Fudge Lite

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Version 1.0.3
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Core Rules

Fudge ladder:
Superb
Great
Good
Fair
Mediocre
Poor
Terrible

Definitions:
Fudge die (or Fate die): a 6-sided die with two "+" sides, two "-" sides, and two blank
sides. 4dF means 4 Fudge dice are rolled for a result from -4 to +4.
Trait: anything that describes a character.
Ranked trait: any trait that fits on the Fudge ladder (usually called attributes or skills).
Unranked trait: any trait that doesn't fit on the Fudge ladder (gifts, faults, backstory,
character description).
Supernormal abilities: magic, psionics, superpowers, etc.

Character creation:
The GM starts with a base set of traits that's applicable to most settings and alters the
list as appropriate. The GM then gives the PCs points to spend to purchase these traits,
starting at Poor (0 points) and increasing 1 point for every additional level. The GM may
choose any number of starting points, but I'd recommend starting at 35 (equivalent to
Fudge on the Fly Character Creation).

Base traits:

Athletics
Healing/Medicine
Hit Points
Melee Combat
Persuasion
Physical Awareness
Ranged Combat
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Social Awareness
Stealth
Streetwise

Additional traits for medieval fantasy settings:

Cultural Knowledge (history, religion, customs, etc.)

Dungeoneering (knowledge of dungeon environments)
Languages*
Magic
Magic Lore
Magic Resistance
Nature (plant and animal knowledge, foraging, handle animal, navigation, and
tracking)
Thievery (disable traps, open locks, pick pockets, and sleight of hand)

Additional traits for sci-fi settings:

Galactic Knowledge (planetary customs, history, xenobiology, etc.)

Hacking**
Languages*
Psionics*
Psionic Lore*
Psionic Resistance*
Repair**
Starship Use (Piloting, Gunnery, Astrogation)

Additional trait for pulp settings (lots of chase scenes, airplane piloting, and/or
train/airship operation):

Vehicles (knowledge, driving/piloting, repair, operation)

*Optional
**Depending on the setting, the GM may wish to combine Hacking and Repair into a
single Technology skill.

The GM is encouraged to add and remove traits as appropriate for the setting. For
example, when running a pocket monster game I started with the base traits, removed
Healing/medicine, added Technology (a combination of Computers and Mechanics)
and Nature, and combined Melee Combat and Ranged Combat into just "Combat".

No trait should be obviously more or less useful than any of the other traits. If the trait
is too specific, or the setting won't naturally challenge that trait, you should alter it to be
more broadly applicable or just remove it. Conversely, if the trait is too useful you
should split it up into multiple traits. As an example I found myself calling for
Perception rolls too often in my games, so I split it into Social Perception and Physical
Perception.

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It's recommended that the GM split the traits Magic and Psionic into smaller categories
to match whatever supernormal system the setting uses. (see "Example magic traits for
a medieval fantasy setting")

HP:
Hit Points are treated like any other ranked trait. Terrible HP is 1 HP and each
additional level increases the character's HP by 1 point. Armor can add up to 3 HP. 0
HP is unconscious or incapacitated. Most attacks do 1 damage.

Optional:
GMs may also give the PCs bonus hit points at character creation to keep them from
being defeated too easily.

Trait Checks:
Start with a ranked trait. Roll 4dF and shift the trait up or down the Fudge ladder by the
number of steps indicated. Compare the result to the GM-decided difficulty level (if
unopposed) or to the opponent's relevant ranked trait plus an optional GM-decided
modifier (if opposed). A tie or better means the roller succeeded. The GM decides if a
player's failed roll means failure or success at a cost.

When rolling for an untrained or undefined trait: any trait that everyone should have
some skill at (fighting, climbing, basic math, etc.) defaults to Fair, while any trait that
requires specialized knowledge and/or training (particle physics, helicopter piloting,
etc.) defaults to Poor.

If you don't own any Fudge dice you can roll 4d6 instead. Treat a die roll of 1 or 2 as a
minus, 3 or 4 as a blank, and 5 or 6 as a plus. Thus, a roll of 1, 1, 2, 5 would be
equivalent to [-][-][-][+], which adds up to -2.

Bonuses and penalties:

Sometimes a player will have bonuses and/or penalties that could affect their roll. +1 is
a good bonus, +2 is a very good bonus, and +3 is a very rare, very large bonus. The same
modifiers also apply to penalties. Only the single largest bonus and the single largest
penalty apply to any given roll.

Combat:
The GM describes a threat and asks the PC, "what do you do?" A failed player roll, or a
player ignoring an oncoming threat, means the GM can inflict damage or cause
additional problems for the PC. There is no initiative; the GM shifts the spotlight
between the different players as needed.

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Successful attacks reduce a character's hit points by one. An unmodified roll* of +3 or
+4 counts as a critical hit and inflicts an extra point of damage. Attacks that target an
opponent's weakness may also inflict extra damage at the GM's discretion.

*the 4dF roll before applying it to the trait

Optional rule:
If a PC takes damage as the direct result of a failed combat roll, and the unmodified roll
is -3 or -4, the PC takes an extra point of damage.

Healing:
Resting for several hours in unsafe territory (enemy territory, wilderness, dungeon)
causes players to regain a number of hit points equal to half the player's max HP,
rounded up. Resting overnight in safety and comfort heals full HP.

Players gain 1 HP for each healing resource spent (e.g. potions, bandages, spell slots,
mana, or simply time spent.) Healing rolls are only required in stressful situations.

Magic:
The ability to cast a specific type of magic is a ranked trait. The different types of magic
and the breadth and limits of those types are up to the GM.

The following spell difficulty guidelines are adapted from Daneel's Simpler Magic
System for Mini Six (https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?531361-Mini-Six-Simpler-
Magic-System)

Poor, Mediocre:

Short Range (touch)

Short Duration (one action)
Single Target (one creature/object)
Cantrips/Orisons, See Auras, Speak Languages, Burning Touch

Fair, Good:

Medium Range (bowshot)

Medium Duration (several actions)
Medium Area (several people)
Charm People, Mystic Armor, Heal Wounds, Fire Ball, Polymorph

Great, Superb, Fair Superhuman:

Long Range (sight)

Long Duration (entire scene/encounter)
Large Area (crowd)
Resurrection, Group Teleport, Earthquake, Anti-magic Zone

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Good Superhuman, Great Superhuman, Superb Superhuman:

Any Range, Duration, Area & Effect

Wish, Miracle

Increase the difficulty if the spell being cast meets more than one criterion of a spell of
that level.

Bad Things happen on a failed roll. Precisely what those Bad Things are depend on the
difficulty of the roll and how badly the roll was failed. A few suggestions (with some
inspiration from Dungeon World and the Dungeon World hack Wizard World):

The best the caster can get is a lesser, limited version.

The spell has an unexpected side effect.
The spellcaster draws unwanted attention or puts themselves in a difficult
situation.
The spell requires the spellcaster's ongoing concentration. The caster takes an
ongoing 1-point penalty to spellcasting as long as the spell is active.
The spell disturbs the fabric of reality as it is cast. The caster takes an ongoing 1-
point penalty to all spellcasting until they rest and meditate for at least an hour.
Same as above, but the penalty applies to all rolls the spellcaster makes, not just
spellcasting.
The spellcaster takes damage to at least one of their stat tracks (health, mana,
corruption, sanity, etc.) or loses additional resources (spell slots, time, equipment,
etc.)

Character Advancement:
Characters get 1-3 Experience Points (XP) per session.

Raising a ranked trait:

Terrible to Poor: 1 XP
Poor to Mediocre: 1 XP
Mediocre to Fair: 1 XP
Fair to Good: 2 XP
Good to Great: 4 XP
Great to Superb: 8 XP
Superb to Legendary: 16 XP + GM permission

For slower character advancement increase the costs.

Example magic traits for a medieval fantasy setting

Abjuration
Conjuration
Healing

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 Illusion
Summoning
Transmutation

Abjuration:
Protection from an energy type or from physical attacks, cancelling magics, warding an
area to prevent entry from anything fitting a certain criteria, warding an area to weaken
any intruders that fit a certain criteria, banishing summoned entities, reflecting spells
back at their caster.

Conjuration:
Lightning, flame, light, shadow, fog, acid, ice, stone, metal, wood, force, wind, grease,
thorns, web. The qualities of the conjured material may only be manipulated as it's
being conjured (e.g. to impart shape and speed to a fireball).

If Conjuration is too broad a category it can be split into Mundus Conjuration and
Aether Conjuration. Mundus is used for solid conjurations like earth, stone, metal,
plant, and liquids like water and oil. Aether is used for gasses and energies like wind,
fog, light, shadow, fire, lightning, and mana.

Healing:
Cure wounds, neutralize poison, regenerate, cure blindness/deafness/paralysis, cure
disease, restore ability, resurrection

Illusion:
Make something/someone look like something/someone else, create phantom
images/noises, invisibility.

Transmutation:
Changing a target's shape and/or size, changing materials, adding or removing qualities
or abilities, animating the inanimate, enhancing or diminishing qualities.

Summoning:
Summon any of the following: monster, spirit, fey, elemental, animal, demon, undead,
construct, extraplanar entity, swarm. The summons may be controlled or let loose, but
an uncontrollable summon is much easier to summon.

Game Mastering

Sneak attacks and Coup de Grace:

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Hit points only apply to NPCs in situations where the NPC is able to respond to the
threat. If the NPC is disabled or caught unaware, they can be knocked out or killed by a
PC regardless of their hit points. A tough NPC or a heavily-armored one may be treated
as having a passive defense trait, but it should be lower than their threat rating would
be.

Environment Hazards:
Damage that could kill a human does 1 damage. Damage that could kill a horse does 2
damage, and damage that could kill an ogre or destroy a vehicle does 4 damage.

NPC Creation:
NPCs have a threat rating, hit points, and any other traits the GM wants them to have.
Any undefined ranked trait defaults to the NPC's threat rating. NPCs also have
behaviors that can be triggered whenever a player fails a roll, looks to the GM to see
what happens, or ignores a threat. Enemies meant for short battles should only have 1
or 2 Hit Points each, while boss monsters should have HP equivalent to a PC (or more!)

Example NPCs:

Troll

Threat rating: Great

Gift: Quick regeneration. On a failed player roll the troll may regain a hit point.
-and/or-
Gift: Slow regeneration: The troll comes back to life a certain amount of time after dying
(minutes, hours, days), eventually coming back to full health. Limbs regenerate, etc.
Fault: Pretty dumb.
Fault: Fire attacks and acid attacks both permanently take hit points off of the troll.
Fault (optional): Permanently turns to stone in sunlight.
Behavior: Big. Dumb. Strong. Grab things, pick them up, and smash them against other
things. Do the same thing to people.

Giant Spider

Threat rating: Fair

Gift: Paralyzing venom in fangs
Gift: Webspinning
Behavior: Create sticky webs to catch prey, inject a paralytic venom with your fangs,
then wrap your prey in a coccoon before sucking their fluids out.

Brigand

Threat rating: Mediocre

Behavior: Loot, pillage, and plunder. Obey your leader. Attack the innocent. Take by
force.

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Brigand Leader

Threat rating: Good

Behavior: Command your followers. Reward obedience. Crush any challenges to your
authority. Boast recklessly.

Pyromaniac Fire Mage

Threat rating: Good

Gift: Spellcasting. Spells known: Fireball, Flamethrower.
Gift: Immunity to his own flames.
-OR-
Gift: Immunity to all flames
Behavior: Burn all the things! If anybody tries to stop you, burn them as well!

Psionic Monk

Threat rating: Superb

Gift: Psionicist. Psionic abilities: Telepathy/empathy, Telekinesis, Physical
Augmentation (acrobatic jumps, fast movement), Suggestion.
Gift: Plasma Sword
Behavior: Defend the weak. Destroy the wicked. Be at peace in all your actions.

Fallen Psionic Monk

Threat rating: Superb

Gift: Psionicist. Psionic abilities: Telepathy/empathy, Telekinesis, Physical
Augmentation (acrobatic jumps, fast movement), Lightning.
Gift: Plasma Sword
Behavior: Let your anger and hatred flow through you. Crush your enemies. Show no
mercy.

Mooks (guards, stormtroopers, minions, cultists, etc.)

Threat Rating: Mediocre

Behavior: Mob the heroes, die in droves.

Example combat
GM: The cultist waves his staff ominously over the altar, but the more immediate threat
are his two warg rider cronies who are rapidly approaching you. The goblins have
wicked curved blades and they cry for your blood. How do you react to their charge?
PC: I cast a Flash cantrip to blind the first rider.
GM: What's your Spellcasting skill?
PC: Mediocre.
GM: I'm gonna say casting Flash in this context requires a Mediocre magic skill, so you
just need to roll 0 or higher on the Fudge dice.
PC: *rolls 4dF*
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PC: Ouch. -1.
GM: Poor result. The spell backfires and goes off in your face, temporarily blinding you.
What do you do?
PC: Okay, I know the wargs are coming, so I try to jump out of the way.
GM: Athletics check.
PC: Mediocre plus roll equals-
PC: *rolls 4dF*
PC: Augh! -3!
*GM laughs*
PC: That's... one level below Terrible! I did so poorly on my roll that there isn't even a
ranking for it!
GM: Blinded, you run straight into the wall. Using your moment of disorientation, the
goblins attack you from warg-back with their swords. You feel the blades slice through
your armor. Mark off a hit point.
PC: That brings me down to 3 HP. Freaking hell.
GM: Okay, the temporary blindness has worn off, but you're still a little disoriented.
You're at -1 to your next roll. The warg-riders come around for another pass. What do
you do?
PC: I vault onto the nearest warg to knock the goblin off his perch.
GM: That'll require a Good Dexterity roll, followed by an opposed Strength check to
knock the goblin off.
PC: *rolls*
PC: Crap, -1.
GM: Combined with the disorientation -1 and your Mediocre dexterity, you did Terribly.
You make it onto the warg, but at a cost. Because of your fumbling the goblin gets a free
shot at you. The goblin does one more point of damage. Okay, now for the opposed
Strength check. The goblin has Mediocre Strength.
PC: I have Good Strength, so this should work.
*rolls 4dF*
PC: -1, so my Fair beats the goblin's Mediocre.
GM: And down the goblin goes!

"Yes, but":
For boring-but-necessary PC actions the GM may allow the player to automatically
succeed with complications (or without complications if the action is trivial) as long as
the PC has the appropriate trait at an acceptable level. This is an expansion of the "Tell
the requirements and ask" GM move (see Appendix A: Dungeon World GM Moves). The
player states what their character wants to achieve and the GM chooses up to four
complications. The GM must tell the player the complications before the PC takes
action.

Situations where "Yes, but" would be appropriate include: crafting equipment, giving
medical treatment, creating a new magical spell or effect, developing skills.

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Sample complications:

It's going to take days/weeks/months

First you must ____
You'll need help from ____
It will require a lot of money
The best you can do is a lesser version, unreliable and limited
You and your allies will risk danger from ____
You'll draw unwanted attention from ____
You'll have to take apart/disenchant ____ to do it
The finished product will have the following side-effect(s): ____

The GM may allow the player to choose between different combinations of

complications. ("Either it will take a lot of money and several weeks, or you can swallow
your pride and ask Jorgen for help." "Never!")

Trans-Superb traits
Unless playing in a superhero campaign, player characters don't start the game with
skills above Superb. Still, sometimes a character's roll or a monster's trait goes above
Superb. For these situations there's the trans-superb scale. Superhuman is a qualifier
that adds +4 to a trait. Beyond Superhuman is Planetary (+8) and Cosmic (+12), but at
that point you're talking about galaxy-ending threats.

Superb Superhuman
Great Superhuman
Good Superhuman
Fair Superhuman
Superb
Great
Good
Fair
Mediocre
Poor
Terrible

Alternate Character Creation Rules

Subjective Character creation:

Write down everything important about your character, ranking any traits that can be
ranked on the Fudge Ladder.

Quick Character Creation (Over the Edge):

Characters get a broad trait (class, occupation, etc.) and two narrower traits (specific
skills). Any one of the three traits may be Great, while the other two are Good. Any
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supernormal ability must be the broad trait. The GM may also require each PC to have a
fault.

Quick Character Creation (Wushu):

Characters are defined by 3 player-defined traits. One should describe their motivation
and be ranked Superb, one should describe their fighting style and be ranked Great,
and one should describe their profession and be ranked Good. The GM may also require
each PC to have a fault.

Fudge On The Fly Character Creation:

Players don't have to decide on their traits before play starts. When a relevant trait is
called for the player can fill it in in the appropriate spot below. The player may decide
on a trait at any time. A player can only place a trait where there is an open slot for it. A
player may create more Poor slots if necessary.

Superb:
[________________]
Great:
[________________] [________________]
Good:
[________________] [________________] [________________]
Fair:
[________________] [________________] [________________]
[________________]
Mediocre:
[________________] [________________] [________________]
[________________] [________________]
Poor:
[________________] [________________] [________________]
[________________] [________________] [________________]
[________________] [________________] [________________]

Alternate Character Advancement Rules:

Keys
Starting characters get at least one free defined action of easy to moderate difficulty
("key") and the ability to buy more. Players gain 1 XP when their character takes the
action ("hits the key") or 2 when the character hits the key against great odds or goes
into danger because of it. Character advancement costs are multiplied by 10.

Example Key: Key of Bloodlust: Hit your key when you overcome an opponent in battle.

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Players may buy off their key by acting in opposition to it, and earn 10 XP thereby. A
key that is bought off can never be taken again by that character. A player may act in
opposition to their key and still keep it; the player only loses the key when they wish to.

Buyoff for the Key of Bloodlust: Pass up an opportunity for a good fight.

Players may purchase keys at any time. Buying a key costs 10 XP, the same amount a
character gets for buying off their old key. Each player can only have a maximum of five
keys at any time.

In-character Costs
Players can improve traits, but there will be in-character costs decided by the GM (see
"yes, but"). This may or may not be used in conjunction with XP rules.

Learning From Failure

Players gain 1 XP whenever their character fails a trait check. The GM should increase
character advancement costs to compensate.

Learning From Success

Players gain 1 XP whenever their character succeeds a trait check. The GM should
increase character advancement costs to compensate.

Learning From Failure AND Success:

Players gain 1 XP whenever their character succeeds a trait check AND whenever their
character fails a trait check. The GM should DEFINITELY increase character
advancement costs to compensate.

Optional Rules:

Fudge Points:
PCs start the game with 1-5 Fudge Points. Spending a Fudge Point lets you do one of the
following:

Automatically succeed at any unopposed roll of Superb or lower difficulty.

Alter a roll by 1.
Regain 1 HP.
Get a +4 result without rolling.*
Narrate a detail of the world around them.*

*This option requires the GM's approval and may cost more than one Fudge Point.

The GM should award an extra Fudge Point whenever a PC does something awesome.
Players start with full Fudge Points at the beginning of each session.
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Fudge Points for XP:
Players gain Fudge Points (or fractional Fudge Points, several of which are equal to one
Fudge Point) instead of XP whenever they do something that would normally get them
XP. Fudge Points may be spent at any time for the usual bonus, but once the Fudge
Point is spent it's immediately converted to XP that the player can spend.

Wound Penalties / Simplified Wound Tracks:

Whenever a character has taken enough damage they take a penalty to any relevant
rolls. A character brought down to 2 HP will have a -1 penalty and a character brought
down to 1 HP will have a -2 penalty. A character at full health never takes wound
penalties, even if their full health is only 1 or 2 HP. A character with Superb Hit Points
(7 HP) could record their injuries like this:

Scratch: O O O O
Hurt (-1): O
Very Hurt (-2): O
Incapacitated: O

Simple Mana Points:

Each spellcaster has a spellcasting attribute (e.g. mana, magic, soul, spirit). The rating
of that attribute on the Fudge ladder determines the spellcaster's Mana Points (MP).
Terrible mana is 1 MP and each additional trait level increases the character's MP by 1
point. Casting a spell costs 1 MP. Mana regenerates to full with a full night's rest.

Stat Tracks:
Stat Tracks can be used in addition to a health track whenever a character has to keep
track of some sort of resource that, when completely lost, makes the PC unable to act or
unable to act in a certain way. The default difficulty for Stat checks is Fair unless
another difficulty level makes more sense. Penalties from different tracks don't stack;
only the highest penalty applies to a character's actions.

Health track (default)

Penalty applies to: Physical actions

Lose health when: taking damage
Saving Throw: any appropriate combat or evasion trait
Regaining health: Resting for several hours in unsafe territory (enemy territory,
wilderness, dungeon) heals half the players' max HP, rounded up. Resting overnight in
safety and comfort heals full HP.
Stat levels: Scratch (0), Hurt (-1), Very Hurt (-2), Incapacitated

Calling on dark forces

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Benefits: Allows the character access to dark magic spells and reduces the difficulty of
certain actions (free Fudge point?)
Penalty applies to: using light or neutral spells
Stat Track based on: Willpower
When to roll: Whenever a PC uses magic in anger or uses a dark magic ability.
Trait to roll against: Willpower
Getting rid of dark magic points: 1 point every 2 sessions. Requires in-character effort.
Stat levels: Touched (-0), Tainted (-1), Corrupted (-2), Consumed (NPC)

Sanity Meter (Call of Cthulhu style)

Penalty applies to: Sanity, most social skills, and possibly Willpower rolls
Stat Track based on: Sanity
When to roll: Whenever a character sees something that Should Not Exist, excessive
gore, or attempts to cast a spell themselves.
Trait to roll against: Sanity
Regaining sanity: 1 point per session, or 2 if the character undergoes therapy between
sessions.
Stat levels: Disoriented (0), Disturbed (-1), Unhinged (-2), Completely Insane (NPC)

Mana Pool

Benefit: allows the character to cast spells

Penalty applies to: spellcasting and/or physical actions
Stat based on: Mana Pool
A failed spellcasting roll costs the character a point of mana. Alternatively, the GM may
instead make an appropriate GM move.
Note: If using this track, it's probably a good idea for the trait that represents a
character's spellcasting ability to be separate from the one that represents their mana
pool.

Morale Checks:
Each group of combatant NPCs has a Morale trait ranked on the Fudge ladder. By
default this is the same as the NPCs' Threat Rating but it could be different. Morale is
generally checked in critical combat situations. Two recommended times for morale
checks are:

After the side's first death in combat.

When half the NPCs have been incapacitated.

A morale check has a default difficulty of Fair, though this may be adjusted to account
for the circumstances. Morale is checked for the entire group at the same time, not
individually for each NPC. If the NPCs succeed at the morale check they will continue to
fight. If they fail they will try to retreat. NPC groups that successfully check morale twice
will fight to the death.

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