Fudgerylog

Alternate Section Rules Revised

Gordon Cooper — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:48:50 +0000

My Alternate Section 1.31, Attributes for Fudge in Fudgery.net has been revised upon a reconsideration of the figures. These are my rules for lifting capacity, encumbrance limits, running speed, and sprinting speed. My objective is a balance of simplicity and realism.

How to Handle Character Skills

Gordon Cooper — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 06:16:16 +0000

I have been thinking about character classes and skills lately, and although I prefer to create characters in terms of skills, I must confess that I have been yearning for greater simplicity than is generally associated with skills-heavy games. Although I have a great fondness for the myriad source books of GURPS 3rd edition and earlier, the character write-ups (and often the vehicle write-ups) tend to give me actual headaches, and I can’t even look at the stat blocks of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd through 4th edition without wincing in pain. The Basic Role-Playing games of Chaosium were my introduction to skill-oriented characters, specifically Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, Ringworld, Superworld, and Worlds of Wonder. The system all of these games had in common addressed many of the concerns I had with the role-playing game I spent the most time playing: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition. Namely, they allowed for greater customization of a character’s abilities, and they allowed for combat rules that were easier to visualize and describe. Instead of the minute-long combat round that consisted of a hazy combination of unspecified attacks, feints, parries, dodges, and attempts to find openings in an opponent’s defenses and culminating in a single d20 roll, Basic Role-Playing offered discrete maneuvers, each of which had its own skill roll: the Attack, the Parry, the Riposte, Dodging, Tumbling, Jumping, etc. Instead of nebulous hit points that comprised a character’s health, luck, and heroic status, hit points in Basic Role-Playing were usually directly related to a character’s Constitution and Size. If a character lost hit points in combat, it was a reflection of physical injury, not an abstract state of general disadvantage. It is an example of how rules in role-playing games evolved to accommodate role-playing rather than war-gaming (which I also enjoy).

Given that I prefer skills, they typically have several shortcomings: proliferation and overreliance. Too large a skill list encourages indecisiveness in character creation, and most such games have very large skill lists indeed. This results in character write-ups that are so long that one can have difficulty imagining the character as a whole entity. In play it can lead to delays in the action as players read through their lists of skills to determine what their options are. Skill proliferation, in other words, impairs that which it is intended to promote: a better role-playing experience. The second shortcoming shares this defect. Certain skills are a replacement for actual ingenuity on the player’s part, and many players and GMs will come to rely on skill rolls rather than utilizing the player’s own abilities. Many social skills deprive players of role-playing opportunities that truly enrich the game. How much more interesting is an actual dialogue between a merchant and an adventurer haggling over the price of some merchandise than a player just rolling his Bargain skill? How much more memorable is a soldier’s morale-boosting speech at a critical moment than a player just rolling his Oratory skill? Observational skills also lend themselves to abuse. If a character is actively searching for something and describes the methods used, why shouldn’t the effort and foresight bear fruit if the object of the search is actually there? What is accomplished by denying something to a creative player on the basis of a failed Spot Hidden roll? Why should a player be encouraged to limit his activity to merely declaring his use of a skill rather than describing what his character does? Skill overreliance stifles role-playing.

I prefer skills to classes, but I want skills that promote role-playing. What is the solution? In a way, I think the answer is a compromise, and I don’t mean classes crammed with skills and feats. Rather, I think skills should be thought of as occupations themselves. GURPS and Basic Role-Playing had occupations and professions that consisted of recommended sets of skills, but I think it might be better just to make the occupations the skills. Unlike a character class system, a character may have a varying number of occupations, some professional, some amateur, that represent how he has spent his life. Each occupation will encompass a variety of abilities that may be inferred. Anything else the character may attempt to do can be accomplished by attribute rolls, player description, or default skill rolls according to the GM’s judgement. This leaves a far greater degree of creative thought at the GM’s and player’s disposal. If, under special circumstances, a player character needs to resort to a roll for those abilities that would normally be role-played or otherwise described (in the case of equal odds, for instance), the GM could assign an appropriate attribute roll or occupation/skill roll.

I’ll try this method with some of my current Fudge projects, and if they work well enough I’ll also add it to Optimum Fudge. On the other hand, maybe I should revisit Plain Trait Fudge. The overlap bears closer scrutiny. At any rate, I think both methods preserve the style of role-playing I enjoy without overburdening the game with redundant options. Further testing, however, is in order.

Mike Cook, c. 1950-2010

Gordon Cooper — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 19:18:05 +0000

Mike Cook, former TSR executive and publisher of Dragon and Dungeon magazines, has passed away.

Rest in peace, Mr. Cook.

Fudge Points Are for Players

Gordon Cooper — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:19:01 +0000

It is sometimes forgotten by those who are experimenting with the rules of Fudge that Fudge points are, in fact, designed to be used by players for the benefit of their own characters, and not by GMs for the benefit of non-player characters. As it states in Chapter 1, “Fudge Points are meta-game gifts that may be used to buy ‘luck’ during a game — they let the players fudge a game result.” Non-player characters have no need for Fudge points since they are controlled by the GM who already has the advantage of omniscience (apart from — in some cases — what the players themselves are thinking). Fudge points are a limited resource that players can use to give them an edge when they feel they need it most or to mitigate otherwise dire circumstances. If non-player characters are also granted Fudge points, then there is nothing to stop them from cancelling out the effects of Fudge points used by players. They would, in fact, be foolish not to, and since they outnumber player characters as a rule, it would be a simple matter of engaging them in a spending war that the players cannot possibly win. Fudge points would then become the exclusive advantage of non-player characters to thwart the actions of player characters at will. It might be considered fun by those who love to suffer; it might even be an effective implementation in Franz Kafka’s Ordeal by Role-Playing. For the rest of us, however, the plainly stated rules are plainly better.

Darlene, Artist

Gordon Cooper — Wed, 19 May 2010 19:52:42 +0000

Darlene (formerly known as Darlene Pekul) is and always has been one of my favorite role-playing game artists and cartographers. Her work is truly iconic, having graced not only the pages of The Dragon and the original Dungeon Master’s Guide, but also the very emblem of TSR itself, the wizard’s face logo. Darlene also created the most famous (and I’d not be alone to say greatest) campaign maps in the history of the hobby, those of The World of Greyhawk.

I am a proud owner of a copy of her landmark fantasy card game, Jasmine: The Battle for the Mid-Realm, which I purchased from her at the first Gen Con I ever attended. (When I say, “purchased from her,” I really mean to say that I gave the money to my mother and watched as she purchased it for me, because I was an awkward lad of about 12 or 13 who was much too shy to approach the beautiful artist I so deeply admired. Aye, silly, but true. Such are the tales of adolescence.)

James Maliszewski had the enviable pleasure of interviewing Darlene in Grognardia, and Darlene herself has her own Web site, the aptly named Darlene the Artist.

Darlene, I wish you the best.

Russ Nicholson, Artist

Gordon Cooper — Sat, 15 May 2010 16:28:49 +0000

By way of a post in Grognardia, I have learned that Russ Nicholson, perhaps best known to gamers for his artistic contributions to the Fiend Folio, now has his own Web log.

Russ Nicholson has always been one of my favorite role-playing game illustrators, and I wish him success.

Frank Frazetta, 1928-2010

Gordon Cooper — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:03:37 +0000

Frank Frazetta, painter and illustrator, has passed away. His influence on the fantasy genre and, by connection, the gaming hobby, cannot be underestimated. His art has represented the definitive depictions of such worlds as Robert E. Howard’s Hyboria and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom for countless fans worldwide.

Rest in peace, Mr. Frazetta.

J. Eric Holmes, 1930-2010

Gordon Cooper — Sun, 09 May 2010 16:30:20 +0000

Dr. J. Eric Holmes, editor of the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977), has passed away. I am not familiar with this edition other than the cover art, having been first exposed to the game via Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and the Basic Set edited by Tom Moldvay, but there are many for whom it was the gateway to their lifelong hobby.

Rest in peace, Dr. Holmes.

May Day 2010

Gordon Cooper — Sat, 01 May 2010 22:53:16 +0000

Happy May Day from Fudgery.net.

Minor Site Updates

Gordon Cooper — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:26:59 +0000

I have finally added a Contact page.

I also updated the About page to include a link to the Fudge Rules page.

Also Not Forgotten

Gordon Cooper — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:57:24 +0000

Last year, on the 7th of April (q.v.), our hobby lost one of its principal founders. You, too, are still missed, Mr. Arneson.

Families That Game Together Level up Together

Gordon Cooper — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 16:22:07 +0000

Dr. Rotwang documents a first-time gaming experience in My Daughter Just Played Her First D&D Game. ‘Tis priceless.