Bardsandsages said:
What logic is there behind NOT putting an index in a full campaign setting? I just started running a Dragonlance campaign, and I can't quickly locate information in the book. Do you know why? Because the book has no index, that's why. I see a location on the map and I say to myself "Hmmm, wonder what goes on there." But I can't find it, because there is no index, and the book is not easily laid out.
The Rifts campaign setting is a nightmare to run and play. There are no indexes, and even the table of contents make no sense.
How do you put out a 200 or more page book and NOT INCLUDE AN INDEX??? Are people suppose to memorize the book? Why would you deliberately make it difficult for people to use your book? Particularly for us DMs who need to be able to find info quickly in the middle of combat without flipping through fifty pages at random.
Sorry, just had to get that out.
Well, indices are great, fantastic, useful tools. I agree that many books that don't have them, should. At the same time, publishers really aren't just "jacking with you" when they don't have an index. Many of those that don't try to have a more useful table of contents. There are some reasons you don't see an index in some books, you are certain to believe that most of these reasons are "bad" but, here you go:
-An Index must be created AFTER the entire book is laid out, then the index has to go through layout itself and be added to the book. Any change in the layout/printing stage can change the index. It has to be the absolute LAST step before going to the printer. I have never seen any method of making an "automated" index that was accurate and didn't require someone to double check every detail.
-Creating an Index is very time consuming, due to when it is made often the developer and/or authors have moved on to different projects. This means that sometimes the person "stuck with it" doesn't know the book as well.
-An Index adds pages to a book, sometimes this causes a book to break a page break changing the printing plan and costs of a book.
Some of these reasons don't sound good, believe me, I know. At the same time, when a book is planned for 144 pages, and priced for 144 pages, advertised at that rate, etc. and then your layout guy has to drop the font half a point to fit everything in 144 pages, well, you aren't going to have an index. Many times writers and developers simply forget to think about the # of pages an index might add when writing up a book. Even a few pages extra can throw you off.
All of those things said, I personally make an effort to include an index in any books I write and develop that I feel should have one. Both Eldritch Sorcery and City State of the Invincible Overlord from Necromancer Games have an Index. In each case it was many hours of extra work for both myself and Mike Chaney (our layout guru). There are mistakes in both Indexes that we missed. This always happens.
Including an index is a great deal of extra work, and the payoff in terms of customer "compliments" is, well, practically non-existant. Even better is when you see a review complaining about the Index "wasting space." An Index is something that some people complain about when it isn't there, but it is NOT something that helps get someone to buy a book (at least not usually). If a publisher is going to have to choose between having an index and being late, or being over page break, they are goign to choose not to have it.
I know the logic might not be very sound to you, and obviously I have spent the time to create indexes for books I felt need them, but publishers do indeed have reasons to "forget" the index in some cases. Of course, the main reason you'll find an index in a book I have developed is that I like them too, I just understand some of the reasons an index doesn't end up in a majority of books.
Patrick
