Franklin's House Rules for Frag
All original material presented herein is my original creation, intended for use with Frag from Steve Jackson Games. This material is not official, and is not endorsed by Steve Jackson Games. Frag is a registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games, and any of its art used herein is copyrighted by Steve Jackson Games. All rights are reserved by SJ Games. This material is used here in accordance with the SJ Games online policy.
     You need this. Subscribe. Become Illuminated. Tell 'em I sent you. Fnord. ;-)

  1. Initial Placement

    When rolling everyone's initial placement at the beginning of a game, if someone rolls a Spawn Point that is already occupied, the rolling player will instead go the first available Spawn Point, in sequence.

    For example, let's say Spawn Points 3, 4, and 6 are already occupied. If the next player rolls a 3, he will actually start the game on Spawn Point 5. If the player after him then rolls a 4, that player will actually start on Spawn Point 1. (For this purpose, after we get to 6, we cycle back to 1.)

  2. Rolling for Extra Jump Distance
    (Jump Pads, et al.)

    A player may not roll the dice (to determine the extra jump distance) until after he commits to the jump. Thus, if you pick up the dice and roll (to see if you can jump far enough), you have committed to this jump (and I hope you rolled high enough) . . .

  3. Bonus Accuracy Specifically for Just One Weapon

    Any extra attacks granted by any such specialized bonus Accuracy must be used with that specific weapon, and after the attacker's "regular" attacks.

    Example:

    Suppose a player has two Weapons in play, specifically, a Heavy Beam Pistol with two Targeting Systems on it, and a Tranquilizer Pistol. If he has a base Accuracy of 3, his effective Accuracy with the Heavy Beam Pistol would be 5, while his effective Accuracy with the Tranquilizer Pistol would be 8.

    Thus, he could potentially attack four times per turn. However, only his first two attacks per turn could be made with his Starting Weapon (or with any other Weapon he has in play, assuming he gets any extra Weapons cards later on). The third attack per turn could be made only with either the Heavy Beam Pistol or the Tranquilizer Pistol, while his fourth attack per turn could be made with the Tranquilizer Pistol alone.

  4. Pistol Whip, aka Butt Stroke
    (New Attack Option)

    Weapon cards may now be used as a club (this is especially useful when the weapon is out of ammo). You must be adjacent to the target, and this does count as one of your attacks for the turn. This attack will do (attacker's Health -1) dice of damage.

    This has a chance of breaking the weapon. If two or more of the dice roll 1s (or if a 1d attack rolls a 1), the weapon is considered broken and is discarded.

    If the attacker has a bonus to Accuracy specific to the weapon (as opposed to an overall bonus to Accuracy), any extra attacks per turn granted by this bonus may not be used to perform this maneuver.

  5. "Loss of Health" vs. "Wounds"

    I do not use the phrase "loss of Health," as that phrase implies a permanent reduction in the player's Health attribute. Instead, I use the term "Wound," which indicates that the player's Health attribute has been temporarily reduced (i.e., until the player is healed or is fragged).

    Whenever a player is damaged, roll the Damage dice and the Health dice as usual. Divide the total from the Damage dice by the total from the Health dice, and drop any fractional remainder. The result is the number of Wounds that the target player receives.

    Each Wound is to be represented by a token next to the the player's Health attribute.

    The player's current Health is equal to his permanent (i.e., written) Health, plus any and all bonuses, and minus one for each Wound received and not yet healed. Thus, a player having a written Health of two, and who currently has Heavy Armor, an Exoskeleton, and four Wounds, would have a current Health of one (2 +2 +1 -4 = 1).

    Blood Spots and Wounds spontaneously neutralize each other, on a one-for-one basis. Thus, as soon as a wounded player acquires a Blood Spot, that Blood Spot is immediately spent to heal one Wound. Likewise, a player with several Blood Spots who gets wounded will instantly spend one or more of his hoard of Blood Spots. (Exception: Armor burn-through takes precedence over Blood Spot usage. See "Armor" below.)

  6. Instant Respawn

    Anyone who gets fragged will instantly respawn, before the shooter draws his Special card. Yes, this does mean that the victim can be shot (and fragged) more than once per turn...

    If more than one player gets fragged at the same time (e.g., the victim successfully uses the Special card "Parting Shot"), then each player respawns in the order they were fragged.

    If the Active Player gets fragged, and still has any movement and/or attacks remaining, he may continue moving and/or attacking after he respawns.

          
     
       (Top of map...)   
     
     
     F1 
     A1 
     D1 
     C1 
     1 
     G1 
     H1 
     E1 
     B1 
    		 
     
            
    F R A G
    		         
     
     
     F6 
     A6 
     D6 
     C6 
     6 
     G6 
     H6 
     E6 
     B6 
    		 
     
       (Bottom of map...)   
     
     

  7. Respawn Clustering
    (Multiple Respawns at Same Spawn Point)

    I do not use the Bumping or the Telefrag rules.

    Instead, if someone who was fragged respawns at an occupied Spawn Point, the respawning player consults the Scatter Diagram (to the right) to determine where he actually appears. The respawning player will appear in the first available space, checking in alphabetical order. (If A is available, that's where he respawns. Otherwise, he checks B, then C, and so on.)

    In the extremely unlikely event that all these spaces are unavailable, then the respawning player will determine which (other) Spawn Point he respawns at by re-rolling (as needed) . . .

  8. Alternate Rules for Power-Ups

    Occasionally, I will want to use a non-standard map, a map that does not have the usual Gadget and Weapon Power-Ups printed on it. In such a case, use the table (below) to determine what (if any) Power-Up the player receives. (Roll one die per Power-Up encountered; this roll takes the place of the usual 50%-50%, high-low die roll used to see if the player receives a card from that square.)

      d6              Card Received                
    3 -   Nothing (no card received)
    4    Gadget
    5    Weapon
    6 +   Player's choice
    (a Gadget or a Weapon)

  9. Armor

    In order for a Gadget to be considered Armor, it must meet at least one of the following conditions:

    • The Gadget's name contains the word "Armor."
    • The Gadget's description specifically states that the Gadget is an Armor.

    Check for Armor burn-through before using any Medpacks or Blood Spots.

  10. Exoskeleton, Energy Shield, and Heat Shield

    Since these Gadgets are very "weapon-like" (in my opinion), whenever a player using one of these Gadgets gets fragged, that Gadget will be placed to the side of the game map as if it were a Weapon (i.e., it's considered "dropped").

    In the unusual event of there being more than one set of cards in play at the same time (i.e., Franklin shuffled two or more sets of Frag together for one huge game session), the following special rules are in effect:

    • A player may not have more than one Exoskeleton in play at the same time.
    • On the other hand, a player can have more than one Shield in play at the same time.
    • Note, however, that there is no added effect (and thus, probably no reason) for having more than one Energy Shield in play at the same time.