Fudge RPG

After a helpful critique of my game, I'm feeling positive about the work I've done on Silver Cord RPG.

Fudge has been fantastic in helping me get the mechanics working, but I've tweaked the rules quite a bit, and only a few of the familiar mechanics remain.

Along with Fudge, I've had a few other inspirations.

This game has been heavily influenced by other Role Playing Games and gaming articles. The feel of the setting of this game may remind many players of the World Of Darkness' Mage setting, but the real influence is from approach taken by the Witchcraft RGP by Eden studios.

Other games of influence are from Mutants and Masterminds by Green Ronin, which had the effect of solidifying my choice of using a variation of the Fudge Damage Save. Though, I wanted a little finer detail than what Mutants or Fudge could provide. In this regard, I wanted less of extraordinary rolls show up during play.

I was exposed to Burning Wheel's advancement system, which I found to be very compatible with my own variation on an improvement method someone had written up on a Fudge Factor article.

Another game developer I found on the web decided to use 6 dice instead of 4 dice when rolling dF. This has a profound impact on normalizing action rolls.

There were also games that influenced my decision making for this game. The polarizing effects of DnD, Hero, GURPS, and Trinity steered me away from certain mechanics that appeared to be inappropriate for this game.

Assumptions about psychic abilities in other games has always been a sensitive area for me. Treating psionics as though it were just another kind of magic seemed wrong. For that matter, treating psychic abilities as though they were just another superhero powers didn't set well with me.

Books I've read also play a huge role in the overall flavor of this game world. King, Rice, Jordan, and a host of others that I cannot recall. A non-fiction science book that has had some influence in the creation of this game is Mind Wide Open by Steven Johnson.

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Standing on the shoulders of those who came before me....

I love that about science and programming. Well, it works the same for RPGs. Using the Fudge system and whittling it down to a few options and chunking the rest has helped me solidify the Silver Cord RPG system.

Psychics in a world where everyone is potentially psychic may seem a bit overkill, but I think that it levels the playing field.

In this game, only a few psychics actually make it to the power level PCs could attain. But there is a price to pay for having power. For story balance, not game balance, I've included a few things in the game that I've seen done in other game systems. Consequences.

There is a game mechanic feature that encourages, but does not require, player character to cooperate with others. There are two elements to this in the game: Madness and Despair.

Characters that have developed their psychic abilities have to have a way to deal with the stresses of being psychic. The stronger the psychic abilities, the greater the stress. The stress has two side effects I just mentioned. One is Madness, and the other is Despair. Otherwise known as Insanity and Depression.

When characters start to get a little insane, they loose touch with their psychic core, and have trouble using their psychic abilities. The same is true for depressed characters. Their will to keep going, when damped, will diminish the strength behind their mental powers.

To counter Madness and Despair, character can see a shrink, take medications (which have their own side effects), buddy with other psychics ( psychic friends network), or even join an organization that helps to focus and recharge the fresh mind. These things help keep a psychic sane and hopeful. At least to the degree that it does not affect performance.

A game element I have added is the Psychic Beacon that everyone emits. Stronger psychics have a stronger beacon that allows those that can sense psychics an easy target.

For good or ill, organizations are out to find the strong ones and recruit them to their cause.

I'm still working on getting the Silver Cord RPG finished. It will be based on FudgeRGP, but it will have a stricter rule set.

Fudge is flexable enough to handle what I intend to do with it. Psychic based role playing games should have more mental attributes than physical ones.

While choosing a rule set for a campaign, I ran into an issue I've had before; how to represent faster characters. Some nice solutions from various gaming systems have been great at capturing much of the feel for the speed of characters, but the more accurate systems tend to be a bit too crunchy for my taste. Here is my attempt at applying Speed to Fudge.

Going on the premise that just because someone is fast at doing one thing doesn't necessarily mean they are fast at doing all things. Also, I will consider the time it takes to do a single combat action for whatever length of time is appropriate as a single "round".

Speed is the measure of a character's quickness at attempting actions. Speed shows up in combat maneuvers and when reading a book. If speed is broken down into what it does for a character, having a higher speed simply allows a character to do more stuff in an allotted amount of time. An initiative attribute would only determine who goes first and is narrow in scope. Instead of using a generic Speed or Quickness Attribute to cover all a characters actions, I propose using an expanded skill description. Speed would be a complimentary skill that applies to one other skill. By adding Speed Level as either a complimentary skill or adding speed to skill descriptions, the results would be the same. In a nutshell, Speed Levels are used to offset penalties for attempting multiple actions.

In a typical combat round, one maneuver can be performed in a single round time frame. However, a character may choose to do multiple actions within the same time frame. To do more things in the time allotted, you must perform each action faster. The faster you attempt to use a skill within that time frame, the more difficult it becomes to perform the skills successfully. In game terms this can be expressed by applying penalties to a character's actions. Each extra action a character takes in a single round requires a penalty to be applied to each action. The penalty to the skill roll is equal to the number of actions being attempted. Firing off two shots from a gun to hit one or two targets in one round requires two skill rolls. Each skill roll would be at -2 to hit. If three shots were fired, then each skill would be at a -3 per skill roll. These penalties reflect the urgency of rushed actions and the potential for making mistakes when acting too quickly. This is assuming the skills in question have a Fair (+0) Speed.

The Speed of a skill is considered Fair (+0) by default and need never be developed beyond that. In fact, it doesn't need to be considered until a character decides to do more actions in shorter periods of time. The Speed of a skill is developed separately as if it were a separate trait. During the course of character development, taking a skill beyond Superb can be very difficult, and increasing the speed of a skill is one way to enhance a skill without having to become more accurate. This would allow a Fair Dart Thrower to develop a knack for tossing off 2 darts with the same accuracy of throwing one dart by developing a Great Speed in Dart Throwing. A martial artist's skill in Superb hand-to-hand combat can be made more effective by increasing the characters speed in hand-to-hand combat. Giving the character reductions in penalties for performing multiple actions in a single round, and the ability to take on more than one opponent at a time.

Applying Speed Levels in game is simple. A higher speed in a skill reverses the negative effects of doing multiple actions in a single round. For each level of Speed above Fair, simply reduce the multiple-actions penalty by one. Having a Good (+1) Speed in Hand-to-hand Combat would allow a character to strike 2 targets, and be at only a -1 for each skill roll. With a Superb Speed in Hand-to-hand Combat a character could strike 3 targets with no penalty for multiple actions in a single round.

The same rules are applied when using completely different skills in the same round, such as, Throwing Darts Speed Great and Acrobatics Speed Great. What happens when you are fast at one skill, but not as fast in another skill? Applying different skills with different Speed Levels is just as easy. Remember, each extra action taken requires an increase in the skill roll's penalty. Any action that does not have Speed Levels takes the full penalty, while the other speedier skills get the reductions based on their individual speeds.

As an extreme example, Marty the private investigator and paranormal exterminator has a Superb (+3) Street Fighting Skill with a Superb (+3) Street Fighting Speed. Marty also has a Great (+2) Ballroom Dancing skill with no extra speed. Finally, Marty has a Fair (+0) Detective's Perception Skill with a Good (+1) Detective's Perception. During his routine P.I. work, Marty finds himself in a hair-raising situation. He has entered a great hall with dozens of spectral entities that are engaged in an old-fashioned ballroom party. The specters are dancing, and Marty is compelled to join them. Ensnared in a spell, he begins to dance with the deceased. Marty's Ball Room Dancing Skill has come in very handy. However, he forgot a step and as punishment he got a nasty scratch across his back. Oh, no! The ballroom dancers have daggers. Marty decides it is time to leave the room, but he must figure out a way to do it as part of the dance and without getting chopped to bits. Marty decides to take some chances and attempt to Dance, Fight, and Search for clues all in the same round. He is at a -3 penalty for performing 3 actions. Each skill action will have a -3 multiple-action penalty applied to the roll. However, his Street Fighting Speed is Superb (+3), so he will have no penalty for Street Fighting when they attack him again. Also, his Detective's Perception Speed is Good (+1), so he will be at only a -2 penalty while looking for clues to get out of his situation.

The above example with Marty the P.I. has come up in a game I recently played.

Of course, one could speed up a single attack at the cost of a penalty. Someone attempting to be quick on the draw could attempt to fire one shot very quickly - someone attempting to "go first". With higher Speed Levels faster shots may be obtained without penalty. Gunfights, pistols at 20 paces, and spell slinging can be quickened in this way. Since it is only one action the penalty starts at -1, but for a greater penalty a character can get off a faster shot.

Quick Draw Sally and her sidekick Molass find themselves in an old warehouse. A bad tip has just landed them in a bad situation, and the double-barreled team find themselves surrounded by mechanical thugs. Quick Draw Sally has her guns and begins to fire. She only has one target that she cares about hitting, but she needs to hit it before the bullets come raining down on her. With her Legendary (+4) Shooting Speed, she is able to knock out the Master Control Computer before a single shot leaves the robot thugs. At the same time Molass uses her Great (+2) Dodging Speed to get out of any line of fire before the robots switch to their independent defenders program.

Speed Levels are obtained separately for each skill, whether broad or narrow based skills. During character advancement, Speed Levels should be treated as separate skills with the same scope as the skill they are augmenting. If a skill costs 12 XP to get from Good to Great, that same skill's Speed Level should also cost 12 XP to get from Good to Great

You don't need Speed Levels to go fast. You need Speed Levels to be successful when you are attempting to be fast.