Anecdotal, but it seems to be that EN World has a bunch of younger members in the last year or two. I feel like I'm running into teenagers a lot more. But I'll be honest - it's just an impression.
Write this game for adults
Anecdotal, but it seems to be that EN World has a bunch of younger members in the last year or two. I feel like I'm running into teenagers a lot more. But I'll be honest - it's just an impression.
Lord Mhoram
Hero
Yeah - besides the names of all the polearms, Milieu, Campaign, Verisimilitude are all words I learnd from D&D. That was part of the enjoyment.
As to the difference in tone about reference book and not I throw this in for consideration - in a reference book you look it up, and keep looking it up (or print cards). We never did that much back in the day - because the book was fun to read, we would read it for fun, and then reread it for fun - so I never had to look up favorite spells because I knew them, from reading for pleasure.
I do understand the people wanting formality and clarity - I play HERO after all. But while I want clearly presented rules, I want a game book that is fun to read on it's own merits as a book (even if non fiction) in addition to being a game book.
Maybe have an appendix that is the rules stripped bare as a reference section, but the book itself is written with engagement and reading in mind.
Libramarian
Adventurer
It's not really a fluff vs. crunch thing. I don't want more overwrought italicized fluff. AD&D doesn't actually have stuff like that. What I would like is a text that doesn't feel like it's trying to wrap a hermetic seal around its take on D&D, if that makes sense. A text that feels more "open" and less sterile and packaged -- more personality, more references to real-world history, mythology, literature, maybe even the way previous editions of D&D did things. Just loosen up a bit.
I don't see Gygax's prose as pretentious...it's playful. It appears alongside cartoons about +2 backscratchers and the game Papers & Paychecks.
Here's a little joke:
Mike Mearls mentioned Beowulf and Roland in his latest article on the Fighter class design goals. I want to see them mentioned in the 5e PHB. Why not?
I also would like to see a foreword talking about the history of the game and re-iterating their goals for this edition. Basically like one of Mearls' Legends & Lore articles.
I don't see Gygax's prose as pretentious...it's playful. It appears alongside cartoons about +2 backscratchers and the game Papers & Paychecks.
Here's a little joke:
Inform those players who have opted for the magic-user profession that they have just completed a course of apprenticeship with a master who was of unthinkably high level (at least 6th!).
Written from the perspective of a low level noob. That's fun!
Mike Mearls mentioned Beowulf and Roland in his latest article on the Fighter class design goals. I want to see them mentioned in the 5e PHB. Why not?
I also would like to see a foreword talking about the history of the game and re-iterating their goals for this edition. Basically like one of Mearls' Legends & Lore articles.
Oni
First Post
While I'm not personally a fan of Gygaxian prose, I do agree with your overall sentiment. I more relaxed and personal authorial voice would be welcome. With a sort of big tent ideology that welcomes a range of aesthetic choice, I'd love to see examples of the various classes in the text pulled from everything from movies and books to anime and mythology. A subtle reminder that you can get a lot of mileage out of the same set of rules simply by imagining and presenting the fluff and story details slightly differently, sort of like how if you gave the exact same script to two different directors you'll get two different movies.
I keep saying this over and over again in various forms, but I really hope that they include a lot of reminders in the text to make the game your own, that you can fold, spindle, and mutilate it to your hearts content and you won't be doing it wrong.
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
I suspect it simply started out as shorthand for "Male Elf" or "Magic-user Elf". Kind of like a name from our crew once: Pelmuc. Part-Elf Magic-User Cleric. Or one of my own currently-active PCs: Elena. Elf Lawful Evil Necromancer Assassin.
Lan-"no, my name is not an acronym"-efan
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
I completely agree.
Now all they have to do is make the system robust enough so that after all that folding, spindling and mutilation it remains at least vaguely playable.
And say what you will about specific elements, on the broad scale this is something 1e got very much right.Lan-"speaking from experience, it handles stapling and perforation too"-efan
JamesonCourage
Adventurer
First of all, my brilliance:[sblock]
Well, color me skeptical. I was 20/21 years old when I wrote the book. I doubt I'm as intelligent as it makes me out to be (at times). I mean, I smart and all (yes, "I smart"), but still... [/sblock]
Okay, now that that's out of the way...
I'm all for writing at a decently low level. Obviously, you can dip too low, here, but the game needs clarity, inspiring text, and implied themes (violence, intrigue, danger, etc.). Nothing needs to be over the top or so low that it's painful to read. Nothing needs to be bogged down by its own weight, or simply repetitive and fluffy. The text just need to be there being inspiring, thematic, and clear.
Just create that spark, and then get out of the way as my imagination takes off. That's all you need to do. As always, play what you like
First paragraph of my book:Apart from being drivel (and I don't disagree with you), it's also written at 11th grade level, which is amusing given how many people think 4th edition was written for 5th graders.
Now, either I'm a genius (which I'd gladly accept), or there's something I don't quite completely trust about the system. My second paragraph came up:
So, dramatically lower. Maybe the first one was a bit off. My next paragraphs are 15.37, 18.17, 19.88, 22.11, 17.49, and 20.99 (end of intro). According to Wiki (always reliable!):
My other ratings on the site seemed more valid, though (at times). My Coleman–Liau index ranged from 10.5-13.3 (ages 16-19); my Flesch Kincaid Grade level ranged from 13.76-47.48 (best understood by university graduates, or some high school reading); my ARI ranged from 15.2-58.04 (ages 20-63); my SMOG ranged from 14.09-25.58 (14-25 years of education).Wiki said:
Well, color me skeptical. I was 20/21 years old when I wrote the book. I doubt I'm as intelligent as it makes me out to be (at times). I mean, I smart and all (yes, "I smart"), but still... [/sblock]
Okay, now that that's out of the way...
I'm all for writing at a decently low level. Obviously, you can dip too low, here, but the game needs clarity, inspiring text, and implied themes (violence, intrigue, danger, etc.). Nothing needs to be over the top or so low that it's painful to read. Nothing needs to be bogged down by its own weight, or simply repetitive and fluffy. The text just need to be there being inspiring, thematic, and clear.
Just create that spark, and then get out of the way as my imagination takes off. That's all you need to do. As always, play what you like
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
You're misinterpreting the statistics.
A hard-to-read text doesn't mean the author is brilliant. It means that he's a poor communicator who can't write effectively enough to be understood.
The point of readability indices isn't to get the "highest score" so that you can feel superior to everyone else.
S
Sunseeker
Guest
I'm not really sure how you are defining "adult". IME when people want something written for adults, that usually means they want swearing, indecency and all sorts of immature content. I'll take a PG13 over NC17 any day in my D&D books.
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