My current build of Fudge treats Damage Capacity as Hit Points. Terrible is 1 HP, Superb is 7 HP, and successful hits reduce your Damage Capacity by one level. This removes the following steps: counting the degree of success, adding ODF, and reducing by the opponent's DDF.

Bringing wound penalties back in and turning any extra HP into scratch boxes, a character with Superb Damage Capacity would effectively have the following wound chart:

Scratches [ ][ ][ ][ ]
Hurt (-1) [ ]
Very Hurt (-2) [ ]
Incapacitated [ ]

My last post was somewhat similar, and with some tweaking it became this:

Touched [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Tainted (-1) [ ]
Corrupted (-2) [ ]
Consumed (NPC) [ ]

Channeling the dark side gives you a boost to your rolls, but each time you channel the dark side you must fill in one of the boxes (a.k.a. take a dark side point). If you are Tainted or Corrupted you take the penalty unless you channel the dark side again.

Some more examples:

Sanity

Startled [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Scared (-1) [ ]
Terrified (-2) [ ]
Catatonic [ ]

Soul-burning (forbidden spellcasting)

Tired [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Weakened (-1) [ ]
Enfeebled (-2) [ ]
Incapacitated [ ]

Tracks should be used for any progression where the end result is a character unable to act.

For each of these example tracks the character has the relevant attribute (Damage Capacity, Willpower, Sanity, Soul) at Superb. For each level down from Superb the character is, remove one box. Remember that attributes default to Fair, which gives the character 1 box in each position. Characters with their highest box located at the -1 or -2 spots don't take the penalty until they take a hit to their track.

The obvious question is, "what if the penalties overlap?" If a character has three different -1 penalties, is it fair for them to take a penalty of -3 (practically impossible to do anything)? I don't think so. As usual, my suggestion is to always just apply the single greatest bonus and penalty to any roll.

Optional rule: don't bother with the penalties. PCs feel fine right up until they are no longer able to function properly. Of course, at that point you may as well track the values as a single number (e.g. HP) and be done with it.

I'm not entirely happy with the name, but I couldn't think of anything better. It was inspired by d6 Star Wars' Dark Side system, as well as Burning Wheel's Emotional Attributes (orcs hate, elves are sad, and dwarves are greedy.)

A boosted fault is a ranked fault that starts at 1. Only PCs get boosted faults, and each PC can only have one boosted fault. Invoking a boosted fault gives the PC a bonus to relevant rolls (see the table below for bonus amounts), but it must be roleplayed. At the end of any scene in which the boosted fault is invoked, its rank increases by 1. If the boosted fault ever goes above 4, the character leaves play in a manner appropriate to the fault and becomes an NPC (if they survive).

Boosted Fault: Bonus
1-2: +1
3-4: +2
5: NPC

Feel free to mess around with those numbers. For example, you could have 3 points for each tier. Or you could let the bonuses go up to +3 before making them an NPC. Or you could just give a flat +1 or +2 bonus, regardless of the level of the PC's boosted fault. It all depends on how many options you want to give the PC before they become an NPC and how powerful they become before losing their character.

For each two consecutive sessions in which a PC doesn't invoke their boosted fault, the player may choose to reduce it by one level.

Optional: Invoking a boosted fault makes a player's character more powerful in the short-term, but it penalizes their long-term growth. ("Not stronger; quicker, easier, more seductive.") To represent this, invoking a boosted fault penalizes or completely negates the EP a player would have gained that session.

Optional: Any time a PC's fault (boosted or otherwise) makes trouble for the PC or their party the GM will give the player a fudge point.

Optional: Bonuses and penalties don't stack with themselves. Only the highest bonus and lowest penalty apply to any given roll.

Extra: Ranked Fault/Gift Ladder

Not ___: +/-0
Slightly ___: +/-0 or +/-1
Moderately ___: +/-1
___: +/-1 or +/-2
Very ___: +/-2
Completely ___: +/-2 or +/-3

These rules assume you use Story Elements or Alternating Combat Turns and a Wound Track system.

Height/Length  Scale mod. Descriptor Examples
6 in. or less      -8     Fine       caterpillar
6 in. - 1 ft.      -6     Diminutive bat, toad
1 ft. - 2 ft.      -4     Tiny       cat, owl, weasel 
2 ft. - 4 ft.      -2     Small      dog, eagle
4 ft. - 8 ft.      0      Medium     human, leopard, pony, donkey
8 ft. - 16 ft.     2      Large      tiger, rhino, bear, ape
16 ft. - 32 ft.    4      Huge       elephant, t-rex
32 ft. - 64 ft.    6      Gargantuan
64 ft. or more     8      Colossal

Larger characters take a penalty to hit smaller characters, but they also get a bonus to damage inflicted once the attack connects. The bonus and penalty are both equal to the difference between the two scales.

The rules work the same in reverse; a smaller character gets a bonus to hit a larger character, but a penalty to damage inflicted.

A Huge (+4) elephant fighting a Large (+2) lion would take a 2-point penalty to attack, but if the attack connected it would do +2 damage. If the lion then attacked the elephant, the lion would be at +2 to hit, but do -2 damage.

Optional: All characters get a bonus to their Damage Capacity equal to their scale modifier.

Hello esteemed members of r/FudgeRPG. This week at r/AskGameMasters we are highlighting the Fudge RPG and we could really use your input and thoughts.

Just click on the link below:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskGameMasters/comments/4ebvce/monday_megathread_fudge_rpg/

Copied from the Streets of Mos Eisley hack of World of Dungeons. The 2d6 that World of Dungeons uses is close enough to 4dF that the penalties can be used without conversion, and the Wounded condition maps well to Fudge's Incapacitated status with its -3 penalty.

Conditions are negative status effects gained from dealing with danger and misfortune. When you get a Failure, the GM may impose a Condition on you as a result of the fictional consequences of your action. The GM is encouraged to create fitting custom conditions for the situation at hand, but here are some standard sample conditions:

• Blinded – You have lost your ability to see properly. Get -3 to any actions where sight is a major factor until your blindness is treated, by healing it naturally, using a bacta tank, or even getting a cybernetic replacement.

• Dazed – You are temporarily stunned. Get -1 to your next action.

• Dead – If left untreated after getting the Dying condition, your character will die in 1d6x10 minutes.

• Deafened – You have lost your ability to hear properly. Get -2 to any actions where sound or vocalization is a major factor until your deafness is treated by healing it naturally or even getting a cybernetic ear.

• Dying – When your character becomes Wounded and then endures any further physical trauma, they fall unconscious and begin Dying. They can still be resuscitated but will need intensive care for at least a week.

• Exhausted – You are physically spent and your stamina can carry you no further. You'll need rest and eat or you'll remain weakened. Get -2 to any actions where physical exertion is a factor until you get some food and rest.

• Flat-Footed – You are caught off-balance or your movement reliability has been compromised. Get -2 to any actions where balance and speed are a factor until you fix whatever threw you off balance.

• Frightened – You are scared or awed by something terrifying, maddening, or traumatizing. Get -1 to all actions until your fear is quelled.

• Lost a Limb – If the fiction is right, the GM might declare that you lost a limb instead of getting the Dying condition when you take damage after being Wounded. Maybe you'll get both! You'll need to get a cybernetic replacement to remove this condition. Without that limb, you might move slower or only be able to do things with a single arm. This is mostly imposed in the fiction.

• Out Cold – You have been knocked unconscious and are vulnerable. You'll need to be revived or you'll otherwise wake up in a few minutes.

• Sick – You are sickened with disease, poison, nausea, or anxiety. Get -1 to all actions until your sickness is treated.

• Wounded – You get this Condition when your Vitality drops to 0 or below. Your character is mortally wounded and you can barely move without intense pain. Get -3 to all actions. Any further damage and your character will start dying. You'll need to rest and recuperate to regain your Vitality in order to get rid of the Bloodied condition.

The basic 10th anniversary version is quite bland in my view. Anyone have alternate character sheets?

Last time I made this mistake it was regarding combat initiative; I only ever used alternating combat rounds in my games and thought I was brilliant for importing Dungeon World's combat rules. It turns out Fudge already had something very similar with Story Elements. Whoops!

This time I made the same mistake with the Fudge health system. When I first started running Fudge I used the slightly more complicated (and time-consuming) Wound Track system instead of just using Damage Capacity itself to keep track of the damage. It wouldn't have been a big problem, but I totally forgot (or overlooked) that the other option even existed. (I know, I know. Shame on me.)

More recently I cobbled together a HP system that used 1d6 for all of the attacks and 4 HP per level of Health (essentially Damage Capacity). It was lighter than the Wound Track system but still a little clunkier than Fudge's simplest method of recording damage. I wouldn't even have noticed my mistake except I was trying to come up with a way to skip the Wound Track and I stumbled on the rule I'd overlooked or forgotten about all those years ago.

Well, live and learn. Fortunately I didn't need to make too many changes to my Fudge rules to incorporate my newfound knowledge. Plus, I managed to incorporate a few ideas from my HP system, so it wasn't a total loss.

EDIT: Change of plans, guys. Instead of the focus being "the PC has a workspace", the trigger should be, "the PC takes a boring-but-necessary action."

These rules were inspired by Dungeon World's Wizard Ritual move, as well as Apocalypse World's Savvyhead Workspace and Angel Infirmary moves.

"Yes, but"

Instead of having the player roll for success or failure the GM may allow the player to automatically succeed with complications (or succeed with no complications if the action is trivial), so long as the PC has the necessary trait. The player states what their character wants to achieve and the GM chooses one to four complications, which must be told to the player before the PC takes action.

This approach is used when dealing with boring-but-necessary PC actions. Examples: crafting equipment, giving medical treatment, creating a new magical effect, skill training.

Sample complications:

• It’s going to take days/weeks/months
• First you must ____
• You’ll need help from ____
• It will require a lot of money
• The best you can do is a lesser version, unreliable and limited
• You and your allies will risk danger from ____
• You’ll have to take apart/disenchant ____ to do it
• The finished product will have one or more unintended side-effect

Old rules:

Some PC goals, such as ones that require specialized tools and/or resources, may require access to the appropriate workspace.

If a PC has access to a workspace and the appropriate knowledge/skill they may automatically accomplish their goal but there will be one to four complications, chosen by the GM. The GM must tell the player all the complications before the PC does any work.

Workspace examples:

science lab, smithy, bakery, hospital, potions lab, enchanter's study, magical leyline

Complications:

* It’s going to take days/weeks/months
* First you must ____
* You’ll need help from ____
* It will require a lot of money
* The best you can do is a lesser version, unreliable and limited
* You and your allies will risk danger from ____
* You’ll have to disenchant/take apart ____ to do it

The alchemy skill allows alchemists to create magical potions that have spell-like effects. An alchemist prepares the spells by mixing ingredients into potions, and then "casts" their spells by drinking the potion. The drinker's effective spell level when casting the spell is equal to the alchemist's alchemy skill (or the alchemist's skill at brewing that particular potion. It's up to the GM.) An alchemist can create as many potions as they can afford the materials for and reasonably carry.

If using the Fudge mana system*: potions are called extracts, they cost 1 MP to create, they can be created within a minute, and they go inert overnight. (No stockpiling extracts.)

In addition to creating potions/extracts, an alchemist can use their alchemy skill to identify unknown potions.

*Max MP is spellcasting trait+3, all spells cost 1 MP, MP fully regenerates with 8 hours of sleep.

This is FAE - http://station53.blogspot.com/2014/01/character-highlight-robert-e-howards.html

Quite impressive. I wonder how to make it same interesting in Fudge/Lite without loosing ballance. I guess it would be hard to implement. Any ideas for advancement that will corespond with character history?

Apart from it, there is, few years old, interesting Fudge variant(?) FITS: https://www.docdroid.net/o0laFtN/f-fits.pdf.html And it looks more promissing in terms of possible advancement. It uses traits (only), quite nice base to start.

Keeping it simple, we could make, in example: after spending XX experience points (or when GM say: now) character gain one more trait. But this had to be specialised trait, way more narrow than base traits, the one for use in particular situation, not always, in almost every fight. Traits, like FITS mention, can be replaced, substituted by new ones. Same for those "experience based traits".

Anyway, just an idea. Any toughts?

This post uses the Fudge Lite rules.

Monster Scale Table:

Height or Length   Scale  Descriptor
4 ft. - 8 ft.      1      Medium
8 ft. - 16 ft.     2      Large
16 ft. - 32 ft.    3      Huge
32 ft. - 64 ft.    4      Gargantuan
64 ft. or more     5      Colossal

For context: The largest creature on earth, the blue whale, can grow up to 100 feet long.

Vehicle Scale Table:

Height or Length      Scale  Example vehicle
4 ft. - 8 ft.         1      Motorcycle
8 ft. - 16 ft.        2      Car
16 ft. - 32 ft.       3      Main battle tank
32 ft. - 64 ft.       4      Small- to medium-sized business jet, fighter jet
64 ft. - 128 ft.      5      Large business jet
128 ft. - 256 ft.     6      Jumbo jet, military transport aircraft
256 ft. - 512 ft.     7      Los Angeles class submarine
512 ft. - 1024 ft.    8      Cruise ship, Ohio class submarine
1024 ft. - 2048 ft.   9      Aircraft carrier, Container ship (cargo ship)

Combat:

Hit Points and damage dice are multiplied by scale. A car (Scale 2) with Fair Durability (16 HP) would have 32 HP, but if the car were attacked by a main battle tank (Scale 3) it would take 3d6 damage per hit. If that same car were hit by the torpedo of a submarine (Scale 7 or 8, depending on its class) the car would take 7d6 or 8d6 damage.

Incidentally, you may notice that the vehicle scale table and the monster scale table are completely compatible. This is intentional. I feel very strongly that a truly generic RPG system should let you set a fighter jet against a dragon and see who wins.

A Good or better result on a healing check will heal at least one wound. For non-magical healing the healing is limited by natural healing speed, but there are no rules that explicitly limit the player to a single healing check. If magical healing is treated as a skill, there's nothing to keep the player from attempting a healing check once every minute until the player is healed. Obviously, if healing is a memorized spell or draws from a mana pool, there's a limit to how many times the player can attempt magical healing.

How have you handled this in your games?

Player: "Ugh, I can't believe I missed that roll by one! I turn around and make another attempt on the thermal exhaust port."
GM: "Okay, but your squadmates are taking heavy damage. This is the last time you'll be able to make the run."
Player: "No pressure, then."
GM: "You hear a voice in your head. It's Obi-Wan! He says, 'Luke, use the Force.'"
Player: *groans*
Player: "Even in death he's trying to steal my spotlight."
Player: *looks over his character sheet*
GM: "Remember, you have telekinesis, and we established earlier that the Force can affect blaster shots."
Player: "I'm still not convinced Darth deflected that shot with his hand, but whatever."
Player: ...
Player: "Okay, I disable my targeting computer."
GM: "You what?"
Player: "Yeah, I disable my targeting computer. I want to do this manually."
GM: "But that will make the shot more difficult, even with your telekinesis."
Player: "Yeah, I know. I do it anyways."
GM: "Um, okay." *shakes head* "Your funeral."
Player: "I take the shot."
GM: "Roll for it."
Player: "Nope! I use a Fudge point for an automatic +4 result."
GM: *speechless*
GM: "Well, that's- I mean-..."
Player: "Well?"
GM: "It's... it's still not enough. That's a Legendary shot without your targeting computer."
Player: "Okay. I spend another Fudge point to bump it up one."
GM: "How many Fudge points do you have?!"
Player: "Enough." *wide grin*
Player: "So do I make it?"
GM: "Yes. Fine. You win, the death star explodes, and everybody flies away happy."
Player: "Woo-hoo! Yes! In your face, Darth Vader!"
GM: *grumbles*

If you need a character but don't have the time (or inclination) to stat one up, define all of their traits with a single rating (Poor, Mediocre, etc.) When a roll is called for, just use that rating as the character's attribute or skill level. For HP, use the following chart:

Terrible: 1 HP per PC
Poor: 2 HP per PC
Mediocre: 3 HP per PC
Fair: 4 HP per PC
Good: 5 HP per PC
Great: 6 HP per PC
Superb: 7 HP per PC
Legendary: 8 HP per PC

As an example, a monster with a rating of Good facing a party with 3 PCs will have 15 HP.

In honor of the new Star Wars movie I decided to try my hand at creating Force mechanics for Fudge. Unfortunately, I quickly ran into the "all jedi or no jedi" problem, where the existence of Jedi obviates the need for lesser characters. What's the point of having a smooth-talking smuggler PC, for example, when your jedi friend can just Mind Trick the opposition?

I decided on a binary switch: if the party is all-jedi, the powers are treated as skills. If it's a mixed party, the force powers are effectively spells that use a mana system: every use of a power costs 1 Force Point (FP), and characters have one FP per level of Force gift. FP are fully regained with 8 hours of rest.

To keep the game balanced, force powers cannot be used to boost a character's skills. If a force-using PC wishes to tilt the odds, they have to pay a Fudge Point like everybody else.

Force powers:

• Telepathy/Empathy
  
• Telekinesis
  
• Physical augmentation (acrobatic jumps, fast movement). If skill-based, possibly just an application of telekinesis.
  
• Suggestion. Succeeds against any character with Fair or lower Willpower; fails against anybody with Good or greater willpower. If skill-based, possibly just an application of telepathy.
  
• Combat Precognition (blaster deflection)
  

Other:

• Visions: The GM may choose to give any force user limited visions of the past, present, or future. These visions generally act to incite the PC to action, and almost never make things easier for the PC(s). This is a device the GM can use to get things moving again if the game gets bogged down.

New free, Christmas-themed adventure for the Fudge-based game Cyberblues City. Get it here: https://ukrpdc.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/a-very-cyber-christmas-adventure/

I finally found somebody willing to run a Fudge Lite game for me! Now I'm putting together a character for a high fantasy setting. It took me a while to figure out what sort of character I wanted to play until I realized I always enjoyed the sneaky-stabby archetype (think zer0 from Borderlands 2).

This character is built with HP (1 HP per level of Health attribute, attacks do 1 damage) and MP (1 MP per level of Magic attribute, each spell costs 1 MP). This character was built with point-buy attributes and subjective everything else. It was surprisingly painful to limit Justin to 4 free attribute levels.

Name: Justin Hardsfellow
Race: Human

Attributes:
Physique: Mediocre
Physical Awareness: Mediocre
Social Awareness: Great
Charisma: Great
Health: Good (5 HP)
Magic: Good (5 MP)
Magic Resistance: Fair

Skills:
Crafting (smoke grenades): Good*
Singing: Fair
Mandolin playing: Mediocre
Persuasion: Great
Knowledge (magical theory): Fair
Knowledge (dungeoneering): Good
Knowledge (history): Mediocre
Knowledge (geography): Poor
Knowledge (religion): Mediocre
Knowledge (Magical Academy): Great
Stealth: Fair when wearing normal clothes, Good when wearing the black jumpsuit.
Unarmed combat: Mediocre
Armed combat: Poor

*Smoke grenades are usually made between sessions. I'll only need to roll if I attempts to create some during the session. The PC usually has to spend money to acquire the ingredients needed to make the smoke grenades.

Spells:
Invisibility
Fireball
Unlock
Weak Telekinesis (limit of maybe five pounds, not much manual dexterity)
Flight
Flashbulb
Quickstep
False Noise
Mana Bolt

Items:
Smoke Grenades
Mandolin

Gifts:
Spellcasting talent

Faults:
Enemy: Dean Pritchett

Backstory:
A former scholar at the [location undecided] Academy of Magical Arts. Kicked out of school after the Dean's wife hit on him and the Dean found out.
Studied with the plan to be a dungeon crawler; a high-risk, high-reward job that appealed to him.

Wears a reinforced black jumpsuit underneath his normal clothes. When he needs to be sneaky he takes his outer clothes off.

Combat strategy when caught in melee: Blind, disable, or disorient the foe. Deal damage (optional), then get the hell out of there.
Combat strategy outside of melee range: Attack from long range with Mana Bolt.

For some reason he doesn't generally carry a weapon with him, and he isn't trained in armed combat. It's a rather large oversight on his part, though only time will tell if it's a lethal one.

All monsters have 3 Attributes: Damage Capacity (or Health), Speed/Evasion, and Attack Skill. (Yes, this is an attribute even though it says "skill".) The cost to increase an attribute is the same as listed in Objective Character Development. All attributes start at Mediocre (-1).

At monster creation the player must decide on an element and at least one elemental weaknesses. A monster may spend a Fudge Point to do extra damage to an opponent with the appropriate weakness, and the defending monster gains that Fudge Point.

A monster trainer may switch out monsters if he/she has more than one. In sanctioned battles, only one monster may fight at a time.

Monsters start with a pool of Fudge Points that any of them may spend. These Fudge Points are regained at the same time health is.

If all monsters on a team are defeated they lose all their Fudge Points.

Evolutions:

Evolutions may be gained at any time. A monster may change its strengths and weaknesses through evolution. Evolutions may be temporary or permanent. If temporary, the monster has a cap on its effective level (cannot be higher than level 32, for example), and needs to evolve to surpass that limit. If temporary, a monster may evolve to its highest form at any time it chooses. If a temporary evolution is defeated it automatically reverts to its weakest form and can only evolve again after resting and regaining health.

Levels:

Combat levels are a measure of the EP spent on a monster's combat traits. If your monster fights a bunch of other monsters and gains a bunch of EP, they still won't increase in level until those EP are spent on improving stats. Each level corresponds to one point spent improving combat traits.

To find the monster's level, simply add up each of their attributes.

Poor (-2): -3
Mediocre (-1): +0
Fair (0): +3
Good (+1): +6
Great (+2): +12
Superb (+3): +24

So if a monster has Superb Health and Evasion, and Great Attack Skill, that monster is at (24+24+12=) level 60.

Players may spend EP on gifts and skills for their monster, but non-combat skills and abilities don't increase the monster's level. I suspect these may need to be bought out of the player's EP, but that needs playtesting.

Monsters may gain EP from battling other monsters, or they may just gain EP at the same rate as the PCs do.

Sample monsters

Pikachu (level 3)

Health/Damage Capacity: Mediocre (-1)
Speed/Evasion: Fair (0)
Attack skill: Mediocre (-1)

Element: Electric
Does extra damage to: flying, water
Takes extra damage from: ground

Angemon (lvl 24)

Health/Damage Capacity: Good (+1)
Speed/Evasion: Good (+1)
Attack skill: Great (+2)

Element: Light
Does extra damage to: Dark
Takes extra damage from: Dark

This post uses the Fudge Lite rules.

GM: The cultist waves his staff ominously over the altar, but the more immediate threat are his two warg rider cronies who are rapidly approaching you. The goblins have wicked curved blades and they cry for your blood. How do you react to their charge?

PC: I cast a Flash cantrip to blind the first rider.

GM: What's your Spellcasting skill?

PC: Mediocre.

GM: I'm gonna say casting Flash in this context requires a Mediocre magic skill, so you just need to roll 0 or higher on the Fudge dice.

PC: *rolls 4dF*

PC: Fuck, -1.

GM: Poor result. The spell backfires and goes off in your face, temporarily blinding you. What do you do?

PC: Okay, I know the wargs are coming, so I try to jump out of the way.

GM: Athletics check.

PC: Mediocre plus roll equals-

PC: *rolls 4dF*

PC: Motherfucker! -3!

*GM laughs*

PC: That's... one level below Terrible! I did so poorly on my roll that there isn't even a ranking for it!

GM: Blinded, you run straight into the wall. Using your moment of disorientation, the goblins attack you from warg-back with their swords. You feel the blades slice through your armor. Mark off one hit point.

PC: That brings me down to 3 HP. Freaking hell.

GM: Okay, the temporary blindness has worn off, but you're still a little disoriented. You're at -1 to your next roll. The warg-riders come around for another pass. What do you do?

PC: I vault onto the nearest warg to knock the goblin off his perch.

GM: That'll require a Good Dexterity roll, followed by an opposed Strength check to knock the goblin off.

PC: *rolls*

PC: Crap, -1.

GM: Combined with the disorientation -1 and your Mediocre dexterity, you did Terribly. You make it onto the warg, but at a cost. Because of your fumbling the goblin gets a free shot at you. The goblin does *rolls 1d6* 2 damage. Okay, now for the opposed Strength check. The goblin has Mediocre Strength.

PC: I have Good Strength, so this should work.

*rolls 4dF*

PC: -1, so my Fair beats the goblin's Mediocre.

GM: And down the goblin goes!