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Ten (More) Ways to Make Your Rulebook Awesome
Ten (More) Ways to Make Your Rulebook Awesome
All new!
Ten (More) Ways to Make Your Rulebook Awesome
All new!
Improved!
Ten (More) Ways to Make Your Rulebook Awesome
All new!
Improved!Maybe only actually
eight things!
Ten (More) Ways to Make Your Rulebook Awesome
All new!
Improved!Maybe only actually
eight things!But still like a hundred slides!
Ten (More) Ways to Make Your Rulebook Awesome
All new!
Improved!Maybe only actually
eight things!But still like a hundred slides!Don’t worry!
1. Say how you win.2. Give components some love.3. Use concrete language.4. Keep related elements close.5. Make what’s important obvious.6. Talk like a human.7. Be consistent. Painfully consistent.8. Go big, then small.9. Silo that info.10. Use all your tools.
Link at end.
Joshua Yearsley
Joshua Yearsley
Two Things
Structure
Structure
Lorem ipsum.Blah blah.Yadda yadda.
Text
Alright, get on with it!
1. Portion Your Rules
“Rules-ese”
NO: Cover every edge case, question, gray area, and quibble perfectly.
NO: Cover every edge case, question, gray area, and quibble perfectly.
WHY? Because it makes the essentials harder to grasp.
NO: Cover every edge case, question, gray area, and quibble perfectly.
INSTEAD: Build a simple, solid, intuitive foundation.
Build a simple, solid, intuitive foundation.
Build a simple, solid, intuitive foundation.
Make a Learn to Play book.
12 pages…
Rulebook
Rulebook
24 pages…
36 pages…
Rulebook
Learn to Play RulesReference
Rulebook
2. Signal Importance
Mechanics StrategyFAQsTips
Reference
Body Sidebars Examples
Body Sidebars Examples
Critical Non-critical
Common
Uncommon
Rulebook
Critical Non-critical
Common
Uncommon
Rulebook
Critical Non-critical
Common
Uncommon
Learn to Play
Critical Non-critical
Common
Uncommon
RulesReference
Critical Non-critical
Common
Uncommon
RulesReference
Learn to Play
RulesReference
STOP
STOP
Basic Rules
Additional Rules
Learn to Play
RulesReference
STOP
STOP
Cards exist.Cards are used for X during X.
Full anatomy and description of cards.
Card interactions.
Card rules exceptions.Extended card play examples.
Learn to Play RulesReference
3. Build a robust index
Learn to Play RulesReference
Learn to Play RulesReference
Narrative
Conceptual
Learn to Play RulesReference
Narrative
Conceptual
Complete
Linked
A, B, C…
✔Fury of Dracula (3E)
What it is.
✔Fury of Dracula (3E)
What it does.
✔Fury of Dracula (3E)
What it related.
4. Use tutorials carefully
TutorialText
TutorialText
RulesText
TutorialText
RulesText
TutorialText
TutorialText
RulesText
TutorialText
Basic Game
Basic Game
RunTutorialGame
Structure
Lorem ipsum.Blah blah.Yadda yadda.
Text
5. Use appropriate sentence types
Declarative
Imperative
Declarative
Imperative
Declarative
Imperative
Function
Declarative
“This happens.”
Declarative
Imperative
Imperative
“Do this.”
Declarative
Imperative
To play a Chaos card, a player simply does the following:
Chaos in the Old World
Declarative
To play a Chaos card, a player simply does the following:1. Chooses a card from his hand of
Chaos cards.
Chaos in the Old World
Declarative
To play a Chaos card, a player simply does the following:1. Chooses a card from his hand of
Chaos cards.2. Pays the selected card’s cost.
Chaos in the Old World
Declarative
To play a Chaos card, a player simply does the following:1. Chooses a card from his hand of
Chaos cards.2. Pays the selected card’s cost.3. Places the card on an empty
card space on any of the board’s nine regions and carries out its effects.
Chaos in the Old World
Declarative
To play a Chaos card, a player simply does the following:1. Chooses a card from his hand of
Chaos cards.2. Pays the selected card’s cost.3. Places the card on an empty
card space on any of the board’s nine regions and carries out its effects.
Chaos in the Old World
Declarative
ImperativeTo play a Chaos card, you:1. Choose a card from your hand of
Chaos cards.2. Pay the selected card’s cost.3. Place the card on an empty card
space on any of the board’s nine regions and carry out its effects.
ImperativeTo play a Chaos card:1. Choose a card from your hand of
Chaos cards.2. Pay the selected card’s cost.3. Place the card on an empty card
space on any of the board’s nine regions and carry out its effects.
✔
He?
She?
They?
Xi?
You!(implicit)
Declarative Imperative
(Third-person subject) (Second-person subject)
Imperative good?
Declarative bad?
Imperative good?
Declarative bad?
✔
✔
“Any player may grab the Totem.”
“All players flip their tiles at once.”
✔
6. Chunk concepts
✔Fury of Dracula (3E)
✔Fury of Dracula (3E)
✔Fury of Dracula (3E)
Cuba Libre
NominalizedTitles
Cuba Libre
ChunkedWell-ish
ChunkedBadly
Cuba Libre
7. Separate actions and concepts
✔Fury of Dracula (3E)
Action Rules
When a hunter performs a move action, he moves his figure on the board to indicate his new location, which must be either a city or a sea zone (see “What Are Locations?”).
✔Fury of Dracula (3E)
Concept Rules
Definitions / Concepts
Mechanic Mechanic
Interaction
Definitions / Concepts
Mechanic Mechanic
Interaction
Move Action
Definitions / Concepts
Mechanic Mechanic
Interaction
“What are locations?”
ConceptAction
SplitIntegrate
Action
Concept
ConceptAction
SplitIntegrate
Concept
Action
Action
Action
8. Define golden rules
You can do X.
You can do X. You can’t do X.
Definitions / Concepts
Mechanic Mechanic
Interaction
✔Imperial Assault
If a card or mission uses the word cannot, that effect is absolute and cannot be overridden by other effects.
Definitions / Concepts
Mechanic Mechanic
Interaction
Thank you!Questions?
www.joshuayearsley.com@joshuayearsley
[email protected] presentation: http://bit.ly/1Qlz7S1
