| Copyright © 2000 by Mark Damon Hughes. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to print and use free of charge, but do not redistribute - always refer others back to these originals at <http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~kamikaze/DUDE/> |
Special thanks to Julie Hoverson for three of four letters of the acronym, and Brett Evill and Eric Tolle for the term "dudeness" that started this ridiculous thing.
DUDE is a common system for a number of extremely simple roleplaying games; the first of these is The Alan Smithee Project, the RPG of Hollywood gone wrong (as usual). DUDE is the acronym for "Diceless Universal Determination Engine":
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Designer's Rant: About rules-light games: The author believes that rules-light games like DUDE encourage roleplaying more than rules-heavy games, because there is so little system that it cannot be used well without extensive roleplaying. "Used well" is a key word there, because it is quite possible to play a rules-light game as bland and mechanical hack-and-slash - and then you don't even have the advantage of interesting mechanics to keep you entertained. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with rules-heavy games, and you can have as much or more roleplaying in such a game, depending on the players, it's just not mandatory to have a good game with a rules-heavy game. Roleplaying in a rules-heavy game does require the players to know and "internalize" more rules so they can use them appropriately, but if someone is having an off night, the system can at least cover for their lack; if someone is off in a rules-light game, it blows it for everyone. The author plays and enjoys some of the most complex games on the market, as well as some of the simplest. Use each in their appropriate place and setting, and with like-minded gamers, and you'll do no wrong. |
Oh, and the little guy in the DUDE logo is Mikey the Angry Stick-Figure. Don't fuck with Mikey or he'll pop a cap in your ass.
The following is the standard DUDE character creation system. Various games and adventures based on DUDE may use different systems or offer pregenerated characters. If pregenerated characters are available, each player draws a card, and the one with the high card gets to choose first, then each other player in order of the card they drew; tied players draw again to determine which of them goes first.
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Designer's Rant: This is admittedly and unashamedly a very subjective system. Some overly self-righteous gamers feel that such a system is not a "system", or is "incomplete", because it requires actual discussion with other people (the Dealer) and the exercise of their judgement. They believe the only valid "systems" are those with endless tables and formulae which allow you to avoid all contact with any other people while making a character, and which remove the risk of actually playing a role instead of playing a set of numbers. These people are wankers, and you should refuse to play with them. |
Characters in DUDE have a single ability score, called "DUDEness". DUDEness can represent different things in each setting, whatever is most important for ranking different people. All of a character's abilities are based on DUDEness. DUDEness normally ranges from 1 for a completely incompetent and irrelevant character to 10 for the maximum ability. Giant monsters, superheroes, and anyone with exceptional abilities in a focused area are rated on the same scale as everyone else and just have Powers to represent their advantages.
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Designer's Rant: Okay, I know this is going to bother some people, but it's not all that different from many other RPGs. Using the example of a certain game system that I don't like very much <http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~kamikaze/documents/wrong_adnd.html>, the only stat that matters is level. Most players are going to pick ability scores so they are all either maximum ("I got lucky rolling my character up! Dave witnessed it! And I witnessed his rolls!") or a bit above the minimum for your class (but never low enough for penalties), if they don't matter. Hit points are based on your level, and, again, will be within a few points of maximum. The "non-weapon proficiency" (out in the real world we call them "skills", you dorks) system in that game is a pathetic joke, with all skills either being non-existent or equal to the ability score (it's a waste of time to try improving them, at +5% every few levels), which we've just determined is going to be maxed-out. The only other parts that make any difference are gender, race, class, and alignment ("M Human Fighter 10, CE", anyone?) and those would be represented with setting-specific Powers. The Power system isn't even that dissimilar - most of that game's players describe their characters in terms of what magic items and spells they have, not in terms of who their character IS. Some people say "be thankful that they're playing that instead of hassling real gamers", but I'm an eternal optimist - I like to think that if they were given real game systems (or even DUDE), they could learn to role-play. |
"Powers" represent anything in the game aside from the DUDEness: equipment, skills, magic, superpowers, or whatever the Dealer allows. All Powers use the same description format, as shown below. Seriously, go print that second page of the character sheet off a few times, chop it up, and write the Powers on each of the cards. This is one of the best props you can bring to a game.
| Power: Fist | Type: Natural Ability | |
|---|---|---|
| Activation Time: 0 | Range: touch | |
| Blue Chips: 0 | Duration: instant | |
| Difficulty: combat | Area of Effect: 1 target | |
| Description: Pow! The target takes 1 damage on a successful hit. Essentially all human characters should have this Power - don't even bother writing it on the character sheet; make a note if you don't have it. | ||
| Power: Small Pistol | Type: Equipment | |
| Activation Time: 0 | Range: line of sight | |
| Blue Chips: 0 | Duration: instant | |
| Difficulty: combat | Area of Effect: 1 target | |
| Description: Attacks a target with a small-calibre pistol (up to 9mm), doing 3 points of damage per successful hit. It holds 6-17 rounds of ammunition per clip, depending on model. | ||
| Power: Magic Arrow | Type: Magic Spell | |
| Activation Time: 0 | Range: line of sight | |
| Blue Chips: 1 | Duration: instant | |
| Difficulty: automatic | Area of Effect: 1 target | |
| Description: A glowing guided missile made of magic energy flies from the caster's hands and strikes the target without fail, doing 2 points of damage per successful hit. | ||
Drawbacks are the exact opposite of powers: they limit what a character can do. Any disadvantage that the Dealer agrees to is acceptable; some DUDE settings may have some specific Drawbacks already listed. The essential rule, as with any disadvantage system, is that a Drawback that does not limit the character is not a valid Drawback.
There are three kinds of chips (or other counters) used in DUDE; the colors mentioned here are the ones most common in poker chips, but any color substitutions are allowed as long as everyone knows which is which (for instance, you may have only red, green, and black beads, and declare that black is white, green is blue, and red is red).
At the start of an adventure, the Dealer gives each player a number of white chips equal to their character's DUDEness, and the same number of blue chips if the character has any Powers that use them. Characters usually do not start adventures with any red chips. At the end of each game session, each player must record how many of each kind of chip their characters have. At the start of each game session after the first in an adventure, the same number of chips recorded are taken back out.
At no point may any player have more than twice as many white or red chips as their character's DUDEness, nor more blue chips than their character's DUDEness (exception: some Powers may allow a character to have additional blue chips).
It is possible for a player to bring in additional white chips from another, previous character, if they were not cashed in (see Winning). If the player would have more than twice as many white chips as their character's DUDEness, they must immediately be spent to improve the character's DUDEness, or discarded.
Whenever a player succeeds in a task check without using a white chip, they gain an additional white chip.
White chips can also be saved up and spent to increase a character's DUDEness; this costs a number of white chips equal to twice the character's current DUDEness. When a character does this during a game, they can immediately discard all red chips and recover all blue chips up to their new DUDEness score, and get to draw one more card for their hand.
Blue chips are fully recovered after every night of complete rest - the character needs 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Occasionally death will not be the end - for instance, in The Alan Smithee Project, on-screen deaths only end the character's involvement in that particular movie, and the character can still play off-screen; but if the character dies off-screen, it's dead for good.
Even then, DUDE is not meant to be a deeply realistic game, so reappearing alive and well in the next episode, with a cliffhanger-style "saved at the last moment" rescue story, is perfectly fine if the Dealer and players don't mind. On the other hand, sometimes a player may wish to retire a character, and the Dealer and players should never forbid anyone from getting rid of a character they no longer wish to play. (The designer has encountered this before, and it's worth noting).
At the start of each game session, the Dealer shuffles the deck, and each player is dealt a number of cards equal to their character's DUDEness.
Whenever a player's hand of cards reaches half their DUDEness or less (rounding down), the player should refill their hand up to their character's DUDEness.
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If a character gains DUDEness during a game, an additional card is immediately drawn. If a character loses DUDEness during a game, a randomly-chosen card from the hand is discarded (even if the player currently has less than their maximum number of cards).
At the end of the game session, the cards are given back to the Dealer and shuffled back into the deck.
There are five kinds of tasks:
Whenever a player is instructed to "play a card", the character's player picks a card from their hand (refilling their hand if they have fallen below half their hand), lays it out in front and calls out the value of the card. Ace through 10 have values of 1-10.
On a face card, the player draws another card off the top of the deck (not out of the player's hand!); if that card is also a face card, the total value is 0; otherwise, the total value is equal to the second card's value (1-10), plus 1 if the first card was a Jack, 3 if the first card was a Queen, or 5 if the first card was a King. Playing a face card can be risky, but it's the only way to perform above and beyond the usual call of duty.
"Player vs. Universe" occurs whenever a player attempts to perform a stunt or action where there is no living opposition. In such cases, the Dealer decides on the difficulty of the action, rated from 1 to 10 (or even higher), and the action succeeds if the player's card has an equal or higher value than the difficulty, or fails if the card has a lower value than the difficulty.
"Player vs. Extra" occurs whenever a player attempts to perform a stunt or action against an Extra, or the other way around. Extras never have cards of their own, so their attacks and actions are treated as difficulties for player character defenses and actions. The difficulty is equal to the Extra's DUDEness (though Extras often have a low DUDEness, that is not always true - some have extraordinarily high DUDEness, even though they're still just cannon fodder). If the player's card has an equal or higher value than the Extra's DUDEness, the player wins and/or the Extra's action fails; if lower, the player loses and/or the Extra's action succeeds.
"Player vs. Player" and "Player vs. Boss" work the same way - two players, or a player and the Dealer, each play a card face down, then reveal them simultaneously. The one with the higher card wins, and ties may be replayed or may result in a deadlock, at the Dealer's option.
"Extended Tasks" are handled like one of the previous four types, but a single success is not enough; the character must try the task over and over, one try per turn, until the number of successes the Dealer requires have been accumulated. A failure in an extended task is usually just a delay; but if the next task check is also a failure, the task goes catastrophically wrong. Defusing a bomb is the stereotypical example.
Remember, whenever a player succeeds in a task check without using a white chip, they gain an additional white chip.
Combat, and all dramatic action, occurs in "turns", which can vary in length, depending on the pacing of a scene, from 1 second to hours. During each turn, the following sequence of play happens:
If the Dealer feels like it, the direction of play (clockwise swapped for counterclockwise, left swapped for right) can be reversed after every turn, every combat, or whenever it seems appropriate.
As mentioned in Tasks, Extras and the universe do not get cards of their own. When an Extra attacks (or uses any other Power on) a PC or a Boss, the character with cards plays a card and adds any defensive bonuses from Powers. If the Extra succeeds, the PC or Boss takes the damage or other effect of the Power; if not, the attack fails.
PCs and Bosses who attack other PCs or Bosses both play a card; if the attacker wins, the defender is hit; if the defender wins, the attack misses.
When an attack hits, the Power used determines the damage. Almost all characters have the "Fist" Power (1 damage), which is used if nothing else is available. If a character has a Power that reduces damage, like body armor, subtract that now. Any remaining points of damage are given to the target as red chips. See Chips for the effects of gaining red chips.
There are definite winners and losers to most DUDE games. The standard victory condition is money - whoever dies or ends the game with the most wealth wins (so if someone dies halfway through the game with $1M, and the rest of the players never get more than $1000, the dead character is the winner). Each white chip left over is worth an additional 10% of the money, if the player is willing to turn it in, so $100 and 3 white chips equal $130. White chips saved to be given to the player's character in the next game are not worth money. However, most games also have some larger goal, which will also be worth percentages of the original money, and letting the villains win generally means that all of the players lose equally, and the Dealer may laugh cruelly at all of them.