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Jacob Wood
United States
Oregon
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It's no secret that I'm a Fudge fan -- I wear the microbadge with pride -- and I'd like to discuss some of the qualities that make the system a must-have, specifically in regards to accessibility.
Initially I was attracted to Fudge for its unique core mechanic and dice; the simple-to-use trait ladder and easy-to-read dice make the system relatively rules light and highly flexible. As someone who has spent the majority of his gaming career thus far playing Dungeons and Dragons, the simplicity and openness of Fudge were a breath of fresh air.
I came upon Fudge through my discovery of Fate initially. Specifically, I discovered that Evil Hat Productions was working on a game based on The Dresden Files and was using a system called Fate. I researched the system, found that Fate was born out of Fudge, and promptly downloaded the Fudge SRD.
I spent the better part of a weekend devouring every aspect of the system (oh, wait, Aspects are from Fate!) and began scheming on what I would do to alter the system and create a very own Fudge setting/system of my own. One of the great things about Fudge is that it encourages -- almost requires -- GMs to build their own version of the system before play can begin. There are plenty of pre-established rule sets out there for GMs to get their hands on and use to get their feet wet, but as someone who loves to tinker with his games I naturally ignored them and started throwing together my own Fudge setting.
So what does this all have to do with accessibility? Well, I hadn't realized it at the time, but not only is Fudge a fun system for anyone to get behind, it's particular well-suited to gamers who, for whatever reason, find other RPGs like D&D too complex. Indeed, when reading up on the Fudge Yahoo Group about what others have been doing with the system, I encountered one person who was developing Fudge as an education tool for elementary-aged school children. The theme? Children and their pet dinosaurs.
It got me thinking: While I may not introduce most nine-year-olds to D&D (even though I myself started at the not-much-older age of 12), Fudge is the perfect setting to get kids started on gaming. The numbers rarely get any larger than 8 (most kids can count at least that high) and its adjective-based system means that even if the kids have trouble with basic math, they can still use words to describe what they're doing.
The dice themselves don't have numbers printed on them; instead, they're simple +, blank, and - sides. It's easy for children to understand the core mechanics, and Fudge can be stripped down to a very simple system that anyone can easily learn. It's also capable of getting crunchy enough for any seasoned gamer to enjoy.
Again, that got me thinking: If Fudge can be tailored for 4th-graders, it can certainly be tailored for anyone. As someone whose primary objective is to bring gaming awareness to everyone -- and most notably people with disabilities -- I thought it would be interesting to create a Fudge variant suitable for people who have mental or physical impairments that may pen-and-paper gaming otherwise very difficult.
In addition to the rules being flexible and easy to simplify, Fudge has the benefit of being a game that requires no battle map, no miniatures, and very easy-to-read dice. These key features are of particular interest to the blind and visually impaired (like myself) who have trouble seeing and manipulating such things. As a D&D player, I often have to ask questions like: "How far away is he?" "Do I have line of sight?" "Is there a charge line?" and "Can I move into flank?" These are all questions that are answered with visual aids in the form of a battle map, but they're hard to keep track of in ones mind as the battle continues to rage, minis continue to move, and spell effects keep altering the battlefield.
Though the lack of a battle map isn't anything unique to Fudge, it's a refreshing change of pace for a disabled gamer whose bread and butter has been D&D. Perhaps even more exciting a prospect, though, is the Fudge Dice; they are simple and, most importantly, tactile. I carry a large set of dice with me (which rolls like crap, but that's neither here nor there) which makes it easier for me to read my dice, but sometimes it's still difficult to glance down and tell what number I landed on. Worse, "17" often looks like "11" and helpful players are constantly helping to correct me on my result announcements.
Unlike traditional polyhedrals, Fudge Dice have are easy to read by touch. One can simply tell a + from a - or a blank simply by placing a finger on the top of the die. It's sort of like reading Braille, but in a format that even sighted people can understand. It's also easy to read the dice by sight because the sides look very distinctly different and there aren't many results to keep track of to begin with. The only problem with reading Fudge dice tactily is that you are usually asked to roll four at once, which means you need to roll them on a flat surface but with a lip of some sort to keep them from flying all over the table; once you've lost track of the dice, it's very difficult to find them without sighted assistance (though this is naturally the case with any dice, not just Fudge dice).
Ultimately, I would love to see Fudge used a bit more often and discussed more actively. I know that Fate has really been catching on lately with the success of games like The Dresden Files, Spirit of the Century, and Diaspora, but I personally like the extra crunch that comes with Fudge.
Regardless of whether you prefer Fudge or Fate, the core system and its adaptability are what I believe to be a key in bringing gaming to the masses -- or at least the people who want to game but find it physically or mentally challenging.
I have a slightly crunchy cyberpunk Fudge setting in the works at the moment, but at some point I will develop a special subset of Fudge rules tentatively titled "Accessible Fudge." The system will focus on being lightweight, easy-to-learn, tactile, and fully flexible. My goal is to have a Superb answer to the question (which I have seen asked more than once before) "What system is best for kids/special needs people?" I hope to make it interesting enough that seasoned gamers won't get too bored using it to introduce their target audience to the wide world of role playing and everything it has to offer.
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Jacob Wood
United States
Oregon
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I originally posted this on my web site at http://accessiblegames.casawood.com, but thought that it deserved some additional exposure so I have chosen to re-post it here at BGG. Enjoy!
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I started pen-and-paper roleplaying when I was about 12 years old. My friends and I started out by playing RuneQuest and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons with our older brothers, and eventually graduated in to playing other RPGs and, indeed, designing our very own from the ground up. We developed our own rules for a pen-and-paper wargame as well as a LARP (Live Action Role Play) before we even knew those terms existed.
Around the age of 16 I started losing my vision. Slowly, but surely, my eye sight became much worse until I came to a point where I was no longer able to read standard print. While this has all-but-killed my video game days, it has failed to stop me from playing some of the other types of games that I love, namely RPGs and board games. With today’s technology and an increasing awareness for gamers with disabilities, it is perhaps the best time ever to be a disabled gamer. Here are just a few of the observations I’ve had over the years, as well as some general tips on how you can make gaming more accessible for you.
Observations
Gamers with disabilities are more common than one might think, but in a lot of cases they don’t appear to be as socially integrated in to standard gaming communities and seem to stick with a single dedicated group. This is changing, though; when I was playing in Wizards of the Coast’s Living Greyhawk campaign (a worldwide campaign for Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition) I encountered a number of other blind people at large gaming conventions.
Gaming conventions are large-scale, social events in which a wide range and number of people come together to play games, talk shop, and generally have fun. In the summer of 2005 I had traveled from my home in Eastern Oregon to a little town somewhere in Idaho for a Living Greyhawk convention, and there I met and had the pleasure of playing with another blind person. This man was completely blind and had travelled to the Con himself, and he participated in gaming and having fun just like all of the rest of us.
One of the things I noted was the different ways in which he coped with his disability while at the gaming table. He didn’t bring any books with him (what good would they have done?) and asked for assistance when reading his dice rolls. He had a character sheet that someone could help him look at if he needed to check on a forgotten character statistic, but in general he had all of his character details converted to memory and rarely had to consult his sheet.
In some ways, I game the same way. I bring a large print character sheet with me to the table, though I only consult it when I can’t remember something about my character, and a hand-held electronic magnifier called a QuickLook to help me read fine print if I need to look up something in a book. I use large-size and high contrast dice so I can read my own dice rolls and both of us ask questions related to battlefield placement, since D&D uses a battle map and miniatures to track the location of characters during play.
A couple of years later I found myself at another gaming convention in my new home town of Portland, Oregon. The annual Gamestorm convention is home to both roleplaying and board games of all kinds, but every year offered a large number of Living Greyhawk adventures to play. During one particular adventure I happened to sit down at a table with two other blind gamers, both who used still different techniques.
One of them was low-vision like myself and most of our practices were similar. The other, totally blind, brought a laptop to the gaming table and plugged in a single ear bud. He used the JAWS screen reading software to be able to listen to his character sheet details from the computer and used an electronic dice roller (a random number generation application on the laptop) to get the results of his dice rolls. Like me and the other blind people, he asked questions related to battlefield placement.
Of the four of us, we all seemed to be successful in adapting to the game that we so loved to play with others. The vast majority of people we played with were helpful, informative, and most of all patient with us as we did what we needed to in order to play the game successfully. This is something I have always encountered even when not gaming at a table that is half-filled with disabled gamers; most of the people I meet “in the wild” at conventions, game days, and local pick-up games are all very considerate when it comes to playing with disabled gamers, and only the rare few seem too oblivious to care.
This is great news for anyone gaming with a disability, regardless of what it might be. One of my biggest fears when I first started attending conventions was that I was going to lengthen game times and detract from play because I needed a few additional accommodations and extra input from other players. Eventually though, I realized that people are, in general, very helpful and understanding and willing to go the extra mile to lend a hand. I was able to feel comfortable and felt like I fit in just as well as anyone else and that, to me, is huge.
Tips
If you are gaming with a disability – no matter what it is – don’t hesitate to let fellow players know about it. People are far more considerate and understanding when they know you’re not just being slow, difficult, or inattentive. Some disabilities are more obvious than others – it’s hard to hide the fact that you have a cane, guide dog, wheelchair, or crutches, but it’s hard to spot someone who is dyslexic, color blind, or has some mild muscle condition that may not require assistive technology to correct, but still requires adaptation.
Some (hopefully few) people are embarrassed about these conditions and try to avoid letting anyone but their closest friends know about them. That can cause issues when gaming with groups of people who you don’t know, since they won’t understand that you might need a little bit of extra time to do certain things. There’s nothing wrong with needing an accommodation for something and most people are willing to go out of their way to help, even if that just means being patient while you take your turn.
Also, don’t forget to make use of any assistive technology or game modifications that might be available to you. Laptops are becoming more and more prevalent at the game table nowadays, and if you have one that is loaded with assistive software than you might as well use it to your advantage. I have slowly switched away from using large print sheets unless I am gaming in a place where hooking up a laptop isn’t an option and instead I use ZoomText, my screen magnification software, to help me read electronic copies. I can scan note cards, quickplay guides, and other aids included with a variety of board games and view them in larger size on the laptop, or I can use my QuickLook to view them close up even without a computer nearby.
This doesn’t work for everything, though. Many board games use glossy cardboard that makes the game pieces look and feel very nice, but the glossy coating makes it difficult for magnifiers or scanners to read. In these cases, feel free to ask questions of other players or try to develop less-glossy electronic substitutes on your own by having someone read you the information on the note cards and typing them in to the computer.
If being visually impaired isn’t the issue for you, there are still some things you can do. With smartphones becoming so much more popular nowadays, developers are releasing apps that make use of their embedded technology and write software that can provide useful information to people with disabilities. For example, there is an application called “the vOICe” for Android phones which uses a phone’s camera to take real-time video of your surroundings and give you feedback. Among other things, the app has the ability to detect color and tell you what the color is. This is handy for so many board games that are color-coded instead of text-based. For example, you can use the vOICe to help distinguish the colors of currency in the Alhambra board game, which is particularly helpful if you are color blind. Another alternative, of course, is to simply ask another player what color something is, but that isn’t always a feasible option when playing games that require you to keep your playing pieces secret.
If you have problems manipulating fine objects, there are assistive tools you can use to help you arrange a hand of cards very easily. Many people have a game of Scrabble at their homes and can simply use the tile stands to place their smaller playing cards on top of, which can help when trying to pick up and move a card around. These boards can be small though and work best for the cards sized like the ones in Settlers of Catan. For larger cards, you can use a card holder like the ones sold at The Low-Vision Store (http://www.thelowvisioncenter.com/setof4caho.html). You can also use scrabble tile stands to hold other game pieces, like building tiles, money pieces, and other small, flat game pieces that many board games use.
There are plenty of other things you can do to make your gaming life easier. I am not (yet) a complete encyclopedia for such knowledge, so if you have any further suggestions feel free to e-mail me (accessiblegamesonline@gmail.com).
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