diff -r 3164c82ac16e -r bdef1afd1170 draft/wind27mar02.txt --- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/draft/wind27mar02.txt Wed Aug 30 21:32:44 2006 -0400 @@ -0,0 +1,237 @@ +RPGnet + + + + Reviews Forums +News & Press Columns & +Info RPG Wiki + RPG Shop + + + + Wind in the Flowers: Re-inventing a Game + + + Editing, Development, and Production + +*R. Sean Borgstrom* +March 27, 2002 +*Rated an A+ by 24 RPGnet readers!* + +Rate this column! + + + +The manuscript left my hands after two months of intensive writing and +entered the similarly five-fingered hands of one Bruce Baugh, editor. +The first major change to come out of this was a structural reorganization. + +The Pharos edition was, roughly speaking, written in the published +order. I worked on the character creation section first, because I had +to know what the characters could do before I knew what kind of world +they lived in. At the end of that section, I had established a +significant amount of information on the world, which I tidied up to +create a description of the setting. Afterwards, I felt a need to round +this out by describing the major NPC types in the setting. Then followed +a chapter on resolving conflicts, an example of play, and advice on +running the game. Finally, I stuck an introduction in front. + +If this sounds somewhat primitive, it was. *Nobilis* was essentially my +first work in gaming, and I had a long way to go before I would polish +any of my craft. And perhaps it is obvious that this needed some +rearrangement. But I hesitated to fiddle with that kind of thing too +much in my own editing, because my job was theoretically cleaning up the +book and adding a few small sections. + +(If you're wondering how I got from 'cleaning up the book and adding a +few small sections' to 'writing 130,000 new words for it in two months', +so am I. Please tell me if you ever find out. But when I had written +them, James Wallis told me he wanted them all, so it's cool.) + +Bruce, accordingly, shuffled the setting and introductory material to +the front and pushed various rules stuff more cleanly into the rules +chapter. This broke some structural dependencies; that is, it created a +few extra references to concepts not yet explained. He worked on fixing +that too. Then, of course, came long stretches of regularizing +capitalization, cleaving grammar knots, and suchlike. I'm sure he +probably killed great numbers of my semicolons, as I overuse them, and +left the commas and periods bewailing the slain. Editors are +underappreciated; it's finicky, important work. + +From there, I think, I shall step to overall product design. Section +header quotes are both frequent and long in *Nobilis*. Many of them are +literal excerpts from game world events, recorded from the thoughts or +copied from the diaries of characters within the setting. A number of +others represent fictional works from the game world that, in some +fashion or other, set the tone for the appropriate section. I'm not +going to go into why they're there; mostly, to keep the reader "in the +world". + +In any event, in the Pharos edition, the quotes served as the primary +source of art. The italicized sections, each a word-picture, broke up +the flow of plain black text. The attribution visually set them off. +This was good, because we didn't have much other art to put in. + +The original book was also a peculiar, small size, due to limitations of +the print on demand process used. It had no margins, pretty much. James +or Bruce had come up with the idea of the new edition (a) having +margins, and (b) shifting the section-header quotes there. This in +theory would provide some content to the margin, so it wasn't wasted +space and wasted money, and also give some visual variety. Actual art +and the section headers themselves would be used to break up the flow of +black text. + +James wanted a visually distinctive book, and, after playing around with +the concept, he developed the idea for an 11x11 book with a photo art +nouveau cover. This would allow two solid columns, room for quotes in +the margin, and a book that would look beautiful sitting on a table or a +shelf. The resemblance to a coffee-table book isn't entirely accidental; +we wanted to make something the reader would be glad to own. + +James had originally planned to purchase and reprint *Nobilis*, more or +less, not develop a brand new edition. But by this point---long before, +really---it was clear that this was a new product. This led, naturally, +to a new, longer production schedule, which in turn gave us time to +start a round of serious playtesting. This was a nice thing, all in all, +and led to many changes in the text. The design principle was fairly +straightforward: things that they found that were broken, I fixed. This +is why playtesters get an acknowledgment at the front of the book; and +I'll throw in another one here. Thank you! + +Not that much in the way of complexity came up during the layout itself. +James chose a slightly different format for Ianthe's sections (see a +previous column ) and made various game abbreviations +small-capped. The single-column format used for the Ianthe section +appears to me to better mimic the style of a person speaking or writing +a letter. The small caps . . . hm. James told me that it looks better. +If I were pondering this decision myself, I would say that abbreviations +are one of those things that puts the reader very much into "gaming +mode", and by making them crouch in on themselves, he minimized this +impact. We wobbled back and forth on how to do the Example of Play, +which had very few headings and therefore large sections of blank +margin. There are pieces of fiction interwoven with the Example of Play, +showing the perspective of some minor NPCs; at first, these were moved +to the margins. That filled the margins completely and told the story +out of order. Ultimately, we solved this the obvious way: James made me +write more quotes for the margin. + +Then came lots and lots of proofreading. And more proofreading. James +proofread many times. I proofread once. (I've been busy.) I think Bruce +proofread. I think there were also some volunteer or professional +proofreaders he sent things to; if volunteers, thank you! + +That brings us up to the time of this writing. The printers have +returned proofs and James is looking at them. By the time you actually +see this column, *Nobilis* should be at most a week or two away! + +R. Sean + + + What do you think? + +Go to forum! + Go to Top | New Topic + | View Threads + | Search + + + Topics Author Date Latest Reply + James and the Small Caps + (2) new Kibo +08-20-2002 16:29 02-10-2003 01:23 new + Art (1) new Lxndr +04-26-2002 07:36 04-26-2002 07:36 new + The Original Nobilis Club + (3) new Bret Gillan +04-17-2002 11:28 03-17-2003 17:48 new + Questions & Thoughts + (3) new Pyske +03-20-2002 18:31 05-01-2003 13:03 new + Noble Buddhism? + (9) new Tlaloc +03-20-2002 12:17 12-10-2004 01:20 new + Noble Suicide (9) new +Eric Christian Berg 03-20-2002 07:43 01-18-2005 16:27 new + Art Notes (4) new R. +Sean Borgstrom 03-14-2002 16:31 03-21-2002 03:44 new + Ack...you just lost my sale + (10) new SteveD +03-14-2002 04:06 03-15-2002 06:29 new + Onomastikon working URL + (4) new Jorge +Hernández 03-06-2002 12:51 08-20-2002 16:10 new + Why do angels change names ? + (10) new philippe +tromeur 03-06-2002 10:13 12-10-2004 01:34 new + R. Sean, some examples? + (3) new Arref +03-05-2002 08:17 03-13-2002 20:28 new + Sounds great, BUT... + (2) new Kane +02-27-2002 16:43 02-27-2002 17:30 new + Sort of backwards? + (8) new Eric Finley +02-20-2002 14:25 02-28-2002 09:35 new + Programmer nature slips out! + (2) new Sean +McCarthy 02-20-2002 13:18 02-21-2002 10:30 new + Object Lesson Damage + (1) new Darren +Miguez 02-13-2002 12:45 02-13-2002 12:45 new + How about this? + (2) new Kristian +Lund 02-13-2002 11:30 02-14-2002 01:17 new + Now, this was strange! + (7) new access.denied +02-13-2002 07:44 02-16-2002 21:44 new + Briefs on the other two? + (5) new Eric Finley +01-31-2002 18:39 02-13-2002 10:36 new + Forum now works (1) new +Sandy Antunes 01-31-2002 17:36 01-31-2002 17:36 new + limited series (2) new +Sandy Antunes 01-21-2002 17:41 01-31-2002 17:36 new + + Go to Top | New Topic + | View Threads + | Search + + + Newer Messages + | Older Messages + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + * Editing, Development, and Production + + March 27, 2002 + * Affiliations + March 20, 2002 + * How to be a Hollyhock God + March 13, 2002 + * Naming Conventions + March 6, 2002 + * Art Notes + February 27, 2002 + * Dynamic Nobilis + February 20, 2002 + * Systems Change + February 13, 2002 + * Treachery + February 6, 2002 + * The Emperor to Come + January 31, 2002 + * The Changing of the Guard + January 21, 2002 + + + Other columns at RPGnet + +[ Read FAQ | Subscribe to RSS + | Contact Us | +Advertise with Us ] + +Copyright © 1996-2006 RPGnet & individual authors, All Rights Reserved +RPGnet® is a registered trademark of Skotos Tech Inc., all rights reserved. +