10 Tips for Amateur RPG Writers

Mostly I write about my game. But I thought I'd try and do something helpful.

So here's 10 tips for amateur RPG writers. Not a definitive list, and I'm sure there's room for disagreement, but hopefully all three of my readers will find something useful.

1) Divide sections into their own separate word documents.

Rule books are long documents. When complete, they are often in excess of a hundred pages. Add on to this the copious notes, half baked ideas, scraps of information, beefy tables and a lot of 1 line paragraphs... the document quickly becomes unwieldy. Breaking it up into separate documents means much less scrolling.

2) Format it

Once you've got something substantial down, format it properly. Put in a background colour, choose a font pattern, add in a contents page, and most of all put in some pictures. It's often difficult to see just how far you've come with your game. This really helps to keep you inspired.

Additionally, use columns. Like dividing sections into their own documents, this helps reduce the scrolling. But it also allows you to look at more information at once, giving a better sense of your own progress. And it makes it look like a rulebook.

4) Use benchmarks

It's easy to become overwhelmed with vague, indeterminate numbers. A difficulty roll +10. Skill 64. Get around this by listing some benchmarks. These can be determined by level (e.g. a level 1 character, a level 5 character etc.), or by word (e.g. novice, heroic, divine). Either way, this really helps nail the numbers down to something meaningful, which in turn lets you keep track of what the numbers are really doing.

5) Chop and change

Don't stick resolutely to one section. Settle on a section, say combat, add a bit here, and then the moment you run out of steam switch to something different. Such as magic.

6) Use versions

Sometimes you realise something's not right and you want to make massive changes. Start a new version. Probably you'll have a folder... let's say your game is called "Hogan's Run". So you have a folder "Hogansrun" with all the documents and things in. Create a new folder within that one. "Hogansrun2". Copy the old documents into the new folder and start ripping it to shreds. And when you need another new version, create a new folder within "Hogunsrun2" called "Hogansrun3". This gives you a clear history of your progress. Everything is preserved, nothing is lost, it's easy to go back a step or to import something from the version before last.

6) Keep it simple

It's tough to get anyone to play a game you've written. It's even tougher if it requires a graphical calculater or lots of writing down numbers. Try and avoid using fractions or decimals. At the same time, the lower you can keep the numbers, the easier it will be to grasp.

7) Don't become fixated with the past

A lot of times, when writing a background, I've started off by inventing a Creation Story, and then attempted to write a complete history from that point on. You know, how the gods came to be, and so forth. This is a mistake. Firstly, lore is like a tree. You start with a trunk and the further you branch out through the timeline, the weaker the branches become. The players (probably) won't be playing at the time of creation. They'll be playing thousands of years later. You want your strongest plot elements to be in the present, not the past. While they may believe in a creation myth, they won't know the truth of it from the get go. In fact, you may choose to always keep it ambiguous. So why spend all that effort nailing it to a post?

Instead, start at the present, and then go backwards. If the distant past is vague, that's okay. In fact, usually that's very helpful. I have wasted a lot of time trying to artificially blur the past in my background.

8) Create a character sheet

Format it properly. Revise it periodically. Make sure it fits neatly on a page (or possible two). This helps you monitor your progress, and also serves to warn you when things are getting too complicated.

9) Give everything a name

Never just have "+2 bonus to skill". Have "skill mastery" and then indicate that this gives a +2 bonus to skill. This is one of the most endearing elements of D&D 3rd Edition. The feats, suitably named, give all those little bonuses a concept, a solid basis that makes them add to the spirit of your character as well as his underlying mechanics.

10) Buy Roget's Thesaurus

For when you need to break "wizard" down into 8 sub-categories or need 5 words for "skill".

Elements 8 Update

I've been quiet recently. For the couple of people who read this blog with interest (as opposed to dismay), I thought I'd better provide an update. Just so you know I haven't disappeared into the ether.

My silence has been caused by three things.

i) Work has been keeping me busy
ii) I've been revamping various rules (often in light of feedback on this blog)
iii) I've been working to get the rules into a publishable state (which will assist playtesting)

Regarding the first, work sucks. Here's hoping I can one day quit my job and write games instead.

Regarding the second, here's an overview of the changes I've been making.

• Skills can now be trained. Although this increases the time needed to create an NPC (adding ~six words to the description), the system is now much more flexible, allowing specific skills to be better than usual. It still isn't absolutely flexible - you can't make a character with no martial talent who is a dab hand at parrying. But you can make characters whose training makes up for their lack of talent, or make characters whose training allows them to take full advantage of their talent.
• Rolls are now 3d6 instead of 1d20.
• Spells no longer fail. It is possible for them to be so weak as to be essentially useless, but your spell won't just fizzle. Spells are still managed via Aspects, and Aspects are still generally added one per round, however there are two mechanisms that can be used to speed up casting. One is "Hasty casting". This reduces the power of the aspect in exchange for being able to cast more than one aspect in a round. The other is "Manifold casting". This allows you to "save" Aspects, allowing for the fast repetition of a spell. So you can cast a spell in one round, and you can cast a spell more slowly, but once it's complete repeat it every round. Or both if you're a very skilled mage and the spell isn't too demanding.
• Interactions have been slightly simplified, and the rules surrounding Motivations clarified. Altruism has been added as a Motivation.
• Combat has been simplified and rebalanced slightly. Rules for monks are now in. Rules for manoeuvres (jumping behind tables) and formations (fighting back to back) are now in.
• Skills have been slightly condensed.
• Benchmarks have been added for skills, talents and attributes. This has enabled proper adjudication of starting stats and helped to consolidate the system.
• Spells have undergone first proper draft for 5 of the 10 magic areas. Current favourites: "Lichedom" which allows you to turn your character into a liche and "Frozen Scabbard" which prevents weapons being drawn unless the targets pass a Heave check.
• Damage resistance has been simplified. Initially, this was very complex, since it was hard to treat "Suffocation" in the same way as "Immolation". With a few liberties, the damage system now works rather well. There are still 11 types of damage, which is a pain in some ways. But I couldn't quite bring myself to remove any. Fortunately, at any given time, you will only tend to be dealing with a few damage types.

Regarding the third, I've done a lot of formatting work, and added a bunch of pictures snaffled from the interwebs. The artwork is all provisional, all uncredited, almost certainly in breach of copywrite were it to be distributed. Nevertheless, it's really helped me get a sense of what the rulebook could (will) look like. The artwork will be removed (or replaced if I can find a friendly artist) prior to any significant distribution. As it stands, it's likely the rules will consist of 5 booklets, each of about 20 pages. Four of these booklets will cover Basic Rules; Characters; Magic; Bestiary. The final booklet will have various tables consolidated into reference sheets as well as blank character sheets and similar useful things.

Here's some screenshots so you can see how it's coming along: