Fudge (role-playing game system)

Fudge is a generic role-playing game system for use in freeform role-playing games. The name "FUDGE" was once an acronym for Freeform Universal Donated (later, Do-it-yourself) Gaming Engine and, though the acronym has since been dropped, that phrase remains a good summation of the game's design goals. Fudge has been nominated for an Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game System for the Deryni Adventure Game.

Rather than being a rigidly pre-defined set of rules like d20 System or GURPS, Fudge offers a customizable toolkit for building the users' own specialized role-playing game system. Such things as what attributes and skills will define characters are left to be determined by the Game Master and players, and several different optional systems for resolving actions and conflicts are offered. Fudge is not tied to any particular genre or setting and world builders are encouraged to invent appropriate attributes and rules tailored to the campaign.

History

The project that would lead to Fudge was first proposed by Steffan O'Sullivan in November 1992 on the rec.games.design newsgroup, and over the following months that online community would contribute to the directed project. One of the earliest stipulations of O'Sullivan was that the basic system would always remain free to the public over the internet, and the PDF of the 1995 version still is. The 1995 version of Fudge is available under a non-commercial licence.

Grey Ghost Press, with the endorsement of Steffan O'Sullivan, publishes an expanded form of the Fudge system. There have been three Grey Ghost Press editions, the most current being the Fudge 10th Anniversary Edition, which includes several suggested rules systems for common RPG elements and an example basic fantasy "build" of the game.

In March 2004, Grey Ghost Press acquired the copyright of Fudge, and on April 6, 2005, they released a version of Fudge under the Open Game License.

The OGL license has allowed the Fate role-playing game system to build on Fudge as its underlying mechanic.

In 1999 Pyramid magazine named Fudge as one of The Millennium's Most Underrated Games. Editor Scott Haring stated "Fudge is an extremely flexible, rules-light system. It works great, and everybody who plays it, loves it. Why isn't it more popular? I dunno."

Name

At the time Fudge was conceived, it was stylish to give role-playing games acronyms for names (for instance, GURPS and TWERPS), and originally the usenet design project referred to the game as SLUG, for "Simple Laid-back Universal Game".

In Issue 17 of Shadis, Leonard Wilson was enthusiastic about this game system, writing, "Simply put, from start to finish, FUDGE is the sort of quality product that can't be mistaken for anything but a labor of love for everyone involved. If you're a role-player who frequents the Internet anyway, you'll be missing a real treasure if you don't download yourself a copy. Even if you don’t frequent the Internet, if you've ever found yourself tinkering with the rules to a role-playing games, you'll find it well worth the effort to track down a copy of FUDGE."

In Issue 3 of the French games magazine Backstab, Stéphane Bura liked the game system, commenting "This is, to my knowledge, the best system using a normal bell curve (frequent average results and rare extreme results) published to date ... Even if it requires some effort, FUDGE will satisfy those looking for a good generic system less complicated than GURPS." Bura concluded by giving the game system a rating of 8 out of 10.

In Issue 30 of the Australian game magazine Australian Realms, Mike Bell wrote, "What lifts FUDGE to new heights of excellence [...] is the way it encourages and guides through designing your very own personalised RPG using the basic building blocks supplied by its author, Stefan O'Sullivan. Originally distributed via the Internet, buyers are actively encouraged to design and distribute their own FUDGE-based games so long as they include copyright notices and a disclaimer. Way cool!"

In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath noted, "Most people didn't see it at the time, but FUDGE marks a fundamental change in RPGs. Simultaneously a system of rules and a treatise on game design theory, it questions many of the methods and mechanics that are taken for granted about roleplaying and reshapes those assumptions, paving the way for other games to continue pushing into new forms in the coming decades."

Fudge (role-playing game system)

History

Name

Other reviews and commentary

References

External links