Thursday, October 23, 2014

FUDGE/FATE Dice alternatives

It's no secret I'm very fond of FUDGE (Freeform Universal Do-it-yourself Gaming Engine), but I know the standard Fudge die (a d6 with two plus sides, two minus sides and two blank sides, essentially a d3-2) is not too easy to find.

Of course this can also be used on FATE, a derived system.

My first 4dF were standard d6 painted red (for the minus sides) and black (for the plus sides) with acryllic paint. After that, for years, I've used the 4d6 alternative explained in the rules. Then I finally got some Fudge dice (including the velvet bag). It was great.

However, I do like standard d6, and the 4d6 alternative was a bit cumbersome to explain to new players. On a side note, I admit I don't like the d6-d6 mechanics used in some FATE games, so this is a no-no.

Then it hit me: since FUDGE already uses standard 3d6 for its Min-Med-Max damage system, why not use 3d6 for action resolution too? But how to implement 3d6 and still keep the standard bell curve of 4dF?

This is what I propose: roll 3d6, keep the highest and the lowest rolls (in essence, 3d6, drop mid), minus 7. This will give you a -5 to +5 range with 25% of rolling exact 0.

The graph below shows this and other rolling methods together (click to embigger):

What do you think?

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