this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
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Roleplaying Games Design

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Today's blogpost is all about my flailing to refine and streamline my design docs into a coherent rulebook. I read enough of the d**** things you'd think I would know how to compile and order one. I understand the basics and where I went wrong, and have roadmap, but compared to design development is long and grindy.

Would really love if other folks have input on what makes a rulebook good? what have people done to make their projects easy to get? Which books are your favorite examples? What are your biggest hurdles?

For me I intellectually understand what needs to be there, but actually getting the writing clean and succinct to read is a challenge. I see a lot of DiY books for of background art and such trying to emulate a AAA book but they don't have the text and order of content hammered out 1st, I didn't want to move to layouts until my text was set, but maybe that's a mistake? Curious to see what people think.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Also thanks!

use a notation method that shows me if the links are sequential (a leads to b) or just related. Or should just be cross referenced.

What do you mean by this? Can you please give an example with notation?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Let’s see… an easy example is hierarchy - you have Beasts and you have Flying Beasts. So I would draw an arrow from Beasts to Flying Beasts. The arrow shows that A leads to B.

You may also have two items that are directly related and might end up being listed sequentially, but one does not inherently lead to the other. Those I might link with a double ended arrow (or no arrows, just a line).

Meanwhile you have Flight as a general topic. Your Flying Beasts section should cross reference flight. So I would have a dotted line from one to the other.

Keep in mind, this schema is just a rough method I use generally when whiteboarding. If parts of the schema aren’t helpful or overcomplicated, then adjust to meet your need.