Fudge, under the right circumstances, is a worthy universal translator of role-playing games largely due to its mission of omitting or reducing out-of-character terminology and relying as much as possible on adjectives instead of numbers. Prior to Fudge, Flying Buffalo Inc. launched the "All-System" Catalyst Series of role-playing supplements meant to be usable with any role-playing game, and it, too, promoted the use of adjectives with its own trait ladder. There were multiple lines in the Catalyst Series, but here I would like to give special attention to the CityBook line.
Beginning with CityBook I: Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker in 1982, the CityBook line concentrated on "businesses, personalities, and scenarios for city-based play." As it says in the introduction to CityBook II: Port o' Call:
As with all Catalyst books, everything is described in "generic" terms, that is without game system specific statistics. CityBooks are written to provide a variety of people, places and things for your games. It is up to you as the Game Master to provide the numbers that will make these people, places and things fit into your particular world. The coding system is explained in the section entitled "GM Guidelines," yet you should feel free to modify or edit establishments as you see fit.
As far as general attributes are concerned, the section notes:
It isn't necessary to give each non-player character in CityBook complete attributes such as Power, Luck, Wisdom, and so forth. However, should you choose to do so you will note in the character descriptions such phrases as "very strong," "quick," "stupid," "beautiful," etc. By noting these phrases and reflecting them in the attributes, you should come out with appropriate statistics for the person in question.
The coding system is applied to such things as Fighting Prowess, Magic Ability, and even the effectiveness of locks. In the table below, I compare the coding system to the Fudge trait ladder as I would convert it.
| Fudge | Catalyst |
|---|---|
| Superb | Excellent |
| Great | Very Good |
| Good | Good |
| Fair | Fair |
| Mediocre | Average |
| Poor | Poor |
| Terrible | Poor |
It's a nearly perfect match that makes the entire line instantly compatible with Fudge. If you need a location, an encounter, or an adventure seed to drop into an existing adventure or campaign, the CityBooks deliver with personality, and the contributers include such gaming luminaries as Dave Arneson, Liz Danforth, Larry DiTillio, Ed Heil, Rick Loomis, John Nephew, Jim "Bear" Peters, Michael A. Stackpole, B. Dennis Sustare, and many others.
I regret that I have only one (CityBook II) as a printed book, but I'm happy to report that all of them are available as PDFs via DriveThruRPG (and I now own the rest of them in that format). For your convenience, here is the complete list of CityBooks presented as links to the PDFs:
