A few years ago, Leo Hartas and I pitched the idea of a series of books called Game Gurus, each of which took an in-depth look at the creative, artistic and gameplay aspects of a specific genre. When the publisher told us that they, not we, owned the series we kind of lost interest in writing any more, but not before we completed the titles on Strategy and Role-Playing games, still available on Amazon US (preceding links) and at bargain prices on Amazon UK here and here.
Saturday, 2 April 2011
Game on
A few years ago, Leo Hartas and I pitched the idea of a series of books called Game Gurus, each of which took an in-depth look at the creative, artistic and gameplay aspects of a specific genre. When the publisher told us that they, not we, owned the series we kind of lost interest in writing any more, but not before we completed the titles on Strategy and Role-Playing games, still available on Amazon US (preceding links) and at bargain prices on Amazon UK here and here.
I've read the role-playing games one and I gleaned some very useful knowledge. One of the best tips from the book was that stats should be integral to the storyline. There are a lot of games (not just computer RPG ones) where I feel that the stats have just been tacked on.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's important to strike a balance between a stat list that is small enough to use and one that has enough scope to cover all the qualities you want to describe. GURPS has only four core stats - too few, as you can't readily differentiate between scholarly intelligence or cunning, a jeweller's dexterity or a bowman's, etc. This limits the range of different character types. Yet I've also played in games where a quality like "Outdoor Survival" is defined as a core stat, where it should surely be a derived skill.
ReplyDeleteIs the book about actual RPGs or CRPGs? I'm assuming the latter judging by the cover art.
ReplyDeleteIt's CRPGs. I don't think the paper-&-pencil RPG market is big enough to justify a full-color coffee table book. Unfortunately!
ReplyDelete