Has anybody here considered the possibility most flavor text is simply badly written? Starting with no real enthusiasm for the subject, and going on to such matters as lack of real knowledge.
I have the Wizards' book on the Arctic (spaced the name). When I saw the neanderthal illustration on page whatever (spaced the location) I knew it had serious problems. I mean, someone as tall and lanky and long-limbed as that guy in an arctic environment would freeze to death in short order. There are reasons why Eskimos are short, stocky, and have short limbs.
Know what you're talking about, be enthusiastic about it, and communicate that enthusiasm.
The trick is to engage the reader, make him care about the subject. Get him so enthused he'll be more concerned about how to fit the material in his game than anything else. So his dwarfs don't whistle Brahton theater show tunes, he could still use other elements from The Devious Dwarfs of Durrok's Land and Their Nefarious Plans to Corner the Rice Paper Market sourcebook. But first you need to get his attention.
Really, you're presenting a part of a world when you write an RPG book. You're giving the reader a look at a world his character would be living and having adventures in. Make it a world he's ready to care about. That means caring about that world yourself. People can tell when you don't care, when it's only a job, and it turns them off. Frostburn (I remembered the name!) was only a job, and it reads like it.
A course on effective public speaking would help too. Would teach you how to communicate effectively. An area some people have trouble with. But don't let anything I say discourage you, the more good RPG books we have out there the better the matter the odds on getting people in the hobby.
Good luck.
I have the Wizards' book on the Arctic (spaced the name). When I saw the neanderthal illustration on page whatever (spaced the location) I knew it had serious problems. I mean, someone as tall and lanky and long-limbed as that guy in an arctic environment would freeze to death in short order. There are reasons why Eskimos are short, stocky, and have short limbs.
Know what you're talking about, be enthusiastic about it, and communicate that enthusiasm.
The trick is to engage the reader, make him care about the subject. Get him so enthused he'll be more concerned about how to fit the material in his game than anything else. So his dwarfs don't whistle Brahton theater show tunes, he could still use other elements from The Devious Dwarfs of Durrok's Land and Their Nefarious Plans to Corner the Rice Paper Market sourcebook. But first you need to get his attention.
Really, you're presenting a part of a world when you write an RPG book. You're giving the reader a look at a world his character would be living and having adventures in. Make it a world he's ready to care about. That means caring about that world yourself. People can tell when you don't care, when it's only a job, and it turns them off. Frostburn (I remembered the name!) was only a job, and it reads like it.
A course on effective public speaking would help too. Would teach you how to communicate effectively. An area some people have trouble with. But don't let anything I say discourage you, the more good RPG books we have out there the better the matter the odds on getting people in the hobby.
Good luck.
. Several posters did exactly that 
