From: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan)
Subject: FUDGE 12/12: Section B (3 of 6)
Reply-To: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan)
Organization: Plymouth State College - Plymouth, N.H.
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 92 19:26:19 GMT

Version: December 12, 1992

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LEGAL NOTICE: FUDGE is copyright 1992 by Steffan O'Sullivan.  It may
be freely copied and distributed by any means desired.  This legal
notice must be included with each copy of FUDGE.  No charge may be
made for FUDGE beyond a maximum US$5 fee (at 1992 rates) for materials
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source material or adventures may do so, so long as (1) the
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notice is included with FUDGE, (3) there is no extra charge for
including FUDGE in the book, and (4) no changes are made to the words
in Sections A through D of FUDGE.  (Sections E and F may be customized
freely; any references to Sections E and F may be inserted or deleted
as needed in Sections A through D.)

FUDGE was first published in 1992 on internet, and was written by
Steffan O'Sullivan (sos@oz.plymouth.edu) with suggestions from  Martin
Bergendahl, Thomas Brettinger, Robert Bridson, Paul Jason Clegg, Peter
F. Delaney, Jay Doane, Ed Heil, Bernard Hsiung, John H. Kim, Bill
Seurer, Andy Skinner, and others on rec.games.design on internet.

Groo the Wanderer (TM) is a trademark of Sergio Aragones, and use of
the name does not contest the trademark status in any way.
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B  Action Resolution
--------------------

B1  Terms
---------

Dice: Each player and the GM need two six-sided dice.

Unopposed Roll: some actions are resolved by an *Unopposed Roll*.
     This means the character is trying to perform an action which
     isn't influenced by anyone else - such as jump a wide chasm,
     climb a cliff, perform a chemistry experiment, etc.  The player
     simply rolls the dice and the reads the result.

Rolled Degree: this refers to how well you did at a particular task.
     If you are Good at Climbing in general, but rolled a Great result
     on a particular attempt, then the rolled degree is Great.

Degree Task: the GM will set a degree task when you try an Unopposed
     Action.  Usually it will be Fair, but sometimes tasks are easier
     or harder.  Example: to climb an average cliff, with lots of
     handholds, is a Fair degree task, but the GM may set it at Great
     for a very hard cliff.  This means the player must make a rolled
     degree of Great or higher to climb the cliff successfully.

Opposed Rolls: some actions are resolved by *Opposed Rolls*.  This
     means other people (or animals, etc.) may have an effect on the
     outcome of the action.  In this case, each contestant rolls a
     pair of dice, and the results are compared to determine the
     outcome.  Examples include combat, seduction attempts, haggling,
     tug-of-war, etc.

Relative Degree: this refers to how well you did compared to another
     participant in Opposed Rolls.  Unlike a rolled degree, relative
     degree is expressed as a *number of levels*.  For example, if you
     get a rolled degree result of Good in a fight, and your foe gets
     a rolled degree result of Mediocre, you beat her by 2 levels -
     the relative degree is +2 from your perspective, -2 from hers.

Trans-Superb: this is a level of rolled degree that is beyond Superb.
     Rolled degrees from Superb+1 to Superb+4 are possible.  These
     levels, the "trans-superb" levels, are only reachable on rare
     occasions by human beings.  No trait may be taken at (or raised
     to) a trans-superb level.  For example, Willie Mays was a Superb
     outfielder.  His most famous catch, often shown on television, is
     a Superb+4 rolled degree.  It isn't possible for a human to have
     that level of excellence as a routine skill level, however: even
     Willie was "just" a Superb outfielder, who could sometimes do
     even better.  A GM may set a degree task in the trans-superb
     range, but it is for extraordinarily difficult actions.

Sub-Terrible: likewise, there are rolled degrees of down to Terrible-
     4.  No degree task should be set this low, however: anything
     requiring a Terrible degree task or worse should be automatic -
     no roll needed!

B2  When to Roll
----------------

When a character performs an action that is so easy as to be
automatic, no dice roll is needed.  Likewise, an action so difficult
that it has no chance to succeed requires no roll, either.  It is for
the middle ground that rolls are needed.

The GM determines which trait is needed for a particular action the PC
wishes to perform.  If it is an Unopposed Roll, the GM also determines
the degree task, usually Fair.

There may be modifiers to any action roll.  A modifier of -1 means the
level of the appropriate trait is reduced one level for the matter at
hand - this is not a permanent reduction, though.  Likewise, modifiers
can temporarily improve a character's level with a given trait.
Examples: Joe, ordinarily Good with a sword, is Hurt (-1 to all
physical traits).  He is only Fair with a sword until he's healed.
Joe has Mediocre Lockpicking skills, but an exceptionally fine set of
lockpicks raises his skill to Fair while he's using them.

If a character has a secondary trait that could contribute
significantly to a task, the GM may allow a +1 level bonus.  (Example:
Vern is at the library, trying to find out information on an obscure
South American Indian ritual.  He using his Research skill of Good,
but he also has a Good Anthropology skill. The GM decides this is
significant enough to raise Vern's Research skill to Great for this
occasion.  If his Anthropology skill were Superb, the GM would simply
let Vern use that instead of Research: you don't get to be Superb in
Anthropology without having done a lot of research on it!)

Other conditions may grant a +/-1 to any roll.  +/-2 is fairly extreme
in FUDGE, however, and should not be granted lightly.

B3  How to Read the Dice
------------------------

When a character needs to resolve an action, the player rolls two
dice, adds the numbers, and consults the following table:

Rolled:     2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10   11   12
---------------------------------------------------------------
Levels:    -4   -3   -2   -1   +0   +0   +0   +1   +2   +3   +4

(This table should be on each character sheet - see Section E2 for an
example.  Those who can remember mathematical formulae easily can use:
If the result is more than 8, subtract 8; if the result is less than
6, subtract 6.  For a dice mechanism that does not require a table,
see Section F2, Addenda; and for one using a d20 see Section F3,
Addenda.)

Read the number rolled across the top of the table, then look below to
the "Levels" line.  The number refers to how many levels above or
below the character's trait level the result is.

Example:  Sam has a Good Bow Skill, and is shooting at an archery
contest.  He rolls two dice, and consults the chart.  If he rolls a 7
(+0 levels), he gets a Good result.  If he rolls a 9 (+1 level),
however, he gets a Great result, since Great is one level higher than
Good.  If he rolls a 3 (-3 levels), poor Sam has just made a Poor
shot.

B4  Success Rates
-----------------

The following table is provided so that players can better evaluate
their chances of success.

Chance of achieving your trait level: 44.4%.
Chance of getting above or below your trait level: 27.8% each.

Specifically:
Chance of getting trait level +/-1: 11.1% each.
Chance of getting trait level +/-2: 8.3% each.
Chance of getting trait level +/-3: 5.6% each.
Chance of getting trait level +/-4: 2.8% each.

B5  Critical Results
--------------------

Whenever a result of +4 is rolled, this can be considered a critical
success - the character has done exceptionally well, and the GM may
grant some special bonus to the action.  Likewise, a result of -4 is a
critical failure, or fumble, and the character has done as poorly as
he possibly can in the given situation.

Optionally, if a character gets a rolled degree four or more levels
better than the degree task (or opponent's roll, in Opposed Rolls), he
has gotten a critical success.  Likewise, four levels below a degree
task is a critical failure.

B6  Unopposed Rolls
-------------------

For each Unopposed Roll, the GM sets a degree task (Fair being the
most common), and announces which trait should be rolled against.  The
player rolls against his level, and tries to match or surpass the
degree task.  In cases where there are levels of success, the better
the roll, the better the character did; the worse the roll, the worse
the character did.

In setting the degree of a task, the GM should remember that the
default for most skills is Poor, not Fair.  Thus the average *trained*
climber can climb a Fair cliff most of the time, but the average
*untrained* climber will usually get a Poor result.  In the example
above (Sam shooting at an archery target), if the target is large and
close, even a Mediocre archer could be expected to hit it: degree task
Mediocre.  If it were *much* smaller and farther away, perhaps only a
Great archer could expect to hit it regularly: degree task Great.  And
so on.

B7  Opposed Rolls
-----------------

When Opposed Rolls are called for, each side rolls two dice against
the appropriate traits, and announces the result.  The traits rolled
against are not necessarily the same: for example, a seduction attempt
would be rolled against a Seduction skill for the active participant,
and against Will for the resisting participant.  There may be
modifiers: someone with a vow of chastity would get a bonus of +1
level to his Will, while someone with a Lecherous fault would have a
penalty - or not even try to resist!

The rolled degrees are compared, and a relative degree is determined.
For example, if Lisa is trying to seduce Joe, and rolls a Great
result, this doesn't automatically mean she succeeds.  If Joe also
rolls a Great result on his Will to resist being seduced, then the
relative degree is 0 - which means the status quo is maintained.  In
this case, Joe remains unseduced.  If Joe rolled a Superb result,
Lisa's Great result would have actually earned her a relative degree
of -1: Joe is not going to be seduced this encounter, and may even
have a bad reaction to Lisa.

B8  Combat
----------

Combat is usually handled with Opposed Rolls.  The combatants
determine which traits they are rolling against, largely depending on
whether or not they are using a weapon, and what type.  Each side
makes an Opposed Roll, as above.  A relative degree of zero means that
the combat round is a stand-off.

(A combat round is an indeterminate length of time set by the GM -
around 3 seconds seems reasonable to some people, while that might
seem grossly short or absurdly long to others.)

If there is a relative degree other than zero, the winner checks to
see if he hit hard enough to damage the loser.  Other combat rounds
may be needed, or one party may attempt to flee, negotiate, etc.

All-out offense, such as a berserk attack, gets a +1 to combat skill.
However, a tied degree task means the berserker loses by -2 relative
degree.  Likewise, an All-out defensive stance gets a +1 to combat
skill, but the foe cannot take any damage, unless he loses critically.

Melee combat rounds are simultaneous - combatants from only one side
can be hurt in a given round.  Ranged combat, however, may be
simultaneous, or the GM may determine Initiative (perhaps by an
Initiative attribute modified by circumstances) and have the opponents
alternate taking pot shots at each other.

B8.1  Melee Combat
------------------

Melee combat is being close enough to the foe to use the same weapon
repeatedly, without having to throw it.  The weapon used (which can be
simply a fist) determines which trait a fighter uses to roll against,
but otherwise does not affect the Opposed Roll in combat.  The type of
the weapon affects damage, though - see Section B8.4, Damage.

B8.2  Ranged Combat
-------------------

Ranged combat may or may not use Opposed Rolls:

If the target is unaware of the assault, the attacker makes an
Unopposed Roll to see if he hits his target - the GM sets the degree
task based on distance, lighting, cover, etc.

(Do not modify the attacker's level for range, partial cover, etc. -
that's included in the degree task.  Equipment such as a laser
sighting scope can modify the attacker's level, though.)

If the defender is aware of the attack, however, they use Opposed
Rolls: the attacker's ranged weapon skill against the defender's
defensive trait.  A defensive roll should be made against a Dodge
skill, or Agility attribute, or something similar.

If the ranged weapon is thrown, there is no modifier to the defense
trait.  However, a propelled weapon, such as a bow, gun, or beam
weapon, is much harder to avoid.  In this case, reduce the defender's
trait level by -1 or even -2.

B8.3  Multiple Combatants
-------------------------

When more than one opponent attacks a single fighter, they have a
positional advantage, at least.  To reflect this, the lone fighter is
at -1 level for each additional foe beyond the first.  The lone
fighter rolls once, and the result is compared with *each* of the
opponents' rolls, one after the other.

When multiple NPCs beset a lone PC, however, the GM may wish to roll
only once for all the NPCs.  In this case, the lone PC is not at -1
level for each additional fighter.  Instead, the GM simply rolls once,
and the result is read for all the NPCs.  However, if the GM rolls
doubles where each die is *less than or equal to* the number of NPCs
in the fight, then they all automatically score a hit on the PC.
(Critical success on the part of the PC is the only way to avoid
this.)  Note that this method translates ordinarily bad rolls (double
1s, double 2s) into automatic hits, and is therefore doubly potent.
The amount of damage they each do is up to the GM - she has complete
freedom to cripple the character if he's foolish enough to fight many
foes at once.  She should be lenient if he rolled very well, though .
. .

Example: 3 NPC pirates, complete with eye-patches, scars, earrings,
sneers and general bad attitudes, are attacking dashing PC hero
Tucker.  The pirates (whose names are Molly, Annie, and Maggie) are
Fair, Good, and Mediocre, respectively, at combat skills.  If the GM
rolls a 3 and a 4, they each have a rolled degree equal to their
levels: Fair, Good and Mediocre in this case.  Each result is compared
with Tucker's single roll, and wounds are distributed accordingly.
However, if the GM rolls double 1s, double 2s, or double 3s, all three
pirates automatically hit Tucker in the same turn, unless he rolls a
critical success.  Double 4s wouldn't have this result, though, since
there are only three pirates.

The number of foes that can attack a single opponent is limited, of
course.  Six is about the maximum under ideal conditions (such as
spear-wielders, or wolves), while only three or four can attack if
using swung weapons (or martial arts requiring a lot of space to
maneuver).  If the lone fighter is in a doorway, only one or two
fighters can reach him, at most.

B8.4  Damage
------------

The following factors must all be considered when discussing damage:

1) The relative degree the attack succeeded by - the better the hit,
   the more likelihood of damage.  Winning a combat round with a
   relative degree of +1 means you just hit her somewhere, probably
   where she's most heavily armored.  Scoring a hit with a +3,
   however, means you may have found a chink in the armor.

2) The defender's armor.  People wearing thicker armor, and more of
   it, tend to get hurt less than those wearing no armor.  Armor can
   be finely defined, or simply said to be Light, Medium, or Heavy
   armor.  SF scenarios might have Extra-Heavy armor.

3) The deadliness of the attacker's weapon.  Big weapons tend to do
   more damage than little weapons; sharp weapons rip tissue more than
   dull ones.  People trained in Karate tend to do more damage than
   those untrained in any martial art.

4) The strength of the blow.  For muscle-powered weapons, such as
   melee weapons, unarmed attacks, bows, slings, etc., this is
   determined by the attacker's Strength attribute: stronger folks
   tend to hit harder.  For things like guns, beam weapons, etc., it
   is relative to the nature of the weapon: a .38 does more damage
   than a .22.

5) The amount of damage the victim can soak up.  Big guys can take
   more damage before collapsing than little guys, usually.

Two damage-tracking systems are presented here for use by the GM: one
is simpler than the other, but less defined.

B8.4-a  Subjective Damage System
--------------------------------

The GM mentally assesses all of the above conditions (or writes them
down, the better to weigh them), and announces how hurt the defender
is.

The levels are:

Just A Scratch: no real game effect, except to create tension.  The GM
     may decide that a number of Scratches equals Hurt, though.

Hurt: the character is wounded enough to slow him down a little: -1 to
     all traits which would logically be affected.

Very Hurt: the character is severely wounded, possibly stumbling: -2
     to all traits which would logically be affected.

Disabled: the character is so badly wounded as to be incapable of any
     actions, except possibly dragging himself a few feet every now
     and then and gasping out an important message.

Near Death: the character is not only unconscious, he'll die in a few
     minutes without outside medical help.

Truly Dead: he has no more use for his possessions; may as well help
     yourself.

A very easy way to keep track of wounds is with cards: give a player
one face-down card when his character is Hurt, and another face-down
card when his character is Very Hurt.  He gets rid of them when the
character is healed.  Face-up cards represent fatigue - the character
is reeling from exhaustion.  He gets rid of those by resting.

Each card the character has represents a -1 to traits that would
logically be affected until the third, which represents near
incapacitation.

B8.4-b  Objective Damage System
-------------------------------

This system quantifies damage more than the other, and is quite
mechanical.  Simply check down each step below, modifying the damage
done as you go.

Amount of damage done = relative degree by which the winner hit the
   loser.

(Example: if Lisa rolls a Great combat result and Joe only a Fair
result, Lisa has hit Joe for two points of damage.)

This is modified as follows:

For defender's armor:
    -1 for a good shield (additive with other armor).
    -1 for light armor.
    -2 for medium armor.
    -3 for heavy armor.
    -4 or more for SF advanced armor.

For attacker's muscle-powered weapon:
    -2 for no weapon, no Martial Art skill.
    -1 Martial Art skill at Fair or better, no weapon.
    -1 for small weapon (knife, etc.)
    +0 for average-sized weapon (sword, axe, spear, bow, etc.).
    +1 for large weapon (polearm, battleaxe, etc.).
    +1 for sharp weapon (additive with other weapon damage).

For attacker's Strength (muscle-powered weapons only):
    +0 for Fair, Mediocre or Good Strength.
    +1 for Great Strength
    +2 for Superb Strength
    -1 for Poor Strength
    -2 for Terrible Strength

For weapon's Strength (Guns, Crossbows, Beam weapons, etc.,):
    +/- Strength of weapon.

(Note to GM: guns and similar weapons that do not rely on muscle power
should be rated at the beginning of the game.  The average small hand
gun might be of +1 Strength, while a derringer might be +0 or even -1.
Powerful guns will be +4 and higher, while bazookas and other anti-
tank weapons will be +8 and higher.)

Each wound affects the character's Hit Points as outlined in Section
A4.2-b, Hit Points.  Wounds are cumulative: that is, if a character
with Fair Hit Points receives one per turn, he is Hurt on the second
wound.  When the character takes enough hits to be Hurt, he is at -1
level for all traits that would logically be affected by a wound.
When he is Very Hurt, he is at -2 levels to all traits.

At Disabled, he's reeling, and may even be unconscious - roll a
Mediocre degree task against Constitution to stay conscious.  Even if
he passes the consciousness check, he still can't fight or do much
beyond drag himself along and gasp out messages.  A very lenient GM
might allow a Disabled character to perform such complicated actions
as opening a door or grabbing a gem . . .

When he falls to Near Death, he isn't quite dead yet, but he's
definitely no longer conscious.  He'll be truly Dead if left untended
- nobody recovers from Near Death on their own.  In fact, he'll slip
into Dead pretty quickly: a few minutes at most.  Two more wounds
while at Near Death means he's truly Dead.

Automatic Death: sometimes you don't have to roll the dice: holding a
knife to a helpless character's throat is a good example - no roll
needed to kill such a character.

B8.5  Healing
-------------

Healing is done through a medical skill (or supernormal power).  A
Scratch is too insignificant to need healing (or it might require a
kiss to make it better . . .).  A Good result heals all Hurt wounds; a
Great result heals all Very Hurt (as well as Hurt) wounds, and a
Superb result heals a Disabled character.  Otherwise, wounds heal on
their own at one per week of rest.

Of course, healing with realistic medical skills takes time: the
success of the roll merely insures the wounds *will* heal, given
enough rest.  How long this takes depends on the technological level
of the game setting, and is up to the GM.  (A day per treated wound is
extremely fast healing, but may be appropriate in an epic game.)
Whether or not strenuous activity before the healing period ends
reopens a wound is also left up to the GM . . .

B9  Non-human Scales
--------------------

Some games will have characters (or animals, etc.) with powers beyond
the human norm, one way or the other.  Examples would be giants,
superheroes, pixies, intelligent rabbits, aliens, etc.

In these cases, the GM must create separate scales that may or may not
relate to the human scale given in Section A, Character Creation.

Most of the discussion relates to strength and Hit Points.  While it's
possible to have other attributes and even skills at different scales
from the human norm, it's much less likely.  Fatigue is an obvious
exception, of course, and there are probably others.  Most will have
to do with sheer size or supernormal powers.

B9.1  Strength
--------------

Strength is the most obvious candidate for a separate scale.  For
instance, a character with super strength is well beyond the human
Superb; even beyond Superb+4.  This isn't a problem, though: simply
define a Super Scale with the *average* Strong superhero's strength at
Fair.  Then define the character relative to that.

Example: in Linda's game, the average Strong superhero can lift an
automobile without effort.  Pete wants to play an average Strong
superhero.  Very well, his Super Strength is defined as Fair, and
lifting an automobile would be a Terrible degree task for him, since
it takes no effort, and requires no roll.  If he wanted to lift a
fully-loaded 18-wheeler semi truck, though, he would need to roll a
Mediocre result on a degree task on his Super Strength.  And to lift a
battleship would take a Superb result.

For some characters, such as fantasy ogres and some aliens, the scales
may intersect with the human scale slightly.  A small giant might have
a scale where his Terrible is equal to a human's Great, Superb, or
Superb+1.  The scale should be tailored so that the average
representative of the character's species (or type) is of Fair
strength.  The character may then be rated compared to that.

For Wee Folk and intelligent small animals, the scale is below the
human norm.  In such a scale, a Superb result might equal a human
Terrible result.  Thus, a leprechaun might need a Superb strength
degree task to lift a rock that a human could lift without even a
roll.

For damage to other beings in the same strength range, simply use the
rules as written.  For combat between two creatures of different
ranges, see the next section.

B9.2  Hit Points
----------------

Many characters and creatures can take damage far beyond what humans
can, while others cannot survive a small percentage of the damage we
can bandage and walk around with.

Hit points can be handled in two ways: subjectively or objectively.
They are already figured into the subjective damage system as point
number 5, so we need only examine the objective system.

The GM simply assigns a multiplier to determine how many hit points
someone/something has.  If the being is much larger than a human,
every level of Hit Point might equal 2, 3, or even more human Hit
Points.  Conversely, 2, 3, or more Wee Folk Hit Points equals 1 human
Hit Point.

Damage is figured normally per the strength of the attacker, then
converted.  However, convert armor to the same scale as the lesser
creature - that is, rate both a human's armor and dragon's hide in
terms of human damage when in combat with each other, but rate a
human's armor in terms of a leprechaun's damage if in a fight with one
of the Wee Folk (generally a bad move, by the way).

Example: Wilbur, a human knight with a sword, is attacking a dragon.
Wilbur, has Great strength (for a human: +1 to damage) and is using a
large two-handed sword (+1 for size of weapon, +1 for sharpness = +2
to damage).  If he hits the dragon with a relative degree of +3, he
does 3+1+2 = 6 points of damage.  The dragon, however, has a very
tough hide that subtracts 2 points of damage on the human scale,
meaning 4 get through to wound her.  This would be a very severe blow
to a human (Disabled for a person with Fair Hit Points), but the GM
had decided in advance that this dragon is quite hearty: 5 human Hit
Points = 1 Dragon Hit Point.  So it's not even a Scratch for the
dragon.  Still, if Wilbur can do it again, the dragon will be
Scratched next turn, then at -1 to her own attacks the time after that
(assuming she has Fair Hit Points relative to dragons).  Hmm - he may
need help for a dragon this size!

Another example: Sheba, a human warrior, has just kicked McMurtree, a
wee leprechaun.  Sheba won with a relative degree of +1, her hard
boots and Unarmed Combat skill give her +0, and her strength +0, for a
final result of +1 damage.  However, McMurtree (who's wearing light
leprechaun armor: -1 damage) is one of the Wee Folk, and 3 leprechaun
Hit Points = 1 human Hit Point, so he takes 2 points of damage (1
human point, converted to 3 leprechaun points, -1 for his armor).
Since his Hit Point level is Fair, he's now Hurt.  It would have taken
leprechaun Heavy armor (-3) to have stopped all the damage.

McMurtree's friend, Fionn, now swings his shillelagh at Sheba.  He
wins by +3, aiming at her knee.  +3 for the hit, +0 for his Strength
(Good, for a leprechaun) and +0 for the weapon result in +3 damage.
Unfortunately, Sheba's light armor, converted to Wee Folk scale, stops
exactly 3 points of damage.  Fionn and McMurtree had better think of
some other strategies, quickly!

-- 
  - Steffan O'Sullivan		         sos@oz.plymouth.edu