MORE GAMES, MORE GAMES
Several weeks ago Vincent Baker started a conversation on G+
about defining yourself as a game designer. He encouraged everyone to create
and consider yourself a designer. In particular he pointed at people who say what you ought to be
doing in games. “They're asking you for a favor and they aren't even gracious
or self-aware enough to say please.” That phrase stuck with me. James Stuart
followed that up by talking about the challenges of unpaid labor as it related
to game creation (citing
this article about github).
I want to say what I like in games and I want to say
please. I smile when I see games hit my particular hang-ups. I also want to
break those "likes" into two groups. In the first we have things
which may be less labor, time, and effort intensive. They’re about style and
information. The second group requires more time and effort. They’re
things I dig, but I recognize not all games can do given commitments and
energy.
If a game or supplement is of substantial size, I’m more
likely to look at it through this lens. Smaller games, niche indie rpgs, truly
revolutionary approaches have their own standards. Some of my desires apply to
those, but more often not. I’m talking about books with dozens of pages,
Kickstarter projects, and anything with a substantial price point (let’s say
roughly $3+ maybe higher...I don't know).
Also designers can make deliberately, conscious
aesthetic choices to do the opposite of what I say I like. I respect that.
If you make an informed choice, having weighed the perils and
pitfalls, then cool. Hopefully the reasons for your approach will be clear to
your readers. None of this should be taken to say anything game should be condemned.
Instead it’s about the guidelines I use to invest my money and
time. The latter’s the more precious resource. We live in a golden age of
gaming with almost too many excellent options.
Games I'm Thankful For: A Companion List
Games I'm Thankful For: A Companion List
BASIC LIKES
Tell Me What We’re
Doing
Offer a clear statement of what we’re doing when we play. I
like to see that early. It’s one of the first things I look for. Some
books just give me a genre statement ("a game of fantasy adventure") or simply
describe the setting. But I’d like to know what the play aims towards or
supports. If that’s "anything possible" fantasy, then make that claim. Think of
it this way, when I go to pitch this to my players, what am I telling
them?
I’ve picked up a couple of complete rpgs on Drivethru lately
which have super-detailed and rich settings. But I don’t know how we fit into
it. I can't figure what kinds of stories we’ll be telling. Maybe they say that
later on, but if I don't know in the first chapter or so, I’m less likely to
press on or even remember the game later
.
Before You Get Going
Before you launch into a large chunk of game fiction, an
overview of the setting’s history, or a complete gazetteer, do that telling I mentioned above. Even if it’s just a couple of paragraphs before we dive in. On the flip
side, don’t jump to character creation on page one without giving me any idea
of who these characters need to be. .
Genre
I love superhero games, I love spy games, I love samurai games—all genres I dig. When I see new games for these I’m going to check them
out. But I’m always stumped when all the game tells me is “I’m a steampunk
game.” OK, what kind? What’s the difference between you and the dozens of other
cog & brass games?
If your game jumps into a crowded genre, maybe tell us what’s
new about it. Or say what’s done differently and better. Or even just talk
about why you made the game. Even if it’s to only to say that you created
something that fit your GMing style, worked with your group, or added a few
bits you preferred.
You don't have to know every game in the genre. I’m
not saying you have to name and take on the biggest competitors. But you
have some reasons you like this game, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t have
created and presumably played it. Tell us.
Blurbs
Check your blurbs. Like many people, I get my first
impression from back covers or the electronic equivalent: Drivethrurpg product
pages. That’s your pitch. That’s the thirty seconds you have to get someone’s
attention. I’m less likely to check out games with ambiguous, vague, or generic
language there. Maybe you want your game to be enigmatic, with the idea that
the reader will be drawn in to figure out what’s going on. That works
sometimes, but it has to be super well-written. Some of the best blurbs
I’ve seen offer a little bit off mystery, but then have concrete info. They divide that with lines or font choices.
First Impressions
Related to that, really think about if you want boobalicious
artwork on your cover. Maybe you’re doing that for a strong purpose; if so, that’s
cool. But I’m less likely to buy or support a game that I’d be embarrassed to
present to our mixed gender player group. A T&A cover says something to
many female players.
What Am I Rolling?
Tell me early on what kind of dice I’ll need- or if I need
none. I can’t say how many games I’ve gone through for my History lists
that don’t do this. I need to get 100+ pages in to the resolution section to
see what they mean by “roll X dice.”
Hacks
If you’re building on an existing system (Savage Worlds,
d20, PbtA, Fate), tell us what you’re changing or doing differently. Explain
what you’re bringing to the table. If you’re just repurposing it without
changes, tell us that too. If you’re changing up basic terms from the original
system, please call that out. When I read the Fellowship rpg, it took me a long
time to realize that when they were talking about “Overlord Cuts,” they meant “GM
Moves.”
BONUS LIKES
Don’t Box Me In
I like open pages. If you’re going to bound the text with
lines or art, keep that simple and let the text breathe. It bugs me to read
games with completely enclosed box frame pages. Or strong bounding lines on
multiple sides of the page. I’m not sure what purpose that serves. Are they crowding
the frame to make less text look like more? I recall student papers that did
this to pad out page counts. I feel the same way about large,
graphically intense, and obtrusive page edge borders.
What’s My Background?
Think about why you have repeating graphical element on your
pages. If you want greyscale watermarks, background images, color
pages, or some combination, have a reason why. What does it add to the text?
Does it make it easier to read? Does it help the page hold together visually?
Does it complement the overall aesthetic of your product? Then ask yourself,
does it make this harder to read? Then ask a bunch of other people if they have a harder time reading. Remember it will appear darker on some readers’
displays or print outs. Does that balance out for you? It might- Space Wurm vs. Moonicorn’s a good
example of a success with this.
BUT if you have any of that PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE learn how
to use layers when you put your pdf together. Allow readers to turn off those
backgrounds for viewing and printing. Some people have visual limitations, some
are just old fucks like me. Alternately: offer a printer-friendly version.
Seriously, this ought to be a common standard and you can find tutorials about
it online.
Wall of Text
I appreciate it when designers break up text, carefully use
headers, or offer vital synopses in callout boxes. I have a harder time getting
through text which combines small fonts, single columns, and long paragraphs.
Navigating
I can understand not having an index, but there are tools
now to make one much more easily. It might not be a great, but it could
help. It’s especially necessary if your game is fairly long. I’m more pleased
when I see an index than disappointed when one’s missing. That being said, if
you have more than a couple of sections give us a table of contents. And one
with useful headings rather than fanciful ones. Please.
Pitch Meeting
Think about how a GM’s actually going to translate and
convey your game/setting to players. This is vital, but how you handle this
varies. Yes, you can have a rich history but perhaps offer a 1-2 page summary. Yes you can have many clans/groups/factions, but perhaps present
a quick ref for those somewhere. Figure out what players need to know to
play. You’ve probably had to synopsize when you’ve presented the game to others.
What did you say? What questions came up in play? Ideally have something a GM
can hand out.
Pre-Gens
If appropriate to the game, I love it when I see pre-gen
characters. Especially when they’re presented as standard character sheets. If you have printer-friendly versions included or available as downloads somewhere, that’s awesome.
Getting Rolling
If appropriate to the game I love it when I see quickstart
or sample adventures. They’re hard, they’re work, but they’re useful to demoing
the game to a new group. They don’t fit for every game. But even if you have an rpg with a more flexible approach, perhaps point the GM to some good starting
places or fronts. My favorite quick-starts introduce concepts and rules in stages, like a
good video game tutorial.
Diverse Art
Not all games have art. And sometimes you have to rely on
creative commons or stock art. That’s cool. That being said, when a game has
art and I see an effort has been made to have diverse characters presented, I
appreciate that. Different ethnicities and cultures, various body types, women
in positions of strength, etc. I’ve seen many games where all the women have to
be sexy-times and the men get to look interesting and distinct. I like it when
a game changes that up.
One-Page Character
Sheet
Completely a personal preference. And a higher-level design
issue. But I’m much more sympathetic to games where characters fit on one side
of a single page, without being in microscopic font. YRMV.
Initial starting
sounds
This is a stupid one. But it’s something that bothers me. If
you have a small pool of key terms (attributes, skills) consider varying the
initial sounds of them. I’m always weirdly disconcerted when I hit a list of
six characteristics and three of them start with “S” (Strength, Stamina,
Social). They don’t all have to begin with different letters, but think about
breaking that up, if only to make abbreviations easier.
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