Prose, Terminology, Fluff, & Presentation: Spreadsheets or Haiku?

Kzach · May 6, 2012

Morrus said:
It's kinda creeping me out, man.

It's your fault for having such a sexy avatar.

Lanefan · May 6, 2012

Fallstorm said:
Morrus, you also go the moniker of Lanefan? How many identities do you have

If Morrus was also me that'd mean I'd have...

UNLIMITED POWER!

But he's not, so I don't, and so much for that.

In all seriousness Lanefan I understand you seem to want unlimited space to describe spells but the 5E book will have a page limit. So, what do we cut to make space for unlimited spell descriptions since they will be taking anywhere form 3 lines to 3 pages? What modular option do we drop? What classes do we not include?

::shrug:: The 1e and 3e books seemed to get 'em in just fine while still having enough space to present the rest of the game in a reasonable fashion.

Keep in mind if you're coming from a 4e background that the initial 4e books intentionally did not include everything (the specific intent was to have a sequence of core books that eventually would add up to presenting the whole game), where those of the previous editions did and I for one am hoping 5e does again.

Also, while the 5e PHB will have a page limit who's to say at this point what that limit might be? (says he, thinking of the size of the Pathfinder core book; and it seems to have sold well enough)

Lanefan

Agamon · May 6, 2012

I would like some prose, but please don't color it purple, if you know what I mean. Unnecessary elaboration using 2-bit mutli-syllabic words may have been cool in the seventies, daddy-o, but not so much now. That said, something that reads so robotic my Zoomba can understand it is even worse. Something in between would be great.

Bedrockgames · May 6, 2012

Agamon said:
That said, something that reads so robotic my Zoomba can understand it is even worse. Something in between would be great.

But how will the hobby advance if we can't capture the critical Zoomba market!

Lord Mhoram · May 6, 2012

I'm right around the 3.5/Pathfinder mark. I do want clear rules, but I have never had a problem finding or understanding such in Pathfinder, or in most D&D books.

And while I find the textbook approach of 4E fine as an in-game reference manual, I wouldn't want it as the rulebook to present the game. I am no stranger to very clear mechanics without build in flavor - I play HERO system primarily, and the point of that game is to present the mechanics with no flavor assumptions, as the game expects the player to generate that flavor when he gets the power. HERO has a much smaller base of players. I think that is one of the reasons.

I want to see flavor in the descriptions of text - 3.5/Pathfinder hits that really well for me. But if I don't like the description - I don't mind re-skinning/re-flavoring anything.

I like to be able to curl up and read my rulebooks.

Minigiant · May 6, 2012

I just want something I can enjoy reading while having text that I can flip through and search for desired info.

If I want to give the villain all officially cold spells, I should be able to search for the spells and calculate the most damaging choices and their dice with ease.

I also should be engaged after I reread the spells I choose for "Frostor the Chiseled" and further develop him.

Jester David · May 6, 2012

I don't see the books as having to be either/or, prose or rules. That's a false dichotomy fallacy.
The sections with rules can be clear and concise, but there can be areas of flavour and fluff. They can have solid rules for powers followed by flavour. If the favour is easily differentiated (say different colored pages and/or sidebars) then it's easy to ignore when skimming for rules. Imagine a PHB where half the pages looked like the 3e PHB with parchment backgrounds and the other half were clean and white like the 4e PHB.

White Wolf had been doing this for years.

Andalusian · May 6, 2012

They need to make two versions of the D&D rules, the Shakespeare version for people who want evocative purple prose, and the Cliff Notes version for Fallstorm.

Holy Bovine · May 6, 2012

I would be to the right of 3E on the Morrus Linear Scale. I want a little less prose integrated with the rules than in 3E but nowhere near the 'stereo instructions' level 4E reached. I liked 4E and all but the rule book was boring and annoying to read - just like stereo instructions!

dd.stevenson · May 6, 2012

I'm one of those customers who has a (somewhat nostalgic) preference for second edition language. Blame Baldur's Gate the CRPG--if the text isn't colored with quirky remarks and wordy examples then it's not quite perfect in my book.