Will you be looking forward to the “Day of Fudge”?
I don't mean this type of fudge...
Every year the first Saturday of June is the “Day of Fudge” where fans of the Fudge RPG system are encouraged to run Fudge game events out in public. This year it will be held on June the 4th.
What is Fudge?
Good question. Fudge is a tabletop roleplaying game, this blog doesn’t usually focus on tabletop roleplaying, we usually talk about Play-by-post games (or some people call them PBEMs or sims). In play-by-post games we prefer to concentrate on the story and our characters, rather than worrying about levelling up our characters XP, or rolling dice. So you might wonder why we’re talking about Fudge here?
Fudge is different to most tabletop roleplaying games, it doesn’t focus on the statistics, XP or dice rolling (although there is some dice rolling), it’s more about roleplaying and making decisions that affect the story.
Day of Fudge
There is an active community of people who like to play Fudge. You can find them at the Fudge community Yahoo Group or the Fudge website. They’re organising a day where they are encouraging everyone to hold a Fudge game and play. Here’s what Patrick Benson has to say about the Day of Fudge:
Every year the first Saturday of June is the “Day of Fudge” where fans of the Fudge RPG system are encouraged to run Fudge game events out in public. You can run a game at your local game shop, at your public library, a local campus, or anywhere you get permission to host such an event. All you need to participate in the DoF is some imagination, and a little gumption!
I emailed Patrick to get more information about Fudge and if it’s appropriate to us roleplayers that aren’t used to playing using pen and paper around the tabletop. Here’s what I asked him.
Why would members of play-by-post games be interested in Fudge?
Patrick: Fudge uses adjectives instead of numbers, and it designed around the idea that your character concept is the most important aspect of any RPG. You wanted to play a savage barbarian warrior who could take on an army by him or herself, so why are you going to wade through 30 levels of game play to get to that point? You want to get to that barbarian’s story, so Fudge starts you at that point.
You can play Fudge diceless! Here is how: http://members.dsl-only.net/~bing/frp/fudge/fudge7.html#sec7.42
How difficult is it to learn Fudge?
Patrick: Got five minutes? Read this: http://www.fudgerpg.com/goodies/fudge-files/commercial-support/fudge10th/Fudge-in-a-Nutshell/
It is a two page document on Fudge called “Fudge in a Nutshell”, and once you are done you will know how to play Fudge.
Many roleplayers prefer their RP activities online. Can fudge be played online?
Patrick: Well, I’m a big time roleplayer and I can tell you that whether in person or online Fudge is all about the role playing of the character. And Fudge can be played online, in person, via a virtual tabletop, etc. It is highly flexible. I’ve run them all.
You can find more news about the “Day of Fudge” at Patrick Benson’s SinisterForces blog.
