Fudgery.net is a site devoted to the Fudge role-playing game and the hobby of "pen and paper" or "tabletop" role-playing games in general. It does not refer to, and has nothing to do with, the dessert or candy known as fudge. You may therefore wonder why it is called Fudge. From the Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition we find these relevant entries for the word:

fudge

1. trans. ...to work a dead reckoning by rapid 'rule of thumb' methods

2. intrans. To fit in with what is anticipated, come off; also, to turn out, result

In other words, Fudge was designed to be fudged. I have not found "fudgery" in a dictionary yet, so to fill the void, I offer the following entry:

fudgery

The act of fudging or an example of it.

The art of making fudge (or writing Fudge material).

A place where fudge is made (or Fudge material is published).

What does this mean to you? Fudge was designed by Steffan O'Sullivan and the Usenet community with several principles in mind. To quote from his Fudge Designer's Notes:

So a major design goal of Fudge is to be a vehicle for good role-playing. This includes:

• not looking things up,
• not having to make calculations when using dice,
• the ability to return realistic results so as not to break the willing suspension of disbelief,
• a character sheet you can understand without having to translate everything into English, and
• minimizing out-of-character actions and statements.

Here is a system that is easy to learn, easy to play, easy to customize, expandable, modular, and capable of modelling just about any magnitude of narration, immersion, simulation, or strategy from the simplest to the most complex. Fudge can be adapted to any genre, any setting, and any mode of play, and it is, if I may be so bold as to say, the ultimate translator between game systems and the perfect universal system for all-purpose game resources. Fudge is, as I am fond of calling it, the common sense role-playing game.

What does this mean to me? This Web site is an extension of two of my (too many) hobbies: gaming and Web design. By designing and maintaining this site, I hope to expose more people to the joy of the Fudge system, and thereby increase my own opportunities to play this outstanding game. Running Fudge events at conventions is something else I plan to do much more of in the future.

As you browse, I hope you will find Fudgery.net to be a useful resource, or at least a source of inspiration for your own gaming or writing.

[News of site updates and articles about Fudge and gaming in general may be found at the Fudgerylog, the Web log of Fudgery.net.]

Fudge is a role-playing game written by Steffan O'Sullivan, with extensive input from the Usenet community of rec.games.design. The basic rules of Fudge are available on the internet at http://www.fudgerpg.com and in book form from Grey Ghost Games, P.O. Box 838, Randolph, MA 02368. They may be used with any gaming genre. While an individual work derived from Fudge may specify certain attributes and skills, many more are possible with Fudge. Every Game Master using Fudge is encouraged to add or ignore any character traits. Anyone who wishes to distribute such material for free may do so - merely include this ABOUT FUDGE notice and disclaimer (complete with Fudge copyright notice). If you wish to charge a fee for such material, other than as an article in a magazine or other periodical, contact Grey Ghost Press.

The following materials based on Fudge, entitled Fudgery.net Web Site, are created by, made available by, and Copyright © 2004-2008 by Gordon A. Cooper, and are not necessarily endorsed in any way by Grey Ghost Press or any publisher of other Fudge materials. Neither Grey Ghost Press nor any publisher of other Fudge materials is in any way responsible for the content of these materials unless specifically credited. Original Fudge materials Copyright © 1992-2004 by Grey Ghost Press, All Rights Reserved.