|
by Steven Michael Graham
(malpanda @ midmaine.com)
The beauty of Fudge's action resolution mechanic is its circularity. The rank
of the trait being used, the difficulty of the task, and the result of the
action (the rolled degree) are all measured on the same Terrible to Superb
scale, and this has intrinsic advantages. When a Fudge character ties a knot,
you almost automatically know how good a knot it is. The rolled degree of that
character's Knot-Tying roll can become the Difficulty level of another
character's attempt to untie it. The same principle can apply to anything a
character creates, solid or ethereal, permanent or ephemeral, from conjuring a
magical barrier to directing a movie.
Example: Granny Smith is a Great cook, as demonstrated by her Great apple pies.Under normal conditions (proper equipment, ample time, and no extraordinary distractions) there would be little randomness to the process, and therefore no Cooking roll. Great skill yields Great results. However, if President Roosevelt is coming to dinner, the nerves and self-consciousness that would accompany such a distinct honor may introduce randomness to her cooking process. In trying to make her meal Superb, she runs the risk of it being merely Good or Fair.
Obviously, some things that characters create are going to be more dangerous
than pies, but there are many ways for GMs to more tightly control the
circularity effect. For the sake of brevity in the rest of this article, any
object to be created (or made by transforming a pre-existing thing with
different properties into a new form ) or summoned, or otherwise 'brought into
play' by the effort of a character, regardless of the particular traits
employed to do so or the form the object takes, will be referred to as a
"construct".
If the construct will have the benefits of greater Size or Mass scale, then
assign proportionate penalties to the roll. The characters can offset these
penalties by spending extra time or working cooperatively to spread out the
extra work entailed. No one expects something like building a starship to be a
small job.
If the construct is intended to have many different features or functions, then
it's okay to ask for separate rolls to install or imbue each one. It's more
realistic for large or complex things (Catmobiles, Gubernatorial campaigns...)
to have both stronger and weaker points. Although, of course, relatively
insignificant features (like Catperson's am/fm car radio) can be glossed over,
requiring time (for the character, not the player) but no rolls.
If the construct should only be available at certain higher ranks or exists
only in varieties that possess high ranked traits, then be sure to set the
difficulty level of the rolls to acquire these things accordingly. Conversely,
the GM may set a ceiling on how powerful a given item can be. No matter how
Superbly engineered, paper airplanes can only fly so far and withstand so much
impact.
If the construct is of a sort where a few levels will have a lot of effect
(dangerous permanent things like weapons), then subtract the difficulty level
from the rolled degree and make that the rank of the construct's dangerous
trait. That way, it's still worthwhile for characters to have high ranks in
skills like Weaponsmithing, but they can't arm the whole village with +3 swords
...unless they plan really far ahead and put in lots of work. ("Miyaki! You
just melted down a perfectly Good sword!" "Sorry, but orcs are bound to attack
the village eventually, and when they do, I want everyone hefting the best
swords I can make!" )
Indeed, constructs can be even more abstract, the fleeting aftereffect of a
single action or assumed set of behaviors. A single roll can be used as a
Construct in situations where lots of similar rolls are called for, all in an
infeasibly short span of time. For example, a character might have an attack
that for whatever reason affects multiple separate targets almost
simultaneously (like autofire guns or certain bouncing round metal objects).
Instead of rolling separately to hit each target, the attacker can roll once,
and that rolled degree can be compared to the Difficulty of hitting each target
in turn. If that's too cinematic, the GM can subtract a bit from the rolled
degree for each target before the one being currently compared (or for each
successfully struck target before this one, to allow for how much of the attack
they've already soaked up).
One more example: Say there's a GM who loves to see if characters notice little
details all the time, or a GM that doesn't want the players to know when
they've all failed their perception checks. Each player can roll once per scene
to determine their current 'Alertness', and the GM can compare those standing
Alertness degrees to the Difficulty of noticing various details (or anything a
Perception check would be used for) as the opportunity to notice arises. No one
has to wear out the corners on their dice rolling scads of Perception checks,
and no player has to know how many times their perception was checked.
Obviously, this sort of 'Standing Roll' can only last for a short time, or the
potential for abuse becomes too great, but if these rolls are re-done every
round, or even just once per scene, (depending on how vital the trait in
question is) the rolls will even out over time, just like normal ones do.
|
