Fudgey Apocalyptic Goodness
I just got done (well, about two hours ago) running a game of Heroes ModiFUDGE, a modification of the FUDGE role-playing game rules that I custom-tailored to my local gaming compatriots. I showed it off, the players liked it, and I got four people together to run a campaign (which I totally made up off the top of my head).
As a GM (Game Master- the Referee and Describer of Scenery, more or less) I am not horrifically experienced, so I’m making a note here of some of the points I noticed or had reinforced this evening.
1: The players will have fun if you let them make what they want rather than what the rules say. With ModiFUDGE there’s no prescribed formula for a character anyway, so that doesn’t cause any problems at all.
2: Loot is awesome. I need to work on this more- while they did all get various shiny toys, I nearly forgot. Everyone likes loot.
3: The players will want to do things and feel like they made a difference. If you absoluely need them to do something, make it something that will be in their best interests. Example: I wanted my players to go down a flight of stairs rather than up. One of them decided to start climbing. There were zombies on the next floor up. He decided to blow up several zombies, cackling like a maniac and then, of his own volition, retreated down to where I’d wanted him to go in the first place because it was hte more fortified position.
4: Players have more fun when they get cool moments. One of them punched through an armored door. One of them triggered an apocalyptic catastrophe. One of them telekinetically hurled an enemy into a wall at sixty miles an hour. All three were cackling like maniacs.
5: Inventory tracking can be exact without being frustrating. Make physical items line up with the items you give the players- for example, index cards can be items quite easily. I must remember to track bullets better next time so the players have some sense of economy (This is, after all, a demi-horror scenario).
6: Make the players take the initiative more next session. I’m working with people who are long-time D&D fans and, while I enjoy D&D, 3rd and 4th editions do two things- they make the party afraid of combat (fights take forever in D&D) and they- ironically enough- stunt creativity. The players need to wean themselves off the idea that they can just “roll and win”. The dice are there to find out how successful they are at a given activity (swordplay, explosives, passively noticing things without concious effort). Controversial though it is, my thought is that there should never be a roll “to search the room”.
A roll to find out if you noticed the buzzing sound before you touched the wire and electrocuted yourself? Sure. A roll to find the wire in the first place? Not really. Just look.
Okay, done rambling for now. I’ll make more sense some other time when it’s not almost two AM. Cheers!
