There has been some discussion on the FU yahoo group about the name of my freeform/universal RPG, and specifically how you pronounce it. This amuses me greatly, as I never really thought it would be that controversial. I always pronounce it “Foo”, like in “fung-fu”. I can, however, understand that some might have a double-take when they first see it – some folk out there instinctively read it as “F-U”, as in “Fuck You”. And while they haven’t been offended (they know I’m not talking to them!) it has been said it’s a bit of an immature name. Fair enough.
So, what’s the solution? To be honest, I am not too sure. I like the name. I like that I can create all kinds of “hacks” with bad puns, like “May the Fu be with you” and “I know kung-Fu”. It also ties back to the original descriptive name, “Free / Universal”.
I don’t like the idea of completely renaming the game – but if you can give me a smoking hot, totally awesome and / or bat-shit insane suggestion, I am happy to consider it. Another option is to stick with the letters and take a stab at another great game name: FURPS, the Freeform, Universal Role Playing System.
Alternatively, I could change the name to “Fu”. Will the lowercase “u” reduce the confusion? Possibly – why don’t you tell me!
A final idea I am tossing around is using a classic umlaut Ü (Fü, or FÜ). This “u” has a longer “oo” sound, and also lends a little bit of heavy-metal bad-assery! I also think it might be visually interesting on a logo/book cover.
This is one of the things that is churning around my brain as I continue to potter away on a new edition. What are your thoughts?
Hm, FU is still fitting best, IMO (and although the hint to Fuck You may be a bit childish, but I find it funny). “Foo” is silly, “Fu” let me think on Kung-Fu, and “Fü” is, well, not a longer “oo” sound in all languages (e.g. in German).
I like FU, although the unlaut is not a bad idea.
The good: being able to connect to the fan community by search. Keep it consistent! FU now has a big fan-base, and changing the name now will fragment that a bit.
The bad: the name as it is is not great for web searches—one can get all sorts of unrelated searches, most commonly, “Kung-Fu Panda”. Ugh!
The FUgly: don’t change too much! I love it as-is. Perhaps I should chime in over on the Yahoo groups page.
I’d like to see the name stay “FU”.
My personal thought on the name is that it is just as flexible as the mechanic itself. If it is changed it looses that charm that makes people want to talk about it. And they talk about it because they care about it.
I personally like the fact that if I make a title for a game with ninja monkeys I can call it “KONG-FU” or that if my players don’t like an outcome of a roll they can yell “F-U GM!” and toss an FU point at me and re-roll a dice.
A new edition of FU?!? WOW, I want it!!!!!