she wishes. The GM may require a Strength roll to lift a given object. This will depend on the Scale of the character, of course. Thus, a leprechaun might need a Good Strength degree task to lift a rock that a human could lift without even a roll. 3.33 Cost of Scale ------------------- If you are using the Objective Character Creation system, each step of increased Scale should cost one attribute level *and* one gift. This is because each level of Scale includes +1 Strength and extra Mass which is the equivalent of the Tough Hide gift. However, a generous GM may charge less. In a superhero game, this gets very expensive very quickly. An alternative method that allows more powerful characters is to charge one supernormal power to get Super Strength equal to a certain Scale. This can be anywhere from Scale 4 (5 times as strong as the average human) to Scale 13 (200 times as strong as the average human) or even higher, depending on the power level of the campaign. A character then raises or lowers his Strength attribute separately to show how he is compared to the average super-strong superhero. Example: the GM states that one supernormal power buys Scale 10 Strength (50 times the human norm). Any character taking that supernormal power has Scale 10 Fair Strength automatically. He can then raise his Strength to Scale 10 Good at the cost of one attribute level, and so on. The GM may also allow separating Mass and Strength for superheroes. For example, the superhero mentioned in Section 3.31 with Strength Scale 10 and Mass Scale 2 would only have to pay for 2 gifts and 10 attribute levels. Or, with a generous GM, a single supernormal power might cover the cost of the whole package. Some other supernormal powers have levels, such as Telekinesis (increased power allows greater weight to be lifted), Telepathy (increased power means greater range) Wind Control (increased power allows such things as a jet of wind, whirlwind, or tornado), etc. In these cases, each level can be bought as a separate supernormal power, which is very expensive. Or you could use the option given above for Scale: one supernormal power buys the supernormal ability at a middling power range, and a simple attribute (or even skill) level raises or lowers it from there. For Scales below the human norm, each step of Scale includes a fault equivalent to Easily Wounded, and the GM may allow this to be used to balance other traits like any other fault - see Section 2.64, Trading Traits. 3.34 Racial Bonuses and Penalties ---------------------------------- For most traits other than Strength, there is no need to use Scale. It's easy to imagine someone wanting to play a race that is slightly more intelligent than humans, but a race ten times smarter than the smartest human is so alien that it would be impossible to play. This is also true for most traits - we just can't grasp such extreme differences from our worldview. So instead of Scale for non-Strength traits, the GM should use Racial Bonuses or Penalties. For example, if the GM envisions halflings as being particularly hardy, she can give them a +1 bonus to Constitution. This simply means that halfling Fair Constitution equals human Good Constitution. As another example, an alien race called Cludds might have a racial penalty of -1 or -2 to Intelligence. For everything except Strength, it is best to use adjectives relative to humans on the character sheets, though you should put the racial- relative term in brackets. (Such as: Grahkesh, Intelligence Poor [Cludd Fair].) However, *always* list Strength relative to the character's own race, with the Scale (if other than 0), so the Mass will be accurate. See the sample character, Brogo the Halfling (Section 6.31), for an example of both racial bonus and different Scale. Racial bonuses and penalties can be used for any type of trait: attributes, skills, gifts, supernormal powers, or faults. If using the Objective Character Creation system, each level of a Racial Bonus or Penalty is usually equal to one level of the specific trait raised or lowered normally. That is, if you are granting a +1 to Agility or +1 to Perception for a race, it should cost 1 attribute level. If a race has a gift of Perfect Sense of Direction, it should cost 1 gift. The innate ability to fly or cast magic spells should cost one supernormal power, etc. If a race is at -1 to all Social skills, however, this should only be worth -1 skill level if you have a single skill called Social Skills. If you have a few social individual social skills, it should be worth one fault, at least. If you have many social skills affected by such a Racial Penalty, it is probably worth a superfault. The converse is true for Bonuses that affect many skills: it should cost a supernormal power. 3.4 Legendary Heroes --------------------- Some genres allow human characters to develop beyond the realm of the humanly possible. Such campaigns eventually involve planes of existence beyond the mundane as the PCs require greater and greater challenges. This style of gaming can be represented in FUDGE by Legendary Levels. Section 2.2, Levels, introduced the concept of Legendary traits as a goal for PCs to work toward. This section expands that concept infinitely, beyond realism. If the GM and players prefer this type of gaming, *any* skill can be raised beyond Legendary. Instead of renaming each level, simply use a numbering system: Legendary 2nd Level Swordsman, Legendary 3rd Level Archer, etc. Attributes can be raised, also, but (except for Strength) this is much rarer. Each level of Legendary gives a +1 bonus to any action resolution. The Objective Character Development system, Section 5.2, lists suggested experience point costs for attaining these levels. Please remember that these levels do not automatically exist in any given game: these are strictly optional levels for a very specific, non-realistic genre. If the GM says they don't exist, don't pester her! 3.5 Magic ---------- Magic should only be allowed in games where it is appropriate, of course. It may be easiest for the GM simply to translate whatever magic system she is familiar with into FUDGE. If the GM isn't translating another game system's magic rules to FUDGE, she should consider what being a magician means to her. What is the source of magic? Is it a natural process, but hidden to most, such as mana manipulation? If it does use mana, is the mana created by the mage, or is inherent in a locale? Or is it summoning otherworld entities to do your bidding? Or finding a source of Power and channeling it to your ends? Or something altogether different from these suggestions? Each of these options then requires further self-examination: can anyone learn to work magic, or is it an inherent talent (that is, does it require the character to have a supernormal power)? If the latter, are there levels of the Power available, and what would having more levels mean? Is a skill also required? Of course, even if a magician must have a Power to cast spells, there may also be magic items that anyone can use - these are very common in tales and legends. If beings are summoned, are they evil, good, neutral? How do they feel about being commanded to work for the magician? Can they adversely affect the magician if he fails a spell roll? If Power is being channeled from an external source, is that source in the physical plane or astral? Is it from a living being, or contained in an inanimate object as inert energy, like a piece of coal before going into a fire? What is the process of using magic? Does it involve memorized spells? Physical components? Meditation? Complex and time-consuming ritual? How long does it take to cast a spell? Can a spell be read out of a book? Improvised on the spot? How reliable is magic? Are there any drawbacks? Any societal attitudes toward magicians? Once these issues have been resolved, and the degree of magic in the game decided on, the magic system can be created using FUDGE mechanics. A sample magic system, FUDGE Magic, is available in the Addenda. 3.6 Miracles ------------- All miracles are powered by a deity. Some miracles may happen at the deity's instigation (GM whim, in this case), and some may be petitioned by characters. ["Deity" is here used in a pagan sense: any being greater than human, that can live in another plane beyond the material. To many religions, of course, there is only one Deity, and to speak in the plural is blasphemous. In these cases, the term should be in the singular, or it should be changed to a neutral term that refers to beings between human and Divine power, such as angels, demons, djinni, efriti, etc.] The GM must decide whether miracles can occur in her world, and whether they can be called by character petition. If the latter, then she has to make many other decisions: can *any* character petition a particular deity? Does it matter if the character is actually a member of a religious order? How important is the character's behavior: would a deity help a member of a particular religious order even if he had been acting against the deity's goals? How certain is the miracle to occur? How soon will it become manifest? How broad and how specific can requests be? The answers will vary from GM to GM - no generic system of miracles is possible. A sample miracle system, FUDGE Miracles, is included in the Addenda. 3.7 Psi -------- Again, it is probably easiest for the GM to translate whatever psionics rules she knows to FUDGE. As a *very* simple system, each psionic ability is a separate supernormal power. The ability to read minds, or foresee the future, or telekinetically move an object, etc., each cost one supernormal power (2 gifts). Just *how* powerful the psionic ability is depends on the level of psi the GM wants for the game world. Someone who can telekinetically lift a battleship is obviously more powerful than someone who can't lift anything heavier than a roulette ball - though the latter may make more money with his power, if he's highly skilled! If the game world has more than one level of power available, then a character must spend multiple free power levels to get the higher levels. See also Cost of Scale, Section 3.33. The GM should also require skills to use these powers. Having the psionic ability to use telekinesis just allows you to pick an object up with your mental powers, and move it crudely about. To do fine manipulation, such as pick a pocket, requires a successful degree task against a telekinetic skill. A sample psi system, FUDGE Psi, is included in the Addenda. 3.8 Superpowers ---------------- If the campaign has superpowers as in "comic" books, then there will probably be a wide variety of powers available. How many an individual character can have depends on the power level of the campaign. A common treatment of superheroes is the concept of superfaults, which might make more powers available to the players. For example, a character might be able to fly, but only while singing. There are far too many powers to list in FUDGE - browsing through a comic store's wares will give you a good idea of what's available. As with psionics, each power costs one of the free supernormal powers available, and some can be taken in different levels. Very potent ones might cost two or more of the "average" superpowers. Note that super strength is treated as a separate scale - see Section 3.3, Non-humans. Other superpowers that come in levels are discussed in Section 3.33, Cost of Scale. 3.9 Cybernetics ---------------- Artificial limbs, organs, implants and connections to computers are common in some SF settings. If these grant powers beyond the human norm, they must be bought with supernormal power levels if using the Objective Character Creation system, or with the GM's approval in any case. If an implant grants a bonus to an attribute, it should cost as much as the attribute bonus, which is not necessarily as much as a supernormal power. Since an artificial implant may occasionally fail, however, the GM can give a slight cost break by also allowing a free skill level elsewhere on the character sheet. [End of Chapter 3. FUDGE continued next file ...] -- - Steffan O'Sullivan sos@oz.plymouth.edu X-NEWS: wharton rec.games.frp.archives: 469 Path: netnews.upenn.edu!dsinc!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!news.ans.net!rpi!goldm From: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.archives Subject: FUDGE July93: Part 3 of 4 Message-ID: <221fdl$46t@usenet.rpi.edu> Date: 14 Jul 93 17:23:01 GMT Sender: goldm@operators.its.rpi.edu Reply-To: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan) Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc Organization: Plymouth State College - Plymouth, N.H. Lines: 1031 Approved: goldm@rpi.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: operators.its.rpi.edu FUDGE: Freeform, Universal, Donated Gaming Engine A Free Role-playing Game (RPG). By Steffan O'Sullivan Legal Notice ------------ Version: July 4, 1993 FUDGE is copyright 1992, 1993 by Steffan O'Sullivan. It may be freely copied and distributed by any means desired. This legal notice must be included with each copy of FUDGE. No charge may be made for FUDGE beyond a maximum US$6 fee (at 1993 rates) for materials and shipping, without written permission from the author. A publisher who wishes to include FUDGE in a book of copyrighted source material or adventures may do so, so long as (1) the publisher's copyrighted material is longer than the amount of FUDGE material included, (2) this legal notice and at least Chapter 1 of FUDGE are included, (3) the words in this legal notice and those in Chapter 1 of FUDGE are not changed in any way, and (4) there is no extra charge for including FUDGE in the book. FUDGE was first published in 1992 on internet, and was written by Steffan O'Sullivan (sos@oz.plymouth.edu) with an extensive amount of high-quality input from Andy Skinner. Other valued contributors include Martin Bergendahl, Thomas Brettinger, Robert Bridson, Travis Casey, Paul Jason Clegg, Peter F. Delaney, Jay Doane, Brian Edmonds, Shawn Garbett, Ed Heil, Bernard Hsiung, John H. Kim, Christian Otkjaer, Bill Seurer, Larry Smith, Stephan Szabo, and others on rec.games.design on internet. Groo the Wanderer (TM) is a trademark of Sergio Aragones, and use of the name does not challenge the trademark status in any way. [Continued from previous file:] Table of Contents (This File) ============================= 4 Action Resolution 4.1 Action Resolution Terms 4.2 Rolling the Dice 4.21 Using a Table 4.22 Tableless Dice Method 4.23 Success Rates 4.3 Action Modifiers 4.4 Unopposed Actions 4.5 Opposed Actions 4.6 Combat 4.61 Melee Combat 4.62 Multiple Combatants in Melee 4.63 Ranged Combat 4.64 Non-human Scale in Combat 4.7 Damage and Healing 4.71 Subjective Damage System 4.72 Objective Damage System 4.73 Knockout Damage 4.74 Healing 4.8 Critical Results 4.9 NPC Reactions 4 Action Resolution ==================== 4.1 Action Resolution Terms ---------------------------- Dice: Each player and the GM need two six-sided dice. (A system using 2d10 is included in the Addenda.) Unopposed Action: some actions are *Unopposed*. This means the character is trying to perform an action which isn't influenced by anyone else. Examples include jumping a wide chasm, climbing a cliff, performing a chemistry experiment, etc. The player simply rolls the dice and reads the result. Degree Task: the GM will set a degree task when you try an Unopposed Action. Usually it will be Fair, but sometimes tasks are easier or harder. Example: to climb an average cliff, with lots of handholds, is a Fair degree task, but the GM may set it at Great for a very hard cliff. This means the player must make a rolled degree of Great or higher to climb the cliff successfully. Rolled Degree: this refers to how well you did at a particular task. If you are Good at Climbing in general, but rolled a Great result on a particular attempt, then the rolled degree is Great. Opposed Action: some actions are *Opposed*. This means other people (or animals, etc.) may have an effect on the outcome of the action. In this case, each contestant rolls a pair of dice, and the results are compared to determine the outcome. Examples include combat, seduction attempts, haggling, tug-of-war, etc. Relative Degree: this refers to how well you did compared to another participant in an Opposed Action. Unlike a rolled degree, relative degree is expressed as a *number of levels*. For example, if you get a rolled degree result of Good in a fight, and your foe gets a rolled degree result of Mediocre, you beat her by 2 levels - the relative degree is +2 from your perspective, -2 from hers. Trans-Superb: this is a level of rolled degree that is beyond Superb. Rolled degrees from Superb+1 to Superb+4 are possible. These levels, the "trans-superb" levels, are only reachable on rare occasions by human beings. No trait may be taken at (or raised to) a trans-superb level (unless the GM is allowing a PC to be at Legendary, which is the same as Superb+1. See Section 5.2, Objective Character Development). For example, the American baseball player Willie Mays was a Superb outfielder. His most famous catch, often shown on television, is a Superb+4 rolled degree. It isn't possible for a human to have that level of excellence as a routine skill level, however: even Willie was "just" a Superb outfielder, who could sometimes do even better. A GM may set a degree task in the trans-superb range, but it is for nearly impossible actions. Sub-Terrible: likewise, there are rolled degrees from Terrible-1 down to Terrible-4. No degree task should be set this low, however: anything requiring a Terrible degree task or worse should be automatic - no roll needed! 4.2 Rolling the Dice --------------------- When a character performs an action that is so easy as to be automatic, no dice roll is needed. Likewise, an action so difficult that it has no chance to succeed requires no roll, either. It is for the middle ground that rolls are needed. The GM determines which trait is needed for a particular action the PC wishes to perform. If it is an Unopposed action the GM also determines the degree task, usually Fair. 4.21 Using a Table ------------------- When a character needs to resolve such an action, the player rolls two dice, adds the numbers, and consults the following table: Rolled: | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6, 7, 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 ---------|-----|-----|-----|-----|---------|-----|-----|-----|--- Levels: | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | +0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 Read the number rolled across the top of the table, then look below to the "Levels" line. The number refers to how many levels above or below the character's trait level the result is. The trait levels again are: -3 Terrible -2 Poor -1 Mediocre 0 Fair +1 Good +2 Great +3 Superb The numbers are optional, and may be used for those who can add numbers more easily than adjust words. For example, if your skill is Good and you roll a -3 result on a particular action, it might be easier to envision (1-3 = -2) than (Good -3 = Poor). Example: Nathaniel, who has a Good Bow Skill, is shooting in an archery contest. He rolls two dice, and consults the table. If he rolls a 7 (+0 levels), he gets a result equal to his skill: Good, in this case. If he rolls a 9 (+1 level), however, he gets a Great result, since Great is one level higher than his Good Archery skill. If he rolls a 3 (-3 levels), unlucky Nathaniel has just made a Poor shot. This table should be on each character sheet - see Section 6.2 for an example. 4.22 Tableless Dice Method --------------------------- This method does not require a table on the character sheet to read a die result. It is also very quick once learned, and does not intrude into roleplaying. The disadvantage is that die roll modifiers can not be used - you must modify the trait. Each player and the GM need 2d6, and each person should preferably have two different colors or sizes. One die must be labelled the "good" or "positive" die, and the other the "bad" or "negative" die. (If you only have two identical dice, such as borrowed from a board game, place your pencil on the table pointing away from you. Assign one side of the pencil to be good, the other bad, and roll one die on each side of the pencil.) When a die roll is called for, the player rolls both dice and examines them. If they are doubles, he has scored his trait level exactly - leave both dice on the table. If at least one of them shows a six, he has also scored his trait level exactly - leave both dice on the table. However, if neither of those cases are true, the player should physically remove the higher die from the table, leaving only the lesser number rolled. That number on that die, either good or bad, is the result. If the die left on the table is the good die showing a 3, for example, the player rolled +3 above his trait level. If it is the bad die showing a 1, however, he just rolled a -1 to his trait level. A player should leave the correct number and color of dice on the table, so the GM can see the general result, even from relatively far away. This is an excellent method for use at conventions: the GM should bring enough dice of two distinct colors (say red and white) so that each player has one of each. If all use the same color to be the good die, the game runs very smoothly. 4.23 Success Rates ------------------- The odds of scoring a particular result on an unmodified roll are identical in either 2d6 method. The following table is provided so that players can better evaluate their chances of success. Chance of achieving your trait level or better: 72.2%. Chance of achieving your trait level exactly: 44.4%. Chance of getting above or below your trait level: 27.8% each. Specifically: Chance of getting trait level +/-1: 11.1% each. Chance of getting trait level +/-2: 8.3% each. Chance of getting trait level +/-3: 5.6% each. Chance of getting trait level +/-4: 2.8% each. 4.3 Action Modifiers --------------------- There may be modifiers for any given action. Some GMs prefer to modify the trait, as it is a very intuitive approach, and works equally well with both dice methods. Other GMs prefer to use the dice table above and modify the die roll instead of the trait. This allows a wider range of modifiers to be applied. The choice is yours. FUDGE is written with *trait* modification, but you can choose to modify the die roll without any major problems. However, if the GM chooses to modify the die rolls, then everyone should use the dice table method. If the GM modifies the trait, then an individual player can use either method. A modifier of -1 means the trait is reduced by one for the matter at hand - this is not a permanent reduction, though. Likewise, modifiers can temporarily improve a character's traits. Examples: Joe, Good with a sword, is Hurt (-1 to all actions). He is only Fair with his sword - in fact, he's at -1 to all relevant traits - until he's healed. Jill has Mediocre Lockpicking skills, but an exceptionally fine set of lockpicks gives her a Fair Lockpicking skill while she's using them. If a character has a secondary trait that could contribute significantly to a task, the GM may allow a +1 bonus. (Example: Vern is at the library, trying to find out information on an obscure South American Indian ritual. He using his Research skill of Good, but he also has a Good Anthropology skill. The GM decides this is significant enough to give Vern a Great Research skill for this occasion. If his Anthropology skill were Superb, the GM would simply let Vern use that instead of Research: you don't get to be Superb in Anthropology without having done a lot of research in it!) Other conditions may grant a +/-1 to any trait. +/-2 is an extremely large modifier in FUDGE, and +/-3 is the maximum that should ever be granted under extreme conditions. [If you modify the die roll, +/-2 is of medium potency, while +/-4 is quite hefty. +/-5 is the most that should ever be granted under extreme conditions.] 4.4 Unopposed Actions ---------------------- For each Unopposed action, the GM sets a degree task and announces which trait should be rolled against. Fair is the most common degree task. If no Skill seems relevant, choose the most appropriate Attribute. The player rolls against his level, and tries to match or surpass the degree task. In cases where there are levels of success, the better the roll, the better the character did; the worse the roll, the worse the character did. In setting the degree of a task, the GM should remember that the default for most skills is Poor, not Fair. Thus the average *trained* climber can climb a Fair cliff most of the time, but the average *untrained* climber will usually get a Poor result. In the example in Section 4.2 (Nathaniel shooting at an archery target), if the target is large and close, even a Mediocre archer could be expected to hit it: degree task Mediocre. If it were *much* smaller and farther away, perhaps only a Great archer could expect to hit it regularly: degree task Great. And so on. Example of setting degree task: the party consists of two PCs (Mickey and Arnold) and an NPC guide (Parri). They come to a cliff the guide tells them they have to climb. The GM announces this is a difficult, but not impossible, cliff: degree task Good is required to scale it with no delays or complications. Checking the character sheets, they find that Parri's Climbing skill is Great and Mickey's is Good. Arnold's character sheet doesn't list Climbing, so his skill level is at default: Poor. Parri and Mickey decide to climb it, then lower a rope for Arnold. Parri rolls a +1 result, which means a rolled degree of Superb, so she gets up the cliff without any problems, and much quicker than expected. Mickey rolls a -1, however, which means a rolled degree of Fair. Since this is one degree lower than the degree task, he's having difficulties. Had it been severely below the degree task, Mickey would have fallen. Since it's only slightly below the degree task, though, the GM simply rules he is stuck half way up, and can't figure out how to go on. Parri ties a rope to a tree at the top of the cliff, and lowers it for Mickey. The GM says it is now only a Poor degree task to climb the cliff with the rope in place, and Mickey makes this easily on another roll. Arnold would also need a Poor rolled degree to climb the cliff, but since his skill is Poor, they decide not to risk it. Mickey and Parri have Arnold loop the rope under his shoulders, and pull him up as he grabs handholds along the way in case they slip. No roll is needed in this case, unless they are suddenly attacked when Arnold is only half way up the cliff . . . Occasionally, the GM will roll in secret for the PC. There are times when the result of even a failed roll would give the player knowledge he wouldn't otherwise have. These are usually information rolls. For example, if the GM asks the player to make a Perception roll, and the player fails, the character doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary. But the player now knows that there *is* something out of the ordinary that his character didn't notice . . . Far better for the GM to make the roll in secret, and only mention it on a successful result. 4.5 Opposed Actions -------------------- When an Opposed action is resolved, each side rolls two dice against the appropriate trait, and announces the result. The traits rolled against are not necessarily the same: for example, a seduction attempt would be rolled against a Seduction skill for the active participant (or possibly Appearance attribute) and against Will for the resisting participant. There may be modifiers: someone with a vow of chastity might get a bonus of +2 to his Will, while someone with a Lecherous fault would have a penalty - or not even try to resist! The rolled degrees are compared, and a relative degree is determined. For example, if Lisa is trying to flimflam Joe into thinking she's from the FBI, and rolls a Great result, this doesn't automatically mean she succeeds. If Joe also rolls a Great result on his trait to avoid being flimflammed (Knowledge of Police Procedure, Learning, Intelligence, etc. - whatever the GM decides is appropriate), then the relative degree is 0 - which means the status quo is maintained. In this case, Joe remains unconvinced that Lisa is legit. If Joe rolled a Superb result, Lisa's Great result would have actually earned her a relative degree of -1: Joe is not going to be fooled this encounter, and will probably even have a bad reaction to Lisa. The Opposed action mechanism can be used to resolve almost any conflict between two characters. Are two people both grabbing the same item at the same time? This is an Opposed action between their Dexterity attributes - the winner gets the item. Is one character trying to shove another one down? Roll Strength vs. Strength to see who goes down. Someone trying to hide from a search party? Perception attribute (or Find Hidden skill) vs. Hide skill (or Camouflage, Stealth, etc.). Trying to outdrink a rival? Constitution vs. Constitution (or Drinking skill, Carousing, etc.). And so on. 4.6 Combat ----------- Combat is usually handled as an Opposed action. The combatants determine which traits they are rolling against, largely depending on whether or not they are using a weapon, and what type. Each combatant makes an Opposed action roll, as above. A relative degree of zero means that the combat round is a stand-off. [A combat round is an indeterminate length of time set by the GM - around 3 seconds seems reasonable to some people, while that might seem grossly short or absurdly long to others.] If there is a relative degree other than zero, the winner checks to see if he hit hard enough to damage the loser. Other combat rounds may be needed, or one party may attempt to flee, negotiate, etc. A melee combat round combines offense and defense of both sides into one roll. A round is either a stand-off or there is *one* winner - combatants from only one side can be hurt in a given round. Ranged combat, however, may be handled this way, or the GM may determine Initiative (perhaps by an Initiative attribute modified by circumstances) and have the opponents alternate taking pot shots at each other. If one fighter is *much* smaller than the other (such as a pixie fighting a human), the GM should assess a penalty of -1 or even -2 to the larger combatant to hit the small target. Likewise, there should be a penalty to make an aimed shot to a specific small body part. However, if using the Objective Damage System, be sure to add this modifier back in as damage if the small target is hit. If one fighter has a positional advantage over the other, there is a penalty (usually -1) to the fighter in the worse position. Examples include bad footing, lower elevation, light in his eyes, etc. Do not add this penalty back in as damage if he wins the Opposed action, though: such things *do* reduce the strength of the blow (hence, the amount of damage delivered). All-out offense, such as a berserk attack, gets a +2 to the combat skill (and an additional +1 for damage, if he wins). However, if an all-out attacker ties or loses the Opposed action, the winner gets a +2 to damage! An All-out defensive stance earns a +2 to the combat skill, but such a combatant cannot harm his foe except in critical results. Optionally, All-out Defense and a successful Perception or Tactics roll can also give you a bonus on the *next* round. In this case, the fighter is taking a turn to scope out the area and maneuver to take advantage of any terrain or conditional irregularity. Similar combat subtleties are possible, and encouraged! If one combatant is unable to fight in a given round (possibly because he's unaware of the attacker, or because of a critical result in the previous round - see Section 4.8, Critical Results), the combat becomes simply an Unopposed Action for the active fighter, usually with a Fair degree task. If a character can defend, such as use a shield, then it is still an Opposed Action, but the defending character cannot hurt the other character in such a case. 4.61 Melee Combat ------------------ Melee combat is being close enough to the foe to use the same weapon repeatedly, without having to throw it. The weapon used (which can be simply a fist) determines which trait a fighter uses to roll against, but otherwise does not affect the Opposed action roll in combat. The type of the weapon affects damage, though - see Section 4.7, Damage. 4.62 Multiple Combatants in Melee ---------------------------------- When more than one opponent attacks a single fighter, they have a positional advantage, at least. To reflect this, the lone fighter is at -1 to his skill for each additional foe beyond the first. The lone fighter rolls once, and the result is compared with *each* of the opponents' rolled degrees, one after the other. The solo combatant has to defeat *all* of the opponents in order to inflict a wound on one of them. The lone fighter can inflict damage on only *one* foe in any given round - his choice. But he *takes* multiple wounds in a single round if two or more enemies hit him! For epic campaigns, with heroic PCs facing hordes of enemies, the GM can reduce the penalty to -1 for each two opponents he faces. Or she can use these rules as written, but give the hordes Poor skills and Poor Damage Capacity, which is not out of character for a horde. It's also possible to allow a sweeping blow to damage more than one foe at a time. Of course, this slows a slash down: reduce damage done by 1 for each foe cut through in this manner. She can also allow a PC who ties one foe, but scores at least two rolled degrees better than another, to have hit the second foe and still defended himself. Example: Paco is facing three thugs, who have just rolled a Great, Good, and Mediocre result, respectively. Paco rolls a Great result, tying the best thug. The GM allows him to hit the thug who rolled a Mediocre result (since he's at +3 rolled degree), but not be hit himself. Of course, a well-armored fighter facing weak opponents can simply concentrate on one foe and let the others try to get through his armor (that is, not defend himself at all against some of his attackers). In this case, each NPC needs an Unopposed Fair degree task to hit the lone fighter who is ignoring her. This is historically accurate for knights wading through peasant levies, for example. The number of foes that can attack a single opponent is limited, of course. Six is about the maximum under ideal conditions (such as spear-wielders, or wolves), while only three or four can attack if using swung weapons (or martial arts requiring a lot of space to maneuver). If the lone fighter is in a doorway, only one or two fighters can reach him, at most. When multiple NPCs beset a lone PC, the GM may wish to roll only once for all the NPCs, rather than having to roll for each combatant. The lone fighter is still at -1 per extra opponent, but the GM's single roll is moved one degree closer to zero. For example, if the GM gets a +4 result, each attacker actually scores a +3. A zero result remains a zero. Example: 3 NPC pirates, complete with eye-patches, scars, earrings, sneers and general bad attitudes, are attacking dashing PC hero Tucker. The pirates (whose names are Molly, Annie, and Maggie) are Fair, Good, and Mediocre, respectively, at combat skills. Tucker is a Superb swordsman, but is at -2 for having two extra fighters attacking him at once: his skill is Good for this combat. The GM wants to roll just once (applying the result to all three pirates) rather than rolling three times each combat round. On the first round, she gets a +2. This becomes a +1 (moved closer to zero), and the pirates have just gotten Good, Great, and Fair results, respectively. If Tucker scores a Great result that round (equal to the best pirate result), the round is a stand-off (nobody takes wounds on either side). However, if Tucker scored a Superb result, he could hit the pirate of his choice and remain unhit. But if poor Tucker rolled a Fair result, both Molly and Annie would have hit him. On the next round, the GM rolls a -1 result, but this is moved closer to zero to become a zero result: Fair, Good, and Mediocre hits for the pirates. And so on. 4.63 Ranged Combat ------------------- Ranged combat may or may not be an Opposed action: If the target is unaware of the assault, the attacker makes an Unopposed action roll to see if he hits his target - the GM sets the degree task based on distance, lighting, cover, etc. [Do not modify the attacker's skill for range, partial cover, etc. - that's included in the degree task. Equipment such as a laser sighting scope can modify the attacker's skill, though.] If the defender is aware of the attack, however, it is an Opposed action: the attacker's ranged weapon skill against the defender's defensive trait. (A degree task for range, lighting, etc., is still set by the GM, and is the minimum rolled degree task needed to hit.) A defensive roll should be made against a Dodge skill, or Agility attribute, or something similar. If the ranged weapon is thrown, there is no modifier to the defense roll. However, a propelled weapon, such as a bow, gun, or beam weapon, is much harder to avoid. In this case, reduce the defender's trait by -2 or even -3. Of course, the defender may decline to dodge, but shoot back instead. In this case, making the degree task is all that is needed to hit. The GM may make such actions simultaneous. Example: Nevada Slim and the El Paso Hombre are facing off in a showdown. Both are in the open, in the sunlight, so there's no lighting or cover difficulty. The range is obviously the same for both - the GM rules it's a Fair task to hit each other. Slim rolls a Poor result, and the Hombre a Mediocre result. The Hombre's bullet came closer to Nevada Slim than vice versa, but both missed since they didn't make the degree task. Another Example: Will Scarlet is shooting a longbow from the greenwood at Dicken, the Sheriff's man, who has a crossbow. Dicken knows Will is there, because the man next to him just keeled over with an arrow through his chest. Dicken is in the open, in good light, so only range is of any concern to Will Scarlet: the GM says even a Mediocre shot will hit since they are fairly close. The range for Dicken to hit Will is of course the same, but Will is partially hidden behind a log (cover), and just inside the foliage, so the lighting makes it hard to see him clearly: a Good roll is needed, the GM decrees. Dicken rolls a Fair result, missing Will. Will rolls a Mediocre result, which hits Dicken, even though it wasn't as good a shot as Dicken's. Note that it may seem that Will Scarlet lost the Opposed action, so his hit shouldn't count. However, there were actually two Opposed actions going on once: Dicken's shot vs. Will's Dodge, and Will's shot vs. Dicken's Dodge. In this case, if a shooter makes the degree task needed to hit, he automatically wins the Opposed action, since both fighters forfeited their Dodges in order to shoot simultaneously. They would have skewered each other had Dicken's shot hit. Guns and similar weapons that do not rely on muscle power should be rated for damage at the beginning of the game. No detailed list is provided, but as a rough guideline: The average small hand gun might be of +2 to +3 Strength, while a derringer might be +1 or even +0. Powerful two-handed projectile weapons will be +5 and higher, while bazookas and other anti-tank weapons will be +10 and higher. 4.64 Non-human Scale in Combat ------------------------------- Combat between creatures of different Scale is very straightforward. Because weapons and armor are scaled along with the wielder's Strength, no difficult computation is needed. Basically, once the result of the to-hit roll has been determined normally, the attacker's Strength Scale is added to his damage, and the defender's Mass Scale is subtracted from the final damage. If you have combat with beings weaker than humans, remember what you learned in school about adding and subtracting negative numbers . . . That's all there is to it. Armor is subtracted as usual, and damage for weapon size and deadliness is added as usual. Hits are marked off from Scratch, Hurt, etc., as usual. However, a very small character is not likely to be able to wound a large one in this system. The GM may allow a point or two of damage to penetrate if the small character gets a critical success. Poison- tipped arrows and lances are also a possibility: the small character can aim for joints in the armor and merely has to break the skin to inject the poison. Also, this system treats Scale like armor, which isn't quite accurate. In reality, the opponent is slowly carving the larger fighter up, but each wound is too petty, relative to the large scale, to do much damage by itself. To reflect a lot of small wounds gradually inflicting a hit on a large-scale foe, let each hit that is just barely stopped by Scale count as half a hit. "Just barely" depends on the Scale difference, of course. For Scale 1, there isn't any half hit stage, while Scale 10 difference might mean having six or more hits stopped by scale. Another way to represent this is to allow a damage roll when Scale stops the last points of damage. See Objective Damage System, Section 4.72. There are also "scale piercing" weapons, such as whale harpoons and elephant guns. These don't have massive damage numbers: instead, if they hit well, simply halve the Scale value, or ignore it all together. Combat Examples: [In all examples, Strength and Mass are at the same Scale. Also, it is assumed the GM is not using the optional damage roll, which could vary damage in all three combat rounds discussed. See Section 4.72, Objective Damage System, for details.] Wilbur, a human knight with a sword, is attacking a dragon. Wilbur has Great strength (for a human: +2 to damage) and is using a large two-handed sword (+3 for size of weapon, +1 for sharpness = +4 to damage). If he hits the dragon with a relative degree of +3, he does 3+4+2 = 9 points of damage. This would be a very severe blow to a human (even one wearing armor), but the GM had decided in advance that this dragon is quite hearty: she has a tough hide, Fair Damage Capacity, and Scale 6 Good Strength. The dragon's tough hide absorbs 2 points of damage, and she subtracts 6 more for her Scale difference. This means only 1 hit gets through. The GM checks off a Scratch for the dragon, and the fight continues. Wilbur will have to do this twice more before he finally Hurts the dragon. He may need help, or have to go back for his magic sword! Another example: Sheba, a human warrior, has just kicked McMurtree, a wee leprechaun of Fair Damage Capacity and Good Strength, Scale -4. Sheba wins the first combat round with a relative degree of +1; her Unarmed Combat skill gives her +1 for a total so far of +2. She is of Fair Strength for a human, so there is no bonus or penalty there. Likewise, her Scale of 0 adds or subtracts nothing: total damage from her perspective: +2. However, McMurtree has to subtract his -4 Scale (which means adding +4 to the damage) bringing it to 6 points of damage. Finally, McMurtree's light armor absorbs one point, so 5 points get through. Since he has Fair Damage Capacity, he takes 2 Scratch hits, 2 Hurt hits and 1 Very Hurt hit - he's at -2 for the next combat round, and in grave danger if she hits again. McMurtree's friend, Fionn, now swings his shillelagh at Sheba's knee. He wins by +3, adds +1 for his Strength (Good, for a leprechaun) and +2 for the weapon, bringing the total to +6 damage. But now Fionn must figure in -4 for his Scale, which reduces the damage to 2 points. Unfortunately for Fionn, this equals Sheba's armor exactly, so she takes no damage from an excellently placed hit! Fionn had better think of some other strategy, quickly. Fortunately for Fionn, he knows some magic, and if he can dodge just one kick from Sheba, she'll learn the hard way why it's best not to antagonize the Wee folk . . . 4.7 Damage and Healing ----------------------- Two damage-tracking systems are presented here for use by the GM: one is simpler than the other, but less defined. In each system, damage to a character can be described as being at one of five stages of severity. The stages are: Just A Scratch: no real game effect, except to create tension. In the Objective system, this will lead to being hurt if the character is hit again. (This effect is optional in the Subjective system.) Hurt: the character is wounded enough to slow him down a little: -1 to all traits which would logically be affected. Very Hurt: the character is severely wounded, possibly stumbling: -2 to all traits which would logically be affected. Incapacitated: the character is so badly wounded as to be incapable of any actions, except possibly dragging himself a few feet every now and then and gasping out an important message. Roll a Fair degree task against Constitution to stay conscious. A very lenient GM might allow an Incapacitated character to perform such complicated actions as opening a door or grabbing a gem. . . Near Death: the character is not only unconscious, he'll die in a few minutes without outside medical help. No one recovers from Near Death on their own. Dead: he has no more use for his possessions; may as well help yourself. A very easy way to keep track of wounds is with cards: give a player one face-down card when his character is Hurt, and another face-down card when his character is Very Hurt. He gets rid of them when the character is healed. Face-up cards represent fatigue - the character is reeling from exhaustion. He gets rid of those by resting. (A character can get fatigued by anything that fatigues real people: physical or mental activity, work, stress, etc. Note that casting spells, using psi powers, etc., might or might not count as fatiguing mental activity.) Each card the character has represents a -1 to traits that would logically be affected until the third, which represents incapacitation. The GM may allow a high Will degree task to nullify penalties. The cards may also describe hit location, if desired: a black card is the torso, while a red card means an extremity. The lower the red card, the lower the extremity; the higher the red card, the higher the wound on the body. Some players take delight in describing their wounds in detail, even writing such scars into the character story! Automatic Death: sometimes you don't have to roll the dice: holding a knife to a helpless character's throat is a good example - no roll needed to kill such a character, but your Karma suffers. 4.71 Subjective Damage System ------------------------------ The GM considers all of the factors below (possibly writing them down, the better to weigh them), and then simply announces how hurt the defender is, using one of the stages listed above. 1) The relative degree the attack succeeded by - the better the hit, the more likelihood of damage. Winning a combat round with a relative degree of +1 means you just hit her somewhere, probably where she's most heavily armored. Scoring a hit with a +3, however, means you may have found a chink in the armor. 2) The defender's armor. People wearing thicker armor, and more of it, tend to get hurt less than those wearing no armor. Armor can be finely defined, or simply said to be Light, Medium, or Heavy armor. SF scenarios might have Extra-Heavy armor. 3) The deadliness of the attacker's weapon. Big weapons tend to do more damage than little weapons; sharp weapons rip tissue more than dull ones. People trained in Karate tend to do more damage than those untrained in any martial art. 4) The strength of the blow. For muscle-powered weapons, such as melee weapons, unarmed attacks, bows, slings, etc., this is determined by the attacker's Strength attribute: stronger folks tend to hit harder. For things like guns, beam weapons, etc., it is relative to the nature of the weapon: a .38 usually does more damage than a .22. 5) The amount of damage the victim can soak up (Robustness, Damage Capacity, or Mass). Big, healthy guys can take more damage before collapsing than little, sickly guys, usually. But it's your call if it's a big, sickly fighter against a little, healthy fellow. 4.72 Objective Damage System ----------------------------- This system quantifies damage more than the other, and is quite mechanical. Damage consists of three parts: Basic Damage, the attacker's Offensive Damage Modifier, and the defender's Defensive Damage Modifier. (There is a fourth optional part: the damage roll.) Thus: Total Damage = Basic Damage + Off. Dam. Mod. + Def. Dam. Mod. [+ roll] Basic Damage = relative degree by which the winner hit the loser. Example: if Lisa rolls a Great combat result and Joe only a Fair result, Lisa has hit Joe for two points of damage. [Note: This means that a weapon of +1 to hit also does +1 to damage automatically if it hits. To represent a weapon that gives a bonus to hit, but *not* to damage, subtract 1 from the total damage at this point. Example: Snorri has a magic sword that lets him hit his foes easier, but doesn't do any special damage. Snorri gets a +1 to hit anybody, but if he hits, he subtracts 1 from the damage.] The Offensive Damage Modifier should be calculated at character creation for ease in use during play. It consists of the following elements, and can be written by each weapon on the character sheet: For attacker's muscle-powered weapon: +0 for no weapon, no Martial Art skill. +1 Martial Art skill at Fair or better, no weapon. +1 for small weapon (knife, etc.) +2 for average-sized weapon (sword, axe, spear, bow, etc.). +3 for large weapon (polearm, battleaxe, etc.). +1 for sharp weapon (additive with other weapon damage). For attacker's Strength (muscle-powered weapons only): -3 for Terrible Strength. -2 for Poor Strength. -1 for Mediocre Strength. +0 for Fair Strength. +1 for Good Strength. +2 for Great Strength. +3 for Superb Strength. For weapon's Strength (Guns, Crossbows, Beam weapons, etc.,): +/- Strength of weapon (see Section 4.63, Ranged Combat). For Attacker's Scale: Plus the attacker's Mass Scale (see Section 4.64). [Note: the attacker's Mass Scale is relevant only for muscle- powered weapons and for those projectile weapons scaled to the attacker's size, such as miniature bazookas or giant-sized handguns. A superhero of Scale 10 using an ordinary pistol would *not* figure his Scale into the Offensive Damage Modifier.] Example of Offensive Damage Modifier: Jeb the Dwarf has Scale 1, Great Strength (+2), and uses a one-handed axe of +3 damage. On his character sheet, Jeb would have: "One-handed Axe, +3 damage (Off.Dam.Mod.: +6)." The Defensive Damage Modifier should likewise be written on the character sheet, and consists of: For defender's armor: -1 or -2 for a good shield (additive with other armor). (Note: a -2 shield is *very* large and cumbersome to carry.) -1 for light, pliable non-metal armor. -2 for heavy, rigid non-metal armor -2 for light metal armor. -3 for medium metal armor. -4 for heavy metal armor. -5 or more for SF advanced armor. For Defender's Mass Scale: Minus the defender's Mass Scale (see Section 4.64), which is always figured in. (If the defender has Mass other than Fair, it should also be figured in.) Example of Defensive Damage Modifier: Jeb the Dwarf is of Scale 1, and wears heavy non-metal armor (-2) and carries a regular shield (-1). On the character sheet, the player would list: "Shield: -1; Hvy non-metal armor: -2 (Def.Dam.Mod: -3 w/out shield; -4 w/shield)." Optional Damage Roll: First, make all calculations above; the damage at this point is called the *calculated* damage. The attacker then makes a simple Unopposed damage roll, which is not based on any trait. The result, which will range from -4 to +4, is applied to the calculated damage to produce the final damage. However, the calculated damage cannot be more than doubled by this roll. (Exception: if the calculated damage is negative or zero, it may be brought up to +1, maximum, by a damage roll.) Also, if the calculated damage is a positive number, the die roll cannot reduce the final damage below 1. First Example: The calculated damage is found to be -2 due to armor and Scale. It would take a +3 or +4 result to actually inflict a wound on the defender in this case, and then only 1 point of damage. Second Example: The calculated damage is +2. A damage roll of +4, +3, or +2 results in +4 final damage, since calculated damage cannot be more than doubled by a damage roll. A damage roll of +1 results in +3 final damage, while a damage roll of 0 results in +2 final damage. Any negative die roll results in +1 final damage, since a positive calculated damage cannot be reduced below 1 by a damage roll. Once the final damage is determined, the different levels of Damage Capacity take wounds as follows: Scratch Hurt Very Hurt Incapacitated Near Death Terrible 1 1 1 1 2 Poor 2 1 1 2 2 Mediocre 2 2 1 2 2 Fair 2 2 2 2 2 Good 3 2 2 3 2 Great 3 3 2 3 2 Superb 3 3 3 3 2 Legendary 4 3 3 4 2 Wounds are cumulative. That is, the first two wounds to a character with Fair Damage Capacity count as Scratches, and the next wound will Hurt the character. The fifth wound will make the character Very Hurt, and so on, until the eleventh wound, which will kill the character. Someone who has taken two Hurt wounds is still only at -1; he is not at -2 until he takes his first Very Hurt wound. The player should write the character's wound progression on the character sheet. The wound progression above makes for a fairly realistic campaign. For a more cinematic campaign (especially those without magic or science fiction healing), add an extra Scratch (and maybe even Hurt) to each level. It wouldn't be out of line, for an epic scale game, to add 2 levels of Scratch and Hurt to each PC. This would mean little blows wouldn't accumulate so quickly to hinder the character. Another way to be sure someone isn't nicked to death is to require a large blow to move a character from Very Hurt to Incapacitated, and from Incapacitated to Near Death. A large blow, in this case, can mean anything from 3 points to 5 or more in one hit. 4.73 Knockout Damage --------------------- In either system, a player can announce that his character is simply going for knock-out damage rather than killing damage. In this case, Hurt and Very Hurt simply count as additional Scratch levels: it takes an Incapacitated result to knock a character out, but there is no penalty for being Hurt or Very Hurt on the way. A knocked-out character doesn't need healing to recuperate to full health - just time. The GM may simply decide that a successful Good blow (or better) to the head knocks someone out automatically. In an Opposed action, the Good blow would also have to win the combat, of course. 4.74 Healing ------------- Healing is done through a medical skill (or supernormal power). A Scratch is too insignificant to require a roll on a healing skill (or it might require a kiss to make it better . . .). A Good result heals all Hurt wounds; a Great result heals all Very Hurt (as well as Hurt) wounds, and a Superb result heals an Incapacitated character. Otherwise, wounds heal on their own at one wound level per week of rest. That is, all Incapacitated wounds heal together, then all Very Hurt wounds, etc. (The healing rate of Scratches depends on the GM's level of realism. They may disappear automatically once you are out of combat time, or they may linger on for a day.) The GM may also require a successful roll against some sort of Constitution attribute: Fair degree task for Hurt, Good for Very Hurt, and Great for Incapacitated. Failing this roll means slow healing. Someone Near Death should take a long time to heal, even with magical healing. Of course, healing with realistic medical skills takes time: the success of the roll merely insures the wounds *will* heal, given enough rest. How long this takes depends on the technological level of the game setting, and is up to the GM. (A day per treated wound is extremely fast healing, but may be appropriate in an epic-style game. Likewise, one minute per magically healed wound is still fast.) Whether or not strenuous activity before the healing period ends reopens a wound is also left up to the GM . . . 4.8 Critical Results --------------------- Not every GM likes the concept of Critical Results. For those who use them, a natural rolled result of +4 can be considered a critical success - the character has done exceptionally well, and the GM may grant some special bonus to the action. Likewise, a natural result of -4 is a critical failure, or fumble, and the character has done as poorly as he possibly can in the given situation. Note that achieving +/-4 with die modifiers does not count as a critical result, though the character *has* done exceptionally well or poorly. When a natural critical result is rolled, it is not necessarily treated as a +/-4: instead, the GM may ignore what the rolled degree would be, and call it a trans-superb or trans-terrible result automatically. Optionally, if a character gets a rolled degree four or more levels better than the degree task, he has gotten a critical success. Likewise, four levels below a degree task is a critical failure. A critical result in combat can mean many things: one fighter falls down, or drops his weapon, or is hurt extra badly, or is stunned for a round and can't even defend himself, or is temporarily blinded, or knocked out, etc. The GM should be creative, but not kill a character outright! The GM may even wish to make a table, such as: Roll 2D6: 2 Blinded for the next combat round - no defense or offense! 3 Fall down: skill at -2. 4 Armor badly ripped - no armor value rest of fight! 5 Weapon finds chink in armor - do not subtract for armor. 6 Off balance - skill at -1 next turn. 7 Drop Weapon. 8 Weapon breaks, but still useful: -1 to damage. Etc. If you come up with some good critical results, please add them to the Addenda! This is an easy way to achieve a lot of detail without complicating FUDGE. 4.9 NPC Reactions ------------------ Sometimes a non-player character has a set reaction to the PCs. Perhaps she's automatically their enemy, or perhaps the party has rescued her, and earned her gratitude. However, there will be many NPCs that don't have a set reaction. When the PCs request information or aid, it might go smoothly or it might not go well at all. Negotiation with a stranger is always an unknown quantity to the players - it may so for the GM, too! When in doubt, the GM should secretly roll 2d6. If the PC in question has a trait that might affect a stranger's reaction, this should be grant a +/-1 to the roll. Examples include Appearance (which could be an attribute, gift or fault), Charisma, Reputation, Status, and such habits as nose-picking or vulgar language. The Reaction roll can also be modified up or down by circumstances: bribes, suspicious or friendly nature of the NPC, proximity of the NPC's boss, observed PC behavior, etc. The higher the Reaction roll, the better the reaction. A result of 6 to 8 is Fair, for example: the NPC will be mildly helpful, but only if it's not too much effort. She won't be helpful at all on Mediocre or worse results, but will react well on a Good result or better. Example: Nathaniel needs some information about the local duke, who he suspects is very corrupt. He has observed that folks are reticent to talk about the duke to strangers. Nathaniel decides to approach a certain vegetable seller at the open market who seems to be quite talkative. Nathaniel has an average appearance (no modifier there), but is charismatic: +1 to any Reaction roll. He makes small talk for a while, then slowly brings the duke into the conversation at a fitting moment. The GM decides this was done skillfully enough to warrant another +1 on the reaction roll. However, the situation is prickly: -2 in general to elicit *any* information about the sinister local ruler. This cancels Nathaniel's bonuses, so it's just a straight Reaction roll. The GM rolls in secret, and gets an 8: a Fair result. The old lady slips out one or two bits of useful information before realizing what she's just done. At that point she clams up, but Nathaniel casually changes the subject to the weather, dispelling her suspicions. He wanders off fairly quickly to try his luck at another stand, more determined than ever to be *very* careful. [End of Chapter 4. FUDGE continued next file ...] -- - Steffan O'Sullivan sos@oz.plymouth.edu X-NEWS: wharton rec.games.frp.archives: 470 Path: netnews.upenn.edu!dsinc!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!news.ans.net!rpi!goldm From: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.archives Subject: FUDGE July93: Part 4 of 4 Message-ID: <221fds$46v@usenet.rpi.edu> Date: 14 Jul 93 17:23:08 GMT Sender: goldm@operators.its.rpi.edu Reply-To: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan) Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc Organization: Plymouth State College - Plymouth, N.H. Lines: 716 Approved: goldm@rpi.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: operators.its.rpi.edu FUDGE: Freeform, Universal, Donated Gaming Engine A Free Role-playing Game (RPG). By Steffan O'Sullivan Legal Notice ------------ Version: July 4, 1993 FUDGE is copyright 1992, 1993 by Steffan O'Sullivan. It may be freely copied and distributed by any means desired. This legal notice must be included with each copy of FUDGE. No charge may be made for FUDGE beyond a maximum US$6 fee (at 1993 rates) for materials and shipping, without written permission from the author. A publisher who wishes to include FUDGE in a book of copyrighted source material or adventures may do so, so long as (1) the publisher's copyrighted material is longer than the amount of FUDGE material included, (2) this legal notice and at least Chapter 1 of FUDGE are included, (3) the words in this legal notice and those in Chapter 1 of FUDGE are not changed in any way, and (4) there is no extra charge for including FUDGE in the book. FUDGE was first published in 1992 on internet, and was written by Steffan O'Sullivan (sos@oz.plymouth.edu) with an extensive amount of high-quality input from Andy Skinner. Other valued contributors include Martin Bergendahl, Thomas Brettinger, Robert Bridson, Travis Casey, Paul Jason Clegg, Peter F. Delaney, Jay Doane, Brian Edmonds, Shawn Garbett, Ed Heil, Bernard Hsiung, John H. Kim, Christian Otkjaer, Bill Seurer, Larry Smith, Stephan Szabo, and others on rec.games.design on internet. Groo the Wanderer (TM) is a trademark of Sergio Aragones, and use of the name does not challenge the trademark status in any way. [Continued from previous file:] Table of Contents (This File) ============================= 5 Character Development 5.1 Subjective Character Development 5.2 Objective Character Development 6 Tips and Examples 6.1 GM Tips 6.2 Character Sheet Example 6.3 Character Examples 6.4 Animal & Creature Examples 5 Character Development ======================== After playing a bit, perhaps each session, the player will want the character to grow in abilities. At this point, initial GM-set skill limits (such as 1 Superb, 4 Greats) can be exceeded as the character naturally develops. There are two ways to handle character development, or "experience," as it's often called. 5.1 Subjective Character Development ------------------------------------- When the player feels the character has accomplished enough to warrant improving in some trait (and he feels he's been roleplaying well), he petitions the GM for permission to raise it. A trait can only be raised one level at a time. A trait must be used much more to raise it from Good to Great than Fair to Good, and so on. Likewise, the GM can simply award an improvement in a trait she feels deserves to be raised. In these cases, there is never a corresponding reduction of another trait - this is character development, not creation. 5.2 Objective Character Development ------------------------------------ Alternately, the GM can award experience points (EP), which the player can trade in any way he wants at the following rates (a trait can only be raised one level at a time, however): Raising a skill up to Fair level: 1 EP per level. Raising a skill from Fair to Good: 2 EP. Raising a skill from Good to Great: 4 EP. Raising a skill from Great to Superb: 8 EP. Raising a skill from Superb to Legendary: 16 EP (or more), *and* GM approval. Raising a skill from Legendary to Legendary, 2nd Level: 30 EP (or more), *and* GM approval. Raising a skill each level beyond Legendary, 2nd Level: 50 EP (or more), *and* GM approval. Raising an attribute: triple the cost for skills of the same level. Adding a gift: 6 EP (or more), *and* GM approval. Adding a supernormal power: 12 EP (or more), *and* GM approval. The GM may adjust these point levels as she sees fit, of course, and should require that the skills being raised are those that were used significantly during an adventure. As a guideline, good roleplaying should be rewarded with 1 to 4 EP per gaming session, with an upper suggested limit of 5 EP for flawless roleplaying. Players may save EP as long as they wish. 6 Tips and Examples ==================== 6.1 GM Tips ------------ Always remember the main point of the game is to have fun . . . The GM should translate at least one of her favorite characters into FUDGE from whatever system she is used to. This will give her a good idea of what traits to choose, and how many. Note that FUDGE is incredibly flexible, possibly more so than any system you've played before. Once you've translated a favorite character, fiddle with her a bit. Can you tweak her to be *exactly* what you want, possibly in ways your previous system wouldn't allow? What if that attribute was split into two or three effects - ah! See, she can be smart in some ways, but dumb in others; knowledgeable of some things, ignorant of others. Hmm - too many attributes? Make some of them gifts, then - that might be easier to deal with. And so on - have fun! 6.2 Character Sheet Example ---------------------------- A character sheet can be any scrap paper, of course. However, it's handy to include the Action-Resolution Table, Trait Level progression, and enough space for each type of trait. Sample [delete any note in square brackets, such as this]: /--------------------------------\ Character Name: | Defaults: | EP | Player: | -3 Terrible | 1 | Date Created: | -2 Poor ..... Most Skills | 1 | | -1 Mediocre | 1 | Unspent EP: | 0 Fair ..... Attributes | 1 | | 1 Good | 2 | Starting Limits: [such as | 2 Great | 4 | 1 Superb Skill, 3 Great, | 3 Superb | 8 | no magic, etc.] |--------------------------------| | Some Skills and most Gifts are | Character Story (include | non-existent unless specified | personality): | on the character sheet. | |--------------------------------| | EP = Raising skills to that | | level with Experience Points | \--------------------------------/ Rolled: 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 , 7 , 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 ------------|-----|-----|-----|-------------|-----|-----|-----|--- Levels: -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | +0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 Wound Progression (Write Number of each to match Damage Capacity): Scratch Hurt Very Hurt Incapacitated Near Death 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Attributes: | Gifts: | Skills: -----------------------|---------------------------|------------------ | | [space as needed in each section - the GM can include some before printing, if desired - especially true for Attributes] | | Damage Cap: |---------------------------| -----------------------| Faults: | Equipment: |---------------------------| -----------------------| | | | [Could go on the | | back if space |---------------------------| is a problem. | Supernormal Powers: | Remember to list |---------------------------| armor and weapon | | bonuses clearly.] | [if needed] | [End of sample. You should be able to get it on a single page.] For those using the Objective Character Creation system, the following character sheet header is more appropriate than the one above: /----------------------------------\ Character Name: | Att | Sk | N-E | EP | Player: | Terrible .. -3 | -1 | 1 | 1 | Date Created: | Poor ...... -2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | | Mediocre .. -1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | Unspent EP: | Fair ...... 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | | Good ...... 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 | Starting Limits: [such as | Great ..... 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 1 Superb Skill, 3 Great, | Superb .... 3 | 5 | 7 | 8 | no magic, etc.] |----------------------------------| | Att = Attribute Costs | Character Story (include | Sk = Average Skill Costs | personality): | N-E = Non-Existent Skill Costs | | EP = Raising skills with EPs | |----------------------------------| | Trading Traits: 1 gift = 1 fault | | 1 gift = 1 to 2 attribute levels | | 1 attribute level = 3 skill lvls | | 1 supernormal power = 2 gifts | \----------------------------------/ 6.3 Character Examples ----------------------- The following characters are designed to different GM standards, to give examples of the different possibilities. Each character lists GM guidelines with it. Easy and Hard skills are listed as: Farming (easy); Mimic Animal Sounds (hard). Skills that start non-existent are listed as: Elvish Language (n-e). Brogo and Moose have some magic abilities, using the sample FUDGE Magic system found in the Addenda. Brogo is just a dabbler in magic, while Moose is only slightly better. The numbers in parentheses are the Objective level costs, and are optional on any given character sheet (but make it easy to tally). 6.31 Brogo the Halfling, Fantasy character (Scout) --------------------------------------------------- [GM limits: 8 attributes (4 free levels); 50 free skill levels, w/maximum of 1 Superb, 3 Greats; 2 free gifts; magic available. Scale -2, Racial Bonus: Damage Capacity +1, Health +1.] [Note that Brogo has lowered four *useful* skills to Terrible to balance his skill levels to 50 - otherwise, he would have 54.] Attributes: (4 free levels, 8 levels taken, balanced by 2 faults) Coolness: Good (1) Damage Capacity: Good [Halfling Fair] (1) Dexterity: Great (2) Empathy: Good (1) Health: Good [Halfling Fair] (1) Intelligence: Good (1) Perception: Great (2) Strength: Good, Scale -2 (-1) Skills: (50 free levels, 50 taken) Area Knowledge, large area (easy): Good (2) Bow: Good (3) Carouse: Fair (2) Climbing: Good (3) Elvish Language (n-e): Poor (2) Evaluate Goods: Fair (2) Farming (easy): Good (2) Find Secret Passages: Terrible (-1) First Aid: Good (3) Haggle: Good (3) Interrogation: Terrible (-1) Knowledge of Old Tales: Fair (2) Lockpicking: Terrible (-1) Mimic Animal Noises (hard): Great (5) Move Quietly: Superb (5) Orcish Language (n-e): Poor (2) Pickpocketing: Terrible (-1) Riding: Pony: Fair (2) Staff: Good (3) Storytelling: Fair (2) Survival: Great (4) Tracking: Good (3) Wildcraft: Great (4) Gifts and Faults: (2 free gifts, 6 taken, balanced by faults) Gift: Absolute Direction Gift: Animal Empathy Gift: Lucky Gift: Night Vision Supernormal Power: Magic Potential 1 (Note: spell-casting is equal to Will in this game, max: Fair - no skill need be bought.) Superfault: Can only cast trivial spells Fault: Curious Fault: Glutton Fault: Humanitarian (takes low pay) Fault: Self-defense Pacifist 6.32 Moose the Mage, human fantasy character --------------------------------------------- [GM limits: 6 attributes (3 free levels); 30 free skill levels, w/maximum of 1 Superb, 3 Greats; 2 free gifts; magic available. This generous GM has set the Damage Capacity level equal to Health, so Moose has Great Damage Capacity at no extra cost.] Attributes: (3 free levels, 4 levels taken, balanced by a fault) Charisma: Poor (-2) Dexterity: Great (2) Drive: Good (1) Health: Great (2) Intelligence: Mediocre (-1) Strength: Great (2) Skills: (30 free levels, 36 taken, balanced by a fault) Armoury: Good (3) Brawling: Great (4) Breaking and Entering: Terrible (-1) Climbing: Fair (2) Crafts: Fair (2) Flirtatious Skills: Terrible (-1) Knowledge of Old Tales: Terrible (-1) Merchant: Mediocre (1) Riding: Good (3) Shield: Great (4) Singing: Terrible (-1) * Spell-Casting (n-e): Mediocre (6) Stealth: Good (3) Storytelling: Terrible (-1) Sword: Superb (5) Tactics: Good (3) Throwing: Great (4) Woodcraft: Mediocre (1) Gifts and Faults: (2 free gifts, 6 taken, balanced by faults) Gift: Combat Reflexes Gift: Comfortable Wealth (good equipment) Supernormal Power: Magic Potential Supernormal Power: Magic Potential, 2nd level Fault: Can only cast combat spells Fault: Fear of the Dark Fault: Pompous with strangers (except when drunk) * Fault: Spell-casting skill costs double due to low IQ Fault: Tends to Bellow when Speaking Fault: Illiterate but tries to hide it 6.33 Tarag Half-Ogre --------------------- [GM limits: 3 attributes (3 free levels); 10 free skill levels, w/maximum of 1 Superb, 2 Greats; 3 free gifts; magic available. Half-Ogre is Scale 3.] Attributes: (3 free levels, 1 taken. The other 2 traded for Gift) Body: Good, Scale 3 (1) Mind: Mediocre (-1) Psyche: Good (1) Skills: (10 free levels, 16 taken, balanced by fault) Animal Skills: Fair (2) Balance Skills: Good (3) Medical Skills: Terrible (-1) Melee Weapons: Superb (5) Merchant Skills: Terrible (-1) Ranged Weapons: Great (4) Social Skills: Terrible (-1) Survival: Good (3) Thief Skills: Terrible (-1) Unarmed Combat: Good (3) Gifts and Faults: (3 free gifts, 5 taken, balanced by fault and trading 2 Attribute levels = 1 gift) Gift: Lucky Gift: Quick Reflexes Gift: Tough Hide (-1 to damage) Supernormal Power: Scale 3 (counts as 2 gifts) Fault: Berserker Fault: Poor (not much equipment) 6.34 Henri le Rouge, Musketeer of King Louis XIII, 1627 -------------------------------------------------------- [GM limits: since this is a cinematic campaign without magical or SF healing, the GM has set higher limits: 9 attributes (8 free levels); 60 free skill levels, w/maximum of 2 Superb, 5 Greats; 3 free gifts; no supernormal powers available] Attributes: (8 free levels, 10 taken, balanced by fault) Charm: Good (1) Coolness: Great (2) Damage Capacity: Great (2) Dexterity: Great (2) Health: Good (1) Perception: Fair (0) Strength: Fair (0) Will: Fair (0) Wit: Great (2) Skills: (60 free levels, 72 taken, balanced by 2 faults) Acrobatics: Superb (5) Acting: Good (3) Boating: Terrible (-1) Brawling: Good (3) Carousing: Good (3) Climbing: Great (4) Disguise: Good (3) Dodge: Good (3) Engineer: Terrible (-1) Fencing: Superb (5) First Aid: Good (3) Flirting: Good (3) Knowledge of Europe: Mediocre (1) Knowledge of France: Good (3) Knowledge of Paris: Good (3) Knowledge of Planet: Mediocre (1) Lockpicking: Terrible (-1) Main Gauche: Great (4) Matchlock Musket: Good (3) Mechanic: Terrible (-1) Move Quietly: Good (3) Political Knowledge: Good (3) Quick-Draw Sword (easy): Good (2) Repartee: Great (4) Riding: Great (4) Savoir-Faire: Good (3) Shadowing: Fair (2) Swimming: Terrible (-1) Tactics: Good (3) Wheellock Pistol: Good (3) Gifts and Faults (3 free gifts, 5 taken, balanced by faults) Gift: Combat Reflexes Gift: Handsome Gift: Patron: Captain of Musketeers Gift: Rapid Healing Gift: Status: Gentleman Fault: Code of Honor Fault: Compulsive Carouser Fault: Disgusted by Non-Gourmet Food Fault: Extremely Loyal to Companions Fault: Intolerant of Protestants 6.35 Chicory, Bunny -------------------- [NOTE: this is a character in a game where rabbits are the norm, and humans are giant monsters. The scale is therefore relative to rabbits. GM limits: 6 attributes (3 free levels); 40 free skill levels, w/maximum 1 Superb, 3 Great; 2 gifts, 1 Supernormal Power] Attributes: (3 free levels, 6 taken, balanced by faults) Dexterity: Good (1) Health: Good (1) Perception: Superb (3) Smarts: Good (1) Speed: Good (1) Strength: Mediocre (-1) Skills: (40 free levels, 52 taken, balanced by taking no Supernormal Power) Acrobatics: Terrible (-1) Area Knowledge: Good (3) Detect Traps: Great (4) Fighting: Good (3) Gambling: Good (3) Herb Lore (hard): Superb (6) Knowledge of Burrow Structure: Good (3) Knowledge of Humans (n-e): Fair (4) Knowledge of Non-Rabbit Behavior: Good (3) Language: Bug (n-e): Mediocre (3) Language: Common Bird (n-e): Fair (4) Language: Mouse/Rat (n-e): Good (5) Mechanical Skills: Terrible (-1) Mimic Non-Rabbit Sounds (hard): Fair (3) Move Quietly: Fair (2) Spring Traps: Fair (2) Storytelling: Fair (2) Tracking: Great (4) Gifts and Faults: (2 free + 1 Supernormal Power; 4 taken, balanced by faults. See skills, above.) Gift: Unafraid of Loud Noises Gift: Never Forgets a Scent Gift: Strong Will Gift: Night Vision Fault: Curious Fault: Compulsive Gambler Fault: Phobia: Canines Fault: Jealous of Anyone Getting More Attention 6.36 Sarah Roberts, Journalist, 1990s -------------------------------------- [GM limits: 10 attributes (5 free levels); 50 free skill levels, w/maximum of 1 Superb, 4 Greats; 2 free gifts; limited Psi available.] [Note: The player forgot a very important skill for Sarah: Research. This was realized during a game, and since she would logically have the skill, the player petitioned the GM to allow Research to be one of the Uncommitted traits. The GM agreed, and [Research: Good] was added to Sarah's character sheet. Sarah already has 1 Superb and 4 Great skills, so this is the best she could start with it. This does not count against starting free levels - Uncommitted traits are extra.] Attributes: (5 free levels, 7 taken, balanced by fault) Appearance: Good (1) Constitution: Good (1) Coolness: Good (1) Damage Capacity: Good (1) Dexterity: Fair (0) Intelligence: Great (2) Luck: Good (1) Sanity: Great (2) Strength: Poor (-2) Will: Fair (0) Skills: (50 free levels, 56 taken, balanced by fault) Acrobatics: Fair (2) Acting: Great (4) Breaking & Entering: Good (3) Climbing: Fair (2) Computer Use: Good (3) Criminology: Mediocre (1) Disguise: Great (4) Driving: Good (3) Interviewing: Great (4) Karate (n-e): Fair (4) Move Quietly: Good (3) Occultism: Good (3) Photography: Good (3) Pistol: Good (3) Shadowing: Great (4) Shady Contacts: Good (3) Swimming: Fair (2) Writing: Superb (5) Gifts and Faults: (2 free Gifts, 4 taken, balanced by faults) Gift: Ambidextrous Gift: Beautiful Speaking Voice Gift: Danger Sense Gift: Never Forget a Face Fault: Overconfident Fault: Extremely Curious about Occult Matters Fault: Stubborn Fault: Vain 6.37 Sherman Foley, homeless person and scanner, modern day ------------------------------------------------------------ [By: Bernard Hsiung] [GM limits: no specified attributes--free levels = 1/2 of number of attributes taken; 50 free skill levels, w/maximum of 1 Superb, 4 Greats; 2 free gifts; semi-limited Psi] [Note that Sherman's player only chose 4 attributes when the GM gave free reign. This means that Sherman has any unlisted attribute the GM considers essential at Fair.] Attributes: (4 attributes selected: 2 free levels, 2 taken) Damage Capacity: Mediocre (-1) Health: Mediocre (-1) Perception: Great (2) Willpower: Great (2) Skills: (50 free levels, 44 taken, 6 used to balance 1 gift) Area Knowledge, inner city (easy): Great (3) Area Knowledge, Earth: Mediocre (1) Begging: Fair (2) Climbing: Terrible (-1) Drinking: Good (3) Driving: Terrible (-1) Forage: Good (3) Knife: Mediocre (1) Knowledge, Phobias (hard): Good (4) Meditation: Good (3) Sewing: Mediocre (1) Stealth/Urban: Fair (2) Street Gossip: Good (3) Survival/Urban: Great (4) Use Mind Control (n-e): Great (6) Use Telepathy (n-e): Good (5) Use Telekinesis (n-e): Good (5) Gifts and Faults: (2 free gifts, 6 taken, balanced by 3 faults and loss of 6 skills) Supernormal Power: Mind Control Supernormal Power: Telepath Supernormal Power: Telekinetic Fault: Use of Psi Requires Immobile Concentration (note that this isn't a superfault) Fault: Materially Poor Fault: Unlucky 6.38 Screamer (Fredrick Grant); Occupation: Decker --------------------------------------------------- [By: Stephan Szabo] [GM limits: 7 attributes (3 free levels); 30 free skill levels, w/maximum of 1 Superb, 4 Greats; 2 free gifts; Cybernetic enhancements count as gifts, not supernormal powers.] Attributes (3 free levels, 5 taken, balanced by fault): Body: Good (1) Charisma: Poor (-2) Intelligence: Superb (3) Quickness: Good (1) Reaction: Great (2) Strength: Fair (0) Willpower: Fair (0) Skills (30 Free levels, 30 taken) Computer Build/Repair: Great (4) Computer Programming: Superb (5) Computer Theory: Great (4) Cycle: Fair (2) Electronics: Great (4) Firearms: Great (4) Matrix Etiquette: Good (3) Street Etiquette: Fair (2) Unarmed Combat: Fair (2) Gifts/Faults: (2 free gifts, 6 taken, balanced by faults) Gift: Cybernetics, Datajack Gift: Cybernetics, Can multitask cognitive processes Gift: Cybernetics, Thermographic Vision Gift: Cybernetics, Flash Compensation Gift: Cybernetics, Telescopic Sight Gift: Lucky Fault: Bloodlust Fault: Doesn't care if he lives or dies Fault: Manic/Depressive Fault: Multiple Personality Fault: Overconfident 6.39 Dragonfly (James Stoddard), Secret Superhero -------------------------------------------------- [GM limits: 6 attributes (3 free levels); 50 free skill levels, w/maximum of 2 Superb, 6 Greats; 2 free gifts; 4 free Superpowers] Attributes: (3 free levels, 7 taken, balanced by faults) Damage Capacity: Fair (0) Dexterity: Great (2) Health: Good (1) Intelligence: Great (2) Intuition: Great (2) Strength: Fair (0) Skills (50 free levels, 56 taken, balanced by fault) Acrobatics: Great (4) Acting: Good (3) Computer Use: Great (4) Control Superpower (Electron Flow) (n-e): Superb (7) Control Superpower (Flight) (n-e): Good (5) Criminology: Good (3) Disguise: Good (3) Dodge: Great (4) Driving: Good (3) Electronics Engineering, Computers (hard): Great (5) Japanese Language (n-e): Good (5) Judo (n-e): Great (6) Singing: Terrible (-1) Stealth: Superb (5) Gifts & Faults: (4 free Superpowers, 4 taken; 2 free gifts, 3 taken, balanced by a fault) Gift: Combat Reflexes Gift: Good Looking Gift: Tough Hide (-1 to damage) Fault: Against Ethics to Use Powers to Make Money Fault: In Massive Debt Fault: Phobia of Animals Bigger than a Collie Fault: Socially Awkward (Bit of a Nerd) Superpower: Control Inanimate Electronic Devices Superpower: Shrink to 1" for up to an hour, 2 times/day (Scale = -10) Superpower: Fly, only while 1" high Superpower: Electrical Surge (Short-out Machines) 6.4 Animal & Creature Examples ------------------------------- Non-PC animals need not be built using level limits. Just define what traits are essential to the animal, and let it go at that. The Strength Scale refers to Section 3.3, Non-humans. Lion: Perception: Great Melee Combat: Great Stalking: Great Dodge: Fair Strength: Scale 2 Fair to Great Fault: Lazy Damage Capacity: Fair to Superb Grizzly Bear: Perception: Good Melee Combat: Good Dodge: Fair Strength: Scale 3 Fair to Great Fault: Berserker Damage Capacity: Fair to Great Cobra: Perception: Good Melee Combat: Great Dodge: Good Supernormal Power: Poison, +4 damage bonus Fault: Bad temper Damage Capacity: Poor Skunk: Melee Combat: Poor Ranged Combat: Good, short range Dodge: Poor Supernormal Power: Noxious Fluid: blinds, incapacitates Damage Capacity: Terrible Giant Spider: Melee Combat: Good Dodge: Poor Supernormal Power: Poison, paralyzes Supernormal Power: Web, (Good Strength degree task to break) Damage Capacity: Good Griffin: Perception: Great Melee Combat: Great Dodge: Good Supernormal Power: Flight Supernormal Power: Tough Hide (light armor) Strength: Mediocre to Great, Scale 4 Damage Capacity: Good to Superb Dragon (customize to taste): Melee Combat: Good to Great Ranged Combat: Good, short range Dodge: Mediocre Supernormal Power: Fire Breath (+2 damage) Supernormal Power: Flight Supernormal Power: Tough Hide (-1 to -3) Supernormal Power: Charm with Eyes Supernormal Power: Magic Potential (some of them) Fault: Greedy Strength: Scale 3 to Scale 9, Fair to Great Damage Capacity: Fair to Great [End of official FUDGE. There is an Addenda with options and samples, however, available at the ftp site soda.berkeley.edu, directories /pub/fudge/samples and /pub/fudge/options.] -- - Steffan O'Sullivan sos@oz.plymouth.edu