| Level | Effective Number |
| Awful | -4 or worse |
| Terrible | -3 |
| Poor | -2 |
| Mediocre | -1 |
| Average | 0 |
| Fair | +1 |
| Good | +2 |
| Great | +3 |
| Superb | +4 |
| Epic | +5 |
| Legendary | +6 |
This covers my usual attribute picks, and how attributes play into the rest of the game mechanics.
| Strength | STR | Measures physical power; brawn. |
| Stamina | STA | Measures physical durability; constitution. |
| Dexterity | DEX | Measures physical precision; hand-eye coordination is a part of this, as well as balance and so on. |
| Perception | PER | Measures mental acuity and the ability to take notice of details. |
| Willpower | WIL | Measures mental fortitude; the ability to withstand stress upon the mind. |
| Charisma | CHR | Force of personality; the ability to sway the opinions of the masses as well as of individuals. |
I prefer the idea of Perception being the attribute that is usually called Intelligence in a gaming system. I think players should be free to play characters as smart or as dumb as the player is capable -- but how Perceptive they are really does play into a lot of situations that I think are okay to put to the dice.
Charisma is a tough one for me; I think, again, this is something that is partly in the hands of how capable the player behind the character is. Still, some sort of 'social attribute' is called for as often as not.
People often feel that FUDGE needs, very badly, a way to tie attributes and skills together. I agree, but not in an "additive" sense -- instead, I see attributes providing a 'type' to the skill points that characters get, and each skill having one or more types of skill points that can be used to buy it.
Assuming everyone gets similar number of attribute levels, this provides a reasonably comfortable amount of balance when designing characters.
Playing into advancement, then, is the idea that experience can be attribute-based; you don't improve the attributes, so much as say 'You get 3 Perception experience points because you acted as point-man last session', and so on.
Some games (Amber is a possible example) call for a lack of attributes, or a free-form attribute system, where attributes manifest as Gifts and Flaws, for the times when they are noted exceptions.
When describing a particular game, I will note whether or not it has attributes as a separate section, or whether they play in as Gifts.
This system's core notions started in the mind of Rob Donoghue, who was looking to achieve an initiative mechanic which was functionally similar to the 7th Sea RPG's, but with a FUDGE "feel" to it. I've taken my ideas from our conversations around this topic. If derivation is another sincere form of flattery, I flatter Rob a lot throughout this document, as a matter of fact.
When the phrase "initiative determinant" is used below, it refers to to the trait or traits that are used to make initiative decisions. It is not always the same thing; for example, one might use 'Reflexes' to determine the number of dice a player rolls, but 'Perception' to determine in-phase action order.
Each round consists of five phases which are, in essence, denoted according to the faces of a FUDGE die.
The round is bracketed by two special phases, the "double minus" (--) phase, which everyone gets, and the "double plus" (++) phase, which is usually only attainable through modifiers and dice bartering (see below). Otherwise, the phases are "plus" (+), "blank", and "minus" (-).
The round proceeds through the phases in descending order of positivity (++ then + then blank then - then --). If more than one person is acting on that phase, it is resolved within that phase in order of the initiative determinant trait. If those are also a tie, the GM arbitrates if the players cannot make the determination.
Each phase is considered a period of simultaneous action.
Option One (slower but structured): Within a phase, declaration is done, and then resolution is done. Declaration occurs in ascending order of the initiative determinant; resolution occurs in descending order. Thus, the slowest person within a phase says what they are doing first, and resolves the doing of it last; the fastest person says what they are doing last, and resolves the doing of it first. In this, the faster person gets to react to the slower person's actions, but not vice-versa.
Option Two (faster but unstructured): If this method is not desired, declaration and resolution can be merged, with the faster people having the option to "hold their action" until others have executed their actions in the phase.
Each player rolls a number of dice according to their initiative determinant (see "What You Get", below).
The dice are then arranged according to uniqueness; set duplicates aside. The unique set of faces showing indicate the phases on which you act.
Example: You roll 3 dice, getting '+', '+', and '-'. You would then set the extra '+' aside, and act on the '+' phase and the '-' phase, in addition to the '--' phase, which everyone gets.
The dice you get to roll is directly dependent on your initiative determinant's rank. As initiative determinants shouldn't change except slowly over time, it is well worth noting the dice you roll for initiative somewhere on your character sheet.
| Awful | No Dice |
| Terrible | 1dF; discard any non-minus (this means a good chance of no result) |
| Poor | 1dF; discard any plus (this means a small chance of no result) |
| Mediocre | 1dF |
| Average | 2dF |
| Fair | 3dF |
| Good | 4dF |
| Great | 4dF and an automatic additional "minus" phase result |
| Superb | 4dF and an automatic additional "blank" phase result |
| Epic | 4dF and an automatic additional "plus" phase result |
| Legendary | 4dF and an automatic additional "++" phase result |
Dice bartering is an optional technique whereby a player can "trade in" two dice in order to alter the result of a third. To barter dice, you must be rolling at least three dice (an initiative determinant of Good or above).
At least one of the two dice traded in must be a "+" result. If you rolled no "+" results, you cannot barter. The other die result traded in can be any kind of result.
Once you trade in two dice, you may alter one of your remaining results up or down one phase level, e.g., a blank can be turned into a minus or a plus, and a plus can be turned into a blank or a double-plus.
You cannot push a phase result higher than double plus, nor lower than double minus. Further, you cannot alter a double minus with dice bartering.
Example: You roll a +,+,- on 3dF. You can trade in your extra + and your - to turn your remaining + into ++ (you would then have two phases that round: ++ and --), or into a "blank" result. Or, you can trade in both of your + results to turn your - into a "blank" or a --, though why you'd do that is not exactly clear.
Example: You roll 4dF for your initiative, and get four + results. Normally, this would mean you can only act on the + phase in addition to the double-minus. Dice bartering, however, allows you to trade in two of your plusses to turn one of the remaining two into a ++ result. Thus, you act on ++, +, and -- phases.
In the end, dice bartering won't be used that often and makes it possible for players to elect to act on the ++ phase if they want to get that extra "drop" on someone.
If someone starts a round "surprised", they roll dice as normal, and then, after bartering, they must drop all their results down a level. Minuses become double-minuses, blanks become minuses, plusses become blanks, and double-plusses become plusses.
Since double-minus results can't be modified, those "stay put"; you can never lose your double-minus phase -- everyone always gets a chance to act once per round.
Not so! Once you get in the swing of rolling the dice, it should become very streamlined.
Consider this: You roll at most four dice, and arrange them into "rows" according to their faces; then if bartering is an option, exchange two of them and move a third up or down one row.
After that, you just raise your hand as the GM calls out the phases and do as she directs. Easy!