Monday, August 26, 2013
Jadepunk Design Vlog: Episode 1
While I am working on Jadepunk, I thought it might be interesting to you all if I recorded some of my thoughts and such on the process of designing a game. these will be short, five to ten minute, reviews of what is new with me that day with regards to Jadepunk. I hope you enjoy and find it useful.
Episode 1: International GM of Mystery
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The first thing to consider when writing is, "know your audience." If you are writing to children, make sure the book is understandable and interesting to children. If it's an advanced computer manual, use the proper terms and tone for them. So how does that apply here? Well, you are writing a setting hack for some relatively indie and esoteric game systems. Unlike D&D, the chance that Jadepunk is the very first game someone has ever played and they just happened to pick it up is IMO exceedingly small. This could be the first time they have GMed, having been a player in other games before and now trying their hand behind the non-existent screen, but that too is not all that likely.
ReplyDeleteIMO the likeliest scenario is that an experienced GM and players who have already read and possibly played some other version of Fate, Dungeon World, or whatever other system you're using and liked the sound of this setting and rules hack for it. If that indeed is most of your audience, you should be sure to write to them too, and not simplify or go over the basics they already know too much. (The Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide is an example of a GM book aimed too much at people who have never GMed or even played before, so much so that its usefulness to experienced GMs was compromised, but PF is a gateway game so you might expect that. Jadepunk is not really a gateway game IMO, and would benefit more from assuming GMs already know the basics of GMing and you use the space to describe the particulars for this setting and rules changes.)
PS: It's vlog, not vee-log, just like it's blog, not bee-log. There is also a flog. It probably won't be long until the phrase "flogging a dead horse" is going to have a whole different meaning to most people... :)
I am aware that the first batch of people who get this book, and most people afterward as well, will not need GMing for beginners. However I believe that is no reason to half ass or assume when writing the GM section.
DeleteI'm not saying to half-ass it, I'm saying focus on more advanced and more specific advice rather than "Beginner GMing 101". Just because someone is an experienced GM doesn't mean they don't need advice, they just need a different kind of advice. A textbook on "Advanced Chemistry for Graduate Students" isn't half-assed because it omits the basics, it's wisely using it's limited space for more advanced subjects. Fate, DW, Cortex and other such story games all have great advice for GMs already, build on that foundation.
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