Fitting the Game to the Genre
2003
Changing the Ladder Adjectives¶
Customization is one of Fudge’s great strengths. This article investigates altering the language Fudge games are described with. The goal is to push mechanics farther into the background, to promote a specific atmosphere, and to aid players in suspending their disbelief. Genres with a lot of lingo, unusual atmosphere, or spoofy/punny ones are most likely to benefit from this (e.g. Paranoia, Illuminati).
Keep a mapping of standard Fudge terms and numerical values to your new terms. Create a chart or table so that it is simple to convert to/from your system. Avoid having more than one ladder (e.g. one for attributes and one for skills). It is just too much to remember and too easily mixed up. If it’s hard and not fun people won’t use it.
Unless the genre is extremely cutesy (hugging Teletubbies comes to mind), do not be cutesy with your terms. Unless the genre is full of puns and similar silliness (e.g. Discworld, Hitchhiker’s Guide), don’t use them. Remember you want adjectives that evoke the atmosphere of the game’s genre. Being clever or funny isn’t enough.
Brainstorm as many adjectives relating to the genre as you can. Since they are spoken so often during play they must be easy to pronounce and say. Do not choose extra-long, multi-syllable, or multi-word phrases (e.g. “friggin easy”). If there is a short form that works, use that and dispense with the unnecessary (e.g. “friggin”). Arrange the best adjectives into a ladder and test it by speaking each level out loud, singly and combined with attributes and skills (e.g. “I’ll whoop-ass at l33t for the win, John.”). If, considering the language and style of the genre, it sounds wrong, it is. Find a better adjective.
Provide the ladder to your players, or better yet print it on their character sheets. If a player gets a ladder adjective wrong, clarify with numbers, tell them the correct term and move on. You are in this to have fun, not to battle your friends over terms. Don’t become a term fascist.
Examples¶
70s-80s Era Hacker Game¶
Term |
Value |
Standard |
|---|---|---|
wizardly |
+4 |
(Legendary) |
stunning |
+3 |
Superb |
golden |
+2 |
Great |
robust |
+1 |
Good |
vanilla |
0 |
Fair |
crufty |
-1 |
Mediocre |
dodgy |
-2 |
Poor |
broken |
-3 |
Terrible |
I found these by searching the Jargon File (hacker dictionary) for “adj” (adjective).
I started with “elegant” in place of “golden”. Elegant is a better word in genre terms, but it didn’t sound right with the hygiene attribute. I would use octal (base 8) during play.
Attributes:
The Force — not really luck, but similar.
Hygiene — personal, lack thereof.
Ego — unusual in that only robust, vanilla or crufty egos can be considered “good”.
Grokness — how quickly/easily one understands code/ideas.
Eloquence — how quickly/easily one explains code/ideas to others.
Modern Hacker Game¶
Term |
Value |
Standard |
|---|---|---|
cyber |
+4 |
(Legendary) |
l33t |
+3 |
Superb |
phat |
+2 |
Great |
named |
+1 |
Good |
lame |
0 |
Fair |
newb |
-1 |
Mediocre |
luzer |
-2 |
Poor |
LD |
-3 |
Terrible |
Terms gathered predominantly from MMORPG lingo. LD is short for “link dead”.
Characters interact exclusively over a global communication network and their three attributes have more to do with their hardware than themselves:
Pipe — capacity to move data.
Uptime — reliability, a.k.a. how often the connection is down.
Ping — latency.
The Game of World Issues¶
Idea sparked by Buckminster Fuller’s World Game.
Term |
Value |
Standard |
|---|---|---|
systemwide |
+4 |
(Legendary) |
global |
+3 |
Superb |
continental |
+2 |
Great |
regional |
+1 |
Good |
national |
0 |
Fair |
state |
-1 |
Mediocre |
city |
-2 |
Poor |
personal |
-3 |
Terrible |
Systemwide means solar system, multi-planetary. In this game players are “forces” such as socialism, capitalism, open source.
2084¶
Term |
Value |
Standard |
|---|---|---|
double+good |
+3 |
Superb |
plusgood |
+2 |
Great |
good |
+1 |
Good |
0 |
Fair |
|
bad |
-1 |
Mediocre |
plusbad |
-2 |
Poor |
double+bad |
-3 |
Terrible |
Pronounced “double plus good”, “plus good”, “plus bad”, “double plus bad”.
In 2084 things are black and white, “with us” or “against us”. The have-nots (who are all bad or below) compete with the haves (who are typically good or better). No individual is allowed to become Legendary. There is no Fair. Raising skills/attributes above bad is very difficult.
In the End¶
Be consistent, make it easy, make it fun. Don’t be afraid to try things. More importantly, be humble enough to toss them out if they aren’t working. Fudge is a big ball of wet clay: mold it, shape it, use it.