From sos@pentagon.io.com Sat Dec 10 01:21:18 1994 From: sos@pentagon.io.com (Steffan O'Sullivan) Newsgroups: rec.games.design Subject: FUDGE FAQ Date: 25 Nov 1994 21:03:22 -0600 Organization: Illuminati Online NNTP-Posting-Host: pentagon.io.com Prepatory to Monday's discussion kick-off, here's how to get FUDGE for those interested in joining in. Anyone with any intelligent comments, baloon-puncturing or constructive, is welcome to join in. Please note that either address, sos@oz.plymouth.edu or sos@io.com get to me quickly. I read all my mail on oz, but post from io because oz is on a dead-end spur in the back of beyond of the net and is often a week or more behind io.com. -------------------------- FUDGE Frequently Asked Questions, Revised Nov. 26, 1994: removed one question since no one had asked it since 1993, making it a Frequently Unasked Question, and we wouldn't want that acronym in the subject, now would we? (Answers by Steffan O'Sullivan, sos@oz.plymouth.edu) Contents: -------- Q1. What is the Current Version? Q2. What is FUDGE? Q3. Who is the target audience? Q4. What genres is it for? Q5. Where can I get it? Q6. What if I don't have ftp capability? Q7. Can I contribute? Q8. What's this about 4d3? Q1. What is the Current Version? ================================= A1. Electronic Version: December 7, 1993. Softcover perfect bound book Version: August, 1994. This version is now available, only from Wild Mule Games (see Q&A6). There is minor editing, such as cleaning up syntax, fixing some typos, etc. There are a couple of minor, new sections on racial and class templates. There are a few new animals in the Sample Creatures section, mostly domestic animals. Also, the preferred dice technique, using 4d3, is included in the Addenda. Otherwise, very little difference in the two versions. Q2. What is FUDGE? =================== A2. FUDGE is a free role-playing game (face-to-face table gaming, that is - not a computer game or Live Roleplaying Game). It is just a gaming "engine" - each GM must provide the "body" of the RPG in order to make it work. A certain amount of customization work is necessary in order to use FUDGE, and many things are left unstated: the GM will have to fudge a lot. -@- No fixed attributes - the GM chooses attributes appropriate to the campaign. -@- Skill-driven system, with sample but expandable skill list included. -@- Word-based traits and action resolution make it easy to know just how good any character is at anything. This also allows FUDGE to be a "universal translator" between gaming systems. -@- Simple action resolution system. FUDGE is very easy to run no matter what the genre - no tables to look up. FUDGE stands for: Freeform (simple, laid-back, not rules-heavy. Customizable to taste.) Universal (usable with any genre.) Donated (it costs nothing, and may be reproduced and given to players legally.) Gaming (role-playing gaming, that is.) Engine (it's just the basic mechanism for character creation and development, as well as action resolution. No world details are provided.) [Actually, FUDGE can stand for other things, too: Freeform Universal Do-it-yourself Gaming Experience is a good one, for example!] FUDGE was written by, and is copyright by, Steffan O'Sullivan. Much valuable aid was received from many people on rec.games.design, most of whom are credited in the actual FUDGE manuscript. Q3. Who is the target audience? ================================ A3. FUDGE is for experienced GMs, though it can be used with novice players. You must enjoy making decisions on the fly in order to run FUDGE. It's also not for those who want extreme detail. You must enjoy either creating or adapting your own world background, as none is provided (but sample characters from a number of genres are included). Q4. What genres is it for? =========================== A4. Any. Of course, it hasn't yet been tried with *every* possible genre, so only time will tell if it really works with any genre. Q5. Where can I get it? ======================== A5. FUDGE is available via anonymous ftp from: Site: oz.plymouth.edu Directory: pub/fudge It is in a single, compressed, tarred file called fudge.tar.Z. Ask your sys admin if you don't know how to ftp or extract files from a tarred, compressed file. Basically, after you get the file via ftp (be sure to enter "binary" before getting the file), you first uncompress it then untar it: uncompress fudge.tar.Z tar xf fudge.tar It is also available from: Site: ftp.csua.berkeley.edu Directory: /pub/fudge/rules At that site, it's called fudge.rules.tar.Z. Supplementary materials are available at ftp.csua.berkeley.edu, also, in the directories: /pub/fudge/options /pub/fudge/samples /pub/fudge/programs And a new official site has been added: wais.com in the directory /pub/games/fudge. Q6. What if I don't have ftp capability? ========================================= A6. You have four choices. 1) You can get FUDGE by e-mail from wais.com. Please don't use this option unless you *cannot* do ftp, however, as it is a lot of work. For e-mail FUDGE, send a message to britt@python.wais.com and politely ask her to send it to you. Give her some time to respond before giving up. My thanks to Britt Klein for this service above and beyond the call of duty. 2) Your second choice is gopher. Here is a gopher bookmark to go directly to it: Name=Fudge Type=1 Host=gopher.plymouth.edu Port=70 Path=1/remote/fudge 3) You can buy a copy. A 96-page paperback book including the basic rules and the addenda costs $10 plus shipping ($2 in the USA, $4 in Canada, $6 elsewhere). It is illustrated, but only with copyright-free clip art, so the book can still be photocopied legally. Order from: Wild Mule Games P.O. Box 838 Randolph, MA 02368 Formats available: softcover perfect bound book, and on disk. Disk formats available: ASCII (text-only) files on IBM 5.25", IBM 3.5"; Mac 3.5". (Specify double density or high density for 3.5" disks.) You can e-mail them for a full hard sell if you want: wildmule@aol.com wildmule@delphi.com 4) For those with World Wide Web capability (lynx or mosaic), you can access: http://www.astro.indiana.edu/personnel/ericg/games/ which contains FUDGE broken down into several files. Or, to get the entire compressed file: gopher://gopher.plymouth.edu/11/remote/fudge Q7. Can I contribute? ====================== A7. Yes, you can. At this point, it would be very hard to get something in the main text - but not impossible. If you find something grossly wrong, or seriously absent, let me know! My main criteria for including rules are simplicity and necessity. It is easy to contribute to the Addenda, though. I don't filter things. Simply write a clear, concise rules addition, in ASCII, using existing Addenda sections as guidelines. Upload any submissions via ftp to: ftp.csua.berkeley.edu Directory: /pub/fudge/upload and send e-mail to appel@soda.berkeley.edu that incoming FUDGE material has arrived. If possible, compress each file. Although it may take only a few hours, please allow Shannon a day or two to move the material to the correct directory. Each submission should be clearly labelled as an OPTION, SAMPLE, or PROGRAM so Shannon knows which directory to put the material in. Alternate rules and proposed changes are OPTIONS; lists of equipment or skills or powers are SAMPLES, as are new magic systems, psi systems, etc. See the directories for examples. My thanks to Shannon Appel for for making this site available! If you don't have ftp capability, send submissions to: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (MS-DOS ASCII or XyWrite format submissions may be sent to: Steffan O'Sullivan, P.O. Box 465, Plymouth, NH 03264 USA.) In addition, Wild Mule Games is seeking creative, quality FUDGE sourcebooks to publish - with royalties for the author. While the basic FUDGE rules will always be freely copyable, any source books published by Wild Mule will be copyright by the individual authors. Contact Wild Mule Games at the postal or e-mail address in A6 above if interested. Q8. What's this about 4d3? =========================== A8. While FUDGE was originally written with ordinary d6s in mind, every dice technique using them either requires too much effort to figure out, or a table to look things up on, or returns a poor distribution of results (the problem with the method in the main text). Consequently, a special d3 is being made by Wild Mule Games and will be available to purchase sometime in 1995 - watch rec.games.frp.announce. This is actually a d6, with two faces containing a plus sign (+), two faces containing a minus sign (-), and two faces blank. Each plus represents +1, each minus -1, and each blank 0. Rolling 4 of these dice gives a beautiful distribution of results from -4 to +4, with easy to figure math, and no table. In addition, they are very flexible, allowing other uses which are still being developed, such as as a damage roll. You can make some of these yourself - Koplow and Chessex both distribute a "+/-" die: three faces contain a plus sign, and three a minus sign. (Ask your local retailer to order some.) Simply get blank stickers from an office supply store and cover up one plus sign and one minus sign on each die (those that are opposite each other, so as not to unblance the die). Try them - you'll be amazed at how easy it makes FUDGE to use. -- -Steffan O'Sullivan | "Lose no chance of doing service, wherever you sos@io.com | may find it; and if you should see sorrow, Lamson Library, PSC | pass not by until the sorrow be lightened." Plymouth, NH | -Rhiannon's advice to Pwyll, _The Mabinogian_