I'm reading it. Hopefully it will be useful, though the delay might mean some scheduling changes that cause problems.

Dungenero,

I enjoy them and gives us players insight on what to expect. please continue.

Thanks!

Ok

Setting-specific Attributes: Innocence

Fabulas, is such an Old School Fudge game that it uses attributes besides skills. Most of them are quite usual (Strength, Reasoning, Dexterity to cite a few) but it has an special attribute quite related to the setting: Innocence.

Innocence is a measure of the mental ability to understand (and interact with) the magical world, which is in fact quite irrational. It is usually high on little children and people not burdened with the weight of adulthood (for whatever the cause). It is often a magnet for imaginary creatures (for good or ill) but also it allows sometimes to bypass their defenses, helps you to cross the boundaries between the mortal world and the magical one, and gives you a modicum of defense against imaginary powers. But it's also a double-edged sword, it's also an opening in your defenses (because sometimes skepticism makes you quite resistant to magical powers).

Most agents of the Styoryteller's Society have good scores of Innocence, even when they're old enough to be grumpy, cranky and dissapointed with life. This isn't rare, after all most of them have experienced the magical world first hand and with those experiences it's hard not believing in faeries...

As a side note, imaginary creatures have no innocence. They're part of the magical world, thus their relationship with it is clear and immediate. They don't have to believe in it. They, however, have an "Unreality" attribute, at Fair almost always, which measures their connection with it (usually only very powerful imaginaries have it at Good or better, and use it to exact control over lesser magical beings).

Setting-specific Gifts: "I want to believe"

This gift, free for all agents of the Storyteller Society, is the key that make them stand out from the crowd. It allows them to interact with the magical world in ways normal people can't even try unless exposed to evidence of supernatural stuff. It is usually earned off the screen in the specific historials of each character; for example, getting lost in the woods and watching the sprites fly and dance in the air all night long would indeed make you wonder about magic... (and/or about your sanity). In the end, it opens a door to the magical world which helps you do your work at the Storyteller's Society, and lets you understand a bit about the magical world. Though many agents often wish they could stop believing... ignorance is bliss!

I would speak for the lurkers who may not be participating in your play directly.  The exploratories into your world are fascinating and rather instructive in the role and process of GM as creator.  And quite simply, a lot of fun to read and roll (role) around in one's head as an unexplored playground for one's imagination.  These forum posting may be the only taste we lurkers will get, making them all the more tantalizing!

Dungeonero wrote:

Fabulas, is such an Old School Fudge game ...

For me, this is a huge PLUS.  As always, people are free to customize Fudge to their hearts' contents, but I really, really like the old school feel.

As for your posts, I'm carefully saving them to a file hoping eventually to get the entire book of Fabulas translated this way!

Magnitude

The Storyteller Society uses the term "Magnitude" to measure the relative power of imaginary beings, being the first magnitude the less powerful (and most common) and the fifth the most powerful (and rare, often specific individuals).

Imaginary PCs can be at best a second magnitude (it is bought as a supernatural power, because it's a key to buy more powerful powers).

Third or greater magnitude beings often have vast powers and often defy classifications (i.e. are generated as the gamemaster think they should be and can break game balance as needed). A third magnitude could be a powerful faerie, a fourth a giant or dragon, a fifth could be a genie (fortunately they're apparently gone for centuries) or, in the realm beyond the mortal world, Death itself.

Metaphor

Again, using the Storyteller's Society terminology, the realm source of all things imaginary is called "Metaphor". It is a limitless, mutable land, sometimes stable, sometimes chaotic, parallel to the real world.

In some places in the mortal world, the wall between both worlds is thin enough to allow (free) passage, those places are called Insulae by the Storyteller Society (i.e. "islands"). Some imaginary creatures, however, don't need such places to travel from one world or the other, they can at will (usually) jump between them. Mortals on the other hand, require them or imaginary help to reach any of those destinations.

By the way, getting lost in Metaphor is always a possibility...

vermonster wrote:

These forum posting may be the only taste we lurkers will get, making them all the more tantalizing!

Vermonster, your comments are inspiring, thanks!

sos wrote:

As for your posts, I'm carefully saving them to a file hoping eventually to get the entire book of Fabulas translated this way!

Steffan, you little rascal I can't type 190 pages of text here, I'm just sharing a glimpse of the setting. It's hard to describe the setting without such a preview

A quick example on the interaction of different magnitudes of imaginaries could be the ability to pierce the Masquerade power.

This common imaginary power is used to emulate (usually) a human facade to avoid being identified as a supernatural being. Thie image, however, it's just an illusion which can be seen through with Innocence (Innocence vs Masquerade skill). However, imaginaries usually always see through each others' masquerades, that's why having a magical being in a team of agents is a great help. When this doesn't work? An imaginary might not be able to see through another one's masquerade if the later has a greater level of the Unreality attribute, or if it is a greater Magnitude. In this case, it would be almost like a mortal.

I've checked my own books and I think there is little else I can say here, I've given the main guidelines here without all the meaty details. Questions?

Hello, Dungeonero!

I'm curious about your "old school" fudge rules. Do you have a summary online?

Or post it here, if you like.

It's just an specific setting using the Fudge 1995 release. It has attributes, skills, gifts, faults, supernatural powers and defaults, scale, combat procedures and damage, etc, nothing you couldn't build yourself with that SRD.

Of course, some gifts/faults and most powers are specific to the setting, but then again anyone fudge-wise could have made them with the original SRD. The most modern stuff is the use of advantages/disadvantages (removing negative or pisitive results from the die roll in specific circunstances) and speaks briefly about Conflict Resolution vs Task Resolution.

Is that what you meant, Fudgebob?