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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8410199" data-attributes="member: 42582">If I was writing a set of RPG rules it wouldn't read like AW. It would read more like my posts - ie an academic essay tone but with too many dashes and italics used to introduce a vaguely spoken-word feeling.But I think there' s no denying that AW is written clearly - it tells us how to play, whose job it is to do what (which is well ahead of all but a small number of published RPGs) and also establishes the tone of casual violence and the veneer (at least - maybe it can go deeper) of indifference that are features of the setting.To be honest, I find a lot of D&amp;D material overwritten and overwrought, but also a bit underdone when it actually comes to explaining the processes of play.I find it pretty clear as far as the processes of play are concerned.And I think if people don't like the prose, that's really on them. Vincent Baker is clearly extremely deliberate as a game designer, and I doubt that he wasn't equally deliberate in choosing how to write the rulebook. Sometimes the onus is on the audience to grapple with the work, if they want to engage with what it has to offer.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8410199, member: 42582"] If I was writing a set of RPG rules it wouldn't read like AW. It would read more like my posts - ie an academic essay tone but with too many dashes and [I]italics [/I]used to introduce a vaguely spoken-word feeling. But I think there' s no denying that AW is written clearly - it tells us how to play, whose job it is to do what (which is well ahead of all but a small number of published RPGs) and also establishes the tone of casual violence and the veneer (at least - maybe it can go deeper) of indifference that are features of the setting. To be honest, I find a lot of D&D material overwritten and overwrought, but also a bit underdone when it actually comes to explaining the processes of play. I find it pretty clear as far as the processes of play are concerned. And I think if people don't like the prose, that's really on them. Vincent Baker is clearly [I]extremely[/I] deliberate as a game designer, and I doubt that he wasn't equally deliberate in choosing how to write the rulebook. Sometimes the onus is on the audience to grapple with the work, if they want to engage with what it has to offer. [/QUOTE]

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