Seers in Fudge Bunnies

Some bunnies are Seers – they have Psionic abilities. It isn’t realistic but it is cool. Fiver, one of the main characters in Watership Down, is a Seer. His terrifying vision of the warren’s destruction is the plot device that starts the story. Similarly, if you read the material on Bunnies & Burrows (B&B), Seers are often the vehicle to introduce new adventures. But as usual there is no one place to find how Seers work in Fudge Bunnies. So I have pieced together bits from VG Fudge Bunnies (specifically Sprig who is a Seer), Gurps B&B, Gurps 3rd Edition and some stuff I’ve made up.

Psionics in Fudge

Seers have the Supernormal Power Seer Vision and some of the associated Seer skills. The Seer skills are:

The Seer skills default to Non-existent but can be purchased individually at Poor. Using some Seer skills is fatiguing. Most Seer skills operate within 10 metres. Object History and Locate are exceptions. You must touch the object to use Object History and Locate works best within 30 metres but has no maximum distance.

Seer Vision (Supernormal Power)

Seer Vision is a Supernormal Power, counts as two gifts at character creation and enables purchasing of Seer skills.

Those with Seer Vision get insight into the future. This is involuntary – the GM just decides when a vision is necessary for the plot – requires no roll, has no range, and may cause the Seer to take a fright check depending on what they see.

Bunny Seer
Bunny Seer
Come on, you’d look pretty glum too if your dreams featured the death of loved ones and the destruction of your home

Object History

Object History lets you discover the past of an object you are touching. Make an unopposed roll. The better the skill roll the longer the history sensed and/or the more detail discovered.

Locate

Locate lets you find a specific thing whether that be an:

  • individual e.g. Chicory bunny
  • or object e.g. Chicory’s lost pouch
  • or item from a class of objects e.g. truffles

Locate is great for finding that carrot you’ve mislaid in the burrow or for winning at hide and seek. But this is all short range stuff – up to 30 metres.

You can use Locate for things further away but beyond 30 metres the reading is vague – you get a general direction and not much else. If you succeed with this roll you can try again every 10 minutes or so to get a new bearing on the subject.

To Locate you must make an unopposed roll. Failing a Locate roll means you have to wait another day before you can try again for that subject.

Modifiers:

  • -2 if the subject is an individual with the Psionic Resistance gift

Sense Emotion

With Sense Emotion you can tell what the subjects are feeling. In addition, if a subject is speaking, you can also tell whether or not they are being truthful. Make an unopposed roll. On a score of Great or higher you also get a general sense of the subject’s personality. You can target more than one subject with the same roll but suffer a negative modifier (maximum of seven subjects). All subjects must be within 10 metres. Probably best if the GM makes the roll on your behalf and interprets the results.

Modifiers:

  • -1 if 2-4 subjects
  • -3 if “lots” of subjects (5-8)
  • -2 if the subject has the Psionic Resistance gift

Send Fear

You can make the subjects afraid of you. All subjects must be within 10 metres. The Seer must be able to see each subject or be in contact with them via Mind Talk or Mind Reading. Make an opposed roll between the Seer’s Send Fear skill and each subject’s Pluck. If the Seer succeeds:

  • the subject acquires an unreasoning fear of the Seer that lasts for 60 seconds. Most herbivores will flee if they can
  • the subject makes an immediate Fright Check at a penalty equal to the amount the Seer won the opposed roll; the effects of failing the Fright Check happen simultaneously with the fear

Modifiers:

  • -1 if 2-4 subjects
  • -3 if “lots” of subjects (5-8)
  • -2 if the subject has the Psionic Resistance gift

Mind Link

This skill enables you to link to a single specific animal. It requires near complete concentration but while you maintain the link you know the direction and distance to the linked individual. That makes it handy in to locate the subject of a rescue mission in the twisting tunnels of a warren.

Modifiers:

  • -3 if never seen or known the subject
  • -1 if seen or met subject once
  • 0 if subject is an acquaintance: you’ve seen or met several times
  • +1 if subject is a friend
  • +2 if subject is a close family member
  • +1 if have an item associated with subject (cumulative with other modifiers)
  • -2 if the subject has the Psionic Resistance gift

Note: range is not one of the modifiers.

Mind Link only works if the subject is an animal. It does not work on plants or objects.

Mind Link is fatiguing.

Mind Talk

With Mind Talk you can send your thoughts to a single subject. Make an unopposed roll. The subject must be within 10 metres. The communication is about the speed at which you would say or draw the same thing. Major caveat: You cannot tell a lie with Mind Talk.

You can use this same skill to send a Mind Shout that mentally stuns the subject. Make an opposed roll of the Seer’s Mind Talk skill against the subject’s Fitness. The Seer must both get a Fair result and exceed the subjects roll. Success means the subject is stunned for some seconds and cannot act. To recover the subject must make a unopposed Cleverness roll of Fair or more.

Mind Talk is fatiguing. Mind Shout at a bunny or similar sized animal is very fatiguing. Mind Shout of an animal considerably above Bunny Scale is extremely fatiguing.

Modifiers:

  • -2 if the subject has the Psionic Resistance gift

Mind Reading

With Mind Reading you access to the thoughts of the subject. Make an unopposed roll. Success means you get the subjects surface thoughts, sense impressions, and what they may be saying at the time. Success of Great or more means you also get access to the subjects subconscious and memory. Older memories require higher rolls to access. Like Mind Talk this happens about the speed of speech. The subject must be within 10 metres.

Modifiers:

  • +1 if subject is a friend
  • +2 if subject is a close family member
  • -2 if the subject has the Psionic Resistance gift

Mind Reading is intrusive and you must make a separate roll to see if an unwilling subject notices you in their head. Make an opposed roll of Mind Reading versus the subject’s Cleverness. Success means you were not noticed; failure means the subject realises what is happening although their reaction is context specific.

Mind Reading is fatiguing.

Mind Control

The Mind Control skill lets you take over the subjects’s minds.

You must first succeed with Mind Reading against the subject (with the normal benefits such as gaining access to memories).

Once you have successfully read their mind you can try Mind Control against the subject. Make an unopposed roll. The subject must be within 10 metres. You can control up to four subjects but suffer a negative modifier and the control will not be seamless. This skill requires great concentration. Mind Control lets you use the subjects physical and mental skills. The control lasts as long as you concentrate. The subject will not remember being controlled. If you fail the subject will know you are trying and probably won’t like it.

Modifiers:

  • -2 if the Seer can’t concentrate completely, i.e. doing anything else at the same time
  • -1 if 2 subjects *
  • -2 if 3 subjects *
  • -3 if 4 subjects *
  • -2 if the subject has the Psionic Resistance gift

* The subjects will have slurred speech and be a bit clumsy (Agility-1) reflecting the Seer’s inability to control more than one subject at the same time

Mind Control is very fatiguing.

Seer skills with non-Bunnies

The Seer skills are usable against non-rabbits but a negative modifier of -1 to -3 would apply. These skills are not usable against humans.

Fatigue

Some Seer skills are fatiguing and some are very fatiguing. You can just fudge it but if you want something a bit more specific then:

  • Fatiguing: -1 to physical and mental attribute and skill rolls for the rest of the current scene.
  • Very Fatiguing: -2 to physical and mental attribute and skill rolls for the rest of the current scene.
  • Extremely Fatiguing: -3 to physical and mental attribute and skill rolls for the rest of the current scene.

Differences from Gurps

Gurps B&B had three Psionic powers: ESP, Telepathy and Empathy Healing. A Seer has ESP and/or Telepathy Power so for Fudge Bunnies I’ve ignored the distinction between those powers and lumped them together.

The terms for things have all changed:

Gurps Power Gurps Skill Fudge
ESP Precognition (M/H) Seer Vision
ESP Psychometry (M/H) Object History
ESP Seekersense (M/H) Locate
Telepathy Emotion Sense (M/H) Sense Emotion
Telepathy Instill Fear (M/H) Send Fear
Telepathy Telescan (M/H) Mind Link
Telepathy Telesend (M/H) Mind Talk
Telepathy Telerecieve (M/H) Mind Reading
Telepathy Telecontrol (M/VH) Mind Control

Precognition is a skill in Gurs with levels. Steffan O’Sullivan turned it into the Seer Vision skill which is always on, has no levels and requires no skill roll. That doesn’t look much a skill to me. No levels suggests a Gift or Supernormal Power, so in my version of Fudge Bunnies I made Seer Vision the Supernormal Power that gives access to the Seer skills.

Gurps uses yards. I’ve opted for metres.

References

O’Sullivan, S. (1992a). Gurps: Bunnies & Burrows. Steve Jackson Games.

O’Sullivan, S. (2010). Fudge 10th Anniversary Edition. Grey Ghost.

O’Sullivan, S. (2011). VG Fudge Bunnies.

O’Sullivan, S. (2011). VG Fudge Bunnies Blank.

Steve Jackson Games (2004). Gurps [3rd Edition Revised]: Generic Universal Roleplaying System. Author.

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