Some small publisher/self-published RPG rule sets suffer from poor grammar and syntax. Some RPG creators need someone to edit their writing for quality of communication as well, especially for clarity—rules are no good if the reader cannot understand them.
If you’re a board gamer, you’ve probably read rules that were incomplete and confusing, if not worse. Can you then play the game? No. Many rules in original D&D were like that, but how to play was passed from one group to another, and you had a GM to decide how it was going to work. I recall our group thinking that hold person did something quite different from what was intended, because that’s how the rules read.
At GenCon some years ago I attended a few panel talks about the need for editing of small-scale RPGs. Freelance editing can be fairly expensive: perhaps one cent a word or a little less, depending. (For comparison, writers of RPG materials, who now usually work for hire rather than for royalties, were only paid two to five cents a word last time I checked, unless very experienced and well-known.)
My thought was “I don’t need detailed editing,” and I’ve been writing all my life, but I also benefit from a wife who likes to find any hint of a glitch in what I’ve written. My book “Game Design: How to Create Video and Tabletop Games, Start to Finish” (2012, McFarland, still in print) required no editing for language from McFarland. And I hope “Worlds of Design” rarely requires editing.
But the reality is that everyone can use an editor. For those new to writing, including RPG writing, their experience is probably more like one of my computer networking students: some were very good but most needed a lot of coaching to improve.
You must write for your audience. You don’t want the kind of jargon-filled, turgid, and sometimes deliberately obfuscatory writing common in academic circles, you need to write clearly and concisely in everyday words (I’ve violated my own advice in this sentence, haven’t I?).
How important is it to use perfectly standard language in your RPG rules? If you’re doing a low-budget RPG to sell a few hundred copies, perhaps non-standard won’t bother the readers. But if you’re putting your rules in hardcovers and using graphic enhancements (art etc.), then the standard of your language ought to match the standard of your physical presentation. Otherwise you risk putting off too many people in your target market.
If there’s someone in or associated with your group (like my wife) who is able and also willing to check your language for free, that’s very good. If you have several reader-playtesters (as novelists do) they might spot and highlight language problems. If you know other RPG creators, perhaps you can swap your services, you read their rules, they read yours. It’s usually easier to spot problems in something you didn’t write, than in something you wrote.
If you’re submitting your rules to a publisher, good writing is even more important. As well-known author Glen Cook (Black Company, Garrett, etc.) said about fiction writing:
This can just as easily apply to game writing.
Your Turn: How do you ensure your writing is clear and concise?
We Need Editors
I started writing this after reading 15 pages of a nicely presented hardcover RPG that suffered from woefully substandard language.If you’re a board gamer, you’ve probably read rules that were incomplete and confusing, if not worse. Can you then play the game? No. Many rules in original D&D were like that, but how to play was passed from one group to another, and you had a GM to decide how it was going to work. I recall our group thinking that hold person did something quite different from what was intended, because that’s how the rules read.
At GenCon some years ago I attended a few panel talks about the need for editing of small-scale RPGs. Freelance editing can be fairly expensive: perhaps one cent a word or a little less, depending. (For comparison, writers of RPG materials, who now usually work for hire rather than for royalties, were only paid two to five cents a word last time I checked, unless very experienced and well-known.)
My thought was “I don’t need detailed editing,” and I’ve been writing all my life, but I also benefit from a wife who likes to find any hint of a glitch in what I’ve written. My book “Game Design: How to Create Video and Tabletop Games, Start to Finish” (2012, McFarland, still in print) required no editing for language from McFarland. And I hope “Worlds of Design” rarely requires editing.
But the reality is that everyone can use an editor. For those new to writing, including RPG writing, their experience is probably more like one of my computer networking students: some were very good but most needed a lot of coaching to improve.
What Are You Trying to Say?
I’m not talking so much about how well the writing conveys what was intended, I’m talking about the details of grammar and syntax. Though there are certainly RPG creators who need someone to edit their writing for quality of communication, especially for clarity—rules are no good if the reader cannot understand or worse, misunderstands them.You must write for your audience. You don’t want the kind of jargon-filled, turgid, and sometimes deliberately obfuscatory writing common in academic circles, you need to write clearly and concisely in everyday words (I’ve violated my own advice in this sentence, haven’t I?).
Clear Language
One mark of quality in an RPG is the skill with which language is used. Not everyone is good with language, and many sometimes use words that don’t fit or simply leave things out, or don’t catch incorrect spelling despite the ubiquity of spellcheckers. Unfortunately, the reader with a lot of experience—it’s a matter of experience more than education—encounters a speed bump every time substandard grammar/syntax is used. Those speed bumps detract greatly from the meaning the writer is trying to convey. At worst, the reader will stop reading because it’s too painful, or because it reflects so badly on the writer that the reader assumes what the writer is saying won’t be worth reading.How important is it to use perfectly standard language in your RPG rules? If you’re doing a low-budget RPG to sell a few hundred copies, perhaps non-standard won’t bother the readers. But if you’re putting your rules in hardcovers and using graphic enhancements (art etc.), then the standard of your language ought to match the standard of your physical presentation. Otherwise you risk putting off too many people in your target market.
If You Can’t Afford an Editor
Professional editing is expensive for a small publisher/small print runs. What do people do as an alternative?If there’s someone in or associated with your group (like my wife) who is able and also willing to check your language for free, that’s very good. If you have several reader-playtesters (as novelists do) they might spot and highlight language problems. If you know other RPG creators, perhaps you can swap your services, you read their rules, they read yours. It’s usually easier to spot problems in something you didn’t write, than in something you wrote.
If you’re submitting your rules to a publisher, good writing is even more important. As well-known author Glen Cook (Black Company, Garrett, etc.) said about fiction writing:
This can just as easily apply to game writing.
Your Turn: How do you ensure your writing is clear and concise?
