RPG Writing and Design Needs a Paradigm Shift

[Reynard]

I know this is happening in small corners of the indie scene, and some more well known games are starting to adopt alternate ways of presenting information, but mainstream publishers still seem buried in the past when it comes to TTRPG presentation.

Giant books full of walls of text with important information buried in questionable prose is no longer an acceptable way to present a game to an audience. The industry needs a paradigm shift in design -- both system, and visual. They need to stop paying by the word and start paying by the hour. they need to stop treating games like books and treat them like manuals. They need to leverage technology and techniques from other industries and make accessibility a primary goal in production.

I know I have ranted about this before and will likely do so again, so my apologies for evangelizing in this way.

 

[payn]

I haven't noticed this so much with RPGs lately, but damn if I didn't wish my Battletech books were not a wall of text of death with no useful index.

 

[R_J_K75]

Giant books full of walls of text with important information buried in questionable prose is no longer an acceptable way to present a game to an audience.

I agree 100%. I dislike the way rule books are presented. It takes me more than a few readings to finally remember the rules, know where to find them or look them up quickly at the game table. I think I'd pay $50 for a very succinct 25-50 page rule book than $75 for a 300 page one. When I read some threads here that deal with rules, regardless of the system, I often wonder how much time outside of the game people spend reading rules, so they know them so well?

 

[payn]

I agree 100%. I dislike the way rule books are presented. It takes me more than a few readings to finally remember the rules, know where to find them or look them up quickly at the game table. I think I'd pay $50 for a very succinct 25-50 page rule book than $75 for a 300 page one. When I read some threads here that deal with rules, regardless of the system, I often wonder how much time outside of the game people spend reading rules, so they know them so well?

It's going to vary. My Battletech groups often have to reference books because there are many rules that only come up once in a blue moon. We got one cat that has an encyclopedic knowledge of the game in his head and everyone just marvels at it. As a GM I try to make sure and be up on all and any rules im going to be using in any given session. As a player, I think its good tact to know at least the rules related to your PC and how to carry them out to lower GM load.

I think part of the issue is selling books vs putting the info online. Much of the Battletech rules can be found on the Sarna website but not everything (just like 5E SRD). Do you sell a stripped down reference manual and then a beefy lore book? I think companies are trying to figure that out. I think they should lean harder on miniatures, game aids, and adventure sets. The box sets that Free LEague puts out for Blade Runner for example are killer.

 

[Reynard]

Do you sell a stripped down reference manual and then a beefy lore book?

If I had my druthers, I would make a slip case with the trim rule manual and the beefy lore book together.

 

[payn]

If I had my druthers, I would make a slip case with the trim rule manual and the beefy lore book together.

I like the look of its jib here, but this can also drive up costs. Though, having a lower cost digital PDF package can help with that.

 

[Reynard]

I like the look of its jib here, but this can also drive up costs. Though, having a lower cost digital PDF package can help with that.

I would also give away that rules manual digitally for free. Rules are not where value is.

 

[R_J_K75]

We got one cat that has an encyclopedic knowledge of the game in his head and everyone just marvels at it. As a GM I try to make sure and be up on all and any rules im going to be using in any given session. As a player, I think its good tact to know at least the rules related to your PC and how to carry them out to lower GM load.

I knew a few people over the years that could quote rules. Back when I played a lot more than I do now I could quote rules pretty good too, even could pick up a book and open to the section I was looking for within a few pages. Whether I'm GMing or playing I try and review the rules, but it always feels like such a monumental task the older I get. It does bother me though when I can tell that players have made zero effort to learn the basic rules of the game and their character.

I think part of the issue is selling books vs putting the info online.

Do you sell a stripped down reference manual and then a beefy lore book? I think companies are trying to figure that out.

I think there's room for both but the question that companies need to figure out is what should be free online such as a SRD, what's a paid download or subscription based and finally what should be made available in print. The other question is the length. For me personally I'd prefer more printed material in the form of references rather than full books. Honestly, I don't have an answer or a suggestion other than I agree with @Reynard that something should change.

 

[Swanosaurus]

I'm on the fence on this ... I buy most RPGs for reading, but I, too, prefer clarity and brevity. But honestly, on the other hand, I don't want my RPG books to read like "manuals". Only a fraction of the RPGs I read end up at the gaming table, anyway.
There's a lot of RPGs that achieve a good balance, IMHO. Troika! is both extremely economic in presentation and extremely evocative and fun to read. It doesn't read like a manual, but it works as a manual at the gaming table. I've recently reviewed Marvels & Prodigies, which also finds a great balance between clarity and economy, evocative prose and being a manual (parts of the rules are already structured as player hand-outs, which should be a great boon at the table). On the other hand, I'm having big trouble getting into most versions of Traveller/Cepheus, because they just read too much like a manual.
And then there's the introductory set of Dreams & Machines, which, despite its glossiness, seems to be structured very consciously as an introductory manual which guides you only through the things you really need to know at the beginning and puts all the rest in an alphabetic index - and I hate it with a passion. It makes me feel totally lost. On the one hand, it's a manual, on the other hand, it makes me feel like it doesn't want me to know how things actually work.
What I agree to 100% is that I don't need tons of four-color art and fiction in the core books. I like a little art and a nice layout, but there seems to be a tendency towards four-color overkill, with a lot of sub-par or at least not very interesting art to fullfill the perceived need. Most of the time, I'd really prefer some quality line-art every three or four pages.

 

[R_J_K75]

If I had my druthers, I would make a slip case with the trim rule manual and the beefy lore book together.

What I agree to 100% is that I don't need tons of four-color art and fiction in the core books.

It would be nice if the lore of a game was in a separate book from the rules. Take for instance the revised 5E coming this year. As I understand it the DMG will contain a sample campaign setting and an adventure IIRC. This could easily be its own separate book IMO.