The Business: What Makes A Good Rules Manual

(Following from yesterday's post.)

The qualities that define a competent rules manual are the qualities that define a competent technical manual.

That manual must tell the reader--the user--what the widget is, how it works, and why it works that way. In particular, the manual to a fantastic adventure wargame must presume total nescience on the part of the reader; the writer must write for a user that has never played any such game before, has not even heard of the hobby before, and therefore must write for a target audience lacking familiarity with hobby-specific jargon and linguistic shorthand.

For most hobby products, the writer must also take into account the common literary competency of the target audience. In Gygax's day, that was a far better-read and cultured man than what we have now. Today, in practice, this translates as "Explain Like He's Five" and "Assume No Culture Familiarity Of Any Kind".

What does this translate into? An outline like this:

Rules Manual Outline

1. Introduction
   1. What is a fantastic adventure wargame?
   2. What is this fantastic adventure wargame?
   3. Glossary of terms and explanations for those terms.
2. Character Generation
   1. Procedure explained, including why.
   2. Attributes (w. chart)
   3. Procedure walkthrough, showing why in action.
   4. Playable races listed, explaining why this array and no more/less/others. (if applicable)
   5. Playable classes listed, ditto. (ditto)
   6. Skills/Powers listed, ditto. (ditto)
   7. Gear listed, ditto. (ditto)
3. Encounter Procedure
   1. Term defined, and procedure summarized with justification.
   2. Encounter walkthrough 1, using sample character from last chapter, to show how to handle interactive/non-combat encounters.
   3. Walkthrough 2, to show Man-To-Man combat procedure.
   4. Walkthrough 3, to show mass combat/conflict procedure (i.e. how to scale Man-To-Man up).
   5. Walkthrough 4, to show damage/injury/illness and recovery procedures. Loops back to Leveling up; reinforces mandatory downtime concept.
4. Arbitration Procedure
   1. Referee defined and explained.
   2. Walkthrough 1, showing simple session procedure (using above from Referee's perspective).
   3. Walkthrough 2, showing interactions from off-table in play.
   4. Walkthrough 3, showing arbitration of downtime activities.
   5. Walkthrough 4, showing delegation of tasks and introducing Faction/Patron Play.
   6. Walkthrough 5, showing arbitration of character performance and rewards for play.
5. Appendices
   1. Appendix 1: Common Oppostion Forces
   2. Appendix 2: Reference Charts
   3. Appendix 3: Random Content Generation Charts
   4. Appendix 4: External References (ala DMG's Appendix N)
   5. Appendix 5: Designer Notes
6. Conclusion

You will note that I emphasize "why" a lot. This is a direct reference to Chesterson's Fence, and a lot of Cargo Cult problems stem from a lack of comprehension as to why the rules and procedures are the way that they are- and thus a lack of comprehension of the intent behind the design. Put that out there, clearly communicated, and a lot of problems go away right there.

The reason for this approach is because there is a massive misconception of what this hobby is, what this medium is, how it works and why it works that way. Explainnig "why" constantly as you go fixes that problem- and so does what is left out, which is "LOL do what you like". This is a complete product, designed to execute a specific and comprehensive function to achieve an equally especific and comprehensive end. If you want LEGO, go buy some. Hobby game products ain't it, chief- and a competent game manual makes this clear, consistent, and comprehensible to the reader.