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50-577: Although Savage Worlds is a generic rule system, Pinnacle has released "Savage Settings," campaign settings or modules designed specifically for the Savage Worlds rules. These have included Evernight , 50 Fathoms , Necessary Evil , Rippers , and Low Life . Pinnacle has also published setting books based on the company's earlier lines, including Deadlands: Reloaded as well as the Tour of Darkness, Necropolis, and Weird War II settings based on

100-479: A 1 or 2 as [−], a 3–4 as [ ] and a 5–6 as [+]. There are also several alternative dice systems available that use ten-sided dice, coins, or playing cards. The rules of Fudge are highly customizable and can be adjusted for the level of simplicity or complexity desired by the Game Master and Players. Overall, the system is designed to encourage role-playing over strict adherence to a set of rules. In fact,

150-507: A benny or costs two bennies. Bennies Short for "benefits," bennies are tokens granted to wild cards at the start of each play session. Typically, each wild card receives three bennies per session, although many variables can alter this number. Bennies can be spent to reduce damage taken, to reroll an undesirable result, to activate certain edges, or in a number of other ways. Bennies can be earned during play as rewards for good roleplay or by completing certain objectives. Combat initiative

200-477: A character has the following derived statistics : pace (ground speed), parry (the ability to defend oneself in melee combat), toughness (resistance to damage), and charisma (presence and charm). Some setting supplements add a fifth derived statistic such as reason (problem solving), sanity (mental health), or grit (mental fortitude) to reflect the special needs of the game world. Like in the FUDGE and FATE systems,

250-491: A concise, logical analysis of RPG theory that amateur and pro designers alike would do well to ponder." Although Swan liked the simplicity and logic of the open system, he felt that too much of the onus fell on the gamemaster . "Not only must he role-play the NPCs, stage memorable encounters, and keep the story on track, he must also come up with Difficulty Levels for every conceivable situation. It ain't easy." He concluded by giving

300-411: A distinctive six-sided die known as a "wild die" alongside their trait die. The wild die may ace as normal. The player of the wild card uses the higher of the two rolls (trait die or wild die) to determine the actual result of the roll. Rolling a "natural 1" on both dice is called "snake eyes" and is considered a critical failure. Depending on the setting's rules, snake eyes either cannot be bought off with

350-609: A generic, simple but complete role-playing system and retitled Savage Worlds (SW). At Origins 2003, Savage Worlds was awarded the Gamer's Choice Award in the Roleplaying Game category. The main rulebook was revised and released as a PDF format eBook in late 2004, with a print version following in early 2005. The same year, Great White Games began releasing rules expansions in the form of several PDF format genre toolkit books. Self-contained miniature skirmish games based upon

400-453: A mercenary or bodyguard. Healing could be used to diagnose an illness, identify medicinal herbs or pharmaceutical drugs, find a healer or medical specialist, or prevent a disease outbreak in an encampment by organizing sanitation protocols. Characters are also customized with advantages and disadvantages known as edges and hindrances, respectively. Edges and hindrances, unlike traits, are not rated with dice. Edges cost points, and some require

450-681: A new, novice-rank character, the player gets 5 character points to spend on attributes and 15 character points to spend on skills. Some game worlds offer more or fewer character creation points to reflect the world's overall difficulty or the characters' overall experience. After character creation, unused points are lost. During play, characters earn experience points , which they subsequently spend to acquire new abilities or improve existing ones. The five attributes used in Savage Worlds are agility (physical precision and speed), smarts (mental power), spirit (willpower), strength (physical power), and vigor (physical health). In addition to attributes,

500-551: A role-player who frequents the Internet anyway, you'll be missing a real treasure if you don't download yourself a copy. Even if you don’t frequent the Internet, if you've ever found yourself tinkering with the rules to a role-playing games, you'll find it well worth the effort to track down a copy of FUDGE." In Issue 3 of the French games magazine Backstab’ , Stéphane Bura liked the game system, commenting "This is, to my knowledge,

550-555: A series of supplements converting Rifts to the Savage Worlds system. In 2018 Pinnacle released a new edition, Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE). In November 2020 Pinnacle announced Pathfinder for Savage Worlds , an adaptation of the setting of Paizo 's Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and serialized Adventure Path modules beginning with the first Adventure Path , Rise of the Runelords . Pyramid called

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600-433: A single polyhedral die . The larger the die, the better the character is at the trait, ranging from a 4-sided die (d4—the lowest) to a 12-sided die (d12—the highest). For example, a character with a strength trait of a ten-sided die (d10) is stronger than a character whose strength trait is rated with a six-sided die (d6). Traits are divided into attributes , which are inherent, and skills , which are learned. When creating

650-489: A target number (TN), which is usually 4, although tasks with higher difficulties have higher TN. If the roll equals or exceeds the TN, the action succeeds; if it is less than the TN, it fails. Succeeding a TN by 4 or more is called a "raise;" additional raises are scored for every further 4 points over the task's TN. Raises are equivalent to critical hits in other roleplaying systems; they grant additional bonuses or otherwise enhance

700-401: Is a generic role-playing game system for use in freeform role-playing games . The name " FUDGE " was once an acronym for Freeform Universal Donated (later, Do-it-yourself ) Gaming Engine and, though the acronym has since been dropped, that phrase remains a good summation of the game's design goals. Fudge has been nominated for an Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game System for

750-404: Is an extremely flexible, rules-light system. It works great, and everybody who plays it, loves it. Why isn't it more popular? I dunno." At the time Fudge was conceived, it was stylish to give role-playing games acronyms for names (for instance, GURPS and TWERPS ), and originally the usenet design project referred to the game as SLUG , for "Simple Laid-back Universal Game". However, this

800-569: Is determined by a standard deck of playing cards (with two jokers). Each wild card or homogeneous group of Gamemaster characters gets to draw a card. If a wild card character has a group of followers under his command, the character's initiative is shared with them. Characters act in sequence according to the draw of the cards, with the highest card (Ace) acting first and the lowest card (2) acting last. Ties are broken by suit in reverse alphabetical order (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs). Players with high initiative can also hold their actions until later in

850-487: Is not tied to any particular genre or setting and world builders are encouraged to invent appropriate attributes and rules tailored to the campaign. The project that would lead to Fudge was first proposed by Steffan O'Sullivan in November 1992 on the rec.games.design newsgroup, and over the following months that online community would contribute to the directed project. One of the earliest stipulations of O'Sullivan

900-407: Is the way it encourages and guides through designing your very own personalised RPG using the basic building blocks supplied by its author, Stefan O'Sullivan. Originally distributed via the Internet, buyers are actively encouraged to design and distribute their own FUDGE-based games so long as they include copyright notices and a disclaimer. Way cool!" In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in

950-491: Is to match or surpass the difficulty level, also on the adjective scale, of the test. Thus, a Good attribute is considered to be Great if the player were to roll two plus sides, one minus side, and one blank—the minus side cancels out one of the plus sides and the remaining plus side raises the result by one step. The same Good attribute would be considered Poor if you were to roll three minus sides and one blank. The same dice roll can be achieved with six-sided dice, treating

1000-578: The Deryni Adventure Game . Rather than being a rigidly pre-defined set of rules like d20 System or GURPS , Fudge offers a customizable toolkit for building the users' own specialized role-playing game system . Such things as what attributes and skills will define characters are left to be determined by the Game Master and players, and several different optional systems for resolving actions and conflicts are offered. Fudge

1050-840: The Pirates of the Spanish Main RPG ), this may instead refer to nationality. Nationality-based differences may occur in campaigns where certain skill specializations, edges, and hindrances are affected by cultural or technological differences or are included to add flavor to a character. For instance, in Deadlands: Reloaded, a non-Chinese character may learn Chinese martial arts but cannot acquire and use its chi -based Powers. In Weird War II, American, British, or French soldiers have special edges and hindrances to reflect their different national and military cultures. A character's traits are characteristics that are rated by

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1100-714: The Vampire Earth RPG Sourcebook and the Suzerain Legends RPG meta setting. Player characters are built using a point allocation system, though gamemasters are encouraged to design non-player characters to the needs of the game rather than to fit the system. Characters in Savage Worlds are composed of a variety of statistics , including Race , Traits, Edges, Hindrances, and sometimes Powers . A character's race usually refers to their species, which may apply positive or negative modifiers to characteristics. In some settings (such as

1150-486: The Weird Wars line. Beginning with 50 Fathoms , the majority of settings released by Pinnacle feature a concept known as a "Plot Point Campaign." In such campaigns, a series of loosely defined adventure scenarios are presented. A main storyline is presented as a series of "Plot Points" and additional side-quests (or "Savage Tales") expand the scope of the campaign. This format allows a group of characters to explore

1200-543: The Savage Worlds engine were also released in print and PDF form. Deadlands Reloaded , a version of the game using the Savage Worlds rules, was released in May 2006. In late 2005, Pinnacle entered into an agreement with WizKids to publish self-contained RPGs set in the worlds of Pirates of the Spanish Main , Rocketmen , and MageKnight using the Savage Worlds rules. Of the three licenses, only The Pirates of

1250-675: The Spanish Main RPG saw release, and was published in April 2007. Pinnacle released another licensed game, The Savage World of Solomon Kane , in 2007. In October 2007, Pinnacle released the Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition (SWEX), a digest size paperback edition of the rules. It featured the revisions to melee damage rules first introduced in Deadlands Reloaded , as well as new chase rules, and it

1300-535: The adjective scale. Fudge uses customized " Fudge dice " which have an equal number of plus, minus, and blank sides. A number of these dice are rolled, usually four at a time ("4dF" in Fudge dice notation ), and for every plus side that comes up the result of using the Trait is considered one step higher (e.g. from Fair to Good ) and for every minus side that comes up the result is considered one step lower. The goal

1350-506: The best system using a normal bell curve (frequent average results and rare extreme results) published to date ... Even if it requires some effort, FUDGE will satisfy those looking for a good generic system less complicated than GURPS ." Bura concluded by giving the game system a rating of 8 out of 10. In Issue 30 of the Australian game magazine Australian Realms , Mike Bell wrote, "What lifts FUDGE to new heights of excellence [...]

1400-456: The character to first attain a certain amount of experience. They are also grouped by type, which may—depending on the campaign or world—affect their availability. Background edges can only be granted at character creation, social edges affect interactions with other characters, combat edges affect the character's fighting skills, and leadership edges grant various bonuses to the character and those under his command. Professional edges are related to

1450-409: The character's job or role and affect their career skills. Power, Weird, or Wild Card Edges are supernatural, paranormal, or superhuman advantages that grant bonuses to Powers; they may not be available in mundane game worlds. Hindrances (character disadvantages) grant points used to purchase edges and are ranked as minor (which grants one point) or major (which grants two points). Some game worlds have

1500-467: The die may be re-rolled and its result added to the previous result. This is known as "acing" or "exploding." A die may continue to ace/explode as long as the highest die number continues to be rolled. Rolling a "natural 1" (an unmodified result of 1) on a trait roll is a "bust" and is considered an automatic failure unless a benny is spent (see below). Player characters and significant non-player characters are known as "Wild Cards." Wild cards get to roll

1550-435: The game a rating of 5 out of 6, saying, "FUDGE is about as appropriate for novices as calculus is for preschoolers. Seasoned gamers, however, will be in for a pleasant surprise." In Issue 17 of Shadis , Leonard Wilson was enthusiastic about this game system, writing, "Simply put, from start to finish, FUDGE is the sort of quality product that can't be mistaken for anything but a labor of love for everyone involved. If you're

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1600-470: The game universe while playing through (or disregarding) the main storyline in a manner similar to that of role-playing video games . A licensing system is in place for electronic and book publishers to release material for the Savage Worlds game. Such "Savaged!" licensees are allowed to use the Savage Worlds mascot "Smiling Jack" as a logo on their products. Multiple licensed PDF adventure scenarios are available, as well as setting related supplements like

1650-535: The game. In March 2004, Grey Ghost Press acquired the copyright of Fudge , and on April 6, 2005, they released a version of Fudge under the Open Game License . The OGL license has allowed the Fate role-playing game system to build on Fudge as its underlying mechanic. In 1999 Pyramid magazine named Fudge as one of The Millennium's Most Underrated Games . Editor Scott Haring stated " Fudge

1700-528: The main Fudge documents encourage players to "Just Fudge It"; that is, to focus on the story being created rather than on the game rules. For example, one character creation method encourages players to first write prose descriptions of their characters and then translate those into Fudge Traits. In the January 1996 edition of Dragon (Issue 225), Rick Swan called this game system "a remarkable achievement,

1750-401: The option of granting superhuman abilities to characters, usually with a magical, mystical, technological, psionic , racial, or mutant origin. Like edges, they are ranked and can be improved or acquired by leveling up. Dice are rolled to determine the outcome of character actions and interactions in the game. For actions not directly contested by another character, a trait die is rolled against

1800-407: The original release "rather good" but "rather overpriced". Scott Taylor for Black Gate in 2013 rated Savage Worlds as Honorable Mention #1 in the top ten role-playing games of all time, saying "I truly can't say enough about this system that hasn't already been said with its various awards, but dang, in the end you get to use playing cards and poker chips as you game, and that just takes it over

1850-401: The outcome of a successful task. For actions directly contested by another character, there is no TN. Instead, both characters make a relevant skill check and the winner is the one with the higher result. The winner can still score raises if he exceeds his opponent's roll by 4 or more. If a player rolls the highest number possible on a given die (such as an 8 on an eight-sided die, or "d8"),

1900-517: The round or can interrupt another character's action. The deck is reshuffled after a joker is dealt. In 1997, Pinnacle published Deadlands: the Great Rail Wars , a miniature wargame set in the "Weird West" world of Hensley's Deadlands role-playing game. The rules were a greatly simplified version of the full Deadlands system, focused on one-on-one skirmishes. In 2003, the rules from The Great Rail Wars were revised and expanded into

1950-519: The same breath as Savage Worlds — Skyrealms of Jorune , Shadowrun , Rifts ." Weird Wars Weird Wars is a series of horror role-playing games set during past and future wars and published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group . The original release, Weird War II: Blood on the Rhine was set during World War II , and utilized the D20 System . The second release, Tour of Darkness

2000-413: The skills are broad and allow the character to use them for a variety of related tasks. For instance, a character skilled in fighting can fight unarmed or with melee weapons. They might also be able to identify and counter an opponent's fighting style, know the name and reputation of a skilled fighter they meet, figure out the nationality and rank of a soldier by their uniform and insignia, or locate and hire

2050-427: The supernatural) will come after them if they are discovered. Magic is low-powered in this setting; Mages only receive spells up to the 5th level, and the only offensive powers in their arsenal are Magic Missile and Cloudkill, which blend in better with the chaos of the battlefield, mimicking bullets and clouds of poison gas respectively. The books in the setting are: Fudge (role-playing game system) Fudge

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2100-605: The supernatural. Heroes who face the supernatural can be offered membership in the Office of Supernatural Investigations (OSI), which then allows them to take the OSI Chaplain and OSI Adept Prestige Classes (which grant access to Divine and Arcane Magic respectively). Magic is handled differently in this setting than in other d20 settings, being cast by means of Runes and causing Fatigue to the caster. Hitler and his Nazis have their own magic-users: Blood Mages, who can be amongst

2150-552: The top!" In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground , RPG historian Stu Horvath noted, "The GM section of the rulebook runs just a handful of pages and encourages a GM to cut out as much work as possible — keep it fast, furious, and fun, just like the cover says." Horvath also mentioned the game systems that have simplified their rules by converting to Savage Worlds , saying, "Many interesting game worlds that were saddled with complex systems are now regularly mentioned in

2200-534: The toughest foes the players later face. Blood Mages are essentially Adepts of Evil Alignment, which grants them the power to draw upon the 'innate evil' of places such as Death Camps and battlefields . Because the only difference between a Blood Mage and an Adept is Alignment, it is possible to play an Allied Blood Mage, though not recommended, as both the OSI and the Sons of Solomon (a secret organization devoted to hiding

2250-458: The turn. Characters may take multiple actions at once if they are different (e.g., taunt or intimidate an opponent while shooting a pistol or fighting with a weapon). In most situations, taking multiple actions in a single turn incurs cumulative penalties. Jokers beat all other cards and additionally give +2 bonuses on trait and damage rolls made that round. Any player that receives a joker during initiative may take their action at any time during

2300-517: The writer and the publisher both felt that the forced acronym had become irrelevant. The game has been referred to officially as just Fudge ever since, though fans often still refer to it in the old manner as FUDGE . In Fudge , character Traits such as Attributes and Skills , are rated on a seven-level, ascending adjective scale: Terrible, Poor, Mediocre, Fair, Good, Great, and Superb. Fudge characters can also have Gifts and Faults, which are positive and negative traits that do not fit into

2350-625: Was released at Origins 2007. At that event, Deadlands Reloaded won the Origins Award in the category of Best Roleplaying Game Supplement. In August 2011, Pinnacle released Savage Worlds Deluxe (SWD), a hardcover expanded version of the rules found in the Explorer's Edition. In August 2012, Pinnacle released the digest size paperback edition of the Deluxe rules, Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer's Edition (SWDEE). In 2015 Pinnacle announced

2400-606: Was set during the Vietnam War and employed the Savage Worlds rules set. A third release, also for Savage Worlds , Necropolis was set in the future on a war-torn planet. In the original Weird War II , players play as Allied soldiers during the Second World War. The setting presents a supernatural element, and characters face (and drive) haunted vehicles, fight mutant Nazi soldiers and investigate

2450-489: Was soon changed to FUDGE for "Free-form Universal Donated Gaming Engine", but also because the word invoked connotations of an easy to make source of fun. This again was changed when Grey Ghost Press released their 1995 hard copy version of the game, to "Free-form Universal Do-it-yourself Gaming Engine". With the publication of the Expanded Edition in 2000, the fad for acronym-based names had long since faded, and

2500-586: Was that the basic system would always remain free to the public over the internet, and the PDF of the 1995 version still is. The 1995 version of Fudge is available under a non-commercial licence. Grey Ghost Press , with the endorsement of Steffan O'Sullivan, publishes an expanded form of the Fudge system. There have been three Grey Ghost Press editions, the most current being the Fudge 10th Anniversary Edition , which includes several suggested rules systems for common RPG elements and an example basic fantasy "build" of

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