"Figuring Out What Happens", Streamlining Outcomes

I've been putting a lot of thought lately into what exactly makes my game different from other Fudge-based RPG's. There are some obvious things, such as the way Fudge Points work, the replacement of Gifts/Faults with Qualities, the combat rules, and the addition of Talents and the magic system. None of these differences are revolutionary or groundbreaking, and in fact, most of them are inspired in part by other game systems. But one of the biggest differences I have been attempting to make has been making an objective Fudge rules set maintain the relative simplicity and intuitiveness of Fudge's roots.

At its core, Fudge is a pretty simple system. However, there are some elements, such as Scale, certain combat rules and armor/weapon stats that can make the game bit more difficult to adjudicate and learn to play. Beyond that, standard Fudge doesn't tell you much about "what happens" after the modifiers are sorted out and the dice are rolled. One of the things I love about Fudge is its use of relative success and failure, but there aren't really any guidelines for what that means, exactly.

One of my primary goals for this game is to make it easy enough to learn that it will encourage inexperienced or less experienced players who like the Sword & Sorcery genre to pick it up and try it out. To that end, I've been trying to find ways to explain how to play and manage the game with some easy-to-remember guidelines.

What I've devised is a simple table that shows "what happens" with both unopposed and opposed actions. Again, I don't believe this to be entirely revolutionary in approach, but I haven't found a Fudge-based game with anything exactly like this.

I've combined the possible outcomes with a descriptive way to resolve the action with the hopes that it will make it quicker and easier for GM's and players to discern "what happens" in a given situation.

Here is the table I've created to lay it out:

Unopposed	Opposed	Outcome	Result
5+ Successes	8+ Successes	Overwhelming Success	“Yes, and…and…”
3-4 Successes	6-7 Successes	Major Success	“Yes, and…..”
1-2 Successes	3-5 Successes	Success	“Yes…..”
Tie	1-2 Successes	Minimal Success	“Yes, but…..”
1-2 Failures	3-5 Failures	Failure	“No, but…..”
3-4 Failures	6-7 Failures	Major Failure	“No, and…..”
5+ Failures	8+ Failures	Overwhelming Failure	“No, and…and…”

It's not really possible to perfectly line up the outcomes of unopposed and opposed actions due to the way ties generally work. In an unopposed action, ties are considered a "minimal success", but in opposed actions, ties are normally considered a draw.  Here is how the above relates to Wounds and Stress (when using Simultaneous Action Resolution):

Damage/Stress	Type	Result
8+	Traumatic	Taken Out
6-7	Critical	-1/Week
3-5	Serious	-1/Day
1-2	Minor	-1 on next Exchange

I tried to remain as close as possible to the damage/stress levels for combat and social conflict. This has the nice side-effect of making it easier for groups to determine the pacing of a given scenario; whether to use scene-based resolution or simultaneous action resolution. Using this setup, the results remain congruent. For example, this is how it relates to Wounds during combat:

Minor Wound: "Yes, you have hit your opponent, but... you only managed to affect your opponent for the next Exchange."

Serious Wound: "Yes, you have managed to affect your opponent for the entire fight."

Critical Wound: "Yes, and...your opponent will be affected long after the fight."

Traumatic Wound: "Yes, and...your opponent will be affected long after the fight, and...they have effectively been taken out of the fight."

For the result, I wanted to take a conversational approach while still giving a sort of visual reference of the differences in outcomes. Using the "Yes, No, And, But" approach makes it much easier and quicker for me to visualize how to describe "what happens". "Yes" means some sort of success, while "No" means some kind of failure. "And" means something in addition to the success or failure, while "But" means an additional component that is opposed to the success or failure.

As for the "And's" and "But's", I've included several suggestions and examples in the book. That way, GM's and players can pick the ones (or two's, in the case of overwhelming success and failure) that are the best for a given situation.

Some people may notice that I used, "No, but..." for a normal failure. I did this because I dislike outcomes that create a dead end. By adding a "but" after the "no", it means that while the PC failed in what they were attempting to do, but all is not lost.

A classic example is when a thief is picking the lock on an important door, say to a crypt. If the thief simply fails, the players might feel like they're at a dead end. But, if we add a "but" to the failure, we give the group options. Perhaps the fighter leaning on his ax and looking around notices a small footpath leading around to the side of the crypt entrance, suggesting another way in. Perhaps a caretaker wanders up to the group who either possesses or knows the location of the key that will open the crypt. Or perhaps the thief lets out a sigh of frustration, and the puff of air reveals some strange symbols next to the door that were previously obscured by dust, which when deciphered, may open the gate or reveal a hidden key. While the "no" describes failure, the "but" offers an optional way to keep things moving.

Example

(Image by Joanna
Gebka - http://www.deviantart.com/art/Thief-313763930)

As an unopposed example, Tigu the thief is breaking into a sorcerer's tower. She has a rope and grappling hook, which would normally make this an easy task. However, there are guards roaming the grounds surrounding the tower, and it has been raining, making the tower and the rope a bit slick. The GM bases the Difficulty at Poor [-2], adds +1 for the need to move quickly before being seen, and another +1 for the wet and slippery conditions, raising the Difficulty to Fair [0]. Tigu has Good [+1] Thieving Skills, but rolls Medicore [-1], for a Total of Fair [0]. This means that Tigu has tied the Difficulty, which is a "minimal success", or a "yes, but..." outcome.

The GM describes it this way, "Tigu finds the wet conditions and her need to get up the wall quickly to make this more challenging than she originally anticipated. However, with much effort, Tigu makes it to the tower's roof before being spotted by any guards. However, due to everything being wet, and Tigu's arms being a little tired from the climb, she loses her grip on the grappling hook as she removes it from where it was lodged for her ascent, and the grappling hook and rope fall to the ground with a thud."

So, a minimal success is a "good news, bad news" kind of situation. The good news is, Tigu made it safely to the tower roof. The bad news is that she'll have to find another way down and hope that guards don't discover her rope and grappling hook before she finds what she's looking for and slips away into the night.

This example is actually from a game I ran a while back. It actually ended differently, because the player running Tigu spent a Fortune Point to use her Quality, "Cat-like reflexes", to bump her Minimal Success up to a Normal Success. So when I started describing the grappling hook slipping out of her grasp, she quickly said, "but thanks to my "cat-like reflexes", I'm able to grab the end of the grappling hook just before it falls to the ground.

I know I haven't invented a new type of wheel here, but I am very happy to have found a way in which to describe how to make the game easier and hopefully, more fun to play.