How do you prefer your indices?

[Jürgen Hubert]

I'm working on the layout for my current manuscript, and I was wondering how you prefer the indices in your gaming books.

Do you prefer it when all items - people, places, organizations, etc. - are put into a single, lenghty list, or would you rather have each of these categories get their own sub-index?

Other elements of the layout can be easily changed later on, but this one would require a fair amount of work to redo at a later point. So please help me settle on a particular variant!

 

[theredrobedwizard]

An alphabetical list by name of anything and everything referenced in the book. If you mention an obscure Baron once, his name had better be in the index. Any proper nouns, basically.

Also, have listings within the large master list for sections "Spartan Law", "Athenian Theatre", etc.

For a 300 page manuscript, most likely a perfect index would be around 25 pages.

For a good example of how to do a decent index, look to Ptolus. Also the model for cross-referencing and other good organization.

-TRRW

 

[Gulla]

I voted "sub-index" but really I want both...

Håkon

 

[GreatLemur]

I'm voting for a single index, because the "sub-index" format is more like a table of contents. And you're surely already including one of those.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I'm voting for a single index, because the "sub-index" format is more like a table of contents. And you're surely already including one of those.

Of course I'm including a table of contents. But that's not exactly the same. Take a look at Ptolus - it has a separate index for "people" which lists all major and minor NPCs, but not all of these people - many of whom only get a single mention - are listed in the table of contents...

 

[Starglim]

The main index should list everything.

Separate tables for certain kinds of references might be useful, depending on the product, but are an optional extra.

 

[GreatLemur]

Of course I'm including a table of contents. But that's not exactly the same. Take a look at Ptolus - it has a separate index for "people" which lists all major and minor NPCs, but not all of these people - many of whom only get a single mention - are listed in the table of contents...

Yeah, I know there's a difference. But if I'm looking for Waldo the Wanderer, I'd rather just look under "W" than have to figure out if I need to find a section called "people" or "characters" or "NPCs".

 

[Derulbaskul]

Excel spreadsheet with multiple columns so I can simply sort by name or by topic.

The day that Paizo does this with Dungeon and Dragon is the day I become a subscriber for life!

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

A single index is far superior. When you consider that the people most likely to use the index may not KNOW if the fictional name they are looking up is a person, place, or thing, then you're better off giving them just one index to look through, not three or more.

 

[Yalius]

A single index, but of the format so that you would have entries such as:

Arthur, King of Britons -- See People, Arthur
Avalon-- See Places, Avalon
King of Britons (Arthur)-- See People, Arthur
People--

Arthur, King of Britons-- 32, 76-84, 192
Tim-- 212
Waldo the Wanderer-- 216​

Places--

Avalon-- 88-92, 114, 200-207
Camelot-- 22-30, 44-50, 76, 77, 208​