What is Fudge?
Fudge is a rules-light role-playing game, concentrating on role-playing rather than endless dice rolls and tables and similar detailed game mechanics. It also uses words rather than numbers to describe character traits.
For example, a character might be a Great Swordsman rather than a 14th level fighter. Combined with simple action resolution, Fudge's descriptive nature makes ideal it for novice players. Fudge is also flexible enough to satisfy experienced role-players.
There are no artificial limits placed on character creation; any character the player can imagine can be described in Fudge terms. (Of course, Fudge encourages players to consult with their game master when designing characters, since the GM has final say over whether or not a character is acceptable in a given game.)
The basic Fudge rules contain no campaign world information (except for a few examples). But the game's flexibility allows it to be easily used with nearly any other role-playing game's campaign world - and, of course, with game masters' own personal creations.
Want to know what FUDGE stands for?
Well, nothing, really. It's meant to evoke the freeform just fudge it attitude that best suits the game. In the past we tacked various acronyms onto the name -- mostly 'cause it was the in thing to do with game titles in the 1990's. It was originally Freeform Universal Donated Game Engine, which changed to Freeform Universal Do-it-Yourself Game Engine in the 1995 printing of the Fudge book. Ann Dupuis, publisher, and Steffan O'Sullivan, author, decided to drop the acronyms with the publication of the Fudge Expanded Edition in 2000.