I have made a pledge to myself and all my readers (real and imaginary) to post at least one article each month to each of my blogs (as you may or may not be aware), but over the years, this blog (Creative Reckoning) has gradually become the most challenging to support in terms of viable topics (from my perspective). And then I had an idea: Perhaps I could tackle a random topic about Fudge. Older editions of Fudge even have the rules numbered, which makes the randomization effortless. So, I'll look at the contents page, roll an appropriate die, and that will be the topic of the article. I'll roll for specific sections and subsections as necessary.
Let's go!
Although I prefer the Fudge Expanded Edition, I'll be using the 1995 rules since they are freely available and form the basis of the current Fudge SRD (also known as the FUDGE System Reference Document). There are seven parts, so I'll roll my trusty d7. The result is...
Chapter 4, Combat. There are eight sections, so I'll roll a d8, with the result of...
Section 4.7, Combat and Wounding Example (q.v.). The example uses simultaneous combat rounds, wound levels, Damage Capacity, wound factors, grazing, and the damage die roll.
That's a fair number of rules to juggle in an action scene. My only issue, though, is with the necessity of calculating offensive damage factors and defensive damage factors in an effort to run combat more smoothly, which requires you to pause in what ought to be a fast-paced and exciting part of the game. If there are more than two combatants (a mêlée if you will), you will potentially need to calculate the offensive and defensive factors between every combatant on one side versus every combatant on another side (or even multiple sides). You could, of course, wait until each confrontation starts before calculating the factors, but you will still be spending time calculating them in the middle of the action. To my mind, this is not ideal. It's tedious and veers too close to abstractions for my taste. Other than that, the example is O.K. It describes a combat scene using specific rules options. They might not be the same the options I would choose, but it serves its purpose.
Do you have any opinions or insights? If so, leave a comment.
