There's this D&D con that's being advertised as a fan event with a performance by some AP losers I've never heard of.
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@lichtenstein I think that we went from a state of cultural and economic collapse to thousands of new people piling into the hobby.
So much had been forgotten and so many good people had moved on. The advice being offered was a range of tedious and blinkered nerds who have done very well out of it to the broader detriment of the hobby.
They present running games as something technical that needs to be done *right* rather than something creative where you find your voice.
@Taskerland I wrote a single blog post on finding my voice just to show it wasn't useful. Generic advice to storytellers is weak, but specific advice is pointless to most people.
'Speak up'/ 'listen more'
'Plan better'/'improvise more'The best advice for some is also what most people don't need to hear.
@lichtenstein @Printdevil -
@Taskerland I wrote a single blog post on finding my voice just to show it wasn't useful. Generic advice to storytellers is weak, but specific advice is pointless to most people.
'Speak up'/ 'listen more'
'Plan better'/'improvise more'The best advice for some is also what most people don't need to hear.
@lichtenstein @PrintdevilI think that's where the crossover with creative thinking/management/PR etc etc becomes more interesting. There are oceans of books written about team building and "how to be heard in a team" and I'm sure at least three of them are good. Those are probably gold mines for gaming advice. I would seriously doubt any of the chinstroking beardlords would ever bother to mine for it though.
Same with textbook design and game layout. Blinding lack of insight there.
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I think that's where the crossover with creative thinking/management/PR etc etc becomes more interesting. There are oceans of books written about team building and "how to be heard in a team" and I'm sure at least three of them are good. Those are probably gold mines for gaming advice. I would seriously doubt any of the chinstroking beardlords would ever bother to mine for it though.
Same with textbook design and game layout. Blinding lack of insight there.
I mean there are really good books about "How to write a history book and lay it out for 12-16 year olds" and the graphics levels to use etc etc. Centuries of work texts and education in fact, and yet for some reason RPGs tend to go "that other RPG looked nice" or "I read this one book about game design that came out specifically about Chess and It seemed relevant"
Gamers have a terrible tendency either to copy wholesale or start from first principles
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I think that's where the crossover with creative thinking/management/PR etc etc becomes more interesting. There are oceans of books written about team building and "how to be heard in a team" and I'm sure at least three of them are good. Those are probably gold mines for gaming advice. I would seriously doubt any of the chinstroking beardlords would ever bother to mine for it though.
Same with textbook design and game layout. Blinding lack of insight there.
@Printdevil the only layout chat I hear is a) have an index, and b) don't make people use it (e.g. keep statblocks where you use them).
Is there something new in typography? Surely not!
@Taskerland @lichtenstein -
I mean there are really good books about "How to write a history book and lay it out for 12-16 year olds" and the graphics levels to use etc etc. Centuries of work texts and education in fact, and yet for some reason RPGs tend to go "that other RPG looked nice" or "I read this one book about game design that came out specifically about Chess and It seemed relevant"
Gamers have a terrible tendency either to copy wholesale or start from first principles
@Printdevil @malin @Taskerland @lichtenstein I always model my documents off of something masterfully done before
for example when i write intrigue adventures i usually reference The Midnight Mirror
some of the advice out there for TTRPG writers is astoundingly bad, there's an essay in one of the Kobold books that operates entirely from the premise that dungeons are an invention of fantasy fiction
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@Printdevil the only layout chat I hear is a) have an index, and b) don't make people use it (e.g. keep statblocks where you use them).
Is there something new in typography? Surely not!
@Taskerland @lichtensteinThat seems very specific to certain types of games.
Typography is always important. But not as important as topology (in its dictionary not geometric sense)
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@Printdevil @malin @Taskerland @lichtenstein I always model my documents off of something masterfully done before
for example when i write intrigue adventures i usually reference The Midnight Mirror
some of the advice out there for TTRPG writers is astoundingly bad, there's an essay in one of the Kobold books that operates entirely from the premise that dungeons are an invention of fantasy fiction
I think for your own use, you write and layout for yourself, and for other people you need a step back and seek appraisal a bit. If I was writing fiction I honestly could not give a fuck what an editor thought, because my voice is specifically mine and if I want to use adverbs and constantly refer to people as "basically tinfoil with eyes" I bloody will.
However when I'm writing a text book, I would pay heed to my audience not my jagged inner voice
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I think for your own use, you write and layout for yourself, and for other people you need a step back and seek appraisal a bit. If I was writing fiction I honestly could not give a fuck what an editor thought, because my voice is specifically mine and if I want to use adverbs and constantly refer to people as "basically tinfoil with eyes" I bloody will.
However when I'm writing a text book, I would pay heed to my audience not my jagged inner voice
I spent a year writing a whole lab manual course text for Psych 101 once and it really was a very interesting process, integrating different schools, experiments, graphics and at the same time trying to teach, but because it was a lab manual trying not to tell. I've always thought there was a lot of worthwhile lessons in that.
I'm not sure what they are mind you. I do drink a lot of paint.
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Well the seagulls are ever present here given my position overlooking the sea.
Although if I squinted I could shout at a guillemot.
Shout at a Guillemot is of course one of Harper Lee's least well known books.
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Maybe the nonchalance of the guillemot to being shouted at is the crux of the title reference.
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Sabon Lt Pro is a nice typeface and I must endeavour to remember that, the low case a there is lovely.
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If i ever open an artisan micro-brewery, my first pale ale is going to be “Surprised Guillemot".
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If i ever open an artisan micro-brewery, my first pale ale is going to be “Surprised Guillemot".
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