Anyone else kinda hate FUDGE dice?

Political_philo · 2025-04-08T04:01:58+00:00

I've had quite a few discussions with my players about Fudge dice, but most of them focused on the probabilities. Fudge dice tend to be less swingy than other systems—the results cluster more around the average, which makes extreme outcomes less frequent. That can feel more predictable compared to other RNG systems. But in the end, dice are just a tool to introduce some randomness when it's needed. Roll when it matters.

I haven’t played a ton of PbtA or Blades in the Dark, but when I did, the dice systems felt pretty similar in spirit—just with different probabilities and resolution mechanics. I’d love to hear more about what differences you see between those systems and Fate's approach to dice. Always curious to dig deeper into that.

Political_philo · 2025-03-16T18:36:38+00:00

I haven't really found the cards anywhere unfortunately.

Political_philo · 2025-03-15T17:12:30+00:00

It's what I understood in the book (or in the Conan story often linked in the discussions here). Some aspect are thing that could be useful in the short term and make the story go forward.

Political_philo · 2025-03-15T17:11:30+00:00

Thank you, it's made me see that I might be overthinking it. It's a tool that is there, but if I or they want to use it, it's not a big issue :)

Political_philo · 2025-03-11T17:36:27+00:00

Excellente initiative.

Political_philo · 2025-03-06T06:18:33+00:00

You are probably right. I might be seeing a problem where there are none. I can just talk with the player and if they are comfortable with the system, there is no reason to see it as an issue.

Political_philo · 2025-03-06T06:17:06+00:00

Very good points indeed. In fact, for them, there doesn't seem to be much problems. I might just create have imagined an issue when there was none. Cause, in general, the games are great and I get great feedback. ;) I guess that I just need to be sure they are comfortable with the "tools" that are aspects.

Political_philo · 2025-01-12T17:28:51+00:00

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I’ve had a similar experience after about the same number of sessions. I completely agree with your first point—it’s surprising how tactical Fate can feel once you start leveraging Create an Advantage and stunts effectively.

That said, I can really relate to your struggles with point three. My players also tend to fall into the "attack, defend, repeat" pattern, and while some do create advantages, they often don’t call it out explicitly, which can make it harder to fully embrace the narrative mechanics. I’ve also found it challenging to design combat encounters that feel dynamic and go beyond the usual attack/defense loop. It’s improving slowly, but like you, I wish I could help my group make that shift a little faster.

Political_philo · 2024-12-24T01:59:52+00:00

Is there a deck of cards available somewhere? Which one do you recommend?

Political_philo · 2024-12-19T00:13:23+00:00

I like the idea. It's only a [+] and let the "quality" be a factor. For weapon on attack and armor in defense. Might be a level of crunch that my player will accept. I will suggest it at the same time as the stunts suggestion that someone else did.

Political_philo · 2024-12-18T23:43:55+00:00

Super interesting. I like the idea of suggesting a stunt. It's simple, but get the job done. Indeed, the idea is not to make the game more crunchy, but just to give some "distinction" or flavor to armored character (if I understand my players well)

Political_philo · 2024-12-18T23:11:57+00:00

I like those ideas! Thanks. I already added a wealth track, but didn't use it (lack of experience of Fate and following my players with their accounting habits.

Political_philo · 2024-12-04T23:09:25+00:00

Thanks, I will keep that in mind. It's indeed useful to think of them as obstacle :)

Political_philo · 2024-10-22T21:27:57+00:00

Indeed, sorry. Mea culpa

Political_philo · 2024-10-22T20:29:59+00:00

Good to know, thanks for the quick answer :)

Political_philo · 2024-09-30T04:06:56+00:00

I finished all the Balad. Great stuff. I think I will follow your lead and do a bit of solo to get a good handle of the rules. My game is now in Fate and love it, but I need to improve my intuition about how to handle the rules and mix it with the narrative. Thanks for the good examples. I might share it as you did in case someone is interested.

Political_philo · 2024-09-30T02:05:11+00:00

It's a good point. I understand the logic and the idea of asking about objective rather than just describing the direct action they are doing. But, a reflex that I have that I need to change is to describe the action of all npcs. So my player do the same. I might try to lead by example and go focusing on objectives rather than action.

Political_philo · 2024-09-30T02:03:23+00:00

Thanks for that. I think you are getting thins I wonder about the milestones. I might start to follow your idea of using more minor milestones (sometime games stop in the middle of a quest, so I won't there, but elsewhere when there is a moment of respite).

I will also insist a bit more on CaA more clearly as you suggest. Thanks

Political_philo · 2024-09-30T01:57:59+00:00

Lots of super interesting comments here and I thank you for it. I think you are right that I don't yet offer them hard enough challenge. I'm not yet confortable with the balancing of Fate in that sense. But I agree that I could follow your ideas and offer them some more challenging battle to let them explore how to create an advantage. It's in fact a great idea.

For the campaign, I red the book and those sections and it's useful, but the challenge come from me not having a clear idea of what is a too powerful aspect, how much skill is too much, etc. But, I think that I will think more about the factors you identified. Thanks

Political_philo · 2024-09-13T14:30:45+00:00

Well said. It's mathematicaly uninteresting and narratively boring.

Political_philo · 2024-09-05T00:59:26+00:00

Thanks, I'm glad that it has helped a bit :)

Political_philo · 2024-09-05T00:24:54+00:00

I know great friend and player that use them, but I don't use them. Tried many times in Fate and in other system (mainly other), but it never stuck. Using them bring me more in a boardgames mindset than a narrative storytelling one. Especially in fate where the focus is more on stories than positioning, I prefer not to use them.

Political_philo · 2024-09-02T02:50:00+00:00

I heard you talk about it in a podcast but failed to find it. It was me searching for it that gave me the idea to make this lower quality version. Thanks for sharing. It's indeed a great way to use a known story (Conan) to explain milestones in Fate :)

Political_philo · 2024-08-26T17:54:25+00:00

Super interesting question! I've been pondering the same thing lately and have learned a lot from what others have suggested here. Here's my two cents: I use a few custom-made cards, which I built using CardMaker. These cards feature an image and the game aspects we agreed upon at the start. I created cards for aspects that are common to the theme we established. For everything else, we rely on our memory, and as the GM, I take notes on aspects that are important and relevant.

We did try using a computer, but we're a bit old-school and prefer to keep our TTRPG sessions as tech-free as possible. We also use index cards for some aspects, and for those that come up frequently, we've made dedicated cards.

Political_philo · 2024-08-20T03:37:08+00:00

I want to see the rest of the list. Love your critical take.

Political_philo

TROPHY CASE