The system detailed below is very freeform, rather a skeleton and a set of guidelines than a fully detailed gaming system.
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Society attributes
The political attributes are:
The cultural attributes are:
The societal attributes are:
Base for military force and size:
| Military type | Force | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Standing | Fair | Scope-1 |
| Provisional | Mediocre | Scope+1 |
Modifiers:
| Philosophical orientation | Force | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Survival | 0 | +2 |
| War | +1 | +1 |
| Conquest | +1 | +1 |
| Equilibrium | 0 | 0 |
| Peace | -1 | -1 |
| Knowledge | -1 | -1 |
| Military infrastructure | Force | Size |
| Professional | +2 | 0 |
| Mercenary | +2 | 0 |
| Feodal | +2 | 0 |
| Conscript | +1 | 0 |
| Volunteer, militia | +-1 (Phl.or.) | 0 |
| All-inclusive | +-2 (Phl.or.) | +2 |
Military browess is calculated from force and size by using the force as a base and increasing it by the amount that the size is bigger than the opponents military size. The smaller side's browess is not decreased from the base. Mathematically speaking:
browess = force + max(0,own_size - opponent_size)
The number of actions that a ruling agency can make depends on the scope of the society, and on whether its philosophical orientation is active or passive. Basic number of actions is 4. This is increased/decreased by Scope/2, round down, and decreased by 1 if the phil. orientation is passive. The actions are divided among internal and external.
actions = 4 + scope/2 -1 (if passive society)
The actions are totally freeform. The player tells the GM what he tries and how he goes about it. The GM decides approriate difficulity for the task and the attributes that are used to resolve it. An example list of actions is given below:
Internal: develop/invest, intrigue, observation, elections, fundamental, taxation, exile, civil war, negotiations External: raid, observation, intimidation, diplomacy, espionage, overtures, sanctions, block, alliance
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Results of actions
The results of actions will effect the attributes of the society, although usually not on those attributes that were used to solve them. The effect may be positive (improvement) or negative (regression). Improvements and regressions effect one or more attributes in/decreasing them by one for 1-3 rounds, or even permanently.
The improvements and regressions may be accompanied by incidentals (single but important events) and reactions (behavioral changes in the populance). The GM can, but (s)he does not have to, detail them, too, or let the player decide them himself.
| Result | Improvements or regressions | Incidentals and reactions |
|---|---|---|
| Extraordinary success | (+) 2 attr. for 2-3 rounds | 2-3 |
| Superb success | (+) 1-2 attr. for 2 rounds | 2-3 |
| Great success | (+) 1 attr. for 1-2 rounds | 1-2 |
| Success | (+) 1 attr. for 1 round | 1-2 |
| Partial success | (+) 1 attr. for 0-1 rounds | 1 |
| Partial failure | (-) 1 attr. for 0-1 rounds | 1 |
| Failure | (-) 1 attr. for 1 round | 1-2 |
| Serious failure | (-) 1-2 attr. for 2 rounds | 2-3 |
| Catastrophe | (-) 2 attr. for 2-3 rounds | 2-3 |
If min-maxing seems to be a problem, use the dice roll as the maximum (positive or negative) social effect. Never change a success to failure or a failure to a success, however.
There are several different kind of natural environmental disasters: an epidemic is the most common, with famine coming close second. Other disasters include a flood, hurricane, earthquake, tornado and drought. The GM randomly determines one of these.
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Critical junctures
An internal critical juncture appears if the ruling agency suppresses its people too much (Supression >= +2), its consent or power is very low (Consent / Power <=Poor), tolerance of any humanity is very low (Tolerance <= Terrible and Prevalence >= Mediocre), severe economic depression (Wealth <= Terrible), or a severe political scandal has occured, like a negotations pledge is broken, an intrigue attempt failed, ...
External critical juncture occures if some society has severily meddled in some other societies actions, or their relations have dropped below Poor (Relations <= Terrible).
Critical junctures are things to be avoided: only in case of extraordinary success may improvements occur.
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Dice and attribute levels
Most of the attributes will be defined on a scale from Miserable (-4) to Legendary (+4) detailed below. The scope has a scale from Insignificant (-4) to Imperium (+4).
| Value (prob.) | Skill (benchmark) | Task | Result | Size / amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +4 (1%) | Legendary (guru) | Epic | Extraord. success | Vast |
| +3 (5%) | Superb (master) | Huge | Superb success | Huge |
| +2 (13%) | Great (expert) | Very hard | Great success | Very big |
| +1 (19%) | Good (professional) | Hard | Success | Big |
| 0 (24%) | Fair (journeyman) | Normal | Partial success | Medium |
| -1 (19%) | Mediocre (amateur) | Easy | Partial failure | Small |
| -2 (13%) | Poor (beginner) | Routine | Failure | Very small |
| -3 (5%) | Terrible (ungifted) | Trivial | Serious failure | Tiny |
| -4 (1%) | Miserable (cursed) | Insignificant | Catastrophe | Insignificant |
Task resolution equals the system used in FUDGE in general. To fresh your memory it's given below.
Result = Skill - Task + Dice + Modifier