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11 |
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12 Wind in the Flowers: Re-inventing a Game |
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13 |
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14 |
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15 Editing, Development, and Production |
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16 |
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17 *R. Sean Borgstrom* |
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18 March 27, 2002 |
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19 *Rated an A+ by 24 RPGnet readers!* |
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20 |
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21 Rate this column! |
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22 |
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23 |
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24 |
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25 The manuscript left my hands after two months of intensive writing and |
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26 entered the similarly five-fingered hands of one Bruce Baugh, editor. |
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27 The first major change to come out of this was a structural reorganization. |
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28 |
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29 The Pharos edition was, roughly speaking, written in the published |
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30 order. I worked on the character creation section first, because I had |
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31 to know what the characters could do before I knew what kind of world |
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32 they lived in. At the end of that section, I had established a |
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33 significant amount of information on the world, which I tidied up to |
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34 create a description of the setting. Afterwards, I felt a need to round |
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35 this out by describing the major NPC types in the setting. Then followed |
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36 a chapter on resolving conflicts, an example of play, and advice on |
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37 running the game. Finally, I stuck an introduction in front. |
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38 |
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39 If this sounds somewhat primitive, it was. *Nobilis* was essentially my |
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40 first work in gaming, and I had a long way to go before I would polish |
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41 any of my craft. And perhaps it is obvious that this needed some |
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42 rearrangement. But I hesitated to fiddle with that kind of thing too |
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43 much in my own editing, because my job was theoretically cleaning up the |
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44 book and adding a few small sections. |
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45 |
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46 (If you're wondering how I got from 'cleaning up the book and adding a |
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47 few small sections' to 'writing 130,000 new words for it in two months', |
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48 so am I. Please tell me if you ever find out. But when I had written |
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49 them, James Wallis told me he wanted them all, so it's cool.) |
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50 |
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51 Bruce, accordingly, shuffled the setting and introductory material to |
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52 the front and pushed various rules stuff more cleanly into the rules |
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53 chapter. This broke some structural dependencies; that is, it created a |
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54 few extra references to concepts not yet explained. He worked on fixing |
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55 that too. Then, of course, came long stretches of regularizing |
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56 capitalization, cleaving grammar knots, and suchlike. I'm sure he |
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57 probably killed great numbers of my semicolons, as I overuse them, and |
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58 left the commas and periods bewailing the slain. Editors are |
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59 underappreciated; it's finicky, important work. |
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60 |
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61 From there, I think, I shall step to overall product design. Section |
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62 header quotes are both frequent and long in *Nobilis*. Many of them are |
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63 literal excerpts from game world events, recorded from the thoughts or |
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64 copied from the diaries of characters within the setting. A number of |
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65 others represent fictional works from the game world that, in some |
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66 fashion or other, set the tone for the appropriate section. I'm not |
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67 going to go into why they're there; mostly, to keep the reader "in the |
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68 world". |
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69 |
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70 In any event, in the Pharos edition, the quotes served as the primary |
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71 source of art. The italicized sections, each a word-picture, broke up |
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72 the flow of plain black text. The attribution visually set them off. |
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73 This was good, because we didn't have much other art to put in. |
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74 |
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75 The original book was also a peculiar, small size, due to limitations of |
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76 the print on demand process used. It had no margins, pretty much. James |
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77 or Bruce had come up with the idea of the new edition (a) having |
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78 margins, and (b) shifting the section-header quotes there. This in |
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79 theory would provide some content to the margin, so it wasn't wasted |
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80 space and wasted money, and also give some visual variety. Actual art |
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81 and the section headers themselves would be used to break up the flow of |
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82 black text. |
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83 |
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84 James wanted a visually distinctive book, and, after playing around with |
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85 the concept, he developed the idea for an 11x11 book with a photo art |
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86 nouveau cover. This would allow two solid columns, room for quotes in |
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87 the margin, and a book that would look beautiful sitting on a table or a |
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88 shelf. The resemblance to a coffee-table book isn't entirely accidental; |
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89 we wanted to make something the reader would be glad to own. |
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90 |
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91 James had originally planned to purchase and reprint *Nobilis*, more or |
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92 less, not develop a brand new edition. But by this point---long before, |
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93 really---it was clear that this was a new product. This led, naturally, |
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94 to a new, longer production schedule, which in turn gave us time to |
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95 start a round of serious playtesting. This was a nice thing, all in all, |
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96 and led to many changes in the text. The design principle was fairly |
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97 straightforward: things that they found that were broken, I fixed. This |
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98 is why playtesters get an acknowledgment at the front of the book; and |
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99 I'll throw in another one here. Thank you! |
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100 |
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101 Not that much in the way of complexity came up during the layout itself. |
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102 James chose a slightly different format for Ianthe's sections (see a |
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103 previous column <wind13mar02.html>) and made various game abbreviations |
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104 small-capped. The single-column format used for the Ianthe section |
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105 appears to me to better mimic the style of a person speaking or writing |
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106 a letter. The small caps . . . hm. James told me that it looks better. |
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107 If I were pondering this decision myself, I would say that abbreviations |
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108 are one of those things that puts the reader very much into "gaming |
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109 mode", and by making them crouch in on themselves, he minimized this |
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110 impact. We wobbled back and forth on how to do the Example of Play, |
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111 which had very few headings and therefore large sections of blank |
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112 margin. There are pieces of fiction interwoven with the Example of Play, |
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113 showing the perspective of some minor NPCs; at first, these were moved |
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114 to the margins. That filled the margins completely and told the story |
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115 out of order. Ultimately, we solved this the obvious way: James made me |
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116 write more quotes for the margin. |
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117 |
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118 Then came lots and lots of proofreading. And more proofreading. James |
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119 proofread many times. I proofread once. (I've been busy.) I think Bruce |
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120 proofread. I think there were also some volunteer or professional |
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121 proofreaders he sent things to; if volunteers, thank you! |
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122 |
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123 That brings us up to the time of this writing. The printers have |
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124 returned proofs and James is looking at them. By the time you actually |
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125 see this column, *Nobilis* should be at most a week or two away! |
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126 |
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127 R. Sean |
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128 |
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129 |
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130 What do you think? <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> |
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131 |
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132 Go to forum! <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> |
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133 Go to Top <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> | New Topic |
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134 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/post.php?f=88> | View Threads |
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135 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&collapse=0> | Search |
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136 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/search.php?f=88> |
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137 |
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138 Topics Author Date Latest Reply |
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139 James and the Small Caps |
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140 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=81&t=81> (2) new Kibo |
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141 08-20-2002 16:29 02-10-2003 01:23 new |
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142 Art <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=77&t=77> (1) new Lxndr |
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143 04-26-2002 07:36 04-26-2002 07:36 new |
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144 The Original Nobilis Club |
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145 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=76&t=76> (3) new Bret Gillan |
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146 04-17-2002 11:28 03-17-2003 17:48 new |
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147 Questions & Thoughts |
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148 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=64&t=64> (3) new Pyske |
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149 03-20-2002 18:31 05-01-2003 13:03 new |
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150 Noble Buddhism? |
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151 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=61&t=61> (9) new Tlaloc |
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152 03-20-2002 12:17 12-10-2004 01:20 new |
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153 Noble Suicide <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=58&t=58> (9) new |
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154 Eric Christian Berg 03-20-2002 07:43 01-18-2005 16:27 new |
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155 Art Notes <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=54&t=54> (4) new R. |
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156 Sean Borgstrom 03-14-2002 16:31 03-21-2002 03:44 new |
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157 Ack...you just lost my sale |
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158 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=45&t=45> (10) new SteveD |
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159 03-14-2002 04:06 03-15-2002 06:29 new |
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160 Onomastikon working URL |
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161 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=36&t=36> (4) new Jorge |
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162 Hernández 03-06-2002 12:51 08-20-2002 16:10 new |
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163 Why do angels change names ? |
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164 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=33&t=33> (10) new philippe |
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165 tromeur 03-06-2002 10:13 12-10-2004 01:34 new |
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166 R. Sean, some examples? |
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167 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=32&t=32> (3) new Arref |
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168 03-05-2002 08:17 03-13-2002 20:28 new |
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169 Sounds great, BUT... |
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170 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=28&t=28> (2) new Kane |
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171 02-27-2002 16:43 02-27-2002 17:30 new |
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172 Sort of backwards? |
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173 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=21&t=21> (8) new Eric Finley |
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174 02-20-2002 14:25 02-28-2002 09:35 new |
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175 Programmer nature slips out! |
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176 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=20&t=20> (2) new Sean |
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177 McCarthy 02-20-2002 13:18 02-21-2002 10:30 new |
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178 Object Lesson Damage |
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179 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=15&t=15> (1) new Darren |
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180 Miguez 02-13-2002 12:45 02-13-2002 12:45 new |
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181 How about this? |
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182 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=12&t=12> (2) new Kristian |
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183 Lund 02-13-2002 11:30 02-14-2002 01:17 new |
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184 Now, this was strange! |
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185 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=9&t=9> (7) new access.denied |
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186 02-13-2002 07:44 02-16-2002 21:44 new |
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187 Briefs on the other two? |
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188 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=5&t=5> (5) new Eric Finley |
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189 01-31-2002 18:39 02-13-2002 10:36 new |
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190 Forum now works <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=4&t=4> (1) new |
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191 Sandy Antunes 01-31-2002 17:36 01-31-2002 17:36 new |
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192 limited series <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=1&t=1> (2) new |
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193 Sandy Antunes 01-21-2002 17:41 01-31-2002 17:36 new |
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194 |
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195 Go to Top <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> | New Topic |
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196 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/post.php?f=88> | View Threads |
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197 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&collapse=0> | Search |
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198 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/search.php?f=88> |
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199 |
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200 Newer Messages |
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201 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&t=81&a=1&> | Older Messages |
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202 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&t=1&a=2&> |
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203 |
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204 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
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205 |
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206 * Editing, Development, and Production |
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207 </news+reviews/columns/wind27mar02.html> |
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208 March 27, 2002 |
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209 * Affiliations </news+reviews/columns/wind20mar02.html> |
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210 March 20, 2002 |
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211 * How to be a Hollyhock God </news+reviews/columns/wind13mar02.html> |
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212 March 13, 2002 |
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213 * Naming Conventions </news+reviews/columns/wind06mar02.html> |
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214 March 6, 2002 |
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215 * Art Notes </news+reviews/columns/wind27feb02.html> |
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216 February 27, 2002 |
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217 * Dynamic Nobilis </news+reviews/columns/wind20feb02.html> |
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218 February 20, 2002 |
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219 * Systems Change </news+reviews/columns/wind13feb02.html> |
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220 February 13, 2002 |
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221 * Treachery </news+reviews/columns/wind06feb02.html> |
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222 February 6, 2002 |
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223 * The Emperor to Come </news+reviews/columns/wind31jan02.html> |
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224 January 31, 2002 |
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225 * The Changing of the Guard </news+reviews/columns/wind21jan02.html> |
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226 January 21, 2002 |
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227 |
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228 |
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229 Other columns </news+reviews/columns.html> at RPGnet |
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230 |
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