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<blockquote data-quote="Laurefindel" data-source="post: 8009171" data-attributes="member: 67296">sweet!I like setting books, but I'm not likely to sit one night and read the whole thing through in one shot. As such, I like when information is well compartmentalized and self contained. The right level of information is hard to achieve; too much and it becomes puzzling and hard to retain it all. Too little means that &quot;filling the gaps&quot; will be frustrating or energy-consuming.I don't need to know everything about a region, but I should be given enough information to make-up what has not been described. The new Eberron: Rising from the last War is lacking in this regard IMO: it does not describe every single town (which in itself is not an issue), but I don't feel I have enough to work with in order to come up with a thematic description myself.I like when section are well defined and independent from one another. For example, in the Faction Section, I shouldn't need to go back to a certain country's history to get the whole picture. Also, I'd rather have many short chapters than few chapters with many sub-headers each.I appreciate when paragraphs are written in a way that each one can be read independently. I should be able to pick up my reading wherever I left it, and be able to learn more even if I don't perfectly recall the previous paragraph from where I left it a few days ago. Consequently, I can accept a minimum of repetition to make this possible.I like when authors make judicious use of descriptive text boxes. When describing a culture or an area, keep it relatively short, and insert a few &quot;nice to know&quot; text boxes that aren't essential information, but help to bring it all alive.What I did like from the Eberron book however is the &quot;seven things to know&quot; at the beginning of the book, and the &quot;five things your character from (region) would know&quot; in the nations' descriptions. I would have been able to deduce it all by reading the book, but having those things stated up-front was helpful. Also, knowing what the setting isn't is just as important as knowing what it is about.hope it helps...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Laurefindel, post: 8009171, member: 67296"] sweet! I like setting books, but I'm not likely to sit one night and read the whole thing through in one shot. As such, I like when information is well compartmentalized and self contained. The right level of information is hard to achieve; too much and it becomes puzzling and hard to retain it all. Too little means that "filling the gaps" will be frustrating or energy-consuming. I don't need to know everything about a region, but I should be given enough information to make-up what has not been described. The new Eberron: Rising from the last War is lacking in this regard IMO: it does not describe every single town (which in itself is not an issue), but I don't feel I have enough to work with in order to come up with a thematic description myself. I like when section are well defined and independent from one another. For example, in the Faction Section, I shouldn't need to go back to a certain country's history to get the whole picture. Also, I'd rather have many short chapters than few chapters with many sub-headers each. I appreciate when paragraphs are written in a way that each one can be read independently. I should be able to pick up my reading wherever I left it, and be able to learn more even if I don't perfectly recall the previous paragraph from where I left it a few days ago. Consequently, I can accept a minimum of repetition to make this possible. I like when authors make judicious use of descriptive text boxes. When describing a culture or an area, keep it relatively short, and insert a few "nice to know" text boxes that aren't essential information, but help to bring it all alive. What I did like from the Eberron book however is the "seven things to know" at the beginning of the book, and the "five things your character from (region) would know" in the nations' descriptions. I would have been able to deduce it all by reading the book, but having those things stated up-front was helpful. Also, knowing what the setting [I]isn't[/I] is just as important as knowing what it [I]is[/I] about. hope it helps... [/QUOTE]

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