FUDGE

Freeform, Universal, Do-it yourself, Gaming Engine

Overall score:

http://www.fudgerpg.com

To be accurate, FUDGE isn’t so much an RPG as a toolkit for creating RPGs yourself. Fortunately, it is very good at what it does.

The PDF manual, a free download, is 95 pages long, and only about eight pages of it is really essential – the rest is just add-ons. As one would expect from the title, FUDGE attempts to be an RPG for universal settings, and sure enough, it works. Many universal RPGs fail because they give a list of attributes that can be applied to all scenarios, and thus end up being for too broad, and generally not suited for ant particular setting. FUDGE avoids this pitfall easily, by not giving attributes. Rather, it requires the gamesmaster to create their own attributes for a particular game.

All things in FUDGE, be they attributes, skills or dice rolls, are based on a scale of words. This can be renamed by the GM, but is generally goes Terrible – Poor –Mediocre – Fair – Good –Great – Superb. This makes describing a character or converting from other systems simplicity itself, as anyone can understand “My character is a Great Swordsman!” Each higher ranking is 1 above a lower ranking, so a Superb beats a Poor by 5.

A character is created in a number of ways. A random generation method can be used, a player can write a description which the GM turns into game terms, or most commonly a point system can be used. For ease of use, a GM can even tell his players that they get X skills at Superb, X at great, and X at good. A normal character averages everything at Mediocre. A character is defined be a group of attributes, defined by the GM. They also may choose skills, rated on the same word scale, as well as gifts or faults. These have no levels, and describe some quirk of a character, such as an addiction or wealth.

All action resolution occurs using FUDGE dice. These can be made yourself easily, or bought commercially. A FUDGE dice has two sides of 1, two of 0 and two of –1. When a player makes an action, they roll 4dF. For every 1, the word level of their skill or attribute goes up one, while a –1 does the opposite. If a good marksman rolls one zero, two 1 and one –1, they achieve a Great shot. This is where the word system really comes into its own; there is no time adding numbers to realise what a Great shot is—the marksman obviously hit his mark well. The rules also incorporate tables for converting d10 and d6 into FUDGE results. To be truthful, I generally used four d6, counting 5 and 6 as , and 1 and 2 as -. The rules specifically don’t recommend this, but I find it quick and easy.

The FUDGE book is well put together. Apart from the rules needed, it includes bonus optional rules (since almost all of FUDGE is optional anyway) for supernatural powers or magic, Psionics, and a chapter on combat. An entire chapter is also dedicated to templates for possible characters in any number of genres—some of them very unusual, to demonstrate the flexibility of the system.

FUDGE only really falls down in realistic, simulation type games. Although it would be perfectly possible to do such a thing, the inherent simplicity of the rules requires a lot of thoughtwork on behalf of the GM. If a simulation type game is wanted, the GM would be left filling in a lot of gaps. The system really does work best with more story-oriented roleplaying, particularly on the less serious scale.

If you have a great idea for an RPG, FUDGE is a very good way to realise this without designing a complete system yourself. The mechanics are simple, and the word based nature is fantastic, allowing instantly understandable results, as well as an easy way to get a feel for the chosen genre straight away—simply name the levels appropriate things. A medieval roleplay might call Good “fine”, while a gangsta RPG could easily call poor “Whack” and great “Dope”.

Overall, FUDGE comes as highly recommended, just so long as the group already has a genre chosen. If you’re looking for a highly detailed world, go elsewhere, but for a fantastic set of mechanics that are very easily adapted, check this out.

Written by JamPaladin on August 09th, 2003