Free RPG Day – One Month Fudge Adventure Challenge Play Test
On Free RPG Day this last Saturday, June 20th, I ran an event for my local game shop at the request of the owner. What did I run? A Fudge game of course! But not just any Fudge game! I did a test run of my One Month Fudge Adventure Challenge!
I expected the adventure to need a lot of work, but it went surprisingly well. The group of five players (three of which had played Fudge before) did very well in working with me to play test the adventure. They were willing to play a loose and fast game, as well as to play using some of my custom rules (note to self: initiative rules worked great but damage rules need a little bit more work).
The adventure was a zombie apocalypse game where the PCs had to clear, defend, and search an abandoned home while a never ending horde of zombies attacked the dwelling. I didn’t bother with a lot of details. With movement I just declared how far a figure could move if they were a player character, while the zombies moved approximately five inches per turn. I used my mass combat rules which I covered here, and they played well given the genre.
I let the players search the rooms of the home for various items with which to defend themselves. The better the results of the Fudge dice roll the better the item that was found. This helped a lot because the longer the game played for the more zombies kept appearing to attack the players. It was a classic zombie film move, and at the end of the game the players were surrounded by a swarm of flesh eating zombies!
There are some details that I still need to work out, but as one of the players said it was “tight” and played well. Now I need to refine the rules a bit and finish typing it all up.
Anyone else run a Fudge game for Free RPG Day? If so, chare your experience with the rest of us and leave a comment below!
I was one of these, and this is my feedback:
–the damage (well, mook rules) wasn’t overly clear… but that’s a Good Thing for horror gaming. You don’t share the difficulty (maybe “they’re more dangerous in groups than alone” at most) as a general rule – it holds some suspense and gives a bit of leeway in ratcheting up the drama.
–The pre-gens were very good and the fact that only Kumar the Convenience Store Guy had a name was a nice touch towards maintaining the 70s zombie movie feel. Kumar violated that a bit and made it late-90s self-referential, but it was still good fun.
–There are a number of parts of our daily lives that need more use in gaming. I think there should ALWAYS be scenes involving kitchens and bathrooms. ALWAYS!
–While I missed the first few minutes of GM patter, what Points buy you needed to be explained again while playing. Yes, I’m the author of that situation which interrupted the flow, but maybe having a cheatsheet for each player could handle that next time in addition to the 5 minute primer.
–Drawing the maps of the house in sections worked well to keep the suspense going, but the hex gridding made some of the scenes feel a bit too tactical. That led to questions like “how many can I move?,” “Does this reach?,” yadda yadda yadda. Might be better to have a library of types of actions that could be done without Invoking/Compelling/Spending. That way the players KNOW that they can either run to another room OR face the horror OR assist in making the zombie killing sprayer of doom OR have a spotlight scene OR … whatever.
Other than those points, it was a well-planned and well-adjudicated game session (South Park-esque humor aside). Donna even made the statement that FUDGE is now her favorite game system…
Keith – Thanks for the compliment, and even more important thanks for playing in the game! I agree with a lot of what you said and I am tweaking the product accordingly. My next blog article will actually address some of what you pointed out.
If Donna said that Fudge is her favorite game system after playing in this event I am on the right track! That is great feedback to hear.
I’ll keep you informed of any future games I run at Unique Gifts & Games. Great to have met you in person!