Skill Training for Fudge

Introduction

This article is part of a new series where I share parts of my home-brew RPG - Rope - converted to Fudge (of course). I'm doing this to push myself to actually get the conversion done, so I can start running it again in earnest :).

As this is a port from my RPG I created before finding Fudge, and has not been tested a lot. I would love to get some feedback on this!

Often Characters find themselves having down time, either being between sessions or else are waiting on their journey to come to an end, etc. When there is nothing else to do characters can spend this time in training. Characters might also want to learn new skills and will go out of their way to seek out masters of certain rare skills and petition the masters to teach them.

All of that is covered in this article.

Learning Rate

Learning Rate is a measurement on how good the character is at learning. Learning Rate is derived from the characters attributes. If using s system where skills are associated with attributes (like Psi-punk), you should go with that. Otherwise use a physical Attribute for physical skills and a mental Attribute for non-physical skills.

Modified Learning Rate

The modified Learning rate is simply the Learning Rate of the Character modified by the Bonuses and Hindrances. As mentioned above, each Bonus adds +1 to the Learning Rate and each Hindrance subtracts the Learning Rate by 2.

Modified Learning Rate = Learning Rate + Bonuses - 2 x Hindrances

Bonuses

Each bonus adds +1 to the Learning Rate.

Studying at a school / academy etc specializing in the skill

A school specializing in a skill is assumed to have developed specialized teaching methods that give one bonus per level of the place.

Studying with a teacher with a higher skill

This reflects the inherit superiority of a higher skilled Character.

Studying with a Superb teacher.

Studying with a Superb teacher grants the student a bonus, no matter what level the student has. A master can always teach new things to another master.

Studying with a Legendary teacher

While anyone with a skill greater than that of the student can teach him new things, a Legendary teacher is assumed to have more insight in the skill and can give better direction.

Studying with a teaching aid

Such an aid is written by masters, containing valuable tricks and pointers to the student. The aid gives bonus as the teacher who wrote it (if the student can read). So a scroll has a Level equal to the author. If a teacher is not available the scroll can act instead, but no bonus is gained from the book / scroll.

Private instruction

A teacher who spends all his time with a single student gives the student a significant bonus. The student receives a bonus equal to half the differences in skill Level.

Hindrances

Each hindrance will reduce the Learning Rate by -2.

Studying without a teacher

A student without a teacher is at a disadvantage, for he has no outside pointers, etc, thus he is at one hindrance.

Student is Good or better at the skill

Once the student has reached this far in his studies, he lacks mostly finesse, and thus advancement is not equally rapid.

Student is Superb or better

A student who has mastered the skill can not learn very much more, thus is at another hindrance. Note that this is cumulative with the hindrance above!

Not studying full time

A student who spends time in minor activities (like holding a job, traveling, etc) may still study, but does so at a hindrance. If the student is adventuring, or doing something else that requires him to spend more than 10 hours per day may not study at all.

Wounded / Sick

A wounded student can not concentrate as well as a fully healthy student, thus he is at a hindrance, if he can study at all. A wounded student can not for instance study any skill that requires physical activity (like combat and physical skills).

Learning Check

For each week that a Character spends training they make a Learning Check. The difficulty of the learning check is their current skill check + 2. Add the Learning Rate or current skill Level, whichever is lower to the roll. If the check succeeds the character gains one level in the skill.

Learning as a Task

If you are using Fudge Tasks, then I recommend using tasks for learning instead. You can then keep track of how far along the learning path the Character is, and how much more they need to go before gaining another level.

Task Resolution

The Task Difficulty is equal to the character's current skill level. The Task Value is equal to the number of experience points needed to gain the new level x 5 (see table below). The Task Turn is 1 week. As skill you use the Modified Learning rate.

From	To	Task Value
Terrible	Poor	5
Poor	Mediocre	5
Mediocre	Fair	5
Fair	Good	10
Good	Great	20
Great	Superb	40
Superb	Legendary	80

Teaching

Any character who has the teaching skill can teach another character any skill they have. To find the effective Teacher level, average the teaching skill with the current skill Level to find the Quality of the teacher. For easy reference here is a table:

Table 1: Average Skills Table

	Poor	Mediocre	Fair	Good	Great	Superb	Amazing	Legendary
Poor	Poor
Mediocre	Poor	Mediocre
Fair	Mediocre	Mediocre	Fair
Good	Mediocre	Fair	Fair	Good
Great	Fair	Fair	Good	Good	Great
Superb	Fair	Good	Good	Great	Great	Superb
Amazing	Good	Good	Great	Great	Superb	Superb	Amazing
Legendary	Good	Great	Great	Superb	Superb	Amazing	Amazing	Legendary

Example

Beowulf, who has Great Strength and Fair Intelligence, wants to train in Axe Fighting. His base Learning Rate is Great. Beowulf is currently a beginner with Axe fighting (his skill level is Mediocre).

Beowulf trains with Beor the Great who is a Great teacher. However Beowulf is very poor so he has struck a deal that he will work the stables of Beor in compensation for his teachings.

This puts Beowulf at one hindrance and 2 Bonuses since Beor is giving private lessons. This means that his effective Learning Rate is Great (+2 for Bonuses, -2 for Hindrances). This means that after each week that Beowulf trains with Beor he rolls and Needs a Good or better result. However his dice are modified by his Mediocre skill (because it is lower than his Learning Rate).