[DL] Re: fudging

["Dom Gallegos" <stylenz@hotmail.com>]

I'm throwing in with the pro-fudge.

Here's my examples why.

When I first started playing games ever, it was just me and a friend. So I 
would fudge to get him to the main baddie. He never knew and I always 
threatened to kill him with each encounter. Now if he would go down during a 
mundane encounter I would say something like, "The evil knight throws all of 
his weight into his final swing. You bring up your +12 hackmaster blocking 
the blow. However, your uber sword took the brunt, shattering into pieces 
leaving you holding a hilt. The evil knight is momentarily stunned from the 
shower of sparks, he steps back covering his face. What do you do?" Then my 
player would cuss a bit, get worried that he was to die, and either run away 
or pull his dagger and hope for the best. If he pursued it and died, he 
died.

So I would take something special away from the character to offset the 
fudge. Once I decided to play by the dice. He made a character, walked into 
a castle, walked into the first room, had a large spider jump on him, bite 
him, he failed his savings throw, he died. We went and played Frisbee.

Since I've played with a large group I selectively fudge.
My posse is chasing rustlers. They have a steam wagon. They run up a road in 
a ravine shooting at rustlers all around them. The rustlers' steam wagon 
comes down the road. The MS throws a stick of dynamite. Perfect throw roll, 
right under the front seat. Botch on the demolitions, the cards say it goes 
off right now. The rustlers' steam wagon explodes, 6d20 to the posse in 
their steam wagon, right next to the rustlers' wagon. I give them a few 
armor points. A few rolls later, their boiler blows. They now take another 
6d20 in damage. Everybody is dead, they make new characters. This wasn't a 
main baddie, just a side adventure. I had to completely redo my campaign. 
But the posse definitely think before they act, cause they know I don't hold 
any punches.

Ok, so I do hold punches, but only for those who roleplay. A posse member 
turned down armor. He doesn't see his character wearing it. They get 
ambushed in the forest by injuns. Everybody is hiding and whining about the 
fight. He decides he'll charge the hill with all the guns pointing at him. 
Damn, that's good. He takes hits but I decide that every hit is one wound 
less just to give him an edge. Hope he doesn't go down cause I have plans 
for that character.

Some of the other members in the posse go like this,
"I shoot him, let's see I have specialized guns, I have a hex on, I have a 
scope, I have....+ 10 or whatever."
I ask, "did you subtract light penalties? Armor penalties? Cover? Your 
hindrance?"
Player: "um...no I forgot."
Hmmmm, a few of them always 'forget' the negatives and I'm tired of 
reminding them. So their damage is a little less, or he dodged, yes even 
with all your pluses. Or their armor take a few extra point of damages, etc.

For me, it's roleplaying and honesty in the players. I'll reward those with 
chips and an edge in gaming. Cause usually honest player don't care if the 
have Uber guns that shoot through everything and kill everything when they 
think about it. They are there to have fun. If they get killed, they die, 
but I'll give em a leg up for it.
The other guys, whine, snivel, and beg, you cheat or only care about 
yourself, you're going down. Side note, I actually had my posse pitch in 
their last chips to save another member. But the one player has 7 chips left 
and finally gives in and tosses a white chip in. He cusses, complains and 
whines, like it was so much trouble. It took me to threaten to always 
penalize him for that Loyalty to friends hindrance to get him to go along. I 
know some of the posse would hate to know I fudge, and some wouldn't care. I 
have fun and they have fun. So what does it matter?

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