"These people are wankers, and you should refuse to play with them."
MetalMan's Review of "DUDE" by Mark Hughes.
The Premise:
DUDE (Diceless Universal Determination Engine) is an attempt to develop a basic set of mechanics for very simple RPGs. It is only the mechanics system. It is the role of the GM to develop a setting for use with the system although one has been provided by the designer as a seperate download called The Alan Smithee Project. It is a simple RPG of Hollywood gone wrong.
What Ya Get:
DUDE is only available as HTML. A complete printout of the rules on my printer rang in at eleven pages. Your page count may vary slightly but it should be a quick printout regardless.
Cost:
Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Gratis. Free.
Appearance:
The appearance of DUDE is pretty close to minimal. It is straight HTML code with only a single graphic of Mikey the Angry Stick-Figure (don't mock him!) to spruce it up. There is no pretentions of professionalism with DUDE - it is a pure homebrew system and seems to pride itself on that fact.
If you intend of using DUDE, you are going to need at least a single deck of poker cards (two if you have more than three players) and a large number of poker chips. If you're a Deadlands player or have played it - you've probably got this part well under control. Play money is listed as optional and some Cheez Doodles might be nice to have to bribe the GM with.
The Mechanics:
PERSONAL NOTE: Well, as DUDE is nothing but a mechanics system, this will encompass the entire review. The Alan Smithee Project RPG will not be included in this review as it is a seperate download.
DUDE starts off with an explanation of the capabilities and limitations of the system. The author states that DUDE is an attempt to reduce the reliance on blind chance by not using dice and using hands of cards to increase chances for the player to get a good result. DUDE is not capable of a complex mechanical simulation of a setting - it is instead best suited to action adventure stories or freeform dramatics. It has a very simple task resolution system to speed up play and that DUDE is only the basic mechanics and that the work is left to the GM to fabricate a setting for the system to operate in.
Character creation is extremely simple as there is only one attribute: DUDEness. DUDEness is a representation of your characters adeptness at damn near anything. It is up to the GM (or Dealer) to agree with the DUDEness that the player assigns their character. A guideline that the game gives is for normal people to have a DUDEness of three and most weird or combat-oriented characters to have a rating of five for a first game session. This is obviously open to interpretation according to the world you create. Powers, Drawbacks and Money all work the same way. The player gets to decide what and how much the character will have and the Dealer will make a decision on if they will allow it or not.
Powers are anything in the game that isn't covered by DUDEness. It includes such things as equipment, skills, magic, superpowers, psionics, or anything else the GM allows that would give players various advantages. These are written on index cards or whatnot and given to players to reference during play. Powers are composed mechanics-wise of Activation Time, how many blue chips (if any) that Power requires to activate, the difficulty of using the Power, Range, Duration and Area of Effect. Power difficulty is either a number which you have to play a card higher than (i.e. Difficulty: 8 will require a 9 or higher value card to be played), "automatic" which means a check doesn't need to be made, or "combat" which means it is an opposed task against a target. Range is pretty self-explanitory. Ranges are self, touch, and line of sight. Duration is either instant, concentration or permanent. Area of Effect is simply how many targets can potentially be affected with each application of the Power.
Drawbacks as stated to be the opposite of Powers although no real information is given on them or how to employ them in a game. An example would have been nice here. The thing that I really don't understand about them is that they seem to be part of the mechanics yet I can't see why anyone would take any outside of roleplaying unless that IS the point as I believe it to be. If so, it needs to be clarified as the placement of it is confusing.
Poker chips are used in DUDE for various purposes. White chips keep track of the character's DUDEness as you start the game with a number of white chips equal to your DUDEness. They act in a lot of ways similiar to Karma in Shadowrun in that you can use them to better the results. Accomplishing a task without using a white chip will gain the player a white chip. You can never have more white chips that twice your DUDEness rating. You can spend twice your current level of DUDEness to gain an additional level in it. When you increase DUDEness you remove all your red chips and replenish your blue chips up to your new level. Red chips are damage markers. When you have as many red chips as your DUDEness, you are unconcious. If you have more than that, your are dying and need to get help. Twice your DUDEness in red chips and you're just taking the big dirt nap. Blue chips fuel your Powers. You have a number of blue chips equal to your DUDEness that are expended during play. A full night's rest with replenish them.
Playing cards (take out the Jokers) are used for task resolution. At the beginning of each session, each player gets dealt a hand of a number of cards equal to their DUDEness. When their hand is halfway empty, they replenish from the deck to their current DUDEness rating. There are five types of tasks in DUDE: Player v. Universe, Player v. Extra, Player v. Boss, Player v. Player, and Extended Task. Player v. Universe is when there isn't any living opposition such as trying to kick in a door. The GM assigns a difficulty number and the player has to play a higher value card. Player v. Extra is a task against an NPC that has no cards of their own. These resolutions are the Extra's DUDEness v. the players card play. Highest value wins. Player v. Player and Player v. Boss work the same. Both sides play a card and the highest value wins. Extended Tasks such as defusing a bomb require multiple task checks to resolve.
Combat follows a defined pattern. The actions of the Extras are announced, Players declare their actions, Bosses (if any are involved) declare their actions, Boss actions are resolved, Players actions are resolved starting counterclockwise from the Dealer, and the actions of the Extras are resolved. Repeat if necessary.
The winner of any DUDE game is the character who finishes the game with the most money even if they died during the course of the game. Huh? Maybe this flies in the face of everything I believe in gaming but this seems like a terrible way to judge a "winner." Wouldn't the player who defeated the main Boss be the winner? Or how about the group winning? This just seems to encourage mercenary tactics that I'd rather not have to deal with. Still its a simple thing to just use or not use this particular rule as you see fit.
Overall Impression:
I'm not quite sure what to make of DUDE. I like the mechanics as it is an original idea and it sounds like game play would flow pretty smoothly. I'm not sure about the Drawbacks not being very well explained and I definately don't like the idea of winners being determined by money. Still, DUDE is a very subjective game system and, as such, can be adapted to meet your style of play with some or no work at all. If DUDE sounds interesting to you, you may want to check out the Alan Smithee Project RPG to see how DUDE is used in an actual game rather than as a standalone set of mechanics.
MetalMan signing off.
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