Do you care about quality editing in RPG supplements and press releases?

[d4]

behold my the power of my double-posting fu!

 

[d4]

poor grammar and spelling grate on my nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard.

last game session, our party found a note on a dead drow, which the DM made into a handout and gave us to read. (it's our lead-in into City of the Spider Queen.)

i took one glance at the note and said, "Wow, the drow sure do seem to like run-on sentences..."

like Pyrex said, i think good editing is extremely important in a rule book. poor editing can lead to questions as to what the rules actually are.

 

[Buttercup]

This is turning out to be quite a one-sided affair... perhaps the question would be better asked, "does poor editing ruin a supplement or game enough to make it unusable for you?"

Yes.

If the publisher cares so little about quality that they can't bother to hire a competent editor, they aren't getting any of my money. It's that simple.

The amusing gaffe in the press release quoted above may not be indicative of problems in the published books, but it does, as someone else said, set off warning bells.

But it's highly unlikely that I would buy any of these books, regardless of the author, because FFE has such a poor track record. And it's too bad, because the blurb above does sound intriguing, and Ed Greenwood is far from a hack. I'll probably take a look at Dark Metropolis and Castlemorn Ruins, but I'll be going over the books with a fine tooth comb. I'm not getting burned again on poor production values, outrageously bad balance issues, consistency problems and monty haul treasure. (I'm speaking here of previous FFE products, not anything written by Ed.)

 

[Wombat]

I work as an editor/proofreader

Poor editing is inexcusible.

With word processing programs so easy to attain, complete with spell-checkers and even syntax-checkers, there is no reason to have poorly edited manuscripts. The occasional error is not the problem; consistent errors are.

There is no excuse for bad spelling at this point.

If nothing else, pick up a copy of openoffice!

 

[Olive]

I checked the first option with a certain reservation: I really am not too picky when it comes to Press Releases because I read very few of them.

This is me too. I care about finished products, but press releases aren't so important. They tend to be rushed out.

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

Well, I think a few minor typos here and there are not that big of a deal. I sure make a lot of typos. So I'd say mostly content. Everyone makes the occasional mistake. Even in this day and age of spell/grammar check, mistakes do slip by. What you showed us from that press release would not make me not want to buy the book and I'd be much more forgiving if a press release was poorly written than an actual book.

However, if a book itself is written with numerous, major errors, then I'd probably either not buy it if the mistakes were distracting and consider alerting the publisher (who may not even be aware...I work for a publisher...trust me, it happens) and ask them for a refund.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

I voted other... If it's an error that MS word (or similar product) will fix for you if you let it (F7 people) then I would be turn off... if its an error that only an English teacher of numerous years would see then I wouldn't have much of an issue with it.

 

[trancejeremy]

That's pretty funny. Fast Forward is a company I want to like, and they literally have years and years and years of experience, but they tend to bungle things a bit (IMHO). So that press release isn't surprising.

Also, nitpick - FFE is Far Future Enterprises - the abreviation for Fast Forward should be FAF (that's what their products say, anyway)

 

[ichabod]

I checked other. Having been not only an editor, but an editor for a small press, I know that there is just not enough man hours to appropriately check everything. I certainly am not going to worry about press releases, as those never go past an editor. And given the timeliness of the industry, I don't think rushing to meet deadlines is the problem. Finally, I think people make more of the editing problems in RPGs than there really is. If you look at other technical publications like legal and mathematical texts, you see a similar incidence of editing problems.

 

[Particle_Man]

If it is an error such that it is obvious what the intent was, I let it pass.

If it is an error that will lead to a misinterpretation (or, worse, more than one interpretation) of the rules, then I get upset.