Thoughts on Scale

A recurring complaint about Fudge over the years, in the Fudge Mailing List and in various discussions, is the confusion caused by the rules for Scale in Chapter 2. What is the purpose of Scale rules? Simply, it is to illustrate that certain things are relative to one's size. A gladius in the hands of a human being is the equivalent of a longsword in the hands of a halfling; a spear thrown by a pixie is as dangerous as a dart to larger creatures. But when pixies battle pixies, a spear is a spear regardless of how small it seems to you or me because they are of the same Scale. That's all there is to it. Creatures of the same Scale fight without Scale modifiers. Creatures of different Scale fight with modifiers according to their difference, e.g. a Scale 0 human knight fights a Scale 3 ogre, so the ogre adds +3 to its offensive damage factor (ODF) in combat, and +3 to its defensive damage factor (DDF). If the ogre fights another ogre, the Scale bonus is ignored because they are of equal Scale. If, however, the ogre upsets a Scale 8 demon, the demon adds +5 to its ODF and DDF when fighting the ogre, or +8 if it engages in a melee with the Scale 0 human knight.

Scale rules are also beneficial in games where all of the characters are of a nonhuman Scale, as many Bunnies & Burrows and Watership Down fans are aware. In my own Mass Scale Chart, a typical rabbit is Scale -9. Since most of the characters in this genre are of the same Scale, there is no modification if they fight one another. Relative to one another, they are all effectively Scale 0 (and people are Scale 9). If a Scale -9 rabbit is attacked by a Scale -8 cat, the cat gains a +1 to its ODF and DDF. If the same rabbit is attacked by a Scale -4 dog, the dog adds +5 to its ODF and DDF. From the rabbit's Scale 0 point of view, the cat is Scale 1 and the dog is Scale 5.

In many Scale charts, especially those dealing with Mass, examples are included to illustrate things that belong to each Scale level. Human beings, for instance, are almost always situated at Scale 0. Animals are often listed at other Scale levels to help one visualize the typical Scale levels that various real and imaginary creatures might occupy. All of this is well and good until man-made objects are included.

It might seem reasonable to know the Mass of a paper clip, a bowling ball, and an ore freighter, but placing those, or any, inanimate objects on the same Scale chart as living beings defeats the purpose of the chart and fundamentally misinterprets the concept of Scale in Fudge, for you see a paper clip, a bowling ball, and an ore freighter are all Scale 0.

A normal Scale 0 bowling ball used by normal Scale 0 human beings (who have an average weight of 68 kilograms) weighs about 7.25 kilograms; likewise a Scale -13 bowling ball made for Scale -13 gnomes would weigh much less than a 350 gram gnome, and a Scale 11 bowling ball made for Scale 11 giants would weigh less than its 6 ton owner. Scale rules exist to show you that things of a certain Scale are made for beings of that Scale and they don't necessarily have the same Mass as the beings for whom they are made.

House rules are notorious perpetrators of this misunderstanding of Scale. Consider the typical combat rules that stipulate a Scale 16 main battle tank or a Scale 9 P-51 Mustang. I know they were just inserted into the Scale slot because they happened to fit the weight of that Scale. That is the problem. According to the rules, a Scale 16 tank would be operated by giants the size of tyrannosaurs, i.e. by a Scale 16 tank crew. Real main battle tanks are operated by Scale 0 human tank crews. That doesn't mean a tank is weak or fragile. It just means it was made for normal human beings, so it doesn't gain a Scale bonus relative to human beings. If it causes tremendous damage, the damage is figured by giving it a higher offensive factor. If its armor is effective against all rifle rounds, its protective capacity is figured by giving it a higher defensive factor. Then if the adventurers travel to another dimension where giant Scale 9 creatures sail giant ships, you can add +9 for Scale to the ODF and DDF of a normal ship in that world (and if the adventurers drink a serum that causes them to grow to the size of the giant creatures, the +9 for Scale disappears).

When I first compiled my own Mass Scale Chart, I made the mistake of including man-made objects, not because I thought they were of a different Scale, but because I was mixing up Mass Scale, Strength Scale, and the Mass of objects themselves. For my next project, I shall remove them from the Mass Scale Chart, but I will add them to a separate Strength Scale Chart that lists them as objects that can be lifted by beings of a particular Strength Scale. [Edit: This has been accomplished, although providing examples will be an ongoing process.]

[Originally posted in Fudgery.net/fudgerylog on 13 February 2007.]