Fudge: Simplifying Gatecrasher Tech & Wizardry

As written in the Gatecrasher Science Fantasy Adventure game, Tech and Wizardry levels are rated from -10 to +10, with -10 being a near complete absence of Tech or Wizardry, and +10 being the penultimate Tech or Wizardry achievements. We want to distill those levels down to a normal Fudge Terrible...Fair...Superb track. Since there are 21 individual levels of Tech or Wizardry from -10 to +10, and seven levels on the normal Fudge track, a simple division operation results in three numeric levels of Tech or Wizardry per Fudge level as shown in the table below.

Tech/Wizardry level	Fudge level
-10 to -8	Terrible
-7 to -5	Poor
-4 to -2	Mediocre
-1 to +1	Fair
+2 to +4	Good
+5 to +7	Great
+8 to +10	Superb

A description of each Tech and Wizardry level appears in the table below.

Level	Tech	Wizardry
Terrible	Stone age environment.People live simply and have only basic machinery and simple buildings.	Extremely primitive.Magic works more by luck than skill, and uses large amounts of power.
Poor	Classical/medieval/Renaissance locale; the realms of swords-and-sorcery adventure.	While the basic laws of magic are not defined, magicians can manipulate those laws at a low level.
Mediocre	Early industrial age environment, characterized by rapid social change as primitive societies adapt to new ways of life.	The basic laws of magic are codified.Magic becomes safely usable.
Fair	Late industrial age, very similar to the world in the 20th century.Space flight begins.	More experimentation and research into the workings of magic.
Good	Primitive spacefaring culture; relies more on brute force than engineering skill to maintain homes on hostile worlds.	Blunt manipulation of reality becomes regularly possible, and matter can be created in violation of natural laws.
Great	Describes an advanced spacefaring culture with a highly developed technology.	Magically warping space is possible, and permanent Gates are built.Magic can be used by common folk to improve their lives.
Superb	Technological methods to measure magical energy.Limits of current Lunar technology.	Ultimate understanding of physical magic.Almost any magical effect can be wrought with enough power and preparation.

It should be fairly easy to plug the new Tech and Wizardry levels into the existing Gatecrasher rules. When the Tech and Wizardry levels are called into play, simply substitute the proper Fudge level for the numeric Tech or Wizardry level stated in the rules. For example, Earth would have a Tech level of Terrible to Poor and a Wizardry level of Poor to Great.

How are homeworlds affected?

As written, the Gift or Fault cost of the homeworld is calculated by adding the homeworld's Tech and Wizardry levels. That is still done, but use the regular Fudge level's value instead of the -10 to +10 value and determine the cost according to the table below.

Combined Tech/Wizardry	Cost
-3	2 Faults
-2 to -1	1 Fault
0	Free
+1 to +2	1 Gift
+3	2 Gifts

As stated in the Gatecrasher rules, Stardard Gravity still costs an additional Gift and Zero Gravity is worth one Fault. So, as an example, a homeworld of Himalia would cost 1 fault: Tech = Great (+2), Wizardry = Poor (-2), (+2) + (-2) = 0, Zero Gravity = one Fault.

How is Magical Effect affected?

When using the revised Tech and Wizardry rules, the character's Magical Effect takes on a normal Fudge level as per the table below.

Id	Magical Effect
Terrible	Superb
Poor	Great
Mediocre	Good
Fair	Fair
Good	Mediocre
Great	Poor
Superb	Terrible

Using this table, it should be easy to determine if a character's magic will work on technology - if the character's Magical Effect is of a level equal to or greater than the Tech level, the magic works reliably. If the Tech level is greater than the wizard's Magical Effect, make an opposed roll with the difficulty level equal to the Tech level. For example, a wizard with an Id of Great has a Magical Effect of Poor. Should that wizard attempt to cast a spell on a device with a Tech level of Poor or Terrible, the magic would work reliably; if the device has a Tech level of Fair, the wizard must make a Magical Effect roll with 4dF and roll at least a +2.

How are Magic Points affected?

Instead of the Magic Points Table used in the Gatecrasher rules (page 15), use the table listed below. Compare the character's Id along the top axis of the table and to the character's Wizardry along the left axis. The character's Magic Point total can be found where the two traits intersect.

	Terrible Id	Poor Id	Mediocre Id	Fair Id	Good Id	Great Id	Superb Id
Terrible Wiz	1	6	11	16	21	26	31
Poor Wiz	7	12	17	22	27	32	37
Mediocre Wiz	13	18	23	28	33	38	43
Fair Wiz	15	20	25	30	35	40	45
Good Wiz	16	21	26	32	37	42	47
Great Wiz	19	24	31	38	43	48	53
Superb Wiz	22	27	37	44	49	54	59

Designation of Product Identity: the terms "Gatecrasher" and "Gatecrasher Science Fantasy Adventure" are designated Product Identity as outlined in section 1(e) of the Open Game license. "Gatecrasher" and "Gatecrasher Science Fantasy Adventure" are copyright 1985, 1992 by Micheal Lucas, copyright 2005 by Seraphim Guard, used with permission.

Designation of Open Game Content: except for terms designated as Product Identity above, the text of this post is designated Open Game Content as outlined in section 1(d) of the Open Game License.

Fudge: Hit Point Track

Some Fudge gamers prefer a bit of crunchiness to their Fudge, and some don't. For those who don't, the "vanilla" Fudge wound tracking is a perfect solution. For those who do, the "vanilla" track leaves a bit to be desired. With that in mind, those who prefer a bit more crunchiness in their game can use the hit point track instead of the wound track.

As with "vanilla" Fudge, the hit point track assumes some sort of damage capacity attribute. This could actually be Damage Capacity, or it could be something else, such as Health, Constitution, Endurance, or another attribute. Further, using the hit point track, the "vanilla" Fudge wound track is replaced with a "standard" level track as shown below.

Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	Fair	Good	Great	Superb

On the character sheet, the level of the character's damage capacity attribute is circled - this indicates the maximum damage that the character can take. Further, a number of check-boxes (or hash-marks, or circles, or whatever) is filled in below each level on the hit point track, according to the table below.

Level	Checks
Superb	4
Great	4
Good	3
Fair	3
Mediocre	2
Poor	2
Terrible	1

Following that table, a character with a fair damage capacity attribute would have three checks per level. The complete hit point track would appear as below.

Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	(Fair)	Good	Great	Superb
O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O

When a character takes damage, a number of checks are marked on the hit point track, starting from Terrible and moving up through the circled level on the hit point track of the character's damage capacity attribute. This indicates how much damage the character has taken. During game play, as with any other Fudge attribute, skill, or even the "vanilla" wound track, it can be referred to with words - "Wow, my character has taken a Poor amount of damage".

An example of this follows - should a character take two points of damage, the first two points of the hit point track would be checked off, as shown below. This character has taken a Terrible amount of damage.

Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	(Fair)	Good	Great	Superb
X X O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O

When a character takes enough damage to move their total damage taken into the next level, that character is stunned and is at -1 to all actions for an amount of rounds equal to the new level of damage taken.

For example, if the character with the hit point track above took two more points of damage, his hit point track would appear as below. That character has taken a Poor amount of damage and is at -1 for two rounds - one for the Terrible, and one for the Poor.

Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	(Fair)	Good	Great	Superb
X X X	X O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O

When a character takes enough damage to completely skip a level, the character is incapacitated. An incapacitated character is effectively unconscious.

As an example, if the character with the hit point track above took 6 more points of damage, his hit point track would appear as below. The character would have then taken a Fair amount of damage, and would be incapacitated. Further, the character would be extremely close to death.

Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	(Fair)	Good	Great	Superb
X X X	X X X	X X X	X O O	O O O	O O O	O O O

Finally, when a character takes enough damage to place his hit point track at the same level as his damage capacity attribute, that character is at -2 to all actions. When a character takes enough damage to place his hit point track at the level prior to his damage capacity attribute, the character is at -1 to all actions. These penalties are cumulative with other penalties for wounds.

So, a character with a hit point track as below, having just taken two points of damage - giving him a Mediocre amount of damage - would be at a net -2 for three rounds (-1 for being one level below his damage capacity on the hit point track and an additional -1 for reaching Mediocre damage) and -1 thereafter. (for being one level below his damage capacity on the hit point track)

Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	(Fair)	Good	Great	Superb
X X X	X X X	X O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O

Under normal circumstances, one level of hits on the hit point track is healed naturally every game week. 

Designation of Open Game Content: the text of this post is designated Open Game Content as outlined in section 1(d) of the Open Game License.

Fudge: Averaging Attributes

I've been thinking a lot about averaging attributes and skills - it was brought up on the Fudge list some time ago, but some people objected due to the equal weight attributes and skills are given. So he came up with this chart which averages the attribute and the skill twice - look up your attribute value, and cross-reference it with your skill value to find the actual level you will be rolling with:

SKILL
		Abysmal	Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	Fair	Good	Great	Superb	Legendary
A	Legendary	Poor	Mediocre	Fair	Fair	Good	Great	Great	Superb	Legendary
T	Superb	Poor	Mediocre	Mediocre	Fair	Good	Good	Great	Superb	Superb
T	Great	Poor	Poor	Mediocre	Fair	Fair	Good	Great	Great	Superb
R	Good	Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	Mediocre	Fair	Good	Good	Great	Superb
I	Fair	Terrible	Poor	Poor	Mediocre	Fair	Fair	Good	Great	Great
B	Mediocre	Terrible	Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	Mediocre	Fair	Good	Good	Great
U	Poor	Abysmal	Terrible	Poor	Poor	Mediocre	Fair	Fair	Good	Great
T	Terrible	Abysmal	Terrible	Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	Mediocre	Fair	Good	Good
E	Abysmal	Abysmal	Abysmal	Terrible	Poor	Poor	Mediocre	Fair	Fair	Good

If the GM wants a player to schmooze a contact, he can call for a Charisma+Fast Talk roll. Or an attack can be based on Strength+Sword or Dexterity+Sword, depending on where the character's strengths (no pun intended) lie - they either bash the opponent into oblivion, or search for the "Achilles heel", so to speak.

Designation of Open Game Content: the text of this post is designated Open Game Content as outlined in section 1(d) of the Open Game License.

Fudge: Linked Attributes in 5-Point Fudge

Using this system, the Game Master (GM) should select from the attributes used in his game those attributes that are "related" to each skill group. A related attribute is one that affects or is affected by the skills in that skill group. Conversely, a non-related attribute is one that does not affect or is not affected by the skills in that group. An example using the skill groups and attributes detailed in Five-Point Fudge follows:

Skill Group	Related Attributes
Athletic/Manual Dexterity	Strength, Agility, Health
Combat	Strength, Agility, Health, Willpower
Covert/Urban	Reasoning, Perception, Agility
Knowledge	Reasoning, Perception
Supernatural	Reasoning, Perception, Willpower
Professional	varies (with GM approval)
Scouting/Outdoor	Strength, Perception, Health
Social/Manipulative	Reasoning, Perception, Willpower
General Skills Point	varies (with GM approval)

Any attribute not listed is considered not-related.

When points are spent on skill groups as detailed in Five-Point Fudge, those points also purchase levels for any related attributes the player chooses. As you spend more and more time working on one set of skills, the underlying related attributes will improve and any non-related attributes will begin to atrophy. (For example, if a football player quits the team and begins computer programming full time, his overall strength would decrease after a while.) This is simulated in the following table:

Points	Attributes
1	+1 for any one related attribute
2	+1 for any one related and -1 for any one non-related attribute
3	+2 among related attributes and -1 for any one non-related attribute
4	+2 among related attributes and -2 among non-related attributes

Attribute bonuses and penalties stack, so putting three points in the Athletic/Manual Dexterity skill group and one point in the Combat skill group could give a total +3 bonus to Strength.

Designation of Open Game Content: the text of this post is designated Open Game Content as outlined in section 1(d) of the Open Game License.

Fudge: Advanced Character Creation

This was my first (and only) attempt at making Fudge more like other point-buy systems. After playtesting this a bit, I hopelessly trashed the idea and decided to use the Fudge subjective character creation exclusively. Chalk one up for Fudge. However, I did put some effort into this and hate to see it wasted, so, here it is. If you want to use it, great. If not, great.

Trait points

Players have 10 trait points in which to build their characters. Trait points can be used to purchase attributes, gifts, and skills as per the following exchange rate:

1 trait point = 1 gift

-or-

1 trait point = 2 attribute levels

-or-

1 trait point = 6 skill levels.

In addition, faults can be traded for trait points on a 1 to 1 basis. Note that the GM may decree a certain gift or fault to be worth more or less than 1 trait point.

For more legendary characters, increase the number of trait points allotted. For weaker characters, decrease the amount of trait points given.

Attributes

Each character has 5 basic attributes. They are strength, dexterity, intelligence, health, and will power. Each attribute defaults to fair – to raise or lower an attribute costs or refunds attribute levels as per the following table:

Level	Cost
Superb	+3
Great	+2
Good	+1
Fair	0
Mediocre	-1
Poor	-2
Terrible	-3

In addition, each character has a calculated move attribute. Using a scale of terrible = 1 and superb = 7, average the characters health and dexterity, rounding off, and determine the move level using the same scale. For example, a character with a dexterity of great and a health of good would have a move of good (great = 6, good = 5, 5 + 6 = 11, 11 / 2 = 5.5 rounded off to 5, 5 = good).

No attribute may be raised higher than superb or lower then terrible at character creation.

Gifts and Faults

Generally, each gift costs one trait point and each fault refunds one trait point. However, the GM may decree that a given gift or fault costs or refunds more or less than one trait point based upon the potency of the gift or fault.

Note that supernormal powers are treated as gifts and no distinction is made between the two, other than the fact that most supernormal powers cost two gifts. If the GM does not desire supernormal powers in his campaign, he should not allow the player to take any as gifts.

Skills

Each skill is classed as either physical or mental, and rated easy, average, or hard, with mental skills having an additional rating of very hard. Each skill has a default level based upon the class and rating of the skill, and the related attribute of the defaulting character. For physical skills, the related attribute is Dexterity; for mental skills it is Intelligence.

The cost and final skill level is determined using the following charts:

Physical skills

	Easy	Average	Hard
DX-3	-2	-1	0
DX-2	-1	0	1
DX-1	0	1	2
DX	1	2	3
DX+1	2	3	4
DX+2	3	4	5
DX+3	4	5	6

Mental Skills

	Easy	Average	Hard	Very Hard
IQ-3	-2	-1	0	1
IQ-2	-1	0	1	2
IQ-1	0	1	2	3
IQ	1	2	3	4
IQ+1	2	3	4	5
IQ+2	3	4	5	6
IQ+3	4	5	6	7

Taking a skill at lower than the default level will refund skill levels to the character – subject to GM approval. (A less-than-default-level in underwater basket-weaving is not really worth a whole skill level, unless the characters are from a society that highly values baskets that were woven underwater.)

For example, a character with a good dexterity wants to have a good knife skill. The knife skill is a physical easy skill, so the player will have to spend 1 attribute point to have the skill at the desired level. If he wanted a poor knife skill, he would be refunded 2 attribute points.

No skill may be raised higher than superb or lower than terrible at character creation. 

Designation of Open Gaming Content: the text of this post is designated Open Game Content as outlined in section 1(d) of the Open Game License.