Thanks for your enquiry about Hogshead Publishing's forthcoming
fantasy role-playing game, FRUP. I'd love to answer your message
personally and at great length, but I'm supposed to be writing the
game itself at the moment, so you'll have to make do with this
short list of questions and answers about it.

Q. What is FRUP?
A1. FRUP is the way you pronounce `FRP'
A2. FRUP is the name of a satirical fantasy RPG to be published in
August 1995 by Hogshead Publishing.
A3. FRUP is the name of the world-setting in the game described in
A2.
A4. FRUP is the name of an imaginary RPG, published as three
hardback books and bearing only the slightest resemblance to any
real market-leading RPGs (would we lie to you?) which fell from
the sky of A3 three thousand years ago, and which was taken as the
word of the gods.
A5. `FRUP' is the noise you make when you press your lips together
and blow.
A6. Any combination of the above.

Q. What's it all about, then?
A. Three vast RPG rulebooks fall from the sky into a quiet,
tranquil and unassuming fantasy world. They are hailed as a sign
of the gods' displeasure at the old ways, and the beginning of a
new epoch in history. All the old ways are erased, by force if
necessary, and the rules and teachings of the books become the law
and the foundation of the religion--vigorously enforced by the
Order. Anyone who breaks any of the rules is a heretic, and will
be burned at the stake.
Society is divided into the haves and have-nots: PCs and NPCs.
PCs must adventure and go up Stages; NPCs must try to earn enough
money to become PCs, which is an expensive business. Only PCs go
to heaven, you see. All characters must carry around a copy of
their Character Chart at all times (anyone caught without a valid
Character Chart is clearly a monster and can be killed for the
Life Points, which enable PCs to go up Stages), and PCs must also
carry copies of two of the three Books of Frup: the Book of Life
and the Book of Beasts. Only rules lawyers (high-stage Priests who
have passed the relevant exams in Carfax City) may carry the Book
of Law and make pronouncements on the Rules.
Of course, the laws of physics and nature don't always work
the way that the Books say they should. Just because your
character chart says you're a fifth-stage member of the League of
Wizards, it doesn't mean you can cast any spells. Just because
you're a dwarf, it doesn't mean that you have infravision or can
detect secret doors. But everyone else believes that you should
have these abilities ... and if you show that you don't, then you
are clearly a heretic (and willve these abilities ... and if you show that you don't, then you
are clearly a heretic (and will be burned at the stake) or a
doppelganger (and will be butchered in short order). So you bluff.
Is everyone else around you bluffing as well? Who can tell? Maybe
if you can discover some of the lost teachings of the Time Before,
you can find out what's really going on ... or get burned at the
stake for your trouble.
FRUP: the game of crispy adventurers. You'll love it.

Q. So it's like PARANOIA meets AD&D, then?
A. We have never heard of the two games systems you have just
mentioned, and will absolutely deny any connection to either of
them. But yeah, basically, that about covers it.

Q. So what sort of character can I play, then?
A. Well, you play a character who is (probably) absolutely
convinced that they're a character in a RPG being played by the
gods (or someone). You're not playing a one-dimensional `joke' PC
(or NPC; FRUP is the only game in which you can play NPCs. You can
play monsters too, if you want); your character is a fully
fleshed-out individual, trying to behave as if they're a
one-dimensional character.
At the age of 15, everyone on Frup takes part in a `generation
ceremony'; a week-long extravaganza in which their six `basics'
(Brawn; Agility; Stamina; Influence; Cunning; Sagacity) are tested
and written on their character chart. Then, if they can afford it,
they join one of the leagues (Warriors; Woodsmen; Palatines;
Priests; Aquarians; Wizards; Enchanters; Rascals; Executioners;
Aesthetics; Troubadours), and from there they join a Guild. Guilds
are like YMCAs or trades unions: they give you crash space, a
place to train, advice, equipment, moral support and camaraderie.
There are several thousand Guilds.
A typical Guild is Battle-Axes of Daene. Daene is the
hand-maiden of the Goddess of War, and her warriors glorify her
with their beauty. They do this by wearing as little as they can
get away with; typically chain-mail bikinis. (Since most of the
armour and uniforms of the Leagues and Guilds are based on
illustrations from the Books of Frup themselves, any sexism or
cheesecake artwork which appears in Frup is clearly Not Really Our
Fault). To join the Battle-Axes costs 50 geeps a year, and all
members must have an Influence of 17+, and a Cunning and Sagacity
of 7-.
Battle-Axes are supposed to be under the protection of Daene,
who keeps them young and beautiful, and it's true that you very
rarely see a Battle-Axe older than 22. To be honest, hypothermia
gets most of them. Battle-Axes are sworn to chastity, and may only
surrender their virtue to a man who beats them in single combat.
Most Battle-Axes are not trained in single combat, and this has
given the Guild a slightly sleazy reputation, which its members
typically do little to dispel. But it's still very prestigious for
a family to have a daughter in the Battle-Axes. Or a son: certain
impoverished chapters of the Guild will admit men into the Guild.
They still have to wear chain-mail bikinis. Some of them
apparently enjoy it.
Rumours that the Battle-Axes of Daene were created by Edict of
the SR after a particularly drunken meeting of the (all-male)
Central Council of the Order are probably true, and definitely
heretical.
We would like to assure sensitive young PC people (thinks: if
you're not politically correct, does that make you NPC?) that Frup
will have just as much artwork of hunky barbarians in improbable
armour as pictures of shapely Battle-Axes in improbable armour.
We're out to offend everybody with this game.

Q. I am primarily interested in FRUP's game mechanics.
A. You have our deepest sympathy, you sad, sad person.

Q. Look, you twit, tell me about FRUP's game mechanics.
A. Oh. Right. Okay. Because FRUP is a parody of dice-driven
mechanics-heavy games systems, it needs something completely
different behind it. The game is driven by a core system of
mechanics we refer to as LIVE (Ludic Interactive Virtual
Environment, or Loosely Integstem of
mechanics we refer to as LIVE (Ludic Interactive Virtual
Environment, or Loosely Integrated Vicarious Entertainment, or
something like that), which in time will become the Hogshead house
system.
LIVE is a diceless, text-based system of game mechanics, which
are designed to be so transparent that they quickly blend into the
background, and the referee and players can get on with the
business of telling stories, making awful puns and generally
having fun. It's very character-based, and most of the adventures
are character-driven.
Yes, I said diceless. Do not cower in terror. There will be
dice. The difference is that it's the characters in the game world
who have to throw them.

Q. Who's working on FRUP?
A. It's being written in a hurry by James Wallis, director of
Hogshead Publishing, who has been doing strange things in the RPG
industry since 1982. More recently he has written two 'Ren &
Stimpy' books for Penguin Books in the UK. He's a humour writer,
basically. He can do `funny'. He's also acquired a reputation as
one of the most perceptive writers about RPGs and games mechanics,
as shown in his articles and reviews in the journal INTERACTIVE
FANTASY.
The cover is by Les Edwards. If you don't know Les's
work--well, you DO know Les's work. It's everywhere. You just
don't know that it's his stuff. Les is the artist Guest of Honour
at this year's World SF Convention. Enough said.
Interior art is coming from Lee Brimmicombe Wood (writer and
artist of `Aliens Technical Manual'; artist on Talsorian's `Rough
Guide To The UK'); Ralph Horsley (`Valkyrie' magazine); and
Russell Thompson (no previous game work, but a genius all the
same).
Editing and layout by the normal Hogshead crew.

Q. Any supplements planned, or is this a one-off joke?
A. Oh, we have supplements planned. FRUP isn't just a joke:
there's enough weird and sinister things going on in the
background that you'll actually be able to run sophisticated
campaigns in the game-world. This isn't a one-trick pony.
The first release is a collection of short adventures, called
DRAGONLUNCH. It's for novice characters: the sort of people
usually referred to as cannon-fodder. However, Frup doesn't have
any cannons, so they're called Dragonlunch instead. Will this
adventure pack be deeply parodic of a certain best-selling trilogy
of novels? Surely not.
And then in spring 1996 we're releasing SECOND EDITION FRUP.
Enough said so far, I think.

For more information, keep watching the newsgroups. We'll probably
release some edited highlights shortly before the game comes out.
Or send email to `frup@hogshead.demon.co.uk', although be warned
that my time for replying is pretty short right now.

Added : August, 22, 2003. Back