# Fringeworthy *Created:* 2026-11-10, *Modified:* 2026-11-10 ![[Fringeworthy (cover).jpg]] **Fringeworthy** is the first RPG to make alternate Earths its whole premise — Richard Tucholka's 1982 game of a United Nations agency sending small teams through a portal in Antarctica onto other versions of Earth. It predates *Stargate* and *Sliders* by years, and it does the idea with a percentile system, a long equipment list and a completely straight face. ## Setting Long before recorded history the **Tehrmelern**, a gentle race, built the **Fringepaths** — a network of interdimensional routes across space and time — and for a hundred thousand years travelled and traded along them. Then the **Mellor**, shape-shifting and genocidal, destroyed them and left the paths behind. In 2007 — the timeline this edition assumes — a Japanese research team investigating an unusually warm Antarctic summer finds an alien structure buried in the ice: a portal. Only about one person in a hundred thousand can use the Tehrmelern technology, and those few are the **Fringeworthy**. The United Nations sets up the **Interdimensional Agency (IDA)** in Geneva and the **Interdimensional Exploration Teams (IDET)**, with portal stations on Earth and a training centre in Antarctica. You play an IDET explorer — found, recruited, trained and sent through — on the other side of a path that may open onto an empty world, a parallel history, or something that still remembers the Tehrmelern. The Mellor are still out there, and the paths run both ways. ## Mechanics ### The Tri Tac system The game runs on Tri Tac's Classic engine, and it is not shy about detail. Characters have attributes — **Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Agility, Intelligence, Wisdom, Luck, Charisma** and **Accuracy** — plus derived values: **Throw**, **Hit Points**, **Dodge** and **STB**, the mental-stability score. Attributes are rolled, not bought: 4d6−4 is the standard generation roll, with variants for the rest. - **Skills are percentiles.** A skill level runs 0–20, each point worth **+5%**, and a task is resolved by rolling **d100 under** the GM's target number. An unmodified 01 is always a success and 00 always a failure; related skills can be combined at the GM's discretion, and each helper adds +1%. - **Combat is two rolls.** Hand-to-hand attacks roll **d20 under Dexterity**; ranged attacks roll **d20 under Accuracy**. Damage and armour follow from the weapon. - **Education matters.** A character's **Education Type** sets which skills are trained and which are picked up as hobbies, and skill levels are bought with experience afterwards. ### Character Creation Creation is a life history: roll the attributes, choose an education, spend the skill points it grants, add hobbies and a little starting gear, then work out the derived numbers. It is granular by design — the book expects a sheet with a dozen skills on it — but the procedure is step-by-step and the sample character walks through it. ## Editions - **Fringeworthy** (1982) — the original, 78 pages plus *Portals & Pathways*. - **Fringeworthy** (1984) — a second edition, 106 pages, with a print run of 4,000. - **Fringeworthy** (1992, third edition) — a revised and expanded background, alien races and other humanoids, a sample adventure, and a colour cover. *Held* as the 192-page book. - **Fringeworthy d20** (2009) — a fourth edition rebuilt on *d20 Modern*. Not held. ## Supplements - *Rogue 417* — a Tri Tac system supplement that can be played as a game in its own right. - *Cloisters*, *Invasion U.S.*, *Weirdzone* and *Hardwired Hinterland* — further supplements for the line. - *Portals 1*, *Portals 2* and *Portals 3: Exploration Notebook* — the catalogues of alternate Earths. ## References - [Tri Tac Games](https://tritacgames.com/) - [Fringeworthy 1992 edition — DriveThruRPG](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/242356/fringeworthy-1992-edition) - [Fringeworthy — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringeworthy)