Introduction
Welcome to my experimental game rules. I call the system "Fudged
Links," because it's based on Fudge, and because it involves
forging Links between Traits, a concept that I think is probably
original.
Reaction
In many ways Fudged Links is a reaction to game systems that I've
played and thought they could be made better, even if they were
already great. Someday there will be One Perfect Gaming System. OK,
there probably won't be. But I can try to work toward one that works
for me, that lets me run or play a game where I'm not thinking about
the rules anymore, just having a good time.
I have played many games run by friends who created their own
systems as well as the setting and scenario. I think this is awesome
and want to do it too. I'm not going to criticize any of their
efforts; not only do I want them to stay my friends, I think they did
an excellent job, especially considering they did it by themselves or
at most in collaboration with one or two others. On the other hand,
the big game publishers have hundreds of developers, writers and
testers, and their games have been played by millions of players over
the course of several years, so I think it's fair to criticize their
efforts, because they had ample resources with which to create a
professional-quality product. And yet, in many ways, my friends
manage to do just as well, if not better.
- "Level" (the term): Dungeons and
Dragons, and the d20 system that sprang from it, are overwhelmed with
the word "level." You have your class level, your total character
level, spell levels, effective character levels, and dungeon levels.
At least they replaced monster level with "Challenge Rating" in 3rd
Edition. I will endeavor to make game terms mean only one thing (and
avoid the word "level" altogether).
- Level (the concept): 3rd-Edition
d20 really improved the D&D multiclassing rules -- taking a level
in a class is basically like applying a character-improvement
template. Things are a lot more sensible than they used to be (they
still have an experience-point penalty for too wide a level
differential in some cases: too complex), but they still have that
weird phenomenon of suddenly leveling, and that ambiguous situation of
getting enough points to level, but still being out on campaign --
does the GM think that leveling implies that you must have downtime
for training, or have you merely gotten better from all the fighting
you've been doing? All games have to have some granularity to
character advancement (though I'm working on a different concept that
might change this), but I'd rather be more flexible. Point-buy
systems are the way to go: one single feature of your character
improves, and that's all.
- Types of Traits: White Wolf and
Wizards both do this -- the numbers on different parts of your
character sheet are acquired differently, cost different numbers of
points (meaning more tables!), work differently when you have no
points in some attribute, and basically are all governed by separate
sets of rules. I am striving to keep that down to one set of rules
that's good for all scores. Also, rather than having some kind of
derived bonus that is based on your score in some ability, I'm going
to try to make sure you can just use the ability number itself.
- Inflexible Magic: In fiction,
beings with magical powers (or people with access to high-tech
programmable gadgets, depending on the setting) are sometimes limited
to one or two special abilities, but usually they adapt their powers
to the situation and come up with something unique. Lists and lists
of spells and powers, each one with its own idiosyncratic rules, not
only are a headache for the player and the GM alike, but also turn
magic from an art into a book of temporary rules variations. Example:
Golgoth the Black Ram is a powerful wizard and one of the foremost
experts in magic in the world; he already knows how to throw a
fireball that can raze a village by itself, but only from 300 feet
away. Why would he have to spend days researching how to cast a
fireball with an increased range at the cost of some of its damage, or
how to make a coldball with exactly the same range and damage as the
fireball? I want a magic system that is as flexible as a combat
system or a social-interaction system or a walking-down-the-street
system. If the game is in a genre in which there is magic, then magic
is a part of nature and should be integrated with the rules instead of
a rules variation. I'm going to make sure the rules work as well for
magic as for anything else. That goes for other magiclike abilities,
too, like superhero powers or weird science gadgets.
Concepts
To see what I'm looking for here, and hopefully to prevent future
developments that go against what I plan for this to be, let me list
some of the Fudged Links system's basic tenets:
- Roleplaying. This is not the
system you want if you want detailed, blow-by-blow combat. This is a
system for telling cooperative stories. I've learned enough about
chaos theory to know that complex behaviors can emerge from simple
systems in both nature and mathematics; complex rules are not required
to tell a complex story.
- Rules-Light. I never want Fudged
Links to have thousands of rules for every possible situation. I know
that it is impossible to anticipate and write a rule for any possible
combat action, and yet professional game designers come up with
unusably over-complex systems because they try to do just that. My
intent is that the GM will take things as they come and try to be
consistent. It's impossible to roleplay if there are hundreds of
rules to always be thinking about all the time.
- Visual Aids. Everything the rules
do can be visualized. When you get hurt you lose a die. You have a
stack of poker chips, maybe, to represent your current Points. I may
come up with more props to help keep track of stuff too.
- One Rule to Ring Them All ... There
is only one kind of Trait, and they all work the same way.
- No Preconceived Traits. I don't
intend to attach this system to any particular genre or even type of
character. Your "character sheet" will start out as a blank
page, and you will choose your own Traits. If a character
doesn't have a Trait, they can still try to do something that would
involve that Trait; they just won't necessarily do very well, and it
might be interesting to see what the ramifications are.
- What is this "You Can't"?. Many
games have rules to keep you from doing things for no good reason
except that "the rules say you can't." I dislike this. You can spend
a Point any time you want. You can attempt to do anything you want.
The only thing you can't do is undo something once the GM says it
happened (unless there's time travel in the game).
- Modeling. The character sheet is a
model of your character concept, built out of Traits and Links. One
of the reasons why it should be possible for you to increase Traits
and Links anytime you want is that it quickly brings the character
sheet into line with what your character does, which is a reflection
of who your character is.
- Let the Dice Do the Math. Whenever
there was a choice between making a table to look things up in or just
using the bell-curve that Fudge dice so nicely produce all by
themselves, I chose to throw out the table. There are still some
tables left, but every one of them is optional. That's why every
table has a "Why This Table Is Optional" statement below it.
- Encouraging Gambling. Some players
like to gamble. Built into the system is the idea that you can risk
your Points if you want, and you might win, but you might lose too.
But other players don't like to gamble, so you aren't forced to.
Still, think of the possible rewards ... come over to the Dark Side
...
Terms
The fundamental Terms of Fudged Links are all named with
one-syllable words, capitalized to show that this is a special use of
these words.
- Task
- A Task is a situation in which a character finds him/her/itself
that requires the character's player to roll the dice. It's only a
Task if the GM says it is; you don't have to roll the dice to see if
you can tie your shoes (although, as always, circumstances could make
this difficult: perhaps you are handicapped or injured, or your hands
are tied behind your back, or 40 Orcs are beating on you with cudgels
as you tie).
- Die
- Fudge dice are six-sided dice with two blank faces, two + faces
and two - faces, representing 0, +1 and -1, respectively. Although
such dice are available for
purchase, the same results could be achieved with using a d3 - 2:
use a regular six-sided die, divide by 2 (rounding up) and subtract 2.
In this system, as in regular Fudge, four Fudge dice are rolled (often
denoted 4dF) and added together (removing +/- pairs first, if there
are any, makes things faster). The result is a number from -4 to +4
that is nicely bell-curved in its probability distribution.
- Die Roll
- A Die Roll (or just a Roll) means the total of the numbers on the
dice after you've rolled them, but before anything has been added or
subtracted. You can usually roll or reroll the dice by spending a Point; you can also spend Points to buy a certain
Roll.
- Trait
- A measure of a character's ability, talent, knowledge, experience
or skill in some area. The character will have some number of Ranks in a Trait. It is possible to have negative
Ranks, if the character is really bad at something. Central to Fudged
Links is the fact that if any Trait isn't listed on a character's
sheet, the character is assumed to have that Trait at a Rank of
0.
- Rank
- A measure of a Trait. Rank can range between the very rare
extremes -4 (enormously, horribly bad) and +4 (inhumanly, astoundingly
good). Just having a +1 in a Trait is Good and indicates a
considerable amount of study or training. A +2 indicates mastery of
the area, while +3 makes one an expert outstanding in his/her/its
field. The +4 Rank is reserved for legendary heroes (or
villains).
- Link
- A connection forged between two Traits. Once two Traits are
connected by a Link, it becomes possible for both Traits to help the
character succeed in some Task.
- Width
- A measure of a Link. Width is a number indicating how many Ranks
of a Trait can pass across it to contribute to a Score, and in turn a
Sum.
- Score
- This term isn't used that often, but it refers to the total bonus
you add to your Roll when resolving a Task, from the Ranks of the
Trait in question and any other applicable Traits that may be Linked
to it. Sum = Roll + Score.
- Bar
- The difficulty set by the GM for a Task. I know this is going to
be called "difficulty," "target number," "DC," etc. by practiced
gamers, but oh well. This number can theoretically be positive or
negative, but anything with a zero or negative difficulty is usually
far too easy to even bother with rolling dice. With the dice and the
Traits limited to +4, it might seem as if a +5 or +6 Bar would make a
Task impossible, but if you imagine a Trait with a lot of other Traits
Linked to it, you can see that impossibility is only an illusion.
- Sum
- This is your final number in the Task resolution process. It's
what you get when you add your Roll and your Score. The GM compares
this against the Bar that he/she set; if the Sum meets or exceeds the
Bar, you succeed. Degree of success is measured by how much your Sum
cleared the Bar by.
- Point
- The only kind of point in the game. A Point is roughly worth one
Roll: you can spend a Point to reroll for a Task, or to roll to
increase a Trait or Link. You can spend Points to buy a certain die
roll result, too, but the point cost of any given result is just the
average number of tries it would take to roll that result, rounded up
(this is Encouraging Gambling). The GM hands out Points at character
creation time, at the end of a game session, when somebody does
something really cool, or basically whenever he/she feels like it.
Points can be written down on paper or can be represented by poker
chips or other counters.
I hope that has gotten you started with some basics. Here are some
links to more detailed sections.