2 The Trait Ladder

2.1 The Trait Ladder

This list of numbers and adjectives is the Trait Ladder. It is used to describe both a character’s abilities and the results of character actions. Use the words or the numbers, whichever you prefer. It’s a good idea to have a copy of it on your character sheet for easy reference. If there are pre-generated characters provided, they’ll already have it.

2.2 Extra: Above Superb, Below Terrible

The level above Superb is usually called Legendary. The name should give you an idea of how rare this level of ability is. When truly larger than life characters are called for, there can be multiple levels of Legendary. (e.g.: Superb, Legendary I, Legendary II, etc.)

Traits completely beyond the human range can be recorded using non-human scale (below) or using the Super X notation. The X represents the number of steps beyond Fair. (e.g.: Superb, Legendary, Super 5, Super 6, etc.)

On the other extreme, the level below Terrible is called Abysmal. It’s mainly there for the sake of symmetry. The levels below that might be called “Subhuman X” but there’s usually no need.

3 Characters

Fudge characters are deﬁned by four types of traits: Attributes, Skills, Gifts, and Faults. There are other things important to a character, like appearance, background, and personality, but these things are not mechanically deﬁned.

3.1 Types of Traits

3.1.1 Attributes

Attributes are things that everyone has, to a greater or lesser degree, like intelligence, strength, or agility. Fair is the normal level for all attributes. There is no set list of Attributes; each Fudge game is diﬀerent.

3.1.2 Skills

Skills are things that must be learned and studied. They cover a narrower range of capability than Attributes. Examples of skills include disguise, fencing, stealth, archeology, airplane piloting, and animal handling. Like Attributes, there is no oﬃcial list of skills in Fudge. A character with no training in a given skill, (that is, it’s not on the character sheet) can generally attempt the skill at Poor. The GM can always modify this, making some skills easier or more diﬃcult, or simply declare an untrained attempt impossible.

3.1.3 Gifts

Gifts are positive traits that aren’t deﬁned on the Fudge Scale. Either you have the gift or not.

3.1.4 Faults

Faults are the inverse of Gifts. A Fault is a handicap or ﬂaw of some sort. Many things that might be considered virtues can also be Faults, like a code of honor, or the inability to lie.

3.1.5 Other Traits

Depending on the game, your character might also have Powers. (aka Superpowers, Supernormal Powers, etc) These are very powerful Gifts, and there are often Skills and Attributes associated with each one.

3.2 Extra: Non-Human Scale

Fudge normally assumes that all traits being measured are comparable to human ability. When dealing with very diﬀerent levels of ability, it may be easiest to use a completely diﬀerent scale. For example, Sparky the Wonder dog might have “Great Intelligence, Canine Scale” and the Dragon of Mickelmire might have “Mediocre Strength, Dragon Scale.” This method only works if there are others of the same scale to compare with. It’s easy to grasp that Sparky is very bright, for a dog, and that Mick is a bit weaker than most dragons.

The drawback is that it’s hard to compare traits across diﬀerent scales. For things like canine scale intelligence, it isn’t hard to just fudge it. Strength, on the other hand, is very likely to be compared to human level traits. If we say that Fair dragon strength is eight steps above Fair human strength, then we can compare Mick to any puny humans that might try to annoy him. His strength can then be stated as either Dragon Scale Mediocre or Super 7, whichever is most useful.

3.3 Extra: Mass Scale

The most common use of Fudge’s scale rules is Mass Scale. Whenever the word Scale appears capitalized, and without qualiﬁcation, assume it refers to Mass Scale.

Mass Scale is a numerical rating that represents a creature’s size and bulk. Scale zero is human size, bigger and stronger creatures have positive Scale, and smaller, weaker ones have negative Scale. Every ﬁve levels is roughly twice as tall or wide. Bigger creatures are stronger and tougher than smaller ones, so Scale adds directly to a creature’s Strength Attribute and Damage Capacity.

4 Task Resolution and Fudge Dice

Most of your character’s actions can be handled simply: The Player states his character’s intention to act, and the GM acknowledges and responds.

Uncertain, risky, or high-tension actions are decided by the roll of dice. Speciﬁcally, Fudge dice. A Fudge die (abbreviated “dF”) is a cube with a plus on two sides and a minus on two sides. Usually, they are rolled four at a time. (The notation for this is 4dF.)

4.1 Extra: No Fudge Dice?

There are many ways to play Fudge without special dice. The most basic way is to use ordinary six-sided dice and treat a one or two as a minus, and a ﬁve or six as a plus. Other types of randomizers can be used as a direct replacement for 4dF. See Section 3.2.2 in the Fudge main rules.

4.2 Types of Rolls

4.2.1 Situational Roll

The simplest type of die-roll is the Situational Roll. Start at Fair on the Fudge Scale, and roll 4dF. For every plus, move a step up the scale, for every minus, move a step down. The level you end up on is your result, sometimes called Rolled Degree. Situational rolls are fairly rare. More common is rolling a trait.

4.2.2 Rolling a Trait

Rolling a trait is just as easy as a situational roll. Instead of starting at Fair, start at the level of the trait. Since the pluses and minuses cancel each other out, a Good trait will most likely get a Good result. Often the GM will tell you what minimum result you need to succeed, this is the diﬃculty level for the roll. For most things, a Fair or better result will be a success.

4.2.3 Opposed Rolls

Opposed rolls are only slightly more complicated. When two characters are in direct competition, they both roll. The one with the highest result wins. The number of steps by which the winner exceeded the looser is the Relative Degree. (RD)

4.3 Extra: Oﬀ the Chart Results

Occasionally, a very good or very bad roll can cause relative degree to go above Legendary or below Abysmal. Normally, this doesn’t pose a problem. In fact it’s a lot easier to see whether you succeeded or failed! It may be easier to use numbers, rather than words, for such exceptional results.

In a more down to earth game, results may be capped at either end of the scale. This usually means no result can go above Legendary or below Terrible. If your GM is using this optional rule, she’ll let you know the minimum and maximum results.

5 Combat

There are three ways to handle ﬁghts and action scenes in Fudge: Story Elements, Simultaneous Rounds, and Blow by Blow.

5.1 Diﬀerent Combat Systems

5.1.1 Story Element

Story Element combat treats an entire ﬁght scene as a single action. The GM will ask you what your character is attempting to accomplish, then ask for one or more trait rolls. The results are then interpreted subjectively to determine how well you accomplished your goal.

This is the simplest combat system in Fudge, but it requires that the Players put a great deal of faith in the GM’s experience, judgment, and fairness. It is mainly used in games with little emphasis on combat, or when a ﬁght is a foregone conclusion.

5.1.2 Simultaneous Rounds

Simultaneous Rounds is the most common combat system. The scene is broken up into discrete rounds. Each round, every ﬁghting character makes an opposed roll against his or her opponent. The winner’s relative degree determines the damage. (See Getting Hurt, below) This system assumes that attack and defense are combined in a single trait.

If a character is ﬁghting more than one opponent, the lone ﬁghter’s result is compared to each opponent, one at a time. He must match or exceed all of them to score a hit. Any opponent who exceeds the solo ﬁghter’s result scores a hit.

5.1.3 Blow by Blow

Blow by Blow combat, also called Alternating Rounds, is a more typical RPG combat mechanic. Each round, every combatant gets one attack. Each attack is an opposed roll. If the defender wins, the attack missed. If the attacker wins, the blow is resolved just as in simultaneous rounds.

5.2 Extra: How long is a round?

One round is the length of time it takes to get something done. The exact duration of a round is intentionally ambiguous. Depending on the GM and the setting, it can be from three to ten seconds. Most Players and GMs are comfortable with a ﬁve-second round.

Steﬀan O’Sullivan, the author of Fudge, facetiously described a round as “Pi seconds. Why do you think they’re called ‘rounds’ ?”

6 Getting Hurt

There are three factors to determining the severity of a combat wound: the attacker’s Relative Degree, the Damage Factor of the attack, and the Damage Capacity of the target. (See 4.2.3 for a description of Relative Degree).

6.1 Damage Factor

The Damage Factor (DF) is mostly dependant on the weapon used. The damage factors of melee weapons (like swords and clubs) are modiﬁed the user’s strength Attribute. (Use the numbers in the Trait Ladder.) Your character sheet should include DF numbers for every weapon the character carries, and for bare hands and feet.

6.2 Damage Capacity

Damage Capacity (DC) is based on a toughness Attribute. (Again, use the numbers in the Fudge Scale.) Certain Gifts can increase DC. Any armor that a character wears will increase his DC. Mass Scale always adds into DC. Your character sheet will list your character’s armored and unarmored DC.

Say you’ve been hit in combat, and you know the attack’s relative degree. Now what? Add the relative degree to the weapon’s Damage Factor. Subtract your Damage Capacity. If the result is less than one, there’s no signiﬁcant damage. Otherwise, look up the result on the Wound Track. There’s one on every character sheet, like th one that follows.

6.3 Wound Track

1 -2	3	-4		5	-6	7	-8	9+
Scratch	Hurt (-1)		Very H		urt(-2)	Incapacitated		Near Death
O O O		O			O		O	O

Cross though one of the circles under the corresponding level. That’s how wounded you are. Each mark represents one wound, so you never mark oﬀ more than one box per injury. If all the circles for a category are crossed oﬀ, shift up to the next level. Types of wounds are explained below.

6.4 Types of Wounds

6.4.1 Scratch

A Scratch is just that: a small cut or a bruise that hurts, but doesn’t slow you down. Too many scratches can add up, though.

6.4.2 Hurt

Hurt is a more serious injury, a Hurt character is at a -1 penalty to all actions (from pain, blood loss, etc.) until the wound heals.

6.4.3 Very Hurt

A very severe injury. A Very Hurt character is at -2 to all actions. Wound penalties are not cumulative; the penalty is either -1 or -2, no matter how many boxes are checked.

6.4.4 Incapacitated

An Incapacitated character is either unconscious or delirious, and unable to stand up or take any action at all, but will recover in time.

6.4.5 Near Death

A character Near Death is likewise unconscious, but will die without prompt medical attention.

6.5 Extra: Does your Character Sheet has a diﬀerent Wound Chart?

Don’t panic. Often games featuring heroic combat use a beefed up chart, adding extra boxes to the Scratch and Hurt levels. It should be otherwise the same.

6.6 Healing

All Scratches heal automatically at the end of a ﬁght scene, given a little ﬁrst aid. Other wounds usually require at least one day per wound level, under modern medical care. With no medicine at all, healing slows to one week per wound level. At each time increment, either erase a Hurt wound, or shift a wound to an empty box one step down.

In some settings, magical or super-tech healing is available.

6.7 Non-lethal combat and Stun Damage

These rules assume that all combatants are trying to maim or kill each other any way they can.

Less-than-lethal weapons inﬂict Stun Damage. Resolve the attack as normal, but mark the Wound Track diﬀerently to distinguish between stun and lethal damage. Stun damage heals like scratches, so there’s no lasting damage. Also, the highest wound result possible with Stun damage is Incapacitated, meaning the character has been knocked out.

6.8 Extra: So I can’t die?

Notice that the wound track only goes up to Near Death; there is no “Dead” level. This does not mean you can’t die. It only means that you can’t be killed in one (unlucky) blow. It’s usually safe to assume that once the bad guys beat you to Incapacitated, they can easily dispose of you.

7 Fudge Points

Each Player has a certain number of Fudge points (FP) to spend. These can be spent to give your character a lucky break. Diﬀerent GMs have diﬀerent rulings on FP, but the most commonly used options are listed below.

Spend a Fudge point to:

get an automatic +4, instead of rolling dice.
re-roll an unlucky result.
reduce any injury to a Scratch. (See 6.2).
cause a lucky coincidence to occur. (See below).

The last option needs some additional explanation. Whereas the other options apply to the mechanics of the game, (Fudging die rolls and injuries) a coincidence directly eﬀects the story.

For example, a player could coincidentally have a item in his pocket, (Fudging equipment) or have an ally in a particular place. (Fudging NPCs) There are many, many other possibilities. This usually costs more than one FP, and your GM may not allow it at all.

The GM may award you extra FP as a reward for good role playing.

1 Introduction