Kobold's Guide to Game Design - Worth it?

[GravyFingerz]

So I see there are these PDFs, which at 14.95 a pop, aren't exactly cheap, but they deal with game design, and are a collection of articles from professionals in the industry.

Oh look, there is an ad on top of the page.

This sounds good, if pricey, for me, except that even though some of the articles seemed aimed at generic game design, there are some articles dealing with tinkering with D&D 3e/4e.

I would like to ask anyone who had bought them, if the utility of these PDFs is more generic than it seems reading the backcopy, and if they felt they made a good investment in purchasing them?

 

[Varianor Abroad]

I would like to ask anyone who had bought them, if the utility of these PDFs is more generic than it seems reading the backcopy, and if they felt they made a good investment in purchasing them?

Yes.

 

[Nifft]

Bumping in hope of more specific info.

Thanks, -- N

 

[tenkar]

The Table of Contents:

1. The Three Audiences

2. Shorter, Faster, Harder, Less

3. Why Writers Get Paid

4. Fantasy Realism

5. Worldbuilding

6. Pacing

7. Using and Abusing Misdirection

8. Monster Hordes
Epic Heroism vs. Smooth Skirmishing

9. Stagecraft
The Play is the Thing, by Nicolas Logue

10. On the Street Where Heroes Live
Bringing Towns to Life in a Fantasy Campaign,
by Ed Greenwood

11. City Adventures

12. What Makes a Night Arabian?

13. Hardboiled Adventures
Make Your Noir Campaigns Work, by Keith Baker

14. The Underdark

15. Fire and Sword
Inspiration and Discipline in Design

All in all its a pretty good book. I'd have to re-read a bit to offer a proper review, as I did my first read through last December. I'll add it to my ever growing list of things to do

 

[Nifft]

Well that was frustrating.

Kobold Quarterly stopped selling PDFs for the first volume. Now their only option is the print book.

Paizo's store still sold all the PDFs, luckily.

 

[Alzrius]

Well that was frustrating.

Kobold Quarterly stopped selling PDFs for the first volume. Now their only option is the print book.

Paizo's store still sold all the PDFs, luckily.

They're also still sold at RPGNow.

 

[nasrat]

I was lucky enough see various of the essays that went into at least the first volume of this by patronage of the Open Design projects.

It's unusual to get insight into the writing and game design process, and the design essays offer good advice on a breadth of subjects for DMs/potential game designers who are looking to improve their approach. The design essays in part were written during the design of various projects which means that they are reasonably practical and tied to the process as opposed to abstract writers guidelines.

Even if you are not going freelance/into deisn and just planning on writing adventures for your group reading around the subject is a valuable thing. Where you look for advice as a GM may vary, so may your influences and preferred authors - if you are unsure about Wolfgang, perhaps checkout his writing and see if it sits well with you before you shell out.

Having already paid to see them as they were written they're on my list of things to purchase - so for me they are definitely worth the price.

 

[OnlineDM]

I just happened across Sarah Darkmagic's blog today while browsing RPG Bloggers Network, and she has a post that reviews this book. She seems to think it's worthwhile.

 

[Thanael]

Stargazer's World » Blog Archive » Review: The Kobold Guide to Game Design Volume I