Okay, I have a weird idea.
I really love Donjon, but the dice pool mechanic turns me away. I want something simpler. So, I'm thinking of using Fudge dice instead of a d20 pool.
A standard roll would be to roll 4 fudge dice against a GM-set difficulty, or against an opposed roll by an NPC.
- Tie: no progress, contest continues next round
- Win: degree of success = number of successes
- Lose: degree of failure = number of failures
Successes are interpreted exactly as in Donjon... N successes lets you either state N facts, or take +N to your next action. (Althought this being Fudge, it might make more sense to take +(N/2) to your next roll.)
Difficulties are similar to Donjon, adding the Donjon level to a GM set difficulty.
0 = Easy
1 = Average
2 = Hard
3 = Extreme
Now obviously this compresses the scale quite a bit, and the Donjon Level is going to have a large effect on difficulty. If converting a published adventure (like in the Donjon rules), divide Donjon level by 2.
Character creation: Instead of allocating 20 dice, allocate 10 trait levels. Investing one level gets you a trait at 1, etc. No trait may exceed character level + 2
0 = Nonexistent
1 = Poor
2 = Mediocre
3 = Fair (maximum at 1st level)
4 = Good (maximum at 2nd level)
5 = Great (maximum at 3rd level)
6 = Superb (maximum at 4th level)
7 = Heroic (maximum at 5th level)
8 = Legendary
9 = Legendary+
(You can skip the adjectives; this is just for reference for those familiar with Fudge.)
Advancement: Each character level you may distribute 2 trait levels.
EXAMPLE: Brak is a second level character on Donjon level 2, trying track an ogre on a stone floor. His skill at Finding Stuff is 4, and the GM decides this is a Hard task -- 4. Brak rolls +1 on his fudge dice, for a result of 5, and gets to state one fact. If this had been an easy task, he'd get to state 3 facts.
Again, this compresses things a LOT. Donjons and characters will be limited to about 5 levels instead of 20, so this is more suited to one-off games. One level will mean a LOT more than it will in regular Donjon, perhaps being equal to 3 or 4 levels, because the the dice give a roughly +20% boost with each +1.
You have a roughly 60% chance to roll +0 or better, so for character level N on donjon level N, a player has an 80% chance at an easy task, a 60% chance at an average task, and a 40% chance at a hard task. Of course successes are what really count here. This variant will produce fewer successes on a typical unopposed roll, but potentially as many as 5 or more successes on an opposed roll -- for example, in combat. For this reason it may be good to make ALL rolls opposed.
Anyway, thanks to Clinton for a great game, and apologies for butchering it! And I'm looking for comments. Why won't this work? Where is it likely to hit a snag?
Mike
Cool, I should try this. I love the FUDGE scale!
Fudge dice do rock.
Mike, have you read the alternate dice pool mechanics for donjon? http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=17574.0
Quote from: xjermx on June 08, 2006, 07:47:06 PM
Fudge dice do rock.
Mike, have you read the alternate dice pool mechanics for donjon? http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=17574.0
I suspect that Mike won't be replying, since he created this thread in July 2003 and he was last active on The Forge on September 2004! :-)
I was the person who started that other thread asking about "Donjon Second Edition." The ideas are still on my back burner, but I thinking about picking it up again. This thread about Fudge Donjon and the recent thread about playing Donjon with kids inspired me to track down my old notes.
Did you ever end up elaborating on the fudge rules or 2nd edition version of dunjon. I like the system but the dice rolling's still a bit complex for me.