Jumpstrike

by Brian York (briany @ uvic . ca)

There is fire among the stars.

The soulless machines of war which humanity unleashed upon itself have been extinguished. Yet still, there is fire among the stars. Colony clashes with colony. Alliance rebels against empire. The age old struggle of wills continues on, to build empires, or to defend freedoms, to take what you want, or to keep what you have. There is fire among the stars, and it is the fire of Humanity, its evils and its hopes. Its dreams of what may come.

Politician, trader, diplomat, warrior. Whatever fate may hold in store, may your fire burn brightly. Welcome to the universe of Jumpstrike.

Overview

The Jumpstrike setting is a semi-hard science fiction setting. While there are no aliens, there are a wide variety of human cultures, with plenty of room for customization. The overall feel of the setting might best be described as "classical Greece in space", but the setting is more than a direct translation of ancient Greece. Politically, there are four major powers and many other minor powers and independent colonies. Diplomacy and international relations are critical to the setting, and even a simple merchant might be called upon to represent his or her home colony, simply by being in the right place at the right (or wrong) time. This article contains a brief history of the Jumpstrike setting, an overview of the technology and society that has grown up in the Jumpstrike universe, and a description of the major (and a few minor) powers, along with possible themes based around them.

History

• Pre-Burn
  • Late 21st Century: Jump drive discovered. First colonies founded.
  • Most colonies are left to themselves, and try to develop a primitive, but self-sustaining, technology base.
  • Advances in artificial intelligence lead to the use of unmanned intelligent warships by the Earth and the most advanced colonies.
• The Burn
  • April 17, 2341: A war starts (for unknown reasons), and, with the combination of AI-controlled warships and couriers, quickly devastates the Earth and spreads to the nearby colonies.
  • The use of autonomous artificial intelligence becomes forbidden as the knowledge of the Burn spreads through the colonies.
• The Reconstruction
  • Most colonies are completely cut off, without the ability to repair their starships or build new ships.
  • The New Earth Empire and the Core Worlds Alliance are formed around colonies with shipbuilding capabilities.
  • Colonies begin to re-discover shipbuilding.
• The Present Day
  • Interstellar travel and trade once again becomes fairly common.
  • The Far Stars Republic begins to expand.
  • The Hellenikan League is formed.

Society

The setting was designed as a deliberate homage to classical Greece, with its proudly independent and constantly squabbling city-states (poleis). The reference is particularly appropriate because star travel makes the universe much like a group of islands -- there are no restrictions on where you go except for the distance involved, and the time required to cross that distance. Governments resemble Athens' League of Delos far more than Sparta's Peloponnesian League, although only the Far Stars Republic and the New Earth Empire are especially close to the League of Delos, and even they are not especially close. The diversity of governments was also taken from classical Greece, mostly because it provides an opportunity to be creative when making up your own colonies.

The society of the Jumpstrike universe centers around the colony, the planet, and (for a few colonies) the government. Even for members of one of the great powers, the local planet is more important than the central government, and the colony itself vastly more important than either. Although millions of people live and work in space, most people never leave their home colony, much less their home planet. Colonies prize their independence, and the members of the major powers usually see themselves either as "allies" or "conquered," rather than as members of a larger group.

Every inhabitable planet discovered, except for the Earth and Magna Gaia (BD+05 3993-IV) has isolated island chains and subcontinents, with an independent colony on each island chain or subcontinent. The center of a colony is its Akropolis, usually a defensible site which holds the colony's spaceport and center of government. Colonies also tend to have a few smaller villages, and plenty of wilderness. Most colonies have a population somewhere between 75,000 and 10 million, with an average of about 5 million.

Colonies tend to be governed by some form of representational government. At one extreme are colonies like Eire (24 Iota Pegasi-II), with a direct democracy including every citizen and resident of the colony. At the other end are colonies like Cordova (BD+61 195-III), where citizenship is limited to the descendants of the first settlers, and only 175 people, out of a population of over five million, have voting rights. Colonies may or may not have a head of state or council supplementing their citizen body.

Colonies tend to have fairly large militaries specialized in defensive operations. Warfare is much more common than it was in the 20th century, although "total war" is rare. Instead, wars tend to be fought to gain specific advantages or concessions. A colony is likely to fight most of its wars against neighbors on the same planet, since transporting large numbers of troops is difficult even for the major powers. Since space warfare is uncommon, most colonies have only a few warships, usually purchased used from one of the major powers.

Small alliances are common, but don't tend to last very long. Only four major powers exist, the New Earth Empire, the Core Worlds Alliance, the Hellenikan League, and the Far Stars Republic. The Empire is essentially a group of close allies led by New Earth (Iota Persei-V). The Alliance is a group of large independent colonies who have interests in common. The League is a diverse group of allied colonies with a central government that delegates most of its authority locally. The Republic is a central world (Magna Gaia) which has conquered a number of colonies and rules them by force.

Technology

The Jump Drive

Starships are able to exceed the speed of light by means of "jumps" during which the ship disappears from one location and appears at another. Jumps must be calculated precisely, and longer jumps take longer to calculate. The effective speed of a ship depends on how far it jumps and how fast it can calculate its jumps, and the change in gravitational potential between the starting and ending points (jumps must be shorter near stars and planets). Merchant ships take somewhere around two days to travel one light-year, generally in either one or two large jumps. Military ships are about twice as fast. The most that almost any merchant can travel without resupply is five parsecs, which works out to around a month's worth of travel.

Military ships are also built to make tactical jumps, which happen on the order of seconds instead of minutes. Each jump is shorter, and the overall speed is less, but tactical jumps allow ships to avoid incoming fire. Ship-to-ship weapons are also based around jump drives, and any ship without a military jump drive is essentially helpless in combat. As a result of a recent rise in piracy, most commercial ships have at least some tactical jump capability.

Mass Conversion

Military starships generate power using the direct conversion of matter to energy. This process is exceptionally efficient, but each jump still requires a considerable amount of power. Conversion chambers carry the danger of a runaway reaction (where part or all of the mass of the ship is converted into energy, with obvious negative consequences for the crew), but runaway reactions are extremely rare, and the few that have happened have all been the result of battle damage. Mass conversion is also at the heart of most ships' normal-space drives, albeit in a less potentially dangerous form.

Gravity Manipulation

Gravity manipulation allows ships to reduce their effective mass, especially when near planets. The overall effect of this is to allow starships to land and take off from planets without requiring specialized equipment, and also to allow interstellar shipping costs to be low enough to support large-scale trade (even if only in luxuries).

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology allows stronger materials to be built, although the construction times are increased. Nanoassemblers, while unable to replicate, do allow the quick construction of small items, if given the proper raw materials. Medical nanotechnology allows drugs to be tailored to the individual metabolism, and microscopic robots capable of limited surgical operations. In general, nanotechnology allows better quality, whether in manufacturing or in medicine, but at the cost of increased time, money, or both.

Weapons

Space combat occurs at incredible speeds, with battles often lost or won within seconds of the initial engagement. With ships operating at faster-than-light speeds, conventional weapons, even lasers, are too slow to use against military ships, although pirates do use them against merchants (and, sometimes, merchants against pirates). Instead, military weapons are equipped with their own jump drives.

Lances were the first form of space weapon able to attack a ship capable of tactical jumps. With a specially designed jump drive, a lance will jump thousands of times in its two-second lifespan. If it approaches close enough to a ship, the lance detonates, either damaging or destroying the ship. While lances are seldom used now, a smaller version, known as Interceptors, are used to attack approaching Strike Pods before they can detonate.

Strike Pods use the same tactical drive found on ships. They have the same jump distance but a somewhat higher cycle rate, thus allowing them to move approximately twice as fast as ships in combat. Strike Pods are sent out from the firing ship in an attempt to get close enough to a target ship to attack. Pods attack by deliberately overloading their conversion chamber in order to damage nearby ships with the blast. Some strike pods even carry small lances, potentially allowing them to make multiple attacks.

Ground combat has changed much less than space combat, although the tools used are different. With the high cost of interstellar transport, the large-scale warfare of the past is almost entirely gone. Instead, the attacking force tends to be a small, high-quality force intended to fight in urban environments and take over important targets, such as space ports.

Infantry weapons are more advanced than in the past, but still based on the same principles. Projectile weapons are more likely to use linear accelerators than chemical propellants and lasers are used in specialized capacities, but any member of the infantry from the 20th century onwards would be able to pick up and use even the most modern weapons with only minimal instruction. The main improvement in weaponry is in non-lethal weapons, now used by most police departments and, in special circumstances, by military forces.

Governments

The New Earth Empire

The New Earth Empire is located between the core worlds and the Far Stars cluster. Because New Earth, the home of the Empire, was far away from the core colonies, it was able to survive the Burn with only minimal disruption. As one of the only colonies with shipbuilding capabilities, New Earth was attacked from all sides by colonies hoping to seize its shipyards. The Commonwealth won these battles, and conquered a number of its former attackers.

The New Earth Commonwealth was always dominated by a small aristocracy, and its expansion concentrated the power further. By the time Susan Northwald was elected coordinator of the New Earth Commonwealth in 2402, it was effectively a hereditary monarchy. In 2580, John Northwald, the fourth ruler of the dynasty, was officially granted the title of Emperor by the General Assembly of the New Earth Commonwealth, now the New Earth Empire.

The current emperor is John Northwald II, who ascended to the throne in 2613 at the age of 32. The emperor serves until his or her resignation, usually at around the age of 100, although some past emperors have ruled for life. Advising the emperor is an elected body, the Imperial General Assembly, and presiding over the Assembly is the Imperial Executive, a hereditary aristocracy. Members of the Executive also serve as representatives of the emperor in the Empire's other settlements.

Adventures and Themes

The New Earth Empire is a group of allies dominated by New Earth. Although most of its member colonies were originally conquered, the Empire's expansion has been based on diplomacy for centuries now, and all of its colonies have full citizenship, with their aristocracies integrated into the Imperial Executive. The Empire is home to diplomats, merchants, soldiers, courtiers, and any other type of character imaginable. The Empire currently has two major problems: the lack of an heir to the throne, and the threat of the Far Stars Republic.

Since John Northwald II (see below) is childless, various factions have arisen in the Imperial Executive attempting to get their own candidates declared as the heir. Northwald has recently married a second wife in an attempt to produce a legitimate heir, but the future of the Northwald dynasty is in doubt. PCs could be involved in this struggle either as members of the Imperial Executive, employees or members of one of the Executive households (or the Imperial household), or as employees of the government or the military. While the intrigue in the Executive has so far remained strictly an internal matter, the situation could become a civil war at any time.

Since its founding, the Far Stars Republic has expanded rapidly. With the Hellenikan League apparently too strong to attack at the moment, the Republic has begun testing the Empire's frontiers. While the Empire has managed to retain control over its colonies so far, the Republic has shown no sign of giving up. PCs could become involved in the tension between the Empire and the Republic either as soldiers, diplomats, or merchants, or even as citizens of either side caught up in a border war.

Aspect	Level
Dedicated	[ ] (Fair)
Getting Old	[ ] (Fair)
No Heir	[ ][ ] (Good)
Emperor	[ ][ ] (Good)

Emperor John Northwald II

Emperor Northwald was born Christopher John Northwald in 2581. He took the throne when his mother, Susan Northwald IV, retired in 2613 at age 83. Since his accession, he has attempted to maintain the Empire's position through diplomacy, although the Empire has fought several times against the Far Stars Republic. Now 72, John Northwald II is struggling to maintain control over the Empire. None of his wives have produced children, and the Imperial Executive is pressing him to name an heir from another family. Emperor Northwald is unlikely to be encountered in person unless the PCs are members of the Imperial Executive, but his influence is felt throughout the Empire.

Aspect	Level
Bureaucrat	[ ][ ] (Good)
Drives a Hard Bargain	[ ] (Fair)
Likes his power	[ ] (Fair)
Annoying Voice	[ ] (Fair)

Paul Roberts

Paul Roberts is a staff member at the Imperial Trade Representative on Alphonse (Gl 436-III), the Empire's major contact point with both the Hellenikan League and the Core Worlds Alliance. His job is to make arrangements with small traders to allow them to bring goods into the Empire. Any group of merchant PCs who wish to trade with the Empire, or Imperial PCs who wish to trade beyond its borders, might need to negotiate with Roberts to get their cargo into, or out of, the Empire.

The Core Worlds Alliance

Although most of the older colonies were affected by the Burn, a few were far enough away to shut down their AI fleets, or primitive enough to be still relying on crewed ships. These colonies depended on their trade lines with the rest of the core worlds, and the Burn threw their economies into disarray. In response, most of these surviving colonies began to trade with one another, eventually uniting into the Core Worlds Alliance.

The Alliance now includes fifteen colonies, of which twelve were founding members. These colonies have mature economies based around interstellar trade. The colonies that make up the Core Worlds Alliance retain a great amount of independence, with the Alliance providing little more than an internal free-trade zone and an agreement on military cooperation. The Alliance is formally governed by the Advisory Council, which includes a single member appointed from each colony, along with representatives of the major shipping guilds and corporate interests in the Alliance.

The Alliance's emphasis on interstellar commerce makes it the New Earth Empire's major competitor, while the Alliance's status as the "protector" of the worlds devastated by the Burn has sometimes led to conflict between the Alliance and the Hellenikan League. The Far Stars Republic is too far away to seriously threaten any of the Alliance's territory, and no independent colony is powerful enough to threaten the Alliance.

Adventures and Themes

The Core Worlds Alliance is intended as a trading power, and as a remnant of the old pre-Burn society. On good terms with all the major powers (except, occasionally, the Hellenikan League), the Alliance's merchants travel everywhere, and the power of the Alliance keeps them relatively safe from piracy along the way. The Alliance is also a very conservative society, with a voting age of 45 and a constitution that gives the founding members almost complete control over Alliance policy.

For characters interested in making a living through trade, the Alliance is fighting an economic war with the Hellenikan League over access to the colonies devastated by the Burn. While the Alliance sees itself as the protector of these colonies, it also sees them as captive markets, and a number of recent attempts by Hellenikan traders to establish direct agreements with these colonies has prompted the Alliance to subsidize its own merchants to offer better deals to colonies in the core stars. Since the core stars also have one of the highest piracy rates in known space, the combination of armed traders, pirates, commerce raiders, and the occasional warship makes the area an exciting place.

Aspect	Level
Loyal	[ ] (Fair)
Idealist	[ ] (Fair)
Stubborn	[ ][ ] (Good)
Politician	[ ][ ] (Good)

Coordinator Natalie Dumont

A native of Alphonse, Dumont was first elected as the Alliance's coordinator in 2641. Coordinator Dumont is currently sponsoring legislation aimed at giving the Advisory Council the ability to tax Alliance citizens directly, something which was last tried (unsuccessfully) eighty years ago. Dumont is an idealist who believes that the Alliance will slowly lose influence unless it is able to unite together, and that the Advisory Council is the only body that can hope to overcome the desire of the Alliance's member colonies to retain as much independence as possible. Characters might encounter Dumont if they are active in Alliance politics, either trying to unite the colonies or maintain their current autonomy.

Aspect	Level
Devious	[ ][ ] (Good)
Tactician	[ ] (Fair)
Leadership	[ ] (Fair)
Arrogant	[ ] (Fair)

Fleetmaster Robert Johnson

A native of Stracher (BD+36 2219-IV), Johnson was an early supporter of Coordinator Dumont, and she has rewarded him by putting him in charge of the Alliance's military presence in the core worlds. Due to the high incidence of piracy there, most of the Alliance's merchant shipping is armed, which places it under Johnson's extended command (although he seldom exercises this authority). Johnson is also in charge of anti-piracy patrols, which he combines with some discreet commerce raiding against the Hellenikan League. Any character who spends time on a starship in the core worlds will likely be affected by Fleetmaster Johnson, and any Alliance character could encounter him directly.

The Hellenikan League

The Hellenikan League is an amalgamation of a number of smaller alliances, formed mostly in reaction to the growing power of the New Earth Empire and the Far Stars Republic. The founders of the League were determined to prevent the League from becoming another expansionist power, but were unable to keep it from growing quickly as the independent colonies tried to avoid being absorbed into the other major powers. Individual colonies in the League do have a great deal of autonomy, and the League has a wide variety of internal styles of government and codes of law.

The League's government was designed to give its member colonies, and its citizens, as much independence as possible. The head of the League is the Archon, supported by the Boule, which is divided between elected members, hereditary members, members appointed by the Archon, and members appointed by the League's colonies. Although the Archon and his or her representatives are able to wield considerable power in emergencies, for the most part they hold a ceremonial role. The primary exception to this rule is the Strategoi, a group who act as both soldiers and diplomats, holding power in the name of the Archon, but nominated by the member colonies and ratified by the Boule.

The League's society is chaotic and diverse. Although the League has a set of overall legal standards and rights, these apply mostly to League citizens, a position held by only a third of the population. Most League residents are instead citizens (or non-citizens) of one of the member colonies, and are subject to the laws and customs of the colony in which they reside. The only universal laws in the League are that any League resident has the right to apply for League citizenship and, if accepted, must be treated as a citizen in any League member state.

Adventures and Themes

The League is the new blood of the setting. As a new power, the League has very little stability, and even its form of government is still changing as time passes. The only constants during the League's 138-year history have been the Archon, the Strategoi, and the Boule, which were inherited from three of the League's founding members: Albion (GJ 1148-I), Nattara (43 Beta Comae Berenices-III), and Menast (Alphonse, Gl 436-II). Although the League has a fairly short history, it has managed to integrate the traditions of some of its members into its own identity, which has helped to provide some stability.

Like the New Earth Empire, the Hellenikan League offers almost any type of adventure. The League's chief threat is the Far Stars Republic, which has been attempting to eliminate the League since its founding. While the League has fought wars against the Republic in the past, recent history has seen only minor skirmishes, with as much diplomacy as violence involved. Characters could be involved in defending the League, taking the fight to the Republic, negotiations between the two, or convincing independent colonies in the New Stars cluster to ally themselves with the League.

Another source of adventure lies in the core stars, where the League has been trying to secure allies and trade routes. This has brought the League into conflict with the Core Worlds Alliance, although neither side has used military force, at least not officially. Finally, there are many possible adventures inside the League's borders, attempting to turn a loose alliance of diverse colonies into a functioning government. While the League itself is over 100 years old, more than two thirds of its members have joined within the past twenty years, leaving the League's government and military struggling to cope.

Aspect	Level
Old and Wise	[ ][ ] (Good)
Old and Tired	[ ] (Fair)
Leader	[ ] (Fair)
Suspicious	[ ] (Fair)

Archon Martin Holm

Archon Holm was confirmed as Archon in 2595 at the age of 53. Now 105 years old, Archon Holm is looking forward to his retirement, and the accession of his heir, 38-year-old Ryan Laskell, currently serving the Boule as First Citizen. Over his career, Chancellor Holm has seen great changes to the Hellenikan League. At his accession, the League was strongly isolationist. It was only under Chancellor Holm's direction that the League opened up diplomatic relations with the Core Worlds Alliance and the independent colonies. When the Far Stars Republic attempted to conquer Liberty (GI 793-IV), it was Holm who led the League's military in their defense. Archon Holm does his best to be available to any of his representatives, so any character in the League government, such as a strategos, could encounter Archon Holm, or go to him for assistance.

Aspect	Level
Machiavellian	[ ] (Fair)
Strategist	[ ] (Fair)
Diplomat	[ ][ ] (Good)
Lonely	[ ][ ] (Good)

Strategos Johann Chengalur

Strategos Chengalur was appointed by Archon Holm to manage the League's network of alliances in the New Stars Cluster. A gifted strategist who made his reputation commanding small fleets of ships, Strategos Chengalur has also shown a talent for political manipulation. Thanks to his efforts, the League has been able to base its military forces with a number of allies, some of whom are on the same planet as Republican colonies. The League's network of alliances has prevented the Republic from directly attacking League territory for the past decade. Any character acting as a League strategos, or other military officer, could encounter Strategos Chengalur, and might end up under his command for a mission.

The Far Stars Republic

Originally, the Far Stars Republic was the Kingdom of Kharybdis, one of the colonies established on Magna Gaia, but it has now grown far beyond the bounds of a single planet. The Republic's government has three major branches and a complex interchange of powers. The First Minister heads the executive branch and must be a member of the Senate, but is elected by the People's Forum. The Senate controls the judicial branch, serving as magistrates in the court system, and elects its own members for lifetime terms, although the First Minister has the power to veto Senate appointments. The People's Forum is the legislative body and is elected by popular vote every five years, with one member for every electoral district on Magna Gaia. Each Senatorial district includes 20 Forum districts. Laws passed by the People's Forum do not take effect until ratified by either the Senate or the First Minister.

In 2550, the Expansionist party won 154 of the 301 seats in the People's Forum and selected Anastasia Korolov, one of two Expansionists in the Senate, as the First Minister. The Expansionist party began a shipbuilding program and quickly went to war with independent colonies in several nearby systems. Due to their lack of experience with space warfare, the Republic lost most of the space engagements, but, thanks to the skill and experience of their ground forces, was able to conquer Diamant (BD+03 3465-II) and Paradise (BD+05 3409-III). With the success of their initial assaults, the Expansionists entrenched their hold on the Republic. While they have recently lost their majority in the People's Forum, the Expansionists now control the majority of the Senate, and are thus able to control the laws passed by the People's Forum.

The Republic's expansionism caused few problems in their wars against independent colonies in the Far Stars cluster, but their recent attacks on the Hellenikan League and the New Earth Empire were costly and embarrassing failures. Many of the remaining independent colonies in the Far Stars cluster have sought protection from either the League or the Empire, and the Republic's potential for future expansion is limited unless they can defeat one of the great powers. The Republic has also faced rebellions in many of its new conquests, especially since the People's Forum is unwilling to allow voting representatives from any planet other than Magna Gaia.

Adventures and Themes

The Far Stars Republic is caught in a trap. Instead of governing a prosperous and reasonably peaceful planet, it now controls most of the New Stars Cluster, but its conquests are rebellious and the remaining independent colonies are allying against it. The Expansionist party has built its reputation on successful military campaigns, and a recent attempt by First Minister Joyce Laporte to temporarily halt the Republic's expansion cost the Expansionists the 2560 election, and Laporte her position as First Minister. The Expansionists will lose more support if they extend citizenship to conquered colonies, but without some self government the colonies will continue to rebel.

Republican characters might be involved either in working to maintain the status quo or working to reform or undermine the Republic. Reformers might be members of one of the minority parties in the Republic, soldiers convinced that the Republic's military is overextended, or rebels on one of the conquered colonies. Supporters of the Republic might be colonial governors trying to maintain order, Expansionists struggling to retain control of the government, diplomats trying to keep the peace between the Republic and the other major powers, or soldiers fighting against rebels in a conquered colony. Whatever happens to the Republic, it will provide a fertile ground for adventures.

Aspect	Level
Patriot	[ ][ ] (Good)
Indecisive	[ ] (Fair)
Paranoid	[ ] (Fair)
Coalition-builder	[ ][ ] (Good)

First Minister John Masters

Masters was a compromise candidate, selected to bring the Development party into a coalition with the Expansionists. Since his election, Masters has tried to keep both the Expansionist party and the Republic from falling apart. Masters' attempts to find a diplomatic solution to the rebellions on the conquered colonies have led some of the Expansionists to break away and found a new party promoting a hard-line approach against both the rebels and the Hellenikan League. For now, though, the Expansionist-Development-Populist coalition still has a slight majority in the People's Forum. Masters could be encountered either by conservatives or reformers, either as an ally or an opponent.

Aspect	Level
Diplomatic	[ ] (Fair)
Inspires Loyalty	[ ][ ][ ] (Great)
Pacifist	[ ] (Fair)

Governor Erin Lockhart

Erin Lockhart is the most successful of the Republic's governors. Assigned to the colony of Diamant, which was captured in 2551, she has managed to bring the populace under control without excessive bloodshed. Instead of governing by an appointed council from Magna Gaia, she has given Diamant considerable self-government, and refused to implement some of the harsher penalties in the Rebellion Acts. This has made her popular enough with the coalition government that a recent attempt to recall her was treated as a vote of confidence, and failed by seven votes. Governor Lockhart would make a useful ally for Republican reformers, or an obstacle for natives of Diamant determined to start an open rebellion.

Minor Powers

There are dozens of independent colonies and small coalitions, most of which are either near the solar system or in the fringes of the Far Stars cluster. These powers are a diverse assortment, with almost every imaginable type of society. Most smaller powers are poorly defended, often with only a few obsolete warships sold off by one of the major powers. The powers described here are a sample of the independent colonies in Jumpstrike.

The New Solar Union

The New Solar Union was formed in the wake of the Burn from a number of international relief organizations. After the Burn, the Earth was devastated, and starvation and disease killed many more people than the orbital bombardments. The relief organizations led a global response to the Burn, and eventually formed the nucleus of a planetary government. Since the Burn, the Earth has managed to exist peacefully with a unified government. Although a minor player in most ways, the New Solar Union is the most populous government in existence, with over 1.5 billion citizens spread throughout the solar system.

The New Solar Union has concentrated on the defense of the solar system, and has taken advantage of the recent rivalry between the Core Worlds Alliance and the Hellenikan League. Both sides have contributed ships to the New Solar Union, and the Union's capabilities were recently demonstrated when a strike force from the New Earth Empire, attempting to acquire a base in the Sol system, suffered a humiliating defeat. The New Solar Union has recently begun its own shipbuilding program, and some of the new classes are comparable to the ships of the major powers. The government of the New Solar Union is based on a combination of direct democracy and a representative council. The Council handles urgent problems, but its decisions are subject to a review by the entire citizen body of the Union.

Ephidites

Ephidites, one of four colonies located on Rhodos (BD+45 2505-IV), was one of the last colonies founded before the Burn. Within 5 parsecs of three League colonies, 4 Republican colonies, and one Imperial colony, this strategically important location has led to Ephidites being courted by both the League and the Republic.

Ephidites has a small citizen body and a larger number of residents with limited citizen rights. Most of the citizens support Archon Martin Chengalur, who tends to be sympathetic towards the Hellenikan League. Many of the residents, and a few citizens, support Exarch Brian Smith, who advocates an overthrow of the citizen government for more inclusive franchise. Smith has recently approached the Far Stars Republic for backing in his attempts to take over the government of Ephidites. If both sides gain support from the major powers, Ephidites may become the focus of another war between the Hellenikan League and the Far Stars Republic.

Korkyra

Korkyra is an independent colony on Merrod's World, the same planet that houses Stracher (the current capital of the Core Worlds Alliance). Korkyra was founded fifty years later than Stracher, and was a young colony at the time of the Burn. After the Burn, Korkyra survived only because Stracher and Heritage, another older colony on Merrod's World, were at war with one another but at peace with Korkyra, making Korkyra the only legal trade conduit between the two powers. Since that time, Korkyra has survived as a free port close to the League, the Alliance, and the Empire.

Korkyra's citizenship policy is extremely loose, with both foreigners and citizens eligible for full voting rights. The only distinction is that only citizens may serve on the Legislative Council, and foreigners pay slightly higher taxes. Only those adopted by a citizen or born to two full citizens are eligible for full citizenship, and Korkyra has many foreigners whose families have lived in the colony for hundreds of years.

Map of the Colonies

The starmaps come from the HabHYG database by means of Winchell Chung and his star maps web site. I wrote a script which drew the maps, and I played around with which stars actually had habitable planets until I had a map that I liked. The assumptions that I used are extremely optimistic, but that's the only way that real starmaps can be used for game purposes.

This map shows all known star systems with inhabitable planets as of 2653 (although essentially no new surveying has taken place since the Burn). Lines are drawn between stars 5 parsecs or less from one another (that being the maximum distance that most merchant ships can travel, and the maximum distance that a warship can travel without being stranded at the far end). Although some stars are marked as belonging to a major power, most have many colonies, including some neutral colonies.

Primitive Fudge

by David Jaquith (davidjaquith @ gmail .com)

Imagine a world with ice walls from coast to coast, so high you could never hope to climb them. Where you must survive attacks from lions nearly as big as a horse while you hunt for woolly mammoths. A world where you must hunt and gather for all your food because there simply isn't a means for growing your own. This is the world of the Wisconsin glaciation, the last ice age to occur in North America.

Imagine a world with ice walls from coast to coast and so high you could never hope to climb them. Where you must survive attacks from lions that are nearly as big as a horse while you hunt for woolly mammoths. A world where you must hunt and gather for all your food because there simply isn't a means for growing your own. This is the world of the Wisconsin glaciation, the last ice age to occur in North America.

There are many books and even a few RPGs that tell the story of the last ice age in Eurasia while there are precious few books and hardly any RPGs that deal with the last ice age in North America. The glaciation that lasted from 70,000 years ago to roughly 10,000 years ago created an America that is so different as to almost be an alien land when compared to the modern landscape.

Since there is so much material to cover, the scope of this article has to be limited. This article will cover the Tioga ice age, the last period in the Wisconsin glaciation. The Tioga ice age lasted from 30,000 years ago till around 10,000 years ago and was the least severe ice age in the Wisconsin glaciation. This article will include many facts, and where facts are used links will be included in the bibliography. There will also be quite a bit of non-factual material included, both to make the article more interesting and because there simply isn't a lot known about the Wisconsin glaciation.

Setting

The setting is North America, approximately 12,000 years ago. It's a landscape completely different than the current one. There were many types of animals that no longer exist and cultures that modern man can only wonder about. It is a place where anything is possible and very few facts are known.

Terrain

The terrain of the Tioga ice age was completely different than it is today, with most of North America under ice and the weather greatly effected by that. Somewhat like modern times, there were forests to the northeast and to the northwest of what is modern America, with a drier climate towards the southwest. Unlike modern times, the seasons were much different. Winter lasted much longer than it does in modern times, and Summer was more like the modern Spring.

Ice Sheets: A giant sheet of ice covered most of Canada and came down somewhat into what is currently the United States. This sheet of ice was caused by a global drop in temperature, but overall this was mild because the Tioga ice age was the the turning point towards a warmer climate. The gigantic glacier greatly effected the landscape due to the weather conditions produced by it. The glacier absorbed all the moisture, so the landscape was actually fairly dry and snow-free close up the ice. Further from the ice, snow could be quite heavy and everywhere the wind was very strong.

Rivers: The water coming off the glacier as it melted caused rivers that provided a clean water supply for animals and for the humans who inhabited North America. Many early cultures developed close to rivers, so it makes sense that rivers should play a big part in the setting of an RPG based on primitive cultures.

Animals

There is an almost infinite variety of animals in ancient North America. Described in this section are just a few of the more common ones.

Primitive Modern Animals: Many of the animals we see in modern America were present in ancient America. Just about any animal seen in the wild today would have been encountered by primitive Americans, with the exception of introduced species. Some examples include wolves, bison, and bears.

American Lion: This was one of the largest cats ever to exist on Earth, comparable in size to Europe's Cave Lion. The giant cat was an average of eleven and a half feet long, with the males weighing a quarter of a ton and the females weighing about two-thirds as much as the males.

They resembled a larger version of the modern African lion, except that they had longer legs and possibly had stripes. Due to their longer legs it is possible that they could have sprinted faster than modern lions, though nowhere near as fast as the modern cheetah.

With the largest brain-to-body ratio of any lion ever to have existed, they may have had more complex social structures than modern lions. This may have contributed to the fact that there are fewer lions than other predators in the tar pits.

American lions were most common to the southwest, but may have spanned all of America, though no remains have been found to the northeast. They likely used caves for shelter in the winter and may have lined their dens with grass and debris, much like the Siberian tiger of modern times. They also likely hunted deer, bison, and young mammoths and mastodons.

Mammoth: The mammoths of America were actually the largest species of mammoth. These were called the Imperial Mammoths and stood thirteen feet tall. They had very large tusks and a long trunk. They were covered in thick fur, consisting of a heavy overcoat and a fuzzy undercoat, providing the elephant with extremely efficient fur. They thrived in cold weather, though its likely they didn't do well in heavy snow. They might well have migrated with the season changes, coming north towards the glaciers in the Winter, where snow wouldn't be deep, and south during the Summer where the feed would be good. Like modern elephants, they were herbivores.

Dire Wolf: This animal is closely related to both the grey wolf and hyenas, though it is not the direct ancestor of any modern animal. It was about five feet long and weighed a little over 100 pounds. It co-existed with the grey wolf and lived all across America.

It had shorter legs than the grey wolf, which suggests that it might have been a poor runner and thus was probably a scavenger, but would likely have hunted any slow herbivores or wounded prey animals.

The dire wolf had much larger teeth than the grey wolf and likely used these teeth to crush the bones of their prey as they ate.

Glyptodon: These creatures were a very large, very heavy version of the armadillo. About the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, they likely could only move one to two miles per hour, as they weighed between one and two tons. Glyptodons had an armored shell, consisting of more than a thousand one-inch plates. They didn't have the ability to hide their heads, instead they had a hard bony shell on their skulls. They may have had a trunk to make getting food easier (they probably ate the plants found around rivers and lakes), but there is little evidence to support that theory. Most predators would have had trouble turning the glyptodon over to reach its unprotected underside.

Mastodon: The mastodons were very similar to the mammoths, only about four feet shorter than the Imperial Mammoth and with teeth more suited to leaf-eating than grazing.

Giant Sloth: Also known as the ground sloth, the giant sloth was found mostly in the Midwestern area of America. There were four species of giant sloth in America, though they were all very similar. They reached heights from around three to eighteen feet, the largest having the bulk of a bull elephant. They had large claws that might have been used for digging for roots or for harvesting food from trees.

Arctodus: Also known as the short-faced bear, Arctodus were the most powerful predator in America during the last ice age. While they were likely scavengers, they could have easily hunted just about any creature in North America. One species, Arctodus simus, was the biggest bear ever to have existed, standing five feet at the shoulder, though the most common Arctodus was merely four feet tall. They were extremely strong and had very powerful jaws.

Smilodon: Also known as the Saber-toothed tiger, the Smilodon was a species of cat best known for its rather large fangs. These big cats weighed more than seven hundred pounds and were about the size of a modern African lion. With seven inch long canine teeth and jaws capable of opening a full 95 degrees, their fangs were likely used to puncture their prey's neck, quickly killing any animal.

The Smilodon species that existed during the Tioga ice age were not good at running and likely hunted in packs to overcome this. Though its legs were not good for running, they were very strong and could likely hold down most prey.

Society

Modern man inhabited North America during the Tioga ice age. These people were known as the Paleo-Indians and were very similar to the Cro Magnon people found in Eurasia. They hunted with spears and had stone tools.

Little is known about actual societies in the Tioga ice age, so most of the following is fictional.

Hunting and Gathering: The Paleo-Indians had to struggle to get food. With the major prey animals migrating and the short warm season limiting the available food, much of the ancient Americans' time was invested in gathering food and storing it. These people likely hunted just about any animal they could get their hands on, either for food or for tools. While the men hunted animals, the women likely gathered what plants they could, which ranged from mushrooms to grain to roots.

Shamanism: The Paleo-Indians likely had a form of shamanism, much like modern Native Americans. In this shamanism the spirits of the ancestors, the animals, and a few major gods were worshiped. Whether it was true or not, the Paleo-Indians really believed that the spirits and gods shaped the world around them. It is up to the person running the game to decide whether the spells that a shaman casts are real or not, but it is important that Paleo-Indians characters believe that the spells are real. A simple system for shamanistic spells follows this section.

Social Structure: The Paleo-Indians had a hierarchical structure. There was the leader, often the oldest and wisest of the tribe. Then there were the elders, the men who were too old to hunt but had years of experience. Below the elders were the hunters. The hunters were respected because they provided the most food for the tribe and were also responsible for keeping the tribe safe from predators and competing tribes. Below the hunters were the women and the men incapable of hunting and without elder status. These lower people were the ones to gather vegetation for the tribe and often made most of the non-weapon tools. At the bottom of the social structure were the children.

Equipment: Many things were used in the daily life of the Paleo-Indians, though not all of them can be mentioned here.

• Baskets and Backpacks: Baskets and backpacks made from woven reeds and grasses or leather were often used to carry raw materials from a gathering site or to carry food and tools. The backpacks were attached to a wooden frame, making them sturdy and strong enough to hold heavy items.
• Clothing: The clothing of the Paleo-Indians was made from leather and decorated with animal fur and simple beads and even some feathers. Their clothing was much like modern Native-American clothing.
• Shelter: Many Paleo-Indians lived in caves or under rock outcroppings, but many also lived in man-made structures such as tepees. What the Paleo-Indians lived in was mainly determined by their habits. A nomadic tribe would likely use tepees, while a tribe that never moved would live under a rock outcropping or in a cave.
• Tools: The Paleo-Indians were stone knappers. They shaped flint into tools, such as spear points, knives and hide scrapers. These tools required skill to make and were fragile, so areas with flint deposits were highly prized and were likely the cause for many territorial battles.
• Spears: The spears of the Paleo-Indians were unique. They were made using wooden shafts about five feet in length, but it is the tips that made them special. They had a stone point, known as the Clovis point, that was designed to break off in the target, keeping the wound open. These spears were used for hunting small animals, such as ducks, and also for larger animals, such as mammoths.

Shamanistic Magic

A shaman should have the Gift "Respected by the Spirits," the Meditation skill, and several skills related to areas of magic, as noted below. This system uses a word system for casting spells, using nouns for the target of the spell and verbs for the actions of the spell, each noun and each verb being a skill.

The nouns are as follows:

• Water: Refers to any liquid, from rain to rivers, and even things like soup. It can also refer to snow.
• Fire: Refers to energy, of which Paleo-Indians only knew of lightning and heat.
• Earth: Refers to any stone or soil, but can also refer to any solid, such as bones.
• Wind: Refers to the unseen force of the Paleo-Indian world. It includes both air movements and air itself. It can also refer to sound.
• Spirit: Refers to the spirit world in general, from the ancestors, to the animal spirits, to the Gods. It can be used in both good and bad ways.
• Man: This refers to any human and any body part thereof.
• Animal: This refers to any living thing that is not human or plant yet is alive.
• Plant: This refers to anything that is alive but doesn't move on its own.

The verbs are as follows:

• Summon: This brings something from afar to nearby. It does not create things.
• Banish: This makes things nearby go away, it does not destroy things.
• Shape: This alters the target, for good or bad.

To cast a spell, a shaman must first meditate and then combine a verb with a noun. To meditate, the shaman must roll his Meditation skill against a difficulty set by the gamemaster. The gamemaster should choose a base difficulty based on how easy it is to contact the spirits in her game and should modify this difficulty based on several factors. If the shaman is in good standing with the spirits, the difficulty should be lowered by a level or two. If the shaman is in bad standing with the spirits, the difficulty should be raised by a level or two. If the shaman takes something like a hallucinogen the difficulty should be lowered a level or two, as it is easier to reach the spirit world when in an altered state of mind. If the shaman is distracted, the difficulty should be raised by a level or two.

If the shaman successfully reaches a trance state through meditation and thus has contacted the spirits, the shaman must state the goal of his spell. The GM will decide the appropriate nouns and verbs and set a difficulty based on how difficult the spell should be to cast. The shaman rolls against this difficulty using the lowest involved skill.

If the roll is successful, the spell is cast and the shaman remains in the trance and can attempt to cast further spells. If the shaman fails the roll by more than -2, he comes out of the trance. If the shaman rolls a natural -4 the spell automatically fails and the shaman is stuck in a trance for at least a half hour, seeming to be in a coma. After a half hour the shaman can attempt to come out of the trance, rolling against the same difficulty used to go into the trance. A roll of a natural +4 gets the shaman out of the trance automatically. If the shaman fails to come out of the trance, he can try again every half hour, the difficulty lowering by one level every try.

An example casting of a spell: The shaman attempting to enter a trance, rolls his Meditation skill of Good against a difficulty of Great. He rolls a +2 and easily enters the trance. He then says that he wants to banish the evil spirit that is causing the little girl of his tribe to be sick. The GM decides that that spell requires the Banish verb and the Spirit noun. The lowest of these skills is at Fair and the GM decides that the difficulty will be Fair because the evil spirit isn't very strong. If the shaman rolled a Fair or above, the spirit would be banished and the girl would get better and the shaman could try casting another spell or could come out of the trance at will. If the shaman rolled a -1, he'd only fail the spell by -1 and thus the spell would fail but he could try again or try a new spell. If he rolled a -2 or below he would fail the spell and would automatically come out of the trance but he could try entering a trance again if he wanted. However, the shaman rolls a -4, which not only fails the spell, but gets him stuck in a trance. After a half hour he can try to get out, having to roll a +1 or better because the original trance difficulty was Good. He fails the roll, and after another half hour he tries again and gets a +4, instantly dropping him out of the trance.

Scenario Seeds

The following are short scenario descriptions to get a gamemaster going with this setting. If you intend to play as a player in this setting, you should not read further.

The Mammoth Hunt

The mammoth hunt was one of the more exciting moments in a Paleo-Indian tribe's existence. In short, it involves scouting a mammoth herd, hunting the herd, and finally killing a mammoth and then defending the kill from large predators.

Since there is a lot of work involved in hunting a mammoth, the entire tribe will go on the hunting expedition, though only the hunters are likely to go anywhere near a live mammoth.

The Scouting Party

The player characters are told by the chief to scout ahead for the mammoths. It is fairly easy to follow the trail of the giant mammals, as they tear a path of destruction through the vegetation as they go. All is fine until the scouts have to scare off a rogue Dire Wolf. If they successfully scare off the wolf without spooking the herd, the mammoths shouldn't be too hard to spot. If the mammoths are spooked, they will be harder to find and the scouts may have to return to the tribe to tell them the bad news, which will lead to hardship as another scouting party has to go out looking for the mammoths, possibly with help from the shaman.

The Hunt

Once the mammoth herd is found, the rest of the tribe stays behind as the hunters try to get the elephants to run into a trap, preferably a valley with only one entrance or a cliff wall. When the elephants go towards the trap, the goal is then to separate one from the herd and then plunge as many spears as possible into it without getting hurt. Even if successful, it is likely that a few hunters will be badly hurt or even killed.

The Aftermath

As the women and the others butcher the mammoth, the hunters must stand guard. They are likely to have to fight off many predators, as the smell of a large dead animal is enough to draw in nearly all nearby carnivores. By now it is likely getting dark and the predators may still try to steal the meat despite the fires. The hunters will have their hands full and there is a possibility for several exciting fights.

Desperation

This scenario shows what can be done with a little imagination and a little stretching of the truth. It has a strong horror element and should be kept scary if at all possible. It involves a small Paleo-Indian tribe having to fight off the cannibalistic Neanderthal tribe that's doing whatever it can to avoid extinction due to starvation.

The Build-Up

The scenario opens with a hunting party returning. This party should have a dramatic return, such as two hunters carrying a wounded third hunter into the camp when the original hunting party had at least ten members. The returning hunting party should tell the story of monstrous humans attacking them in the night and stealing their kill after killing most of the hunting party. The monstrous humans should also be described as having taken away the dead bodies of the attacked hunters.

The Discovery

The shaman, horrified that the fallen hunters won't be put to rest with honor, demands that the chief send out a party of hunters to attack the monstrous humans to get the bodies back and to exact revenge.

The chief picks the player characters, the best hunters in the tribe, to go find the monstrous humans and to do what it takes to get the bodies back.

The player characters are told where the attack took place and it is very easy to find. There is blood everywhere and the smoldering remains of the hunting party's fire. Blood trails and footprints can be found leading towards a swamp. The player characters, if they go into the swamp, will discover an empty village made from primitive straw huts. There are bones everywhere, most of them belonging to animals, but some also belonging to humans. If the hunters search the huts they will find one with the dead bodies of the hunting party, in various stages of being butchered. The details should be made as gruesome as possible to convey the feeling of horror the characters would experience.

The Battle

Shortly after the discovery of the butchered bodies, the Neanderthals arrive back at their village, having gone hunting some more. The Neanderthals will attack the player characters. The battle should be harsh and long, but the Neanderthals lack the technology and resources to be much match for the player characters with their comparatively advanced weapons and techniques.

Sample Characters

The following are example characters using this setting. The first is a hunter, the most likely player character choice. The second is an example of making non-humans an important part of the story.

Paleo-Indian Hunter

Name: Thunder Voice

Tribe: Hunters of the Wolf

Background: Thunder Voice is named after his very loud voice, and he is quite proud of it. His people, the Hunters of the Wolf, worship the wolf spirit and model their hunting behavior after this sacred animal. Thunder Voice is a hunter, and a very experienced one at that.

• Attributes
  • Strength: Great
  • Agility: Fair
  • Intelligence: Fair
  • Constitution: Good
• Skills
  • Spear: Good
  • Knife: Fair
  • Hunting Tactics: Good
  • Leadership: Fair
  • Tracking: Fair
  • Rituals: Mediocre
• Gifts
  • Respected by his tribe.
• Faults
  • Afraid of drowning.
• Equipment
  • Clothing: A leather tunic, and leather pants, both with wolf fur decorations.
  • Weapons: A spear with a bone tip (+3 ODF) and a flint-blade knife (+1 ODF).
  • General: A leather tent with tent posts, a fire starting kit, and enough food to last him through a month.

One-Eyed Wolf

Name: One-Eyed Wolf

Background: This wolf has been the bane of the hunter Walks with a Whisper. The wolf came and attacked his family while they were bathing in the stream after a hunt. The wolf was a rogue and was very hungry. He mortally wounded Walks with a Whisper's wife and her child. Walks with a Whisper fought off the wolf, managing to take out its eye with his knife. Since that day, Walks with a Whisper has been hunting this wolf to get revenge.

• Attributes
  • Strength: Fair
  • Agility: Great
  • Constitution: Good
• Skills
  • Hunting: Great
  • Stealth: Fair

• Gifts
  • Wolf: +2 to all sensing rolls (except sight), natural weaponry (+1 ODF teeth), and can run for fifteen or twenty miles non-stop.
• Faults
  • Rogue: This wolf has been kicked out of his pack and must start one of its own.
  • One-eyed: -1 to all sight rolls.

Bibliography

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cro_magnon
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_Homo_sapiens
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_glaciation
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_lion
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammoth
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire_wolf
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptodon
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodon
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_sloth
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctodus
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smilodon
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo-indian
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis_culture
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis_point
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topper_%28archaeological_site%29
• http://www.centerfirstamericans.com/mt.html?a=13
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint

Experience-free Skill Advancement

by Edward Beingessner (beinges @ bigfoot .com)

In a long running campaign, character improvement is essential, but as Steffan O'Sullivan points out in his "Recent Thoughts on Fudge," experience points do not work very well in Fudge. Advancement is too granular, either too quick or too slow. In fact experience points in any gaming system seem misdirected. With most experience systems, there is no relation between what the character does during the game and how he advances. There is a relation with how fast a character advances, but not what skills he advances in. For example, in the AD&D experience system a thief could gain all his experience back-stabbing monsters. Then when he gets his next level, he can suddenly climb walls better. It does not seem to follow. The same problem arises in the GURPS system. You get points to improve your character, but can use them to buy skills never used. For example, a character who was awarded character points for slaying a dragon could use them to buy a skill in picking locks.

This article is about an alternative to using experience points for character development. The system will be focused on improving skills. Improving Attributes and gaining Gifts will be left for subjective character development. The main objectives of the character development system will be:

1. There should be a direct correlation between the skills a character uses and the skills that improve.
2. It should be easier to improve low-level skills than high-level skills. Experience systems are structured this way because it gives a more satisfying feel to character development. Our system should be able to simulate this feeling. This shall be referred to as the concept of diminishing returns.
3. The system should not require a large amount of book keeping. Fudge is not about accounting, and this would be a distraction from the flow of the game.
4. Finally, the system should use the same core dice mechanic that all of Fudge is based on.

So what would a system of character development look like that did not use experience points? The Basic Roleplaying (BRP) system has an ingenious example. In BRP, if you use a skill successfully during a game session, you have a chance to improve it at the end of the session. Notice you only have a chance of improvement. To succeed at a skill, you must roll under its value. So the higher the skill, the better the chance of success. To raise a skill higher you have to roll over its value, so the higher the skill the less the chance of improvement. So the BRP system is comprised of two steps. First a skill must be successfully used during the gaming session, then at the end of the session a roll is made to see if the skill improved. We shall refer to these steps as a Skill Success and an Experience Feat.

This system works well in Fudge. First, assume all characters are Poor learners. If a character successfully uses a skill during a gaming session (a Skill Success), at the end of the game session they get a chance to improve it. They must make a feat roll with their Poor learning attribute (an Experience Feat) to improve. The difficulty of the Experience Feat is their current skill level. For example, if a character was a Fair swimmer to start with, they would need a Fair result on an Experience Feat to become Good. Since their learning attribute is Poor, they need a +2 result on Fudge dice (18% chance). Difficult skills could get a -1 to learn, while a character with an aptitude for some types of skills might have a +1 chance of improving. Skill aptitudes could be taken as Gifts by characters; however, they give a very large bonus to character improvement, so should be used sparingly. Note that if characters are Poor learners, they can never improve beyond a Superb skill level (unless you have an aptitude for that skill). Getting a Legendary skill level would be impossible, but could be appointed on a subjective basis as is suggested in the rules. Alternatively, you can treat any +4 on an Experience Feat as an automatic success, improving a skill one level. Note that Fudge points should not be used during Experience Feats, or improvement becomes too predictable and we lose the sense of diminishing returns.

To be counted toward character improvement, a Skill Success has to be under stress or further the plot in some way. In other words, we should call it a Significant Skill Success instead of simply a Skill Success. Don't let the players try their skills in nice safe situations and get chances to improve. They have to be gaining useful adventuring experience to get a chance to develop. To avoid this type of munchkinism, limit the number of skills that can be improved in single session to the two or three most significant skill successes. For example, the killing blow on a dragon would be more significant than bargaining down the price of a 10 foot pole. This also eliminates having to keep a list of all the Skill Success's during the session. The players and GM should be able to remember the most significant events of a session without writing them down. At the end of the session, it is only against these Significant Skill Successes that the character tries an Experience Feat.

This system can be used to gain new skills. If a character has a Significant Skill Success with an unknown skill at the default level, they deserve an Experience Feat. For example, if a character landed a jet plane with instructions from the control tower, the character can make an Experience Feat to get a pilot skill. If the default level for a jet pilot skill is Poor, they would have to make a Poor Experience Feat. If they succeeded, they would get a Mediocre jet pilot skill (i.e. Poor + 1 = Mediocre). The chances of succeeding at default skill levels can be very difficult, but players can spend Fudge points to help their chances. So indirectly, Fudge points are used for character development.

You can use a characters imaginative play to invent new skills in this system. For example, a character with a Good quarter-staff skill uses their staff to pole-vault into a kick to knock someone off a bridge. You might assign a penalty of -2 to their quarter-staff skill for this feat. If this was a Significant Skill Success, they could take a new skill in pole-vault-kick at Fair if they make their Experience Feat (i.e. Good - 2 + 1 = Fair). This gives players an incentive to try new things and be descriptive during play. Adding new skills in this way keeps characters improving when their skills are so high that improvement is unlikely; thus, making character development less granular. We had four objectives for this character development system. The first was direct correlation between the skills used and skills improved. If only Skill Successes can be used for improvement, this objective is met. The second objective was diminishing returns, which is satisfied by the Experience Feat becoming more difficult as the skill is improved. The third objective was simple book keeping. Since only the two or three most Significant Skill Successes are important, and character development takes place at the end of every session, no book keeping is required. The last objective was to use the the core Fudge dice mechanic, which is exactly what an Experience Feat uses. So we have met our objectives, and done so without using experience points. The system allows characters to develop as a direct result of their actions taken during play. This gives players incentive to play their characters well, which is the entire reason for character development.

A Non-Linear Wounding System

By Helge Lund Kolstad (helge @ nvg.org)

Most RPG damage systems have a linear way of regarding wounds, i.e. hit points, a wound track, or a similar mechanism. The idea is that if you sustain enough small wounds, you will eventually die. This is fine for most games, but is nevertheless somewhat unrealistic. I present here an optional damage system, inspired by Fantasy Flight Games' Synergy game system.
The system is based on the assumption that you don't die if you sustain several non-mortal wounds. You might be hindered, feel bad and look unwell, but you won't die from it unless your condition somehow worsens. Likewise, it's fully possible to die from a single wound, no matter how tough you are.

The Health Conditions

The conditions a person can be in is connected to how much damage he has sustained, but there is no direct correlation. You might stumble around and fight back, even if you're spilling entrails and slipping in your own blood. Or you might be concussed and out like a light, but otherwise fine.

Healthy

Pretty self-explanatory. The subject is not hindered by any wounds he might have sustained.

Hindered

The subject has sustained some wounds, and is feeling it. An arm might be numb, a blow might have caused dizziness; in any case, this is reflected by a penalty to all rolls one makes.

Stunned

The subject is reeling from pain and shock and takes a round of ouch time. This is a temporary condition. While stunned, one might stumble away from immediate danger and dodge a few blows, but is otherwise incapable of coherent action. Defence is at -2.

Incapacitated

The subject is out cold, but his or her condition is not life-threatening. No action can be taken.

Dying

The subject is down and has sustained serious body trauma. He can take no action and will die unless the injury is treated. How long that takes depends on the injury and how nasty the GM is feeling; however, it is not too late...

Dead

But now it is. In a fantasy or science-fiction campaign, it might be possible to raise the dead, in which case the body's condition may be a factor.

The Wound Levels

This is of course what it all comes down to. When playing, players might keep track of wounds by keeping differently-coloured counters. For example, the GM might give them a glass bead for each wound, or the player might fasten laquered paper clips to the character sheet.

The wound levels describe:

• The amount of damage sustained from the attack that caused the wound.
• The Resistance roll. When a wound is sustained, one rolls against a relevant trait; Damage Capacity, Health, and Resolve are all good choices. The GM decides what he likes best. This roll is not affected by any wound penalties.
• The penalty. This how much each wound hinders the subject. All penalties are cumulative, except as noted above.

Type	Damage	Nature	Roll	Penalty
Flesh Wound	1-3	This might be a graze, a flesh wound, a sprained ankle, or something similar. The injury is painful and might hinder action, but is not very serious.	No roll is needed for flesh wounds. The subject grunts/screams in pain/does not flinch (whatever is appropriate) and is otherwise unaffected.	The subject receives a -1 penalty for every two of these babies. Only one flesh wound will not hinder one. Much.
Severe Wound	4-8	This is something more noticable - actual fractures, a punctured lung, a concussion, or something similar. The subject is severely hurt and needs medical attention, but the injury is not in itself life-threatening.	If the subject fails the roll, he is Stunned for one round. Success means he grits his teeth and fights on. The difficulty is Good.	The subject receives a -1 penalty for everysevere wound sustained.
Critical Wound	9-14	These are life-threatening injuries, usually because the subject's vital organs have been damaged. His stomach might be cut open and his guts spilling out (always a bad sign).	Failing the roll means the subject is Dying. Success means he is still able to act; however, he might be permanently crippled at the GM's discretion. The difficulty is Great.	For sustaining this kind of injury, the subject earns himself a -2 penalty.
Traumatic Wound	15+	This is the kind of damage that can kill you in an instant - standing within the blast range of an exploding bomb, for example. The subject will likely be crippled for the rest of his life, and should count himself lucky to survive. If he can count at all.	Failure means the subject is instantly, messily Dead. Even if he succeeds, he will be Dying and barely alive. The roll has a Superb difficulty. For every 3 damage above 15, another level is added to difficulty (Legendary at 18, Legendary+1 at 21, and so on).	A traumatic wound incurs a -3 penalty to all rolls.

Infection

Even after the wound is sustained, the danger is not over. For every day spent wounded, there is a risk that the wound might be infected. At the end of each day, the subject rolls against Fair (use Health, Damage Capacity or similar trait. Resolve might not be as relevant here). Failure means the wound has become infected.
The roll is influenced by any first aid administered to the subject. The environment might have adverse effects as well. In a jungle, for example, wounds are likely to fester.
If a wound is infected, its severity goes up by one level, i.e. a flesh wound becomes a severe wound. The subject then has to succeed at a Resistance roll or suffer the consequences of the new wound. It is possible for a wound to be affected by infection more than once as the infection gets worse.

Treating Wounds

Healing

If a wound is allowed to heal normally, its severity will decrease by one level every two weeks. Hospitalisation will reduce this time by half. The Gift Rapid Healing will further reduce it by half. Even an infected wound will get better. Yes, it is unrealistic for a bomb victim to be completely healed after four weeks in hospital, but this is where some realism has to be sacrificed for playability.

First Aid

A subject who is Dying will, well, die without immediate medical care. A successful First Aid roll will change the subject's condition to Incapacitated and put him out of immediate danger. If he gets sufficient rest, he might wake up and be merely Hindered; however, the wound level is not reduced by first aid.

Other Nastiness

Being wounded might have other consequenced than that mentioned above. The subject might be cut by a poisoned blade, creating a seemingly innocuous wound that will not heal and gradually gets worse as per infection. A particularly grievous wound might cause the loss of a limb, an eye, or other body part. This is all up to the GM, but playability should be kept in mind. It might be appropriate for someone who survived a direct hit from a 19th century cannon to lose a leg or an arm, or both, but players might be a bit miffed from losing an hand to a severe wound in a cinematic campaign.

Examples

Ugly Joe is in an old-style Wild West duel with El Hombre. Fingers twitch as the clock atop the church tower approaches 12. The two shots ring as one. Finally, Joe makes a gurgling sound and sinks to his knees.

In this example, Joe gets a Fair Revolver skill result, while El Hombre gets a Superb one. El Hombre's revolver has a damage rating of 7, while Joe's heavy duster gives him 1 armour. Total damage is 9, which is a critical wound. Ugly Joe now has to make a Resolve roll against Great difficulty, but rolls only Good. He falls over and is now dying.

Bad Luck Betty has been in a firefight, and taken three hits. One merely grazed her arm. One passed through her side, but failed to hit any vital organs. The third bullet, however, entered very close to her throat and has shattered her collarbone. Although in pain, she bit the bullet and managed to escape with her life. Bandaging her wounds, she decides to cross the desert and search for help in the first town she can find.

The first two hits are flesh wounds, but the second one is obviously a severe wound. Betty made the Resistance roll, however. Two flesh wounds mean a -1 penalty to all rolls, and the severe wound another -1, for a total of -2. She has made her First Aid roll, but it will have no effect other than lessening the chance of infection.

Jean-Pierre Brisset and his partner Pascal Dufresne are searching the Amazon jungle for the Lost Idol of Quetzalcoatl when they are surprised by hostile natives and forced to flee. Jean-Pierre has taken two massive spear wounds while Pascal has only a relatively innocuous wound from a blowpipe dart. Of course, as seasoned explorers they both know about the danger of poisoned darts, so Jean-Pierre desperately tries to suck the poison out. However brave, the attempt to alleviate Pascal's pain fails, and Jean-Pierre has to watch his partner die only a few hours later. The next day, one of Jean-Pierre's own wounds hurts considerably more and is looking rather worse. He gets a fever and considers his own prospects pretty bleak. However, Lady Luck smiles upon him as he is rescued by a friendly tribe just as he is about to pass out.

In this example, Jean-Pierre has sustained two severe wounds and Pascal only a flesh wound. However, Pascal's wound is poisoned and the GM decides Pascal's player has to make a Health check every hour against Good difficulty. Pascal fails the first roll, which is bad since his next roll will be modified for a severe wound, not a flesh wound. Meanwhile, Jean-Pierre tries to suck out the poison, which the GM rules will be a Medicine roll against Superb difficulty to shake the poison effects of the wound. Jean-Pierre doesn't even have the Medicine skill, so he fails. Although Pascal lasts for a few more hours, he ultimately fails the poisoning roll and the critical wound roll, and Jean-Pierre can only watch his dying partner writhe in agony.

Meanwhile, the day passes and it's time for Jean-Pierre to make his infection roll. He is in a damp jungle environment with lots of insects and bacteria to make his day worse, so the GM decides the roll will have a Superb difficulty. However the wounds have been treated with Pascal's First Aid skill, so the difficulty is lowered to Great. Jean-Pierre is in Good Health; however, his two severe wounds lowers his effective rating to Mediocre. His first two rolls are Great and Fair, which means one wound stays uninfected while an incredibly nasty South American insect lays its eggs in the other. Jean-Pierre now has one severe and one critical wound.

The French explorer shambles along all day and night, and it's time for infection rolls again. This time, his effective skill is Poor (Good -1 for the severe wound, -2 again for the critical one), and the difficulty is still Great. The rolls are Terrible and Fair - not even close. Jean-Pierre now has one critical and one traumatic wound. Although he fails the Resistance roll for the critical wound, he succeeds with the traumatic one, so he doesn't die outright, but passes out as his life slowly seeps away. Fortunately, he is found just in time for treatment.

Ted the ninja trainee has already become legendary for his ineptitude and bad luck. One day during katana practice, he trips and skewers himself on his own sword. His sensei carries him to the hospital, shaking his head. Florence the ninja nurse takes very good care of him, so what seemed at first a rather horrid wound quickly heals. After only two weeks, a rather embarrassed Ted is ready to resume practice. He has, however, fallen in love with Florence, which will cause him no end of trouble.

In this example, Ted first sustains a severe wound from his own sword. He is quickly carried to hospital, so one wound level will be healed every week. He still has to make infection rolls, but in this clean environment the difficulty will be Terrible. Even with Ted's Mediocre Health, he passes with flying colours. After one week, his injury has receded to a flesh wound, and after two, it is completely healed. He has acquired heartache, though, which is not covered by this system.

By the cover of night, "Dead Meat" Hamish and the other soldiers wade ashore from the landing boats. They have been making silent progress across the landscape when the soldier next to Hamish suddenly steps on a mine. Hamish is flung 10 metres in the air and lands brutally, alive but not looking it. Groaning painfully, he rolls onto his back - and triggers another mine. Again, he is flung several meters across a ridge and lands in front of an enemy truck. He is then run over. As Hamish is lying there, smeared across the road, He thinks "not again!" as he loses consciousness.

This is an example of multiple wounds. As his mate is killed by a mine, Hamish sustains 16 damage, which is a traumatic wound. Hamish's player rolls Health against Superb difficulty and makes it - the unlucky soldier shielded most of the blast. Then, Hamish is blasted by another mine - a direct hit. This time it's 20 damage and Legendary+1 difficulty. Since Hamish has Great Health, The player wins it again with another lucky roll. The GM rules Hamish hit the trigger with his knee, and his left leg is blasted off. He is then run over by a military truck, crushed for 17 damage by several tonnes of vehicle. His chest and most of his internal organs are crushed, but his heart still lurches on, since the Resistance difficulty is "only" Superb. The player can be glad no wound penalties are applied to the Resistance roll or he would be in trouble. Hamish is still very much dying and in enemy territory, though.

Curses for the Gramarye

By Tony Spallino (aspallino @ nc . rr . com)

Since February had a Friday the 13th in it, it seemed appropriate to include an article about magical curses. Note: This article uses the Gramarye magic system designed by Carl Cravens for its sample spells. These spells can be easily adapted to another magic system of your choice.

Curses can be used in a variety of games, but the more traditional types are found in fantasy games. Some curses can have a humorous style to them while others can be downright deadly. Who's casting these devastating spells? Typically angry or evil wizards or witches. They may cast these to take revenge on a particular person, especially if this person has somehow wronged the magician. The witch may have been hired by someone to cast the curse on this fellow's rival.

How are they casting them? These spells have high mana requirements! Curses just can't be cast cheaply. Aside from suggested props, the use of a ritual is strongly encouraged. The magician must be willing to invest some serious time in order to cast these curses. It's an extremely difficult task to alter a victim's situation on such a drastic level. A simple ritual will add +1 to a mage's mana bonus, so the mage will benefit from more elaborate rituals to be able to cast these. [Editor's note: Recall that the ritual bonus is for prepararing the caster's mind and body to cast the spell and comes before casting of the spell itself. I recommend a maximum bonus of +3 mana for the most involved rituals, such as spending three days meditating in a sweat lodge without food to open the caster's mind to the spirit world, or whatever is appropriate to your game world.]

How can the curse be broken? In a typical fantasy style game, there could be a spell such as Remove Curse (Break Magic) that would erase the curse. For game purposes, there may have to be a condition such as only the wizard who cast the spell may dispel it. Other wizards would need to find other methods.
There are some great roleplay possibilities here. A whole evening's adventure could center around the breaking of a PC's curse. Perhaps they need to travel to a dangerous area and gather a particular herb. Literature is filled with stories where the character must accomplish a particular task in order to break the curse. They may also need someone's help to accomplish this. An attribute such as Willpower could be used to allow the character to break the curse. This could be done at certain times, such as once a day or during a strenuous task.

Let's examine some of these curses.

(Rules Note: For our purposes, a 1-year duration, costing +20 mana, is considered "permanent".)

Bad Luck Curse

Control Spirit, Great effect (+9), one target (0), short range (+1), 1 month duration (+8). Total mana = 18

This curse will cause the character to suffer a -1 to -2 (at most) to any critical Fudge die rolls. The penalty will only occur during an important skill roll. This curse could possibly affect an Ability roll such as Dexterity, if necessary. The player will also notice smaller bad things happening to them, such as a ripped shirt more often than usual, the barkeep "accidentally" spilling a drink on them, and other roleplay possibilities. This could work especially well if the player doesn't know he's been cursed yet.
Possible props:

• Collected hair and fingernails of the victim - this gives a kind of voodoo feel to the spell (-6)
• Using a symbol of bad luck when casting the spell (-1)

Note: The use of Spirit assumes that luck is a spiritual quality that can be somewhat controlled through magic. If the use of Spirit in this way doesn't fit your campaign, please feel free to change this. Perhaps a Luck Realm would fit better in your campaign? Other possibilities could include the Realms of Mind, Body, and Magic. These could have rationales as follows:

• Control Mind - The victim has bad luck because their mind does things subconsciously that does them harm.
• Control Body - The victim has bad luck through unconscious movements of their own body.
• Control Magic - Luck could be a magical quality that can be manipulated.

These other choices will depend greatly on your personal worldview.

Dancing Curse

Control Body, Great effect (+13), one target (0), long range (+2) 5 hour duration (+5). Total mana = 20

This curse will cause the target to start dancing and they will be unable to stop. At first, it will be more embarrassing than anything else, but it will then become tiring. Since the victim cannot stop, he will start to hurt from this constant strain on his legs and body. After a half an hour of this, one point of damage is taken. Each half an hour after this, another point of damage is taken until the victim reaches Incapacitated and collapses from exhaustion. He will stop dancing, but his feet will continue to twitch. Whether the curse starts up after he awakens or not is up to the referee.
Possible props:

• A shoe belonging to the victim (-6)
• Playing a silver whistle or flute during the casting of the spell (-3)

Shapeshifting Curse

Transform Body, Great effect (+11), one person (0), extreme range (+4) permanent duration until condition is met (+20). Total mana = 35

This is one of the classic curses of literature. It will cause the victim to change shape into an animal of some sort. The animal should be something relatively small and harmless, such as a frog or mouse. With an increase in effect, the victim could also be transformed into something original but bestial. The victim will still have his normal intelligence, but will be unable to speak. He will be limited to the senses and abilities of the animal he is now changed into.
Traditionally, these sorts of curses require some sort of condition for them to be broken. Victims could spend years in their new form trying to get someone to break it for them. A kiss from a princess, true love, or finding a magical object are possible conditions for breaking the curse.
Note: This curse would normally qualify for Good effect, but since it's such a massive transformation, Great effect seems more appropriate. Carl has noted that the Transform samples are under-valued and that Transform should not be permanent. Both are changed in the revised Gramarye rules he is currently writing.
Possible props:

• A small totem resembling the animal (-1)
• The same totem carved from a precious stone or cast in precious metal (-3)
• A living animal that the victim will turn into, which must be sacrificed when casting the spell (-3)
• Casting the spell in the environment of the animal desired, such as a cave or swamp (-1)

Sleeping Curse

Control Body, Great effect (+12), one person (0), long range (+2) permanent duration (+20). Total mana = 34

This curse will cause the target to fall into a deep sleep and not awaken until a certain condition is met (the kiss of a Prince?). The target will not age while they sleep, so it's a kind of suspended animation. The person could conceivably be sleeping for years! Again, I have used a permanent duration in the spell. This will keep it more in line with the classic literature.
Possible props:

• A pillow or other sleeping item belonging to the victim (-5)
• The sacrifice of an animal that hibernates, such as a bear (-3)
• A golden "sleep mask" designed to be placed over the victim's face (-4)

There you have it, a variety of curses to make your players remember Friday the 13th! They are very expensive spells, but if your wizard can cast these successfully, they will certainly never be forgotten.

Lord of the Dice: A Fudge GM's Toolbox

by Paul Tarussov (paul.tarussov @ mail.mcgill.ca)

Fudge, as a roleplaying system, offers its fans and adherents a remarkable degree of freedom in creating the sort of game they want to play. Indeed, the flexibility of Fudge is so great that it cannot be rated on the Fudge scale -- in other words, it can only be considered a Gift.
However, many GMs find themselves in a bind when it comes to handing out modifiers. A +1 or -1, in the spirit of most other RPGs, is a huge leap in Fudge, and there seems to be no way for a GM to affect the dice in a more subtle fashion. This article will explore the properties of Fudge dice, and how a GM can use these properties to influence the outcome of any roll.
The basic dice mechanic of Fudge (4dF) is unique (or at least highly unusual) in several ways. The results it generates can be separated into three categories: positive, negative, or zero. Moreover, each die itself generates a result that can be classified into each of these categories. Since each die returns an average result of zero, we can always add or subtract a die from a roll without shifting the centre of the probability curve.
A d20 roll, for example, can only be adjusted with the addition or subtraction of a numeric modifier (such as a -4 for a difficult task, for example). In Fudge, however, all these factors conspire to allow a GM to manipulate the outcome of the dice in many different ways. Here are the methods I have come up with, along with examples of suitable contexts. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, and I would love to hear about any other ideas from fellow Fudge Factor readers.
Please note that all the probabilities listed in this article are approximations, NOT exact percentages. They are included in some of the examples below to give the reader a rough idea of how a particular method will affect the probability curve.

Numeric Modifiers: +X/-X

This type of modifier, the direct addition or subtraction of a number of levels, has been well used by many roleplaying systems. Numeric modifiers also work well in Fudge, as long as the GM is aware that they can very quickly take you outside the realm of the Fudge scale. Many Fudge GMs find numeric modifiers to be an awkward tool, and try to use them sparingly.
A numeric modifier has exactly the same effect as shifting the character's trait up or down the same number of levels -- it does not change the probability of rolling any given result on the dice.
Example:
There are many examples of numeric modifiers within the standard Fudge rules. A Hurt character, for instance, suffers a -1 penalty to his roll on any action that would be hampered by his wounds.

Virtual Plusses and Minuses

Sometimes characters operate under circumstances that limit their chances of achieving unusual success without affecting the probability of failure (or vice-versa). Using a virtual plus or minus can help handle such a situation without changing a character's skill as drastically as a +1 or -1.
A virtual plus or minus is applied after the roll is made, and can only be used to bring the result closer to 0. The virtual sign can only be used to cancel out an opposite sign -- never to add to a result. In other words, a virtual plus is only used if the Fudge dice roll a negative total, and a virtual minus only comes into play if the outcome of the 4dF roll is positive.
For example, if a player is making a roll with a virtual plus, and he rolls a 0 or a positive result, there is no change. However, if he rolls a negative result, he may count his virtual plus to cancel out one minus, bringing him one step closer to a 0. Thus, if he were to roll a -3, the virtual plus would raise his final result to -2, while if he rolled a +1, it would not take effect at all.
Note: In all cases, it is important that the virtual plus or minus is only taken into effect after the total of the 4dF roll is calculated (i.e., all pairs of plusses and minuses have been removed). If you allow a player to use a virtual plus to cancel a minus rolled by any of the dice (before pairs are cancelled out), the effects will be much more powerful. For example, if a roll results in three plusses and one minus {+,+,+,-}, a virtual plus used to cancel out the die that rolled a minus would raise the final result from a +2 to a +3! Using virtual modifiers in this manner could also be a useful tool, but their effect will be much more drastic -- almost as much as that of a full +1 or -1.
Example:
Three unaccomplished climbers are attempting to scale a cliff. However, they were smart enough to bring along a rope and have tied themselves together. The GM decides that the rope won't make the climb any easier, but will make it less likely that any given character actually falls of the cliff. She allows the climbers to make their rolls with a virtual plus. The climbers are no more likely to succeed, but the virtual plus will "buffer" any negative roll, making them much less likely to experience serious failure.
Other examples:
Modern software, or computer programs from science fiction, may be designed to look for errors in a human user's work and to correct them. A spell checker won't make you a better writer, and a de-bugging script won't make you a better programmer, but they can certainly make it easier to avoid mistakes. The GM can hand out a virtual plus or two to simulate their effect.
On the other hand, low-grade equipment could be represented by a virtual minus. A master musician trying to play a student-quality instrument won't suddenly become a bad musician, but he may find it difficult or impossible to produce an extraordinary performance. Likewise, a character operating technology from a less advanced era may be able to keep up with competitors whose gear is up-to-date, but may be held back when attempting really difficult tasks.
Virtual plusses and minuses also offer the Fudge GM an easy-to-remember way to handle "thirds". A character with a trait that is rated with a plus (ex: "Good+") makes all rolls with a virtual plus (thus failing less often than a character who is just "Good"), and a character whose trait is rated with a minus (ex: "Superb-") makes all rolls with a virtual minus (thus achieving results that are only occasionally inferior to someone who is actually Superb).
A roll made with both a virtual plus and a virtual minus is equivalent to a padded roll (see next section).

Padded Rolls

A padded roll is desirable when the GM feels that the outcome should not vary as much as that of a normal roll. While a straight 4dF roll produces unpredictable results suitable to a high adventure genre, a padded roll rarely produces outcomes greater than a +1 or a -1, and is more suitable to a "realistic" situation, such as a character using his skills under routine circumstances. Its distribution is a rough approximation of a median roll (e.g. making three rolls and throwing away the highest and lowest result). A padded roll will most often result in a "0", and will never create a result greater than +3 or -3.
To make a padded roll, you roll 4dF as usual and then shift the result one step towards zero. Thus, a +2 becomes +1, a -4 becomes a -3, and a +1 becomes a 0. For example, a character who has a skill at a "Good" level would need a +2 to achieve a "Great" result. As mentioned earlier, this is exactly like making a roll with both a virtual plus and a virtual minus.
Probabilities for a Padded Roll:

-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3
1%	5%	12%	64%	12%	5%	1%

Example:
A powerful queen is traveling through the wilderness with her retinue, which includes a famous chef (William, a PC with Superb cooking skill). One morning, the queen demands that William bake her a cake by nightfall. William has all day to create an appropriate confectionary delight, the guards have brought along all the equipment he could possibly need, and the situation is not overly stressful (the PC can take his time). However, William only has enough ingredients for one attempt. The GM considers the circumstances, and, deciding that the quality of the cake is highly relevant to winning the queen's favor, tells the player to make a padded roll.
An Alternative Padded Roll:
If you feel that the standard padded roll results in a "0" too often, you can try this slightly less intuitive method. It can be easily memorized if it is often used in a game, but may confuse players if it is only used occasionally. As the table below shows, it is like a normal 4dF roll except that outcomes of+/-2 are ignored (same as a "0" result), and outcomes of +/-3 or +/-4 are "padded", or nudged one step closer to zero.

-4	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4
-3	-2	0	-1	0	+1	0	+2	+3

Example:
This method could be used as an optional damage roll, rating each weapon on a damage scale, as shown below. A +1 moves the effective damage of the weapon up one level, a +2 up two levels, and so on.

None -- Scratched -- Hurt -- Very Hurt -- Incapacitated -- Near Death

A knife's damage might be based on the "Hurt" level. Whenever a character is hit by a knife, the alternative padded roll is made to find the final damage level. Under this system, the probabilities for the various possible levels of damage of a knife strike would look like this:

None	6%
Scratched	20%
Hurt	48%
Very Hurt	20%
Incapacitated	5%
Near Death	1%

Setting the Dice

This method allows either the GM or the players to "preset" one or more dice before the roll is actually made. If you see the 4dF roll as representative of all the random factors that can affect a character's performance, it makes sense that if some of those conditions were known, not all the dice would need to be rolled! One way of thinking about it is that some of the dice represent variations in the character's natural abilities while the rest represent the current circumstances.
A GM might decide, for instance, that two of the dice represent the current conditions.When the GM is unsure, he can ask the player to roll the dice as usual. However, if it is pretty clear in the GM's mind that the situation is decidedly advantageous or disadvantageous, she can ask the player to "set" one or more dice instead of applying a bonus or penalty to the roll. On the other hand, sometimes the GM may allow the player to choose whether or not to "set" one or more dice.
Examples:
If a character can control their circumstances to some extent, the GM can allow the player to "set" a number of dice to "0" before rolling the rest. This is exactly like allowing the player to decide how many dice he or she wants to roll. Some may decide to roll 4dF or more, perhaps hoping for unusual success. Others may state that their characters are trying to perform as consistently as possible and "set" several of the dice to "0" before rolling, leaving little up to chance.
The GM, on the other hand, can ask her players to "set" a die as a "+" or a "-" instead of the usual +1 or -1. The difference is essentially that while a numeric modifier keeps the spread of 4dF (only adjusting the basic trait level), a preset die also limits the possible range of outcomes. A character rolling 4dF with one die set to a "+" is essentially rolling 3dF with a +1 modifier. Some GMs may find this to be a more realistic means of handling modifiers because the range of results will not change as significantly. If you find it logical that a character working under specifically advantageous or disadvantageous conditions will find his or her performance to be more consistent (consistently good or bad, that is), this method is a good way of representing that effect in your game.
For instance, under normal circumstances, a Mediocre character will never achieve anything better than a Superb result. Rolling with a bonus, the same character could easily achieve results outside the range of the Fudge scale. However, while dice preset to "+" results will make it easier to reach a Superb performance, they will never allow the Mediocre character to surpass Superb. For instance, rolling 4dF with two dice set to "+", the Mediocre character's roll can only generate a result between Mediocre and Superb. If the same character was rolling at +2, the final outcome could range from Terrible to Superb+2!
In other words, this method draws a subtle distinction between a character with Good skill and another character with Mediocre skill and a bonus of +2. The standard Fudge rules make no distinction; there may be times when you find one method more appropriate than the other.
Here's how it might look in a game: Andrea, a soldier in a futuristic anti-tank brigade, is defending her home town against impending invasion. She has the "Gunnery" skill at a Good level. Her squad has set up their artillery on a ridge overlooking the narrow canyon where the enemy is expected to appear. The GM decides that this advantage is sufficient to allow each gunner in the brigade to set one die to a "+" result before making their roll. In addition, Andrea's player informs the GM that she will be firing at the center of each target instead of trying to strike vital areas, which might have been more difficult but potentially more devastating. The GM interprets this as an attempt on Andrea's part to keep her performance more predictable, and allows the player to set one die to a "0".
Finally, Andrea's player has two dice already on the table: one shows a "+" and one shows a "0". When it is time for her to fire, the player will roll the two remaining dice, generating a result somewhere between Fair and Superb+1.

Into the Realm of Arithmetic

Sometimes, the simple application of basic arithmetic can be enough to achieve the desired effect. By deciding whether the positive or the negative is to be modified, these different effects can be tailored to the needs of your game. You may want to alter the final result of the 4dF roll or surgically correct the outcomes of individual dice (see "Another Example"). This method can allow the GM to introduce some interesting modifications into his Fudge recipe.
Examples:
A futuristic battleship mounts laser cannon turrets to defend it from smaller threats. The turrets, while operated by humans, also possess a sophisticated target tracking system. The GM does not want computers to replace humans in her game, but she does want to model the fact that a human aided by such a system is much less likely to miss. The GM decides to simulate this effect by ruling that any negative result rolled by a gunner firing such a cannon is divided by a factor of two (bringing it closer to zero).
The same GM also runs a fantasy game where magic is a powerful but dangerous force, and any magic user is always at risk of terrible failure. She decides to set up her magic system so that any negative result rolled when casting a spell is doubled! This means that even a Legendary spell-caster, while he might usually be formidable, could roll a -4, which, doubled to -8, resulting in Abysmal failure!
Another Example:
In an earlier Fudge Factor article, "Solving the +1 Dilemma", Steven Hammond suggests assigning coloured dice as modifiers. The smallest bonus that can be granted to a character under the suggested system is achieved by replacing a normal Fudge die with a green die. The green die is treated like any other Fudge die, except that any "-" results that come up are ignored. The next step up is a purple die, which effectively has two "+" sides as well as a side that reads "0". The former example is exactly like adding one to any negative roll on a single dF, whereas the latter is equivalent to adding one any time that die rolls anything but a "+".

Re-rolling

Sometimes a character will have a chance to approach a problem from a slightly different angle, or to touch up a job he has already completed. A character in this situation could easily improve on a job badly done, but the chances of improvement upon an unusual success result should be much lower. If the dice are still on the table, the GM may offer the player to re-roll one of them.
This will not always be possible, but a GM who likes this method could write down the results of important actions (instead of just writing down "Bob - Camouflage result Great", you would add "+,+,0,-" or however the dice had come up). If you are not in the habit of keeping track of such minutiae, you could adopt a rule of thumb instead: if the outcome was equal to or lower than the character's trait, it is assumed that a die showing a minus may be re-rolled. On an outcome one, two, or three levels higher, the dice being re-rolled defaults to a "0" (so that the action has an equal chance of improving or damaging the final result). On a roll of +4, there is not much point in using this option, but if the character is unaware that he had succeeded so dramatically (for instance, the character suffers from amnesia), he could be re-rolling a "+"!
You might find circumstances where a different character could use this method, substituting his trait for the original (see the second example)!
Example:
A Mediocre film director is trying to shoot a groundbreaking thriller. The player had rolled {+,0,-,-}, for a total of -1. The GM informs the player that the film was up to the character's expectations, except for the last scene, which really didn't turn out well. The director decides to re-shoot the scene in hopes of improving the movie's pacing. The player is going to re-roll one of the dice that showed a "-". He or she rolls 1dF: on a result of "-", the movie will remain of Poor quality; however, on a "0" the new scene will improve the movie sufficiently to make it Mediocre, and a "+" could make all the difference, raising the film's quality to Fair.
Second Example:
Leila, a daring space hero, wants to escape her pursuers by using the prototype warp drive aboard her vessel. Unfortunately, her astronavigational skills are Terrible. During their last (and highly successful) warp-speed voyage, the navigational computer had been set by a friend of hers. Leila decides that, rather than risking a failure due to her own incompetence, she will use most of the old settings, only adjusting a few appropriate dials.
What Leila doesn't know is that her companion also didn't know what he was doing. Her friend had been operating at a default skill of Abysmal and only managed to get the craft to safety by sheer luck, rolling a +4 on the dice. Leila's relative expertise will help her a little, but she can only make things worse by fiddling with the controls. The GM tells her player to roll 1dF, and will base the final result on Fair (the outcome of her friend's lucky roll). However, because her friend had rolled a +4, Leila can only achieve a Fair by rolling a "+". A "0" will create a Mediocre result, and a "-" could mean disaster -- it is better not to find out what happens when an experimental warp drive is operated at a Poor level.

One at a Time

If a character has a chance of undertaking a task in a leisurely and methodical manner it can be simulated by allowing his or her player to roll 1dF at a time. This method is favorable to the player (and character) because he or she has more control over the outcome than in a straight-up 4dF roll (Most specifically, GMs should be aware that high-skill characters will probably choose to stop after rolling one die, knowing they cannot fare any worse than a -1). The presumed situation is that the character is capable of continuously assessing his or her success and may choose to stop at any time. Alternatively, the GM can roll the dice instead of the player, giving hints about the outcome of each roll, until the player is ready to stop and see the final result.
Examples:
A sculptor is chiseling away at a block of marble, attempting to "free" the beautiful shape she envisions inside. The sculptor's player rolls 1dF, representing the first stage of her labors. If the character is satisfied with the rough shape she has hewn so far, the player can decide to keep the result. The sculptor would now switch to a finer chisel and add the details of the sculpture. However, if the artist felt that she could do better, her player might elect to roll another die. Taking off some more stone could improve the sculpture, but she would risk marring the shape she has carved out so far.
This method could also be used to model a master painter restoring an ancient fresco, a frightened hobbit seeking a safe hiding place by a roadside as time runs short, or a gambler who must decide how far to push his of her luck. Each die rolled represents a stage of the work or game, and is followed by a moment where the character may decide to be satisfied with the results so far or to keep trying.

The *dF Roll

The *dF method is basically an open-ended roll made with 1dF. It generates a distribution similar to 4d6.1, and can be used as a substitute for 4d6.1 by Fudge gamers that are so committed that they no longer carry anything but Fudge dice. Its results are less variable than 4dF (being somewhere between a straight 4dF roll and a padded roll), and have the feature of being open-ended.
To make a *dF roll, you roll one Fudge die. If your result is a +1 or a -1, you roll another dF. If the second die comes up with the same sign as the first die, you add it to the total and roll a third time. You continue in this fashion until your luck runs out. It is important to note that you only count matching results -- any other result is simply ignored. If you have rolled two plusses and your third die comes up with a minus, your total is +2, and not +1 (which you could come up with if you counted the two plusses and then subtracted one for the minus on the third die).
Example:
The GM of a modern-day Fudge game wants characters in her game to perform more predictably than in her last campaign (which was highly cinematic), where the group used a normal 4dF roll. She decides to use the *dF roll for most actions, the padded roll for routine operations, and reserves the 4dF roll for highly stressful situations.
Bill, a character in this game, is trying to shoot a fleeing assassin. His Firearms skill is Fair and the target is already far away. The GM sets the difficulty for the shot at Good. Bill's player rolls one die, and it comes up with a "0" -- Bill has just made a Fair shot. Having just barely missed the assassin, Bill reloads and fires again. This time, the GM rules that the difficulty is raised to Superb, as the target has just run behind some partial cover.
The first roll is a "+" -- so far, so good! Bill's player rolls a second die, and it also comes up with a "+". Now his total is a +2, almost enough to hit the assassin. The third roll, miraculously, is also a "+"! The total is already a +3, enough for success. Bill's player, however, is hoping to deliver as serious a wound as he can. He rolls a fourth die. It comes up showing a "-", so it is ignored. Bill's final result is a +3 -- a Superb shot. The bullet hits the assassin, but without enough relative degree to be anything but a graze.
Probabilities for *dF:

...	-4	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	...
...	0.8%	2.5%	7.5%	22%	33%	22%	7.5%	2.5%	0.8%	0.3%	0.1%	...

Since all the brain has to do is match "+" signs or "-" signs, it is very quick in practice. Also, as you rarely see results outside the +2/-2 range, you will seldom ever roll more than two or three dF's.
A coincidental benefit of using this method is that if you use it exclusively, you'll only need one dF per player!

Ignoring Penalties

A useful method of representing a slight edge over the competition, this approach is often forgotten by GMs. A character who has a slim lead over another can be difficult to model in Fudge. Allowing the advantaged character to ignore occasional penalties can resolve this dilemma, as long as the exemptions are applied judiciously -- this requires careful judgement on the part of the GM.
Example:
Two age-old rivals crash-land their spaceships on a distant planet and are captured by a barbaric tribe. The barbarian chief decides to amuse his clan by forcing the spacemen to fight in an arena. The longtime enemies square off in the ring. Both have been trained in hand-to-hand combat with a variety of arms, but neither is familiar with the rather unusual ceremonial weaponry used on this planet. The GM rules that both will have to apply a -1 to their skill rolls in combat. However, one of these characters is an amateur anthropologist and has taken the time to handle many exotic weapons from many cultures over the course of his travels. Taking this into account, the GM decides to lessen the second character's penalty from a full -1 to a virtual minus.

Conclusion

Do not be afraid to experiment by thinking outside the box. Fudge may be highly granular, but its unusual dice mechanics allow a GM to tinker with the system in many ways. There are options available to a Fudge GM that most other games' dice mechanics would not allow. While most Fudge players exercise little restraint in modifying the underlying system before and after actual play, it is all to easy to forget that it is also possible to fine-tune Fudge in the heat of the gaming session.