Please tell me more about the Zerdan!

Fudge's strength and weakness is that it's really flexible, and a lot of things are let up to the GM. Especially if you're creating your own races, creatures, etc.

My best advice is to go with your gut, try it out (whatever "it" is, in your case racial packages) with some short "playtest" demos, and tweak as needed based on the demos.

Hopefully others will chime in here as well. Not just about your specific packages, but about racial packages in general, and how to deal with the "Just Fudge It" loosey-goosey style of RPG design and Game Mastering. :-)

My thinking skews toward lightly crunchy systems that quantify everything in an effort to maintain balance.   I ended up using a point system for racial templates in Hack-n-Slash...  with races built by spending 35 points... with gifts costing 6 points, attribute changes +/- 3 points,  skill levels 1 point and +/- 9 for changes in scale.   Whatever points are left over are the free skill levels for any character built on that template.     Its a little more crunchy and less freeform than typical fudge but provides a nice framework for racial templates while maintaining balance between races and humans. 

You could use the same framework for building profession templates, classes, etc.

ann wrote:

Please tell me more about the Zerdan!

I can't believe THE Ann Dupuis commented on my post (although this is your website hahaha)! Thank you and Steffan for working on Fudge. I was originally going to make an rpg out of scratch and realized I was trying to do something way out of my league. After searching the web I stumbled upon Fudge on a Reddit comment. I fell in love with how the attributes, skills etc were on a ladder instead of being a number (like D&D), and how different that made playing with skills. Also with how flexible (but also a downside!) the system was, and how it encouraged role-playing over crunchiness. Oh, and I saw you link my post on the Fudge facebook group, thank you doing that and helping me!

I've always liked the idea of a small character that can be used in so many different situations. Also fennec foxes are super cute. I liked the idea of a zerdan mechanic, picked because he can easily squeeze into small spaces, but zesty enough to hold his own in space cantinas. I also picture zerdans as a species that uses their smallness to survive in a galaxy where many are larger than them. Maybe one zerdan used its stature and looks to become a peacekeeper, a politician that eases tough negotiation, while another is a rogue, conning naive starship passengers and pick-pocketing drunk pilots. Of course this is only my ideas, I love it when players are only given a little bit of information and create so much story from it.

You asking about the zerdan made me realize I really need to step away from the rules (especially because I need to play test more) and focus more on the story. I need to flesh more stuff out so if a player asks "How would someone react to a zerdan pilot" or "are there any Calxic politicians?" I can answer those questions to help with character creation and storytelling. I'll definitely be coming back to this forum to help flesh out stuff if I get stuck again.

DigitgalAlchemist wrote:

My thinking skews toward lightly crunchy systems that quantify everything in an effort to maintain balance.   I ended up using a point system for racial templates in Hack-n-Slash

So I looked at the Hack n’ Slash race templates and it really interested me. I liked the idea of how easy it was to make new templates, especially if a player says “Hey, I’ve always been interested in playing an alien race that’s like this...” It also allows balanced races without them costing a gift or fault.

I was looking at using 5 Point Fudge because when I tried with my players to create player it was kind of hectic. I used the objective character creation, and gave them 50 free levels for skills. That kind of overwhelmed them, so when I found 5 Point Fudge I was hoping for something a little easier to make skills (especially because one of my players wasn’t sure about which skills she wanted and how much she wanted to bring them up above Poor so by the end of it her paper she was writing on was a mess. It could have also been because she was not used to such freeform character creation).

In 5 Point Fudge, if you put 1 point in a skill group you get 3 skills at fair and 1 at mediocre if you do a broad focus. You also get 2 attribute levels, 2 gifts, and 2 faults. So 1 Point would be equal to 7 skill levels in Hack n’ Slash example. It also only works with the broad focus, as 4 Points is equal to 28 levels (7 times 4). So in total, a 5 Point Character would be equal to 41 points (that was a lot of math hahaha), with 35 of those points going into skills.

So to convert my characters to Hack n’ Slash while staying with 5 Point Fudge, I wanted to keep 35 skill levels open, so I increased the base number to 50 (to 15 extra for attributes, gifts, etc).

Zerdans are small, fennec fox-like humanoids. Many times they are hired as starship mechanic because of their diminutive stature (much easier to squeeze between tubes, cables and warp drives), although don’t be surprised if you meet one in a space cantina, only to find your wallet gone after being distracted by the cuteness. A zerdan starts with scale -2, Great Agility, Good Perception, Danger Sense, and Naturally Stealthy. They may use 1 gift, 2 attribute levels, and 5 Skill Points (35 skill levels total).

Jellasions come from a planet that is still covered in primordial soup. While they appear similar to giant Man-of-Wars, they have used their natural psychic skills to communicate and prosper through the united galaxies, while surviving outside their planet in mechanical bodies. A jellasion starts with Great Willpower, Poor Agility, Psychic Powers 2 (telepathy and telesthesia), Peripheral Vision, Mechanical Body, and Blind (Fault). They may use 1 gift, 3 attribute levels, and 5 Skill Points.

Varnangs are reptilian humanoids that come in different types, stemming from the variable habitats of their home planet. You might meet one varnang that has neck frills, while another one has two large fangs in its mouth. Despite the different looks, all varnang start with Good Strength, Good Health, Tough Hide, Primitive (Fault), and Cold Blooded (Fault). They may use 2 gifts, 2 attribute levels, and 5 Skill Points.

Calxic come from a rocky and volcanic planet. While they are biological beings, many ignorant spacers believe they are only sentient rocks. A calxic starts with scale 1, Good Health, Great Strength, Magic Resistance, Code of Honor (Fault), Fear of the Dark (Fault), Goes Berserk if Wounded(Fault), and Night Blindness (Fault). They may use 1 gift and 5 Skill Points.

Hethets, a fish humanoid, at first thought to be a product of genetic manipulation from a mad scientist because of their appearance to have a human body with a fish head, although they do not have the mind of a goldfish. Later research showed that they were not, and had simply evolved to be like that on their watery planet. A hethet starts with Good Intelligence, Good Reasoning, Mediocre Coolness, Direction Sense, Need Less Oxygen, and Voicebox Communication (Fault). They may use 2 attribute levels and 5 Skill Points.

I’m going to run all of these by my players to see if they like this better than before. Thanks for all you help, this has made me think more about what I want my game to be like. Also it shows me how much I really need to work on the story part of the game, and ease off on the need for rules. I also posted on the Fudge subreddit to see if anyone had input there, and a commenter mentioned how my original idea looks fine, although I shouldn't worry as much about balance, and more on the "Just Fudge It" (similar to what Ann said), and make the races fit what narrative I want to set. Definitely foot for thought.

Thanks for all your help everyone! Definitely a lot to mull over.