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Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The FATE of FUDGE

Last night our Monday Night group did a playtest in +Rob Conley's Majestic Wilderlands using the FUDGE system.  I have only played in one other session using the FUDGE system, so my experience is limited.  At the Con on the Cob last year I bought a pack of FATE dice.  I'm not sure what the differences are between the two systems.

I'm not sure I like the system all that much.  There is a different feel to it to say the least.  Could be it just felt awkward because I wasn't used to the system.  The after game discussion included some of the tropes of the system.  Minions and bosses.  It's all sort of patched together in my head.  I have the ruleset, but haven't read it.

But the adventure itself was interesting.  I played Maximellius, an eccentric mage who made monkeys out of pipe cleaners.  I used to work the craft shows for years with my wife so I brought the desperate realism to the game, "BUY MY MONKEYS!"

Some Quick Shots
  • Rob used a tavern map from Harn.  After last night's session, while I love the details in the maps, with all the numbers and symbols, Harn maps are too cluttered for my taste.  
  •  Anyway, the other players were +Ken H  playing cleric of Dannu which he played to the hilt.  I give him honors with his roleplaying.  "Dannu, forgive me for soiling my pants."  
  • +Chris C. was the glue gun for the party and gave the adventure motion.  He played an honest, hard working bouncer that seemed to always be on the verge of being over his head at any given moment.
  • And +Daniel McEntee played...I think an alchemist.  He kept making tea.  
  • Skill resolution was interesting and fun.  I thought the skills worked very well in this system, but I am far from sold on how combat works.
The adventure was a very slice of life type, in a tavern, things happened and then the main hook is set.  We set off to save a noble gone missing.  We track him through a gambling house where Ken spent most of his allotted mana to talk with dogs during a dog fight and pissing the patrons off.  I continued to do odd things that were in my pockets.  While we questioned a street urchin about what he saw, we felt he was not being honest, so I pulled out a piece of chalk from my soggy pocket and began writing around the boy.  This made him nervous and when I was done, I had completed a potato stew recipe.  It was excellent.

We finally tracked the noble to a tenement.  After a short attack and a little hand waving of minions due to the time crunch, we met the big boss suckling herself to the noble's neck.  This is where I wasn't sure how well the system worked.  My mage was completely useless against the boss.  I'm not sure if it was because of good rolls by the GM, which I didn't notice them being all that great, or my inept rolls...I had a bunch of those.

I'm not sure I liked that fact that my guys and I think most of our guys were unable to effect the boss.  Again, this may be the standard for this kind of system.  I don't have enough experience to know.  While the adventure was a blast, I need to read up on the system. 

17 comments:

  1. I haven't played Fudge or Fate, though both system looks interesting on paper to me. It does take a while to get used to a new game sometimes.

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    1. I'm thinking because it is so different it will take a little adjusting. Rob runs a good game so system-shistum. Having knowledge of another system can't be all that bad.

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    2. I don't care for by the book Fate because of all the metagaming with Fate Points (similar issues to the Whimsy card incident). But I am glad to have taken the time learn enough to run it because it really help expand my thinking on what I really wanted.

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  2. I hope that's a picture of fudge made by your wife, not just some Google image search...

    No experience with Fudge. I think I read a couple of Fuzion system games (which I think is related to Fate/Fudge) years and years ago, but never played any of them.

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    1. Not my fudge. Haven't made fudge in
      a very very long time.

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    2. Not her fudge...it doesn't last long enough to take a picture.

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  3. " or my inept rolls...I had a bunch of those."

    Now, that's the Tim I know!

    ;)

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    1. I continue to excel with blowing my rolls are critical moments. It is a gift.

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  4. There are definitely folks who dislike the way the dice work in Fate/Fudge - no matter how many dice you roll, the average is still 0, so it's very much based on your character's skill levels.

    I am intrigued by the injury track system in Fate Core, but have yet to see it in play.

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    1. Yeah, the skill sets were fairly easy to grasp the way Rob ran them. I had more trouble understanding the combat.

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    2. I got a series of posts drafted for my blog that will hopefully clear things up. Plus I think I made a mistake in now allowing how well you made your magic roll to apply to your damage roll like it does for weapons.

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  6. As far as I understood Fate, success is based on character skills, as well as how the players narrate the story, and make use of Aspects to get bonuses for their skills rolls.
    I haven't played it yet, though.

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    1. Yeah I am just new to the process. Not sure that we used any aspects. We played more of a FUDGE system than FATE. Like I said I'm not sure of the differences.

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  7. The game I ran for the guys is more Fudge than Fate.

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    1. Fudge it is. Peanut butter fudge is better.

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    2. Peanut butter fudge really is the best.
      I'll have to make some soon.

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