So, there has been a lot of talk recently on the Story Game forum about the presentation and writing of RPGs. There is a pretty sizeable contingent that holds that RPGs should be written according to adult learning principles (basically in the style of a text book; i.e. clear prose, lots of reminders, practice excercises, clear examples, building principles through repetition, etc). I tend to agree.

Since many of the comments I got on ‘Threads’ revolved around organization of the text and clarity of the presentation, I decided that this draft should be as ‘friendly’ as I could possibly make it.

Here are the Results:

New Threads Draft

Keep in mind, if you were frightened by the length of the original ‘Threads’ document (40 pages), this section is significantly shorter at 5 pages.

So if you have some time, here are the questions I have:

1. Do you like the new look?

2. Does it help you get through the dry rules material?

3. Is it clear? Does it improve the clarity of the document (versus the previous draft)?

Because, here is the thing, formatting the document in this way takes a TON of time (much more than I thought that it would) and I am trying to see whether or not it is worth the effort… or if I should head back to the drawing board.

I leave you with an alternate cover for Threads (which I ended up much preferring although the bottom text is too small)… I think I am obsessed with the red on black thing

–Adam

Hey guys,

Following the trend, I thought I would post a quick introduction to my Game Chef work, “Threads”:

Capsule:

“What are you willing to die for?”

Your Fate has already been woven.
Your loved ones are doomed.
You are a walking dead man.

Do you accept that Fate? Do you go quietly into the long night?
Or do you fight? Do you struggle to make your death mean something?

Threads is a game designed to emulate war movies and epic tragedies like “Braveheart”, “300″, or “The Seven Samurai” where the characters have some foreknowledge that they will not live through the upcoming conflict but choose to fight anyway. Rather than focus on dying though, the game is about the connections that bind your character to the world; those things that he would be willing to die for.”

——————————————————————————————————–

In case you have not already had the privledge of slogging through the 40 page work, here is your opportunity! I would very much like any critiques or feedback that you can give (as I am currently factoring in a series of changes for a new version).

For those that have already read through the text, this version is unfortunately not substantively different than the Game Chef Version… I prettied it up a little bit (putting it in a two column layout), added page numbers, fixed a few grammatical errors, and generally fixed the most obvious and easy to correct mistakes. The new revision should actually address the more “troublesome” problems concerning organization and clarity.

Threads — Main Document
Threads — Ugly Character Sheet

As an added bonus, here is a newer version of the character sheet (one that is MUCH better looking). I would appreciate comments from all you graphic designer types (Shreyas, I am looking in your general direction!).

New and Improved Character Sheet

My next post will deal with some of the changes that I am working on as well as some questions that I have for you guys. In addition, I have been challenged to a Game Creation Duel (see Story Games if you are curious) so I will probably post a bit about my process for developing a Noir RPG (hey Chris… it looks like we are in the same boat!).

–Adam Rappold