Miracles

Fudge assumes miracles are powered by a deity. Some miracles may happen at the deity’s instigation (GM whim, or deus ex machina for plot purposes), and some may be petitioned by characters.

Miracles may take place in a startling fashion or in a mundane way. In fact, many people believe that miracles occur daily, but we don’t notice them because they appear as simple coincidences. The stranger walking down the road who just happens to have the tools you need to fix your wagon might indeed be just a coincidence, or it may have been divinely arranged that he chanced by at that time. If the tools were simply to appear by themselves, or the wagon fix itself, there would be little doubt that a miracle had occurred. This is neither good nor bad the GM can choose either method of granting miracles, and need not feel bound to be consistent.

The GM must decide whether miracles can occur in her world, and whether they can be called by character petition.

If the latter, then she has to make many other decisions. Can any character petition a particular deity?

Does it matter if the character is actually a member of a religious order? How important is the character’s behavior would a deity help a member of a particular religious order even if he had been acting against the deity’s goals? How certain is the miracle to occur? How soon will it become manifest? How broad and how specific can requests be? Are any Ritual or Supplication skills needed to petition a deity, or can anyone simply breathe a prayer for help?

The answers will vary from GM to GM no “generic” system of miracles is possible. A sample miracle system, Fudge Miracles, is included in Chapter 7, The Addenda.