As seen on http://www.fudgefactor.org.

SPOON!

by Brett Sanger (editor @ fudgefactor.org)

Correcting a child-rearing tragedy of truly epic proportions, a friend recently lent me his Tick videos (animated), which I had heard of but never before seen. (And if you haven't, this editorial will only make minor sense).

While saturating my brain with animated superhero goodness, I found myself reflecting that I was vastly enjoying the genre. This was semi-unusual, because while I have always enjoyed the concept of superheroes, I've never found any satisfaction in the pages of a superhero comic, never found more than boredom in the feeble animated versions I've seen, and the various movies have been a mixed bag, some dramatically depicting the hero pitted against his arch-nemesis, most simply being dramatically the pits.

And while I was pondering the amusement our blue friend delivered to me, I thought about roleplaying. Aside from the small con game, and one PBEM game, I've never done much with the superhero genre. It seems to thrive int he gaming community despite my inattention, however, with many a thread attempting to nail down how to represent the inconsistent abilities of these defenders of justice. Marvel has announced they will be publishing their own RPG next month, and Hollywood's recent return to the genre has spurred even more interest from our little subculture.

Now, I'm familiar with a fairly good number of roleplaying systems. Many of them could handle a superhero RPG representing the wacky, mixed-up world of lovable misfits and just plain stupidity that is The Tick. I've have a few on my bookshelves. GURPS. Hero System. Big Eyes, Small Mouth. But each of those would require learning the mechanics. The rules are like a cowboy, letting you rein in the players to prevent a stampede that would otherwise crush your little town to splinters. But sometimes, you just need to let that horse ride free. Ride, little roleplaying stallion, and gallop into the sunset of truly unfettered roleplaying!

Ahem.

The point being that if the players and GM are looking for it, it's quite possible to take Fudge and soem verbal descriptions of characters and launch into a game. A new genre doesn't require new mechanics. Not to quash the hopes of potential authors -- mechanics are good, and both the staff and our readers are interested in seeing more. But it is good to know we live in a system where you have only as many rules as you need.

So I'm looking for submissions focusing on representing various genres, as well as settings. While I have no complaint with the submissions we've been receiving, I want Fudge Factor to nourish the whole body that is this favored gaming system of ours.

A special thanks to Adam Bragg, who edited and assembled the articles for this issue while I was encouraged to avoid prolonged computer usage, and as always, to our authors, without whom we'd be, well, pretty silly looking.