[File FUDGE7b, #10 of 10.] FUDGE: Freeform, Universal, Do-it-yourself Gaming Engine A Free Role-playing Game (RPG). Copyright 1992, 1995 by Steffan O'Sullivan Version: June, 1995 ========== 7 Addenda (Continued) ========== 7 Addenda: Samples and Options 7.3 Sample Psionic System: FUDGE Psi 7.31 Psionic Powers 7.32 Psionic Skills 7.33 Psychic Reservoir 7.34 Psionic Actions 7.35 Desperation Psionics 7.36 Psi Modifiers Summary 7.37 Psi Examples 7.4 Alternate Rules 7.41 On-the-Fly Character Creation 7.42 Running FUDGE Diceless 7.43 Open-Ended Dice 7.44 Heroic Evasion 7.45 Tracking Wounds ------------------------------------- 7.3 Sample Psionic System: FUDGE Psi ------------------------------------- Date: February, 1993 & December, 1993 By: Shawn Garbett and Steffan O'Sullivan There are three types of Psi traits in this system: Powers, skills, and Psychic Reservoir. Only psionicists have Powers and the skills to activate them, but everyone has a Psychic Reservoir to resist psionic attacks. - - - - - - - - - - - 7.31 Psionic Powers - - - - - - - - - - - The GM must decide how precisely to define Psi Powers. Since each Power must be bought separately, defining them broadly makes for more powerful characters. The following chart shows some broad groups that include more narrowly defined Psi power groups listed with them. These in turn contain even more narrowly defined powers, which a GM may use as individual Powers if desired. This list may be regrouped, expanded, some powers disallowed, a narrowly defined group made into a broad group that includes other powers, etc. The list is not intended to be comprehensive, but merely a sample. [TABLE] Very Broad Groups Mildly Broad Groups Narrow Groups ----------------- ------------------- ------------- Antipsi Distort Nullify Resist ESP Astral Projection Telesense Clairaudience Clairvoyance Locate Object Locate Person Sense Aura Temporal Revelation Postcognition Precognition Psychometry Psychokinesis Control Animate Healing Levitation Metabolism Control Shapeshifting Control Inanimate Force Shield Photokinesis Sonarkinesis Telekinesis Transmogrify Object Electrokinesis Alter Electric Current Control Electrical Devices Cyberpsi Electric Blast Temperature Control Cryokinesis Pyrokinesis Telepathy Empathy Emotion Control Emotion Sensing Mind Shield Mental Communication Mind Reading Thought Sending Mental Control Alter Memory Persuasion Prevent Clear Thinking Send Violent Energy Telehypnosis Vampirism Borrow Skill Drain Psychic Reservoir Drain Health Drain Energy Teleportation Teleport Self Teleport Other Teleport Object Planar Travel Open Dimension Portal [END TABLE] The GM should let the players know what depth of Psi skills she is using. Each Power costs one Supernormal Power (two gifts). Putting one level in a Power gets it at Terrible. Powers may then be raised at the cost of two *skill* levels per level, if using the Objective Character Creation system. For example, raising Telekinesis Power to Poor requires two skill levels, and raising it to Mediocre would cost two more skill levels. If a GM envisions a psi-rich campaign, of course, the costs should be much cheaper. Allowing many free levels of Supernormal Powers is a good way to do this, but be cautious about trading them for mundane traits. Power levels define range, quantity or size of subject affected, etc. - see Section 2.7, Psi. A Fair Power can do whatever the default average is for the campaign world. Some tasks require a minimum Power level, as set by the GM. If the character has the Power, but not at the minimum level required, he may not attempt the action unless he uses Desperation Psionics (Section 7.35). If the psi has the appropriate Power at three or more levels above the minimum required, he is at +1 for that use. No psionic ability can be used unless the character has the Power listed on his character sheet. A character may take a *latent* psi Power at the cost of one gift. He can't use the Power (may not take any related psi skills), but later in the campaign he may spend EP equal to another gift to awaken the Power. He would then have to learn the skills to control the Power. It is also possible to take some interesting faults that will limit the nature (and reduce the cost) of any Power. "Usable only in emergencies" is a common theme in fiction, for example. - - - - - - - - - - - 7.32 Psionic Skills - - - - - - - - - - - You cannot attempt any psionic action unless you have the specific skill to control the Power in question. Each Power must have an accompanying skill of corresponding broadness or narrowness (Control Telekinesis, Use Telepathy, Read Minds, etc.). The default for psionic skills is Non-existent. Raising a skill to Terrible costs one skill level, etc. Skills may be taken as high as Fair at the beginning of a game. (The GM may allow higher levels if the campaign is centered around psionic abilities.) They may be improved through normal character development, and new ones may be added if the GM is willing. The player should have a good story concerning awakening new skills, however. - - - - - - - - - - - - 7.33 Psychic Reservoir - - - - - - - - - - - - Psychic Reservoir is a measure of raw psi power available. Like most attributes, Psychic Reservoir is at Fair for every character unless deliberately altered. The GM may set the default lower, and there may be a ceiling on how high Psychic Reservoir can be set. Merely having a Psychic Reservoir attribute does not mean the character is capable of actively using psi. Other psionic Powers and skills are necessary to activate the Psychic Reservoir. A low Psychic Reservoir can negatively modify any active psi ability, while a high Reservoir can be tapped to increase your chances of success - see Section 7.36, Psi Modifiers Summary. A psionicist taps his Psychic Reservoir when he uses a psychic skill. Ongoing use gradually drains a Reservoir, and short but heavy-duty use of a psi Power also drains a Reservoir, but normal brief use doesn't. However, a rolled degree of Terrible or worse on a psionic skill roll always lowers Psychic Reservoir a minimum of one level. A psionicist can also attempt to drain his Psychic Reservoir deliberately. This may be done to gain a bonus to a psionic skill (see Section 7.34, Psionic Actions), or to a Power (see Section 7.35, Desperation Psionics). There is no *immediate* penalty for dropping a level of Psychic Reservoir, as long as it remains Terrible or higher. However, your next use of psi may be affected: there is a negative modifier for using a Psychic skill when your Psychic Reservoir is below Fair. If the Psychic Reservoir is drained to below Terrible, the character immediately loses consciousness. It requires a Good roll versus a Constitution attribute to regain consciousness, which may be attempted every combat round. Even after regaining consciousness, a character with Psychic Reservoir below Terrible is in trouble. The GM may impose any type of affliction she desires on such a character until the Psychic Reservoir reaches at least Terrible. Suggested afflictions include mild insanity (hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, etc.), physical debility (drooling, shaking, twitching, etc.), attribute reductions, and negative modifiers for even non-psi actions. A character can regain one level of his Psychic Reservoir for each week (or day, or whatever the GM sets) of rest, up to his current maximum level. - - - - - - - - - - - 7.34 Psionic Actions - - - - - - - - - - - Two kinds of psionic action are possible, Opposed and Unopposed. An Opposed action is a psionic attack upon an unwilling subject. The attacker rolls against his specific psionic skill, and defender rolls against a Willpower attribute to resist. (A defender may have an appropriate psi skill to use instead, such as Mind Shield.) An example of an Opposed action would be an attempt to create fear in someone. Unopposed psionic actions usually target inanimate objects. An Unopposed action could be as simple as examining an object psychically, or as complex as opening a dimensional door at one's feet. Telekinetically hurling an object at a foe is an Unopposed action because the object, not the foe, is the subject of the psionic skill. When a Psi wishes to use an ability, the player describes the result he wants to the GM. The GM then assigns a Difficulty level to the action. Even if a psi overcomes a defender's Willpower roll to resist, he must still roll the Difficulty level or higher to succeed at a task. There may also be a minimum Power level needed in order to attempt an action. For example, telekinetically lifting a pencil might only require a Terrible Telekinesis Power, but lifting a large book might require a Mediocre Telekinesis Power, and lifting a car might require a Superb Telekinesis Power. If the psi's Power level is three or more above the minimum needed, he gets a +1 to his skill level. Mentally lifting a pencil might only require a Terrible Power level, but manipulating it to sign one's name would probably require a Superb skill result. To accurately forge another person's signature would not only require a Superb Telekinesis skill result, but also a Fair or better Forgery skill result. The time required to activate a psionic ability depends on the potency of the desired effect and the Power level of the character. It is set by the GM. This can range from a single combat round to hours of concentration. The individual can also vary the time concentrating (which must be uninterrupted) to speed up the results or increase the chances of success - see Section 7.36, Psi Modifiers Summary. The Psi now applies all modifiers and rolls against the Difficulty level using the appropriate skill. In an Opposed action, both parties involved make their rolls. On tie results, the status quo is maintained, whatever that may be. At this point, a psi (or animate target of a psionic attack) may attempt to sacrifice one or more levels of Psychic Reservoir to augment his rolled result. That is, if a psi fails in an Unopposed action, he may stress himself in attempt to succeed. In an Opposed action, this can be considered two people locked in psionic combat, each struggling to boost their power a bit to overcome the other. To augment a rolled result, a Psionicist rolls against the psionic skill he just used, with current modifiers still effective. If the result is Good, he may sacrifice one level of Psychic Reservoir to give him a +1 on the result of the skill attempt. On a result of Great, he may sacrifice one or two levels, gaining +1 for each level, and on a roll of Superb or better, he may sacrifice up to three levels of Psychic Reservoir. On a result of Fair, Mediocre or Poor, there is no effect: he may not sacrifice a level of Psychic Reservoir, but there is no penalty for having tried. On a result of Terrible or worse, however, he not only drains one level of Psychic Reservoir, he also *loses* one level of rolled result. This can intensify any negative consequences of having failed. If one party of an Opposed action is successful in augmenting his rolled result, the other may then try to augment his. They may continue to trade sacrificing levels of Psychic Reservoir until one of them fails to change the result, or falls below Terrible Psychic Reservoir. Someone defending with no psionic abilities rolls against Willpower-2 to augment his result. Once augmenting - if any - is complete, the GM decides the duration of the effects - the better the roll, the better the results. Some effects will be permanent, such as Healing. Continuous concentration may be required to sustain other effects; this may slowly drain one's Psychic Reservoir. Psionic abilities are sometimes dangerous to use. A rolled degree of Terrible or worse will usually result in the exact opposite of the desired outcome, or some other entertaining backfire. In addition, the psi loses one level of Psychic Reservoir, as outlined in Section 7.33. It may also have a gruesome result: brain hemorrhage, loss of sanity, or a similar outcome. A Terrible result on an Opposed psionic action can mean the loser is now psychically open to his opponent. Such an open channel to another's psyche means that if the winner has any psychic ability at all, he can automatically draw on the loser's Psychic Reservoir to power his own abilities. The GM should determine these effects based on the situation at hand. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7.35 Desperation Psionics - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Ordinarily, if the minimum Power level of a proposed psionic action is higher than the character's Power level, the psionicist may not attempt the action at all. However, if one is desperate enough, he *can* try it - at a great price. For each level of Psychic Reservoir voluntarily drained *before* the skill roll, a psionicist can increase his Power level by +1. Simply pushing the Power level up to match the minimum level needed is all it takes to try the skill - but he is at -2 to his skill for *each* level of Psychic Reservoir he drained for this attempt. Unlike augmenting a rolled result (as described in the previous section), draining one level of Psychic Reservoir *before* the die roll is automatically successful. This is obviously not for casual use: the risk of a Terrible outcome is much higher than normal, as well as the guaranteed drain on Psychic Reservoir. Nonetheless, if one were being attacked by the Spawn of The Other, a demon of tremendous power, one might try anything to survive. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7.36 Psi Modifiers Summary - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Apply as many modifiers to the skill as are appropriate: [TABLE] Psychic Reservoir Level: Psionic Skill use at: Mediocre -1 Poor -2 Terrible -3 Below Terrible Prohibited [END TABLE] Skill augmented by draining Psychic Reservoir: +1 per level Terrible or worse result on skill augmenting attempt: -1 Desperation attempts: -2 per level of Psychic Reservoir drained Power level is three or more greater than necessary for the task: +1 Concentration time reduced by half: -1 Concentration time doubled: +1 Certain drugs, devices, fields, star alignments, areas, etc., can also have modifiers. As a GM-chosen option, psionics may be blocked by metal - either all metal or just certain ones. - - - - - - - - - - 7.37 Psi Examples - - - - - - - - - - Yardmower Man wants to mow the lawn psionically - he needs the practice. He currently has a Good Psychic Reservoir and an interesting assortment of psi Powers and skills. The GM decides that to move and control the yard mower is a Great Difficulty level task on Telekinesis skill. It requires only Mediocre Telekinesis Power, however. Yardmower Man has a Good Telekinesis Power but only Fair Telekinesis skill. It may be tough to do it well, but he's willing to try it. Yardmower Man declares he's going to spend twice as much time concentrating (+1) and is also under the influence of Batch-5, a psi- enhancing drug (+1). He rolls a -1 result, which means a Good Telekinesis effort due to his modifiers. He just missed the Difficulty level. Since his power is adequate to move the lawn mower, he still mows the lawn telekinetically, but doesn't do a very good job. In fact, it looks sloppy: there are thin strips of unmowed grass here and there, and he took out half of his daisy bed with one poorly aimed swipe. Since this is a continued use, the GM decides that for each hour spent mowing he reduces his Psychic Reservoir by one level. It takes him two hours. The next day, Yardmower Man decides the director of the local government psionic research facility should be Molecularly Rearranged. (He's always snooping around, and has been known to lock up psis in the past.) The GM rules that Molecularly Rearranging a human other than the Psi himself is a Superb Difficulty level task against the Shapeshift skill, and requires at least a Great Shapeshift Power. It is also a taxing thing to do: it will drain one level of Psychic Reservoir at the end of the action. It will be opposed by the director's Presence attribute, which is close as this campaign comes to willpower. Fortunately for Yardmower man, he has the Shapeshift Power and skill both at Superb level. He also consumes a double dose of Batch-5, giving him a +2 in the Opposed action, but severely risking side effects. His Psychic Reservoir is down to Mediocre from activities the night before (-1 to skill). Yardmower man rolls a -1 Result. This is modified -1 for low Psychic Reservoir, and +2 for Batch-5, giving him a Superb Result. The poor director has a Good Presence and Fair Psychic Reservoir. He gets lucky and rolls a Great Presence result trying to resist the psionic attack. But Great is not good enough (Yardmower man got a Superb result), so he tries to augment his result by sacrificing a level of Psychic Reservoir to fight the rearrangement of his molecules. His sacrifice roll (against Presence) is a Good Result, so he increases his result to Superb. He's still holding on, but just barely. Also, his Reservoir will be Mediocre after this round of psychic combat. Yardmower Man, not to be outdone, attempts to sacrifice his own Psychic Reservoir. He started the combat with a Mediocre Psychic Reservoir and full of Batch-5, so he still applies the +1 overall modifier to his Superb Shapeshift skill on his augmentation roll. He easily achieves a Good Result, and he therefore augments *his* result to Superb+1. (After this round, his Reservoir will also drop another level.) The director desperately tries to augment his result again, but rolls a Fair result: he's reached the limit of his ability to stave off defeat. Yardmower Man rearranges the director into a lovely bush, and stares blankly at the outcome. At this point, his Psychic Reservoir drops one more level, as required by the GM for such a taxing action. Since he lost one level of Psychic Reservoir augmenting his skill, and another for the difficult Shapeshift action, Yardmower Man is now left with a Terrible Psychic Reservoir; he'd better not try anything this difficult for a while. Also, the GM demands a Good Difficulty level roll against Constitution to avoid any unpleasant side effects from the Batch-5 overdose. Yardmower Man gets a Mediocre result, missing by two levels. The GM smiles at the player, and secretly jots down that the next time he uses Batch-5, he'll hallucinate that the director has returned to human form and is out to get him . . . Yardmower Man may someday drain his Psychic Reservoir fighting someone that isn't there. -------------------- 7.4 Alternate Rules -------------------- One of FUDGE's basic premises is that people have different tastes. Here are a collection of alternate rules sections for doing things slightly differently. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7.41 Alternate Section 1.4: Character Creation - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Date: December, 1992 By: Ed Heil Instead of creating characters before starting the game, create them as the game progresses. The GM assigns a number of *skill* levels available to a PC during a session. This should be based on how finely the GM defines skills: about 10 to 15 for broad skill-group games, and maybe twice that for fine skill-group games. These may be traded at the regular rate of three skill levels = one attribute level, or six skill levels = one gift. Faults may also be taken, subject to GM approval. The players start with most of the character sheets blank - simply write out a brief sentence or two describing the character in a general way. ("Jeb is a surly dwarf, a good fighter, who is out to make a name for himself as a mean customer - and pick up some loot on the way. He likes to talk tough, and doesn't care much for halflings.") As the character is confronted with challenging situations, the player must decide the level of the trait in question. For example, the PCs are confronted with a ruined castle to explore, and all the players state their characters are looking for hidden passageways. At this point, each player must set his PC's skill in finding hidden passageways (however the GM defines such a trait: Perception attribute, or Find Hidden skill, or Architecture skill, etc.). Those who are not yet willing to set such a trait must stop searching: if you use a trait, you must define it. Since setting an initial skill at Fair level uses up two skill levels, and setting it at Superb uses up five levels, one must carefully weigh spending levels on skills as they are used versus saving them for emergency situations. As usual, attributes are considered Fair unless altered, and most skills default to Poor. Taking a trait at a level below the default adds to your available skill level pool, of course. However, you may only define a trait as it is used in a game situation. Experience points are given out as usual, but EP awarded are reduced by any unused skill levels after each session. That is, if you have two levels left after the first session, and the GM awards you three EP, you only get one more level for the next session, since you already have two levels unused. EP, in this case, can be used either to raise existing skills, as discussed in Section 5.2, Objective Character Development, or they can be used to add new skills, as discussed in this section, above. It costs more EPs to raise an existing skill than it does to define a previously undefined skill in this on-the-fly system. EP should be slightly higher under this system than a regular character creation system, perhaps a range of up to ten per session. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7.42 Alternate Section 3.2: Diceless Action Resolution - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Date: May, 1995 By: Reimer Behrends, r_behren@informatik.uni-kl.de This section handles ways of resolving conflicts without resorting to the use of dice. There are reasons to do away with dice: some people find dice mechanics too intrusive for play; others may want to get rid of randomness altogether. However, diceless action resolution is ill-suited to simulation-based gaming, despite the fact that the game can (and should) feel just as real as one with dice. Also, diceless resolution is usually more demanding of the GM than rolling dice to select an outcome. Even more so as there is no hard-and-fast rule for resolving conflicts without dice; instead, some creativity is required of the GM to fill in certain blanks. - + - + - + - 7.421 Basics - + - + - + - The basic idea behind diceless action resolution is simple: the GM decides upon an appropriate outcome, based on player input and the situation at hand. The details of this, however, can be more complicated. The idea is to use cause and effect to convey the feeling that whatever happens to the characters is not due to whim, but occurs because of the logic of the situation and the relevant history of everyone involved. It is important that any event (with exceptions, of course) appears to a be a logical effect of the preceding events. There is usually not a single event that is *the* outcome. The GM has to choose between several possible outcomes - which may vary wildly in terms of success and failure. Consequently, the two most important parts in resolving an action are the reasons for a particular outcome and the consequences of that outcome. Reasons are numerous. Foremost among reasons for success and/or failure is of course effective skill. However, a game where a sufficiently skilled character always wins and an incompetent character always fails would be quite boring due to its predictability. So we have to diversify these results, but in a way that doesn't feel artificial. We do this by accounting for other factors besides effective skill. These factors can involve the environment (slipping in a puddle), equipment (a gun that jams at a critical moment), time constraints (defusing a bomb before it goes off), NPC actions (a character stepping in the way), etc. The idea is not to account for all possible factors, just to find one or two reasons that make the outcome seem logical. Detailed description is essential to diceless action resolution. Description not only of the environment, but also of the characters. Noting that a character has a Great fencing skill may often suffice, but it is better to add some details (ideally through a character history). Describe style, weaknesses, and strengths, even though they may normally not show up on the character sheet. The same is true for the description of important actions. Sometimes a character's perception (or lack thereof) may result in failure to notice why something happened. If, for instance, the floor suddenly gives way beneath him, he may not be certain as to what caused this to happen: did he step on a trap, or was there an outside agent involved? In this case, the GM will hide some or all of the reasons. In addition to reasons, we have to consider consequences: what impact does a particular outcome have on the situation as a whole? The more serious the outcome, the more the reasons for it happening need to be convincing. As an extreme example, death of player characters should only occur with ample forewarning of the risks or with really compelling reasons. Of course, jumping off a skyscraper will most likely render a character dead the instant he hits the ground. This is acceptable, because the players understand the logic of the situation. But slipping on a wet rock while crossing a stream - which can be ascribed to just plain bad luck - shouldn't kill a character outright. While it's true that slipping on a wet rock probably happens more often than jumping off a building, the GM needs to be careful in deciding the consequences of such an action. There are many possible results for typical actions. So, lacking clear ideas as to which one is most appropriate - maybe even torn between clear success and catastrophic failure - how can this selection be narrowed down? There are a few ways to approach the problem, and it is a good idea to reach an agreement with the group before play commences as to what factors will be used. The following list is far from complete, but gives some possibilities: 1) Realism: A master archer will hit the target most of the time. But sometimes even he will fail, or even have a streak of bad luck. This is important for maintaining a feeling of realism in the long run. It should also be noted that realism is relative to genre. Chandelier-swinging is likely to succeed in a swashbuckling romp, while it is at best a risky endeavour in a gritty game. 2) Drama: Sometimes certain outcomes are dramatically more appropriate than others. This unfortunately depends to a great degree upon individual gaming style and can only be handled briefly here. 3) Characterization: Sometimes, a character's success or failure at a particular task can help to reinforce or develop his character story. 4) Theme: By assigning a certain "theme" to each scene in the game as it is encountered, actions can be resolved in a way that emphasizes that theme. An example: [The theme is "Combat is dangerous"] GM: "Suddenly, you hear a rustling in the underbrush, and then, out of it, a boar emerges, charging at you." Player: "I'm not armed! I'll jump for the branch of the oak next to me and pull myself up to safety." [While the avoidance of a fight supports the theme, "Combat is dangerous," there are other possibilities that emphasize it better.] GM: "You get hold of the branch, but as you start to pull yourself up, you hear a loud CRACK, and all of a sudden the ground rushes upwards to meet you." [The situation is now much more dangerous. However, with a bit of luck and the help of the other characters in the group it is still possible to handle it without killing the PC.] All of the above factors are meta-game issues. This is intentional. These factors contribute towards an interesting game, and one of the points of roleplaying is to have an interesting game. Besides, we are already using the in-game factors as cause and effect to convey a natural flow of events so we have to resort to the meta-level here. It may look as though there is a lot of arbitrariness on the part of the GM. This is correct to some extent. Some individual decisions will be arbitrary. In the long run it should balance out, especially if the players possess even the slightest creativity. Note also that the GM should *always* respect player input. If something is going to fail that should normally work, failure should still reflect player input. (For instance, the example above with the breaking branch, where the character technically succeeds, but the branch does not cooperate). - + - + - + - + - + - + 7.422 Balance Of Power - + - + - + - + - + - + There is no need to encumber the GM with all the decisions. The easiest way to hand some power back to the players is to give them a (limited) voice in the decision making process. For this purpose we employ Fudge Points (see Section 1.36). By spending one Fudge Point, the player (instead of the GM) can decide the outcome of an action his character is involved in, provided the action is possible and not abusive to the game. (Blowing up an entire building with a cup of gunpowder is implausible, and possibly abusive to the plot). If the action is far beyond the normal skill of the character (given the circumstances), the GM may require expenditure of two or three Fudge Points instead. Notice that using Fudge Points also gives the GM more leeway; she need no longer worry too much whether letting a character fail is too harsh, as it is within the power of the player to help his character if need be. - + - + - + - 7.423 Combat - + - + - + - Diceless combat is action resolution with two added complications: the high risk of character death and a considerable amount of action that needs to be synchronized. The synchronization part is fairly easy: as in resolution with dice, you can divide the entire combat in rounds of appropriate duration, cycling through all participating characters each round, or use story elements as suggested in Section 4.21. Character death is trickier because players dislike losing their characters due to bad luck (be it because of an unlucky die roll or GM whim). The key here is to "post warning signs" before dangerous situations occur. These warnings should be subtle, such as the maniacal gleam in the opponent's eyes just before she launches a wild flurry of attacks. (Hopefully the player will say his character is on the defense, or announces some trick to counter a charge.) A description of the blood dripping from a character's wrist should warn the player that there may be a slippery puddle on the floor. In other words, prepare reasons for outcomes in advance and - most important - announce them to the players. If the players maintain some maneuvering space for their characters after such warnings, that should be sufficient to prevent PC death - though not necessarily PC failure. Character death - and any other drastic result - is usually due to a *series* of failures, each pushing the character a step further towards the edge - but always with opportunity to find a more favourable course of action in between. Unfortunately, in some situations this entire series of failures takes no longer than a few seconds. The details of combat interaction are now fairly easy to handle, as they are an extension of normal diceless resolution. However, particular care should be taken to describe actions fully, especially in melee combat. The statement "I attack the pirate" is infinitely less informative than saying, "I assault the pirate with all I have, even if that means taking a blow or two myself. But I have to get out of here, and that means getting by her and at least wounding her so she can't follow quickly." The object is to give the GM enough data to work with, such as: "I'm going to feint towards the left, and if she goes for it, I'll try to use the opening created to end this business quickly." Or: "Now that she's wounded, I'll play it safe, trying to wear her down." Statements like these help the GM deciding how combat should be resolved much more than a simple, "I attack her." The key here is to be creative. Everything is possible, so everything should be considered, from a simple rugby tackle to complex tactical maneuvering. Bloodshed is an unfortunate but largely unavoidable side effect of combat. Wounds are also important because they may become major factors in the future course of the combat. Thus, wounds must be described and their effects detailed. For example: "The ball of fire explodes in the centre of the room. You feel a wave of searing heat washing over you, burning your clothes away and scorching your skin. The heat gradually abates, but you still cannot see anything, as the incredible brightness that hurts your eyes is only slowly receding." The player should gather from this that his character is temporarily blinded, in severe pain, needing medical attention, in a state of dishabille, and in grave danger if enemies are approaching. (This is of course appropriate for a high fantasy game. In a more realistic game, the character is probably charred and dead.) Another example, this time a sniper's bullet hitting the character's arm: "Something very hot and painful pierces your left arm. It also jerks you around abruptly, making it hard to maintain balance. Worse, your arm feels totally numb and is probably fairly useless right now. The good news is that they (whoever they are) apparently missed your heart by a few inches." And so on. There is no need to be too graphic in describing wounds, though. More important is the description of how the wound affects the character. - + - + - + - + - 7.424 Summing Up - + - + - + - + - FUDGE is ideally suited to diceless action resolution since it's already simple and word-based. This can set the tone for the amount of description necessary for a diceless game to succeed. Once players and GM get used to diceless FUDGE, they'll find themselves describing their characters and actions in ways they never thought of before - and the game can be richer and more entertaining for it. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7.43 Alternate Section 3.2: Rolling the Dice - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Date: January, 1993 By: Andy Skinner As a simple variation on any dice technique, allow players who roll a +4 result to roll again. If the result is positive, add it in to the +4 already rolled. If the result is negative or 0, ignore the second roll. This allows a small chance of results up to +8, which can be lifesaving in a dire situation. Only a pitiless GM would balance this by requiring additional rolls to see how miserably a person can do on a -4 result, however. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7.44 Alternate Section 4.36, Heroic Evasion - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Date: February, 1995 By: Peter Bonney & Steffan O'Sullivan If a PC is hit, he may reduce the effect of the hit by *one* wound level by throwing himself heroically out of the way of (at least part of) the blow. However, this heroic evasion will put the fighter at a temporary disadvantage: -2 on the next combat round in addition to any other penalties that may be accrued. This penalty disappears in subsequent rounds, as the hero is able to recover his equilibrium after a brief flurry of wild parrying. This may be repeated, but there is an additional -1 for every turn in succession that this is used. For example, D'Artagnan would be hit by Milady for a Light Wound (Hurt result). He heroically evades, taking only a Scratch, but is at -2 on the following round. In this round, he would be Very Hurt, but again he heroically evades, taking instead a Hurt result. The next round he is at -4: -2 for evading this round, an additional -1 for evading two rounds in a row, and -1 for being Hurt. If he can avoid having to evade on the next round, he'll only be at -1 for being Hurt. Good luck D'Artagnan! If the penalty for an heroic evasion drops a fighter's skill level to below Terrible, he may still take the evasion. But he automatically collapses: his weapon drops from his nerveless fingers and his throat is helplessly exposed to the enemy for an instant death blow if the foe is so minded. A plea for mercy may accompany such an evasion, but the opponent isn't necessarily bound to honor such a plea. Heroic Evasion can be used for major NPCs, too, of course. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7.45 Alternate Section 4.56, Recording Wounds - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Date: December, 1992 By: Bernard Hsiung Ordinary playing cards can be used to keep track of wounds. 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 becomes fatigued by physical or mental activity, work, stress, etc. Casting spells, using psi powers, etc., may or may 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 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. [End of FUDGE.]