FU The Freeform Universal RPG
FU The Freeform Universal RPG
FU The Freeform Universal RPG
FREEFORM / UNIVERSAL
This game was completed as part of the National Game Design Month.
Find out more at www.nagademon.com
Talk before play! scenes. This way everyone gets a clear The Insta-Genre-Generator
Have a conversation about the type picture of what the game is going to be For quick pick-up games, get every-
of game you will play, so everyone about. one to write two genres or settings on
starts in the same “space”. Establish This discussion will also clue the bits of paper. Stick them all in a hat and
tone, theme and/or expectations. It is Narrator in on what players want (or pick out two. Now you have “Apocalypse
important to know whether you will be need) out of the game. It establishes Suburbia”, “Medieval Super-heroes”,
cheered or jeered for outrageous over- whether players want to feel like epic “Kung-Fu High School” or whatever,
acting, or bloody acts of violence. heroes, down-trodden underdogs, or have a discussion about tone, theme,
tragic anti-heroes. possible plots and characters. Now play!
Throw around ideas on setting, im-
agery, set-pieces, cool clichés and funky
Choosing Gear Like Descriptors, the description of Gear is not innately “good” or “bad”.
Items should be “iconic” to your your Gear should be clear - you don’t What you do with it and the situations
character. Think Batman’s Sinister want to be guessing at the purpose or you find yourself in will dictate whether
Batsuit, the Ghostbuster’s Unstable main feature of an item. having an item is useful or not.
Proton-packs, James Bond’s Reliable One adjective only Good Gear / Bad Gear
Berretta, or Zorro’s Flashing Blade.
The description of your gear should You can, if you want, dictate that
Each piece of Gear should add some- have a single adjective - no less and no one piece of Gear must have a “good”
thing to your character’s background, more. A Sharp Sabre is okay, as is a adjective, and the other a “bad” one.
personality or goals. It should make a Magic Sword, but a Sharp Magic Sabre You might have a Warm Jacket and an
statement about who the character is or is not allowed. Old Gun; or a Fast Motorcycle and a
what they do. Maxed-out Credit Card.
Specific nouns
Gear is equipment Choose specific, descriptive nouns; Stuff that isn’t Gear
Gear is never innate - it can be Sabre is better than Sword, Baseball Any objects, items or equipment that
dropped, lost, broken and stolen. A Cy- Cap is better than Hat. You can use are not listed as Gear are props. Props
bernetic Arm is not Gear, but an Ar- more than one noun, but keep the de- have no effect on a character’s chance
moured Power Glove is. scription to as few words as possible. of success at an action - they are merely
window-dressing. However, you can
Describing Gear Talk about your Gear
swap, steal and pick-up another charac-
When describing gear make the ad- Discuss your Gear. Everyone needs ter’s Gear and use that!
jective tell us something useful and/or to be clear on what you are describing;
interesting about it. A Long Dagger is what the Gear will be useful for, and
okay, a Broken Dagger is better! when it might be a hindrance.
It’s all about roleplaying now Long or short term goals? work together to decide on a relation-
Your Description, Drives and Re- When choosing your Drive you are ship, or you can have separate, unre-
lationships all help develop your char- free to pick long or short term goals. If lated or “opposed” relationships (for
acter and put them into the “world” of you are only playing a one-off game, example; “In love with”/“Repulsed by”).
your stories and adventures. The Narra- then it is a better idea to pick something Don’t be antagonistic
tor might occasionally give you a bonus that will have an immediate impact on
Don’t create Drives or Relationships
to dice rolls because of the information the plot. If you are planning a series of
that will have characters constantly at
you reveal here, but that is by no means games, then by all means come up with
each others throats. It is okay to have
required. a longer-term goal for your character.
characters that don’t see eye-to-eye (in
Use your Drives and Relationships How many Relationships? fact, that can be fun!), but don’t have
to inform the way you roleplay your Two is a good number of Relation- them hate each other. You want the
character, the way they interact with the ships to begin with. Pick two different characters to function together in order
other player’s characters and the world characters and decide how they know to defeat the antagonist, solve the mys-
around them. each other. You and another player can tery or complete the mission!
Descriptors
Identify the four most important or interesting features of your character,
one each for Body, Mind, Edge and Flaw.
Each Descriptor should be short, punchy, clear, innate and finite.
Gear
What cool, iconic stuff does your character carry?
Choose two items of gear, describing each with an adjective and noun
(e.g. Sharp Sabre; Fast Motorcycle).
Description
What does your character look like? What is their name? Where are they
from? What makes them interesting and unique?
Drives
What does your character want? What is stopping them? What will they do
to get it?
Relationships
How do the characters know each other? What connections do they have?
Who “sets” the scene? all the senses; point out interesting or story lines and even montages can be
Players might suggest scenes they important details of the location; and played out in scenes. While most of the
would like to see or be involved in, but all the characters involved. Consider the time your scenes will occur in a chrono-
most of the time the Narrator decides objective of the scene as you create it. logical order, you do not have to be re-
what scenes occur and in what order stricted by this.
What is an objective?
they happen. Discussion might occur Do I have to use turns?
An objective can be anything that
about the order events occur in, what
a player or character wants. Character Turns are an optional measurement
is happening, where it is happening and
objectives might include finding a piece of time, useful for when a variety of stuff
who is involved before the Narrator
of information, defeating an enemy, is being attempted by several charac-
makes a final call on all these matters.
talking to someone, travelling a small or ters. Use them to organise the action as
Some groups like to give everyone a great distance, preparing for battle, con- needed. Some scenes will naturally fall
turn at setting a scene, and that is to- ning a mark, or stealing an object. Play- into turns, while others will be resolved
tally cool, too. er objectives could include seeing their without ever considering them.
character in a cool fight, solving the
How do you “set a scene”?
mystery, revealing a secret about their
Setting a scene is a matter of defin- character, or interacting with a specific
ing where and when the action takes character or player. Often, player and
place, who is there, and what has just character goals overlap.
happened or what is about to happen.
Location, Characters, Event, or Where, Do scenes have to be in order?
When, Who & What. You can use all the techniques of sto-
ries, novels and movies, which means
When describing the scene draw on
flashbacks and flash forwards, parallel
Examples of Success & Failure Who chooses Conditions & you, but have the tired Condition. Ap-
Going back to an earlier example, Details? plying Conditions in this way will likely
let’s see what might have happened Anyone can suggest a Condition or give player characters an advantage
when we apply each possible answer to Detail that they feel is appropriate to later in the scene.
the question the action taken and result achieved. When should I use Details?
Usually the player that rolled the dice
“Does Sir Camden leap the hedge?” Apply Details when the action is like-
and the Narrator will work together to
ly to change the scene or environment in
Yes, and he catches up with Lord come up with a suitably dramatic effect.
some way. This might be a change in the
Kane. This is a Detail that changes the But really, anyone at the table should
power dynamic of the scene (“Yes, he
scene. throw in whatever cool idea they have.
leaps the hedge and he catches up with
Yes, he leaps the hedge. There is no The Narrator always has final say Lord Kane.”); or a change in the physical
and/but qualifier so no Condition or over what Condition or Detail is ap- environment (“No, but he spots a gap in
Detail is added. plied to a result. the hedge.”).
Yes, but Sir Camden is disoriented When should I use Conditions? Details are often applied when the
and momentarily confused. This is a Like all qualifiers, it depends on acting character gains some advantage
Condition applied to the character. situation. In the examples above Con- (Yes, and / No, but). They can be used
No, but he spots a gap in the hedge ditions are applied to the acting player to great effect, however, to make situa-
further along. This Detail gives the char- when things don’t quite go right for tions more entertaining and / or dan-
acter another way to continue the chase. them (Yes, but / No, and). The Condi- gerous;
tions make life a bit more difficult for “Do you swing across the room on
No, the horse shies away from the
the character because of the minimal the chandelier? Yes, but candles fall
jump. There is no and/but qualifier so
success or outright failure. loose and set fire to the tavern.”
no Condition or Detail is added.
You can also apply Conditions to Details can provide instant or on-
No, and his horse rears up, throwing
the target of an action, when things are going effects, depending on the circum-
him to the ground, causing an injury.
going right for your character. If you stances. A gap in the hedge can be used
This is a Condition.
are debating with a bureaucrat and get immediately to continue the chase; a
a Yes, and result you might apply the burning tavern will continue to be a
confused Condition to the target. If you hazard until someone puts the fire out!
attempt to outrun an enemy and get the
No, but result they might catch up with
Example of Modifiers roll too. Is the opponent weak? You get Option: Matching Dice
Captain Vance hurtles along in the a bonus die. Is the opponent a world Rolling doubles, triples or quadru-
jeep, when a guard tries to drag him champion arm wrestler? You factor in ples can make a success much better or
out through the window. “Will Vance a penalty die. And so on, until every- a failure far worse. If your result die has
shake the guard off?” It is hard (+) to thing is factored in. When you know a match the effects will be much more
drag Vance out the window, but he is how many bonus and/or penalty dice dramatic. You may add one “and...”
wounded (-) and surprised (-), and the you have, roll. If the result is an even statement for each matching die. If the
attacker is very strong (-). In total you number, you win the contest; if the final action is failed this statement should
must roll 2 penalty dice. You roll 3d6 result is an odd number, your opponent make the situation worse. If the action
scoring a 2, 4 and 3, and must take the has the advantage. is a success the additional statement(s)
worst result, the 3. The guard wrestles Dialing in on Your action should make the situation even better.
Vance out of the jeep.
Sword fights, political debates, space For example, Sir Camden faces Lord
Other types of rolls? races, international wars, arguments Kane’s henchmen. “Will Sir Camden de-
FU has no such thing as ‘opposed and gun battles are all resolved using feat the henchmen?” He is injured and
rolls’ or ‘contested actions’, ‘damage the beat the odds roll. The key is to dial outnumbered so you will roll 2 penalty
rolls’ and ‘rolling to hit’. The beat the in or out of the action through the kind dice. You roll and score 3, 3, and 2. You
odds roll is the only kind of roll used of questions you attempt to resolve. You must take the worst result - the double
in FU, whether you are trying to drive can fight a dramatic sword fight and ex- 3! Normally this would be a “No...” re-
a car through a crowded mall, arm change a series of blows by asking “Do sult, but the matching 3 turns it into a
wrestle a giant, or shrug off the damage I hit the Count De Montief?”. But you “No, and...”. If you had rolled triple 3
caused by a stray bullet. could also resolve the entire fight with the result would have been “No, and...,
a single roll by asking “Do I defeat the and...”!
How do “opposed” actions work?
Count De Montief in a duel?”. Or, take
For a start, only players ever roll it to the next level and ask “Do my men-
dice. You begin by factoring in all the at-arms storm the Count De Montief ’s
bonuses (+) and penalties (-) that apply castle?” Adjust the dial as necessary!
to your character. Then you take stock
of all the factors that would apply to
the opponent, and apply those into your
Starting FU Points? lose out to The Man. Decide if these are Flip a Pip
The number of FU Points you begin the only ways to earn FU, or if they are Spend a FU Point to adjust a single
a game with should be discussed before in addition to the normal roleplaying die up or down by one pip. Spend mul-
play begins. The more FU Points play- rewards. This decision will also have a tiple FU points to adjust a die multiple
ers begin with, the more easily they will dramatic effect on the tone of play. See pips. This option is more reliable than
achieve successes. If playing games of what you can do with it. a re-roll as you will always be able to
high adventure or over-the-top action, Other ways to use FU turn a “no” into a “yes”. If you used this
it would be reasonable to begin with 2 variant the normal re-roll rule should
Play around with FU Points. Experi-
FU Points. Super-powered heroes might not be used.
ment, or adjust the ways you use them
begin with as many as 3 FU Points. For
to suit your gaming group or the type Use a Prop
grittier games each player might only
of story you are playing. Here are some Spend a FU point to turn a prop into
begin with 1 FU Point, or even none.
suggestions; an item of Gear for the duration of the
Can I give / share FU Points? scene.
FU as Health
That is up to you and your group.
Rather than having a varying and Stunts and Powers
The default is “no”, but...
changeable number of FU points, every Give characters special abilities,
Do Narrators get FU points? character begins with 3. They can be skills or powers that can only be used by
Usually, no, but they might allow a spent as normal, but can also be lost spending a FU Point. These should be
powerful villain or monster to have one, when the character suffers physical or more powerful than Descriptors - make
two or three. mental stress (injuries, fatigue, fear, them break the rules or give a superhu-
etc). FU in this instance can be refreshed man knack, like the ability to fly or read
Other ways to earn FU (brought back up to 3) by roleplaying minds, teleport, or whatever.
You might like to change the way you out a (non-dice rolling) scene with an-
earn FU Points. You might earn them other character that reveals something Taking a Hit
for dealing the killing blow to monsters, about your relationship. Instead of rolling, declare you are
achieving your character’s goal, or roll- “taking a hit”. All the dice you should
Re-Roll Everything
ing multiple 1’s or 6’s. have rolled are treated as if they rolled
Spend a FU point to re-roll all your 1’s (yes, if you are holding 5 dice, they
This is a really good way to change dice. This is an all-or-nothing thing, so count as five 1’s!). In return for your suf-
the tone or style of the game. Want to you can’t keep a couple of good results fering you earn a FU Point.
play a dungeon crawl? Reward FU for and roll the rest. Use this variant in-
killing monsters. A gritty dystopian stead of the normal re-roll rule.
game? Reward FU when the characters
Act
Roleplay your character and describe what is going on. Push toward the
objective.
Ask a Question
When you need to resolve a conflict or complete an action ask a closed
question (e.g. “Do I succeed?”)
Factor in modifiers
+1 bonus die for every Descriptor, item of Gear, Detail, Condition or other
feature that makes the action easier.
+1 penalty die for every Descriptor, item of Gear, Detail, Condition or other
feature that makes the action harder.
Roll
Roll all your dice. The result is the single best die (if rolling bonus dice) or
single worst die (if rolling penalty dice).
Describe result
Use the die result to describe how the conflict or action turned out. Apply
Conditions or Details as necessary.
3 Questions to frame your game How do players want to feel? sent the characters in order to achieve
When you begin a game talk with Do the players want to feel like they the above? Do you need to ensure every
the players about their expectations. Try are changing the world? Like their char- challenge is accompanied by a generous
to answer the following three questions; acter is gaining in wealth, prestige or reward? Are you going to make every
power? Or do they want to feel like their fight hard but fair? Will you be relent-
What will characters do? less in the pursuit of the antagonist’s
backs are against the wall and their lives
Do players want to kick in doors, constantly at risk? goals?
kill monsters and take home piles of
What is the Narrator’s role? Answer these questions and every-
treasure? Do they want to feel like epic
one at the table will be clear on their
heroes? Or the underdogs, struggling What kinds of challenges, encoun-
role in the coming adventure.
against ridiculous odds? ters and situations are you going to pre-
The Bowl Goals might also change from game Playing an open table means eve-
One technique for rewarding FU session to game session. Give players ryone is clear about what is going on,
Points is to place a bowl of beads, chits time to consider their goals at the start what opportunities exist for cool scenes
or tokens in the centre of the table. Each of each session and let them adjust or and actions. Players can see what Gear,
bead is a FU Point. The Narrator can change them as necessary. Conditions and Descriptors are “in
tell players to “take one from the bowl”, play” and incorporate them into scenes.
Tracking obstacles
and other players can reach in when it is Keeping the details of villains, traps
Use sticky-notes or index cards to
appropriate to reward a player, by pass- and other obstacles from the players
record details about your characters,
ing a bead from the bowl. This requires will push them to test their enemies, ex-
monsters and obstacles. Write down
trust between players and Narrator, but plore the environment, and try different
Descriptors, Gear and other info. As
makes the running of the game very things. They can manoeuvre themselves
they suffer Conditions, record those on
smooth as no-one has to stop and ask; and situations in directions they think
the card.
“Does that deserve a FU Point?” will be advantageous. It is always satis-
Use index cards to record important fying to be rewarded with bonus dice for
Advancement
terrain features, too. Write down any accurately guessing an enemy’s Descrip-
FU is not a game about “levelling Descriptor(s) pertaining to the feature tors.
up”. While characters might have a so players can take them into account
variety of experiences and learn from as they plan their actions.
them, the real advancement comes from
the changing story and/or world. What do I share with players?
Some groups play open, making no
If appropriate, players can change
secret of the Descriptors and details of
one Descriptor between game sessions.
creatures and monsters. Other groups
This alteration should relate in some
(and/or Narrators) keep this informa-
way to the experiences and story their
tion hidden from players. Both options
character just participated in. Gear can
provide for different styles of play.
be changed between sessions at the Nar-
rator’s discretion.
Notes:
Notes:
Notes:
Notes:
Body Description
mind
edge
flaw drives
what do you want?
Relationships
Angry Trapped Dazed
Conditions
notes
Roll Result
6 Yes, and...
FU Points
the Odds
4 Yes...
2 Yes, but...
5 No, but...
3 No...
1 No, and...