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Survival Horror Wound Gauges Reconsidered

Gordon Cooper — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:16:52 +0000

In Wound Gauge Options, I offered some alternate methods of recording wounds in Fudge for specific genres including survival horror. This is a revision and expansion of that segment of the article.

The survival horror wound gauge causes characters to be gradually worn down as their reflexes become slower and their top speed (movement rate) decreases. Unlike the standard wound gauge, there are four levels instead of five, and the standard number of boxes per level is eight (for a governing trait at Fair), with two boxes added for each positive level in the governing trait, and two boxes subtracted for each negative trait level.

Trait Level	Boxes/Gauge Level
Superb	14
Great	12
Good	10
Fair	8
Mediocre	6
Poor	4
Terrible	2

The sample wound gauge that follows shows the standard eight boxes per level for a character with an attribute of Fair (whether it is Health, Vitality, Stamina, Endurance, etc.).

Survival Horror Wound Gauges

Fine (no effect):	OOOOOOOO
Caution (-1 to initiative; 50% speed):	OOOOOOOO
Critical (-2 to initiative; 25% speed):	OOOOOOOO
Danger (-3 to initiative; 10% speed):	OOOOOOOO

When the last box at the Danger level is marked, the character is dead. The certainty of this outcome contributes a grittiness that can be lacking in methods that relegate the question of a player character’s death to the GM’s judgment. Optionally, the Danger level can be dropped from the wound gauge to maximize the… danger.

[Edit: If simultaneous combat rounds are being used, the initiative penalties may be interpreted as combat trait penalties or disregarded.]

Simple Critical Miss Table for Rubber Band Guns

Gordon Cooper — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:11:28 +0000

Mishaps with rubber band guns are not uncommon, and the frequent result is the inadvertent shooting of oneself, which rarely results in anything more serious than a brief stinging sensation. Our tenth table of tribulation is for use with rubber band guns:

Critical Miss Table for Rubber Band Guns
1d6	Result
1	Drop weapon.
2	Weapon misfires.
3	Drop weapon; discharges in random direction.
4	Shoot self.
5	Shoot self.
6	Shoot self in eye.

Random directions for rubber band projectile weapons, whether caused by accidental discharge or ricochet, may be determined by the usual means (1d6 for hexes, 1d8 for squares, or a compass die) modified by a roll on the following table:

1dF	Result
+	Upward vertical
0	Horizontal
-	Downward vertical

A d6 may be substituted if your Fudge dice have mysteriously (or not-so-mysteriously) disappeared.

Simple Critical Miss Table for Machine Guns

Gordon Cooper — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:48:06 +0000

Even the most fearsome weapons have disadvantages. Our ninth table of frustration is for use with machine guns (mounted or otherwise):

Critical Miss Table for Machine Guns
1d6	Result
1	Weapon jams.
2	Weapon jams.
3	Ricochet in random direction.
4	Ricochet in random direction.
5	Trigger stuck.
6	Mechanism breaks.

Random directions for firearms, whether caused by accidental discharge or ricochet, may be determined by the usual means (1d6 for hexes, 1d8 for squares, or a compass die) modified by a roll on the following table:

1dF	Result
+	Upward vertical
0	Horizontal
-	Downward vertical

A d6 may be substituted if your Fudge dice are missing in action.

Simple Critical Miss Table for Ray Guns

Gordon Cooper — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:55:17 +0000

Even ray guns are not foolproof, and happenstance mistakes can wreak havoc with high technology. The eighth table in our escapade of errors is for use with ray guns, blasters, lasers, masers, phasers, and even Acme disintegrators:

Critical Miss Table for Ray Guns
1d6	Result
1	Drop weapon.
2	Drop weapon; discharges in random direction.
3	Weapon drained of power.
4	Weapon overheats and slips from grasp.
5	Weapon melts.
6	Weapon explodes.

Random directions for ray guns may be determined by the usual means (1d6 for hexes, 1d8 for squares, or a compass die) modified by a roll on the following table:

1dF	Result
+	Upward vertical
0	Horizontal
-	Downward vertical

A d6 may be substituted if Fudge dice are not in proximity.

Simple Critical Miss Table for Muzzleloaders

Gordon Cooper — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:26:07 +0000

Primitive firearms have their own unique mishaps from the misfire that requires a complete reloading of the weapon (usually a time-consuming process) to the explosion that requires last rites. Our seventh table of tribulations is for use with muzzleloaders:

Critical Miss Table for Muzzleloaders
1d6	Result
1	Drop weapon.
2	Weapon misfires.
3	Weapon misfires and slips from grasp.
4	Ricochet in random direction.
5	Mechanism breaks.
6	Weapon explodes.

1dF	Result
+	Upward vertical
0	Horizontal
-	Downward vertical

A d6 may be substituted if Fudge dice are scarce in your vicinity.

Random Potion Description Generator

Gordon Cooper — Fri, 27 May 2011 16:57:20 +0000

Sometimes it is expedient to use a random table to generate treasure that may be found by player characters in the course of their adventures. What these tables often lack, however, are descriptions, which are left to the GM to invent if he or she is so inclined. The following tables are designed to help GMs concoct spur-of-the-moment descriptions of one particular type of treasure: potions.

Roll on as many or few of the tables as desired to create a description for any magical potion. If, like me, you are not an advocate of the philosophy that all enchanted and/or cursed items are identical unless used, worn, or consumed, then you might find it useful to make a note of any descriptions generated. Then, whenever the item is encountered again, the player characters will be able to recognize what it is likely to be. Note that any description does not necessarily indicate what all potions of that variety are like, but what that particular recipe is like. Healing potions from different regions or different schools of healing craft may be very different from one another yet have the same curative properties. Potions with very different effects may also have have similar descriptions. Careful adventurers who catalogue the descriptions and effects of various potions should be rewarded for their efforts by a faithful consistency in representing previously encountered potion recipes.

These tables are not all-encompassing. Although it is possible to generate a wide variety of descriptions using them, the GM is advised to add extra details to complete the potion description. For instance, a randomly generated potion might be described as transparent, syrupy, sweet, and hot, with a hint of clover. Another potion could be opaque, syrupy, sweet, and cool, with a silvery blue color and tasting faintly of raspberries. Any two different potions may have one or more qualities in common (including extra details), but none will have all of them in common. If they do, then they are of the same recipe, and thus possess the same properties.

These tables are for use with Fudge dice, but a d6 may be substituted.

Table A
1dF	Result
+	Transparent
0	Translucent
-	Opaque

Table B
1dF	Result
+	Effervescent
0	Watery
-	Syrupy

Table C
1dF	Result
+	Sweet
0	Salty
-	Bitter

Table D
2dF	Result
+2	Hot
+1	Warm
0	Tepid
-1	Cool
-2	Cold

Bonus potion: The potion of aquatic existence is translucent, effervescent, salty, cold, green in color, luminescent in the dark, and similar to broccoli in flavor. It grants the drinker the ability to exist comfortably underwater for seven days. The beneficiary of this enchantment is able to breathe underwater, survive the pressures of the greatest depths, and withstand the coldest waters with no harm whatsoever.

These tables are meant to generate descriptions for previously determined potions, but the potion above is an example of generating the description first and inventing a potion based on the results. The extra details were added once I decided on the nature of the potion.

Improving the Trait Ladder 2

Gordon Cooper — Tue, 24 May 2011 18:16:16 +0000

I am rethinking the improved trait ladder (q.v.), and it has occurred to me that trying to find four additional words that express increasing degrees of the Superb and the Terrible may be as fruitless as trying to assess whether Amazing or Incredible is objectively superior in an extended trait ladder for superheroes. My own solution for the latter was to arrange them alphabetically, so why not extend the same solution to the improved trait ladder? All we are essentially trying to express is the concept of Superb (or Terrible) only more so. Instead of fussing over whether Exceptionally is better than Exceedingly or Extremely (and there are certainly too many “e” words for comfort), I’ve decided to use synonyms for sense 2 of the adverb very (“in actual fact”). In Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Thesaurus, these are given as “actually, de facto, genuinely, really, truly, veritably.” Of these, the last four suit my purposes, which gives us this:

Fudge Traits	#	Improved Traits
Superb +4	+7	Veritably Superb
Superb +3	+6	Truly Superb
Superb +2	+5	Really Superb
Superb +1	+4	Genuinely Superb
Superb	+3	Superb
Great	+2	Great
Good	+1	Good
Fair	0	Fair
Mediocre	-1	Mediocre
Poor	-2	Poor
Terrible	-3	Terrible
Terrible -1	-4	Genuinely Terrible
Terrible -2	-5	Really Terrible
Terrible -3	-6	Truly Terrible
Terrible -4	-7	Veritably Terrible

Yes, they mean the same thing, but it has the sound of a more natural, intuitive progression, which is aided by their arrangement in alphabetical order. I think some playtesting is in order.

Critical Miss Injuries in Fudge

Gordon Cooper — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:50:09 +0000

You may have noticed that in almost every critical miss table I have presented, a roll of 6 results in injury to the unfortunate forced to roll on it. Whether by shooting oneself in the foot or stabbing oneself in the thigh, the damage is determined in most games simply by rolling the specific weapon’s damage. In Fudge, however, damage is normally determined by the weapon’s offensive damage factor plus the relative degree. Since the criteria for what constitutes a critical miss may vary from GM to GM (a natural roll of -4, any roll under Terrible, etc.), I suggest that relative degree, strictly for the purposes of self injury in a critical miss, be determined by rolling 1d3 (or 1dF where “-”=1, “0″=2, “+”=3).

Simple Critical Miss Table for Automatic Pistols

Gordon Cooper — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:28:17 +0000

Different types of firearms malfunction differently even when they are approximately the same size. The sixth table in our saga of slip ups is for use with automatic pistols:

Critical Miss Table for Automatic Pistols
1d6	Result
1	Drop weapon.
2	Weapon jams.
3	Weapon jams and slips from grasp.
4	Ricochet in random direction.
5	Mechanism breaks.
6	Shoot self.

1dF	Result
+	Upward vertical
0	Horizontal
-	Downward vertical

A d6 may be substituted if your Fudge dice cannot be found.

Simple Critical Miss Table for Revolvers

Gordon Cooper — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:14:41 +0000

Firearms open up new possibilities for critical miss mayhem. The fifth table in our fable of fumbles is for use with revolvers:

Critical Miss Table for Revolvers
1d6	Result
1	Drop weapon.
2	Drop weapon; discharges in random direction.
3	Ricochet in random direction.
4	Ricochet in random direction.
5	Mechanism breaks.
6	Shoot self.

1dF	Result
+	Upward vertical
0	Horizontal
-	Downward vertical

A d6 may be substituted if you fail to find a Fudge die.

Simple Critical Miss Table for Thrown Weapons

Gordon Cooper — Fri, 20 May 2011 04:11:49 +0000

Thrown weapons are not radically different from hand-to-hand weapons and neither are their critical miss tables. The primary difference is in their greater tendency to fly in random directions (and at greater distances). The fourth table, then, is for use with thrown weapons:

Critical Miss Table for Thrown Weapons
1d6	Result
1	Drop weapon in front.
2	Drop weapon behind.
3	Weapon flies 1d6 meters in random direction.
4	Weapon flies 2d6 meters in random direction.
5	Weapon flies 3d6 meters in random direction.
6	Injure self with weapon.

Again, the direction of flight for weapons that become airborne may be determined with 1d6 for hexes, 1d8 for squares (including diagonal movement), or a compass die. (A compass die is a d8 with the points of the compass instead of numerals, i.e. N, E, S, W, NE, SE, SW, NW. You can also just roll a d8 and substitute the directions for the numerals, e.g. 1=N, 2=E, 3=S, 4=W, 5=NE, 6=SE, 7=SW, 8=NW.)

Simple Critical Miss Table for Unarmed Combat

Gordon Cooper — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:45:28 +0000

Fumbles in combat are by no means limited to wielders of weapons. The third table in our telemachy of turmoil is for use with unarmed attacks:

Critical Miss Table for Unarmed Combat
1d6	Result
1	Trip forward.
2	Stumble backward.
3	Slip and fall.
4	Sprain arm or leg.
5	Knock self unconscious.
6	Strike self.

This table may also be used instead of or in combination with any other critical miss table. Possible variations may include:

Allowing the player who fumbled to choose the table,
Allowing the opponent to choose the table,
Having the GM choose the table(s), or
Randomly determining the table (Roll 1d6: 1-2=armed table; 3-4=unarmed table; 5-6=both tables OR: 1-3=armed table; 4-5=unarmed table; 6=both tables).