How to Adapt the Palladium Book of Weapons & Armour to Fudge

The Palladium Weapon series of books is a resource requiring a bare minimum of effort by the GM to adapt to Fudge. As it states on the cover of every book in the series, it is "For use with any game system" and as such, it seems perfectly suited for Fudge. Even the game-related abstractions can be used with little or no conversion necessary.

Weapons & Armor

The information presented in this article will enable you to use the Palladium book of Weapons & Armour, compiled by Matthew Balent and published by Palladium Books, in your own Fudge game. Weapons & Armour is required to make use of this information.

The book is divided into two sections in which the various types of weapons and armor are illustrated and their vital statistics listed. A simple description of how the terms are used and how they might be interpreted in Fudge follows.

Weapons

TYPE: The weapon types by which all weapons in the book are categorized may be used as skill groups or as broad weapon skills themselves. The weapon types are: Hafted, Knives, Miscellaneous, Polearms, Spears, and Swords.

LENGTH: Use the metric measurement or convert as desired.

MASS: Use the metric measurement or convert as desired.

DEX: This number indicates the speed of the weapon when it is used relative to other weapons. Since a low number is considered best, one may, if one is taking weapon speed into account, apply this number as a melee modifier (namely, a negative penalty to one's skill unless the weapon's rating is 0) in simultaneous combat rounds, or as a modifier to one's Speed or Reflexes (or a similar trait) in initiative rolls in alternating combat turns.

PARRY: This number indicates the weapon's usefulness at parrying attacks. A high number is considered best. It could be applied as a melee modifier for the defender if alternating combat turns are used.

0: Virtually no ability to parry.
1: Minimal ability to parry. (-1 to parry)
2: Adequate ability to parry. (+/-0 to parry)
3: Excellent ability to parry. (+1 to parry)

ATTACK TYPES: The various methods of inflicting damage are cut, chop, thrust, and impact. When a weapon is capable of more than one attack type, the type being used should be described in the attack. This information is useful because it can be compared to the armor of an opponent or the special vulnerabilities or immunities of a creature. It can also help to determine if a certain action is possible given space constraints or other special circumstances.

SYMMETRY: This number indicates the weapon's effectiveness when thrown. Since a low number is considered best, one may use this as a ranged combat modifier (specifically, a negative modifier to one's skill) with the following modifications:

1: +/-0 to attack
2: -1 to attack
3: -2 to attack

DAMAGE: This number is used as the weapon's offensive factor. Alternatively, one may use the standard Fudge method, which incidentally parallels the listed damage values very nicely, i.e. small weapons cause +0, medium weapons cause +1, large weapons cause +2, two-handed weapons cause additional +1, sharp weapons cause additional +1.

Armor

TYPE: Armor may be layered, in which case the defensive factors are added together. The coverage of hit locations may vary.

CUT RF: The cut resistance factor is translated as the cut defensive factor. This is the armor's effectiveness at protecting the wearer against weapons used for cutting attacks.

CHOP RF: The chop resistance factor is translated as the chop defensive factor. This is the armor's effectiveness at protecting the wearer against weapons used for chopping attacks.

THRUST RF: The thrust resistance factor is translated as the thrust defensive factor. This is the armor's effectiveness at protecting the wearer against weapons used for thrusting attacks, including arrows, bolts, and darts.

IMPACT RF: The impact resistance factor is translated as the impact defensive factor. This is the the armor's effectiveness at protecting the wearer against weapons used for impact attacks, including firearms.

DEX: This number indicates the extent to which the armor may restrict the wearer's freedom of movement. A low number is considered best. This number may be used as a modifier to one's movement rate, lowering one's trait accordingly, or it may contribute to action penalties based on one's encumbrance. Personally, I favor the former, and would limit action penalties to actions that would not be performed in battle and which would logically be hampered by the wearing of heavier armor, such as stealthy movement, acrobatics, swimming, and the like.

MASS: Use the metric measurement or convert as desired.

[Originally posted in Fudgery.net in 2007.]