Most RPGs involve rolling dice. In "Fudged Links," when dice are rolled, it means somebody is attempting a Task. The dice are optional, though. Here's how Tasks happen.
You tell the GM that your character does something: walks down to the corner store, pilots the rocket ship to Mars, throws the Spectral Net at the ghost, whatever. The very first question that must be decided is whether this action is a Task. Most of the time it won't be. There are zillions of actions that game characters perform all the time without rolling dice, and lots of them are even "on camera." It's up to the GM to decide whether something requires a die roll and thus becomes a Task. There are many resources for helping a GM decide how to do this, and a lot of it's common sense, but here are my thoughts on the matter. Here are some criteria for determining whether an action is a Task:
Now even if it fits all of these, the action still doesn't necessarily become a Task, and it may still be a Task even if it doesn't fit any of these. It's all up to the GM. It may be that the action fits some of these in a way that's not yet obvious to the players, for example.
Anyway, if it's not a Task, the GM says, "OK, you go out and get a loaf of bread and a lottery ticket." But if you have a Task on your hands, the GM sets the Bar, usually silently, and says, "OK, what Trait?"
Now you and the GM must decide what Trait (or Traits, if they're Linked) are applicable to this situation. This is one of the places where I've sacrificed precision on the altar of flexibility.
It may slow the game down, at least initially, but I think that as you and the GM get more familiar with your character, this step will start to pass by quickly. I imagine that in many cases it will be obvious: "I pick the lock; I have Lockpicking as a Trait." Also, Traits are tightly connected with your character's concept, so the GM will become accustomed to the sorts of things you do frequently. "OK, I distract the guard. All right; roll your Exotic Dancing."
This will be covered in more detail in a few paragraphs, but if you have more than one Trait that might apply (e.g. Lockpicking and Manual Dexterity), pick the one you have more Ranks in, unless they're Linked together.
Now you roll the dice. Simple, no? Add them up to determine your Die Roll (or just "Roll").
Or you can buy a Die Roll with Points. If you have the Points to spend, and it's absolutely critical, you can buy the result you want by consulting the One True Table (an excerpt is below) to see how much the Roll you want costs. Note that 0 is free: in a situation where you have plenty of time and no distractions, you can work carefully and take your time. If the GM agrees, you can "Take Zero" and just proceed as if you'd rolled 0. However, it's not very likely that we'd even be here if the situation was like that; the GM may well have ruled that the action wasn't a Task and that you just did it without any of the resolution rigmarole.
| Roll | Cost | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | ||
| +1 | 3 | ||
| +2 | 9 | ||
| +3 | 26 | ||
| +4 | 107 | ||
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Why This Table Is Optional: You can either roll dice or use this table (if you have the Points to spend). |
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(Now, in the Fudged Links system, a Point is basically equivalent to a roll of the dice. Effectively, when the GM says you have a Task to resolve, he/she gives you a free Point that you must spend immediately by rolling the dice. This rather paltry gift is in exchange for your having to do all this. It is also Encouraging Gambling, because you could just spend your own Points, and the "free Point" would be wasted. Thus some of the underlying semantic structure of the system is revealed. Anyway ...)
One way or another, you come up with a Roll. If you don't like the Roll you got (you may have the next step in mind as you make this decision), you can spend a Point to roll the dice again, or forget rolling and buy a result -- no, the Point you spent to reroll doesn't count toward the cost. (You could technically spend a Point after buying a result with your Points, but why?) But if you reroll, the original result is nullified. It's as if it didn't happen. This is not a take-whichever-is-higher thing. This is an I-hate-this-Roll-and-want-a-different-one thing. But once you have something you like (or don't want to spend any more Points) you move on.
Add your Ranks in the Trait to the number you rolled (or bought), and that's your Sum. If you have other Traits connected to this one with Links, you can add those too, if the GM agrees that they're applicable to this situation (e.g. if Lockpicking has Links to Manual Dexterity and Goldenhill Locks, they might both apply -- unless this isn't a Goldenhill lock). The Width of a Link limits how many of a different Trait's Ranks can add to your Sum. Speaking technically, for each Linked Trait, you may add your Rank in the Linked Trait or the Width of the Link, whichever is lower. To make it easier to visualize, all the Ranks of the Linked Trait will try to help with the Task, but the Link is like a bridge, and its Width is the maximum number of Ranks that can cross it to help.
Lockpicking example: You have Manual Dexterity +2, connected to Lockpicking by a Link with Width 1. Only 1 of those +2 Ranks in Manual Dexterity can pass through the Link to assist with Lockpicking. You may want to widen that Link sometime. The GM may even let you do it right now, if you have the Points.
Now you have a Sum. You may not know whether or not this Sum will allow you to succeed in the Task, but you have a Sum. If you don't think it's good enough, you can still spend a Point to reroll (or buy a better Roll).
Now the GM tells you whether your final Sum means you succeeded or not. It's up to the GM whether to reveal what he/she set the Bar for this Task at, and when to reveal it. Maybe before you rolled the dice. Maybe only here, after it's too late to do anything about it. Maybe never. But now we see whether you succeeded or failed in your Task, and what happens next as a result ...
Del the Footpad is trying to prove himself to the Guild by stealing the golden bracelet the Mayor has bought give to his wife. It's in a wall safe behind a painting in his office. Del has managed to sneak in with no one the wiser while the Mayor is out. The locked safe stands before him; can Del pick the lock?
First, the GM decides that this is a Task (there were probably some previous Tasks dealing with getting in here without being seen or heard, too), because Del doesn't know how good this lock is, and because there are consequences to the outcome. It's also a tense situation. The GM mentally sets a Bar for this Task and says Del must roll Lockpicking.
Del's player Matt (a hypothetical v3.0) looks at Lockpicking on Del's character sheet:
Del the Footpad Physical Agility +2 (1) --> Silent Movement (2) --> Knife Throwing Manual Dexterity +2 (1) --> Lockpicking Lockpicking +1 (1) --> Manual Dexterity (1) --> Goldenhill Locks Knife Throwing +1 (2) --> Physical Agility Silent Movement +1 (1) --> Physical Agility Goldenhill Locks +1 (1) --> Lockpicking 8 Points in reserve
Lockpicking has Links of Width 1 to both Manual Dexterity and Goldenhill Locks. Del will get +1 from Lockpicking itself, but one of the two Ranks from Manual Dexterity can help too. Maybe Goldenhill Locks can also help, giving Del +3 to add to whatever the dice give him. Matt informs the GM of this. The GM nods and smiles mysteriously.
Matt decides to roll the dice. He gets a -2. This means +1 at the very best, because Matt doesn't know whether this even is a Goldenhill lock, so it could also be a 0. Unhappy with this result, he rolls again, thus spending a Point and abandoning the -2 roll. The dice give him a -1 this time. This means +1 or +2. Decisions, decisions. How good is that lock?
Since he has the Points and has been thinking about doing this for a while anyway, Matt decides that he wants to widen the Link between Manual Dex and Lockpicking now, which would be good for this and all future Lockpicking rolls, so he just buys that outright for 6 Points (since his luck with the dice has been so great tonight). Del's sheet changes:
Del the Footpad Physical Agility +2 (1) --> Silent Movement (2) --> Knife Throwing Manual Dexterity +2 (2) --> Lockpicking Lockpicking +1 (2) --> Manual Dexterity (1) --> Goldenhill Locks Knife Throwing +1 (2) --> Physical Agility Silent Movement +1 (1) --> Physical Agility Goldenhill Locks +1 (1) --> Lockpicking 1 Point in reserve
This means that, with that -1 on the dice, Matt has a Sum of either +2 or +3. He decides to stick with that, since a +3 lock would be unlikely under the circumstances.
The GM then reveals ... that this is not in fact a Goldenhill lock, but Del has succeeded anyway. Was the Bar set at +1 or +2? The GM isn't saying.
Del uses his collection of hooks, springs and pins to prod at the lock's workings and mentally curses to himself when he finds out it's not the kind he's best at. He presses on, and shortly the latch clicks softly when he carefully turns the cylinder with his simple tension wrench. The door swings slightly ajar. Is Del's information correct? Is there a golden bracelet inside? If he can get out with it, will Del earn a rank in the Thieves' Guild? What happens if Del gets caught? Might there possibly be other valuables in the safe as well?