Seeking Feedback - Hesitation at the Gate

[dominik]

The general feedback I have is to remove all formatting before you start laying everything out and use some simple convention for stuff. Typically you’d use one color for emphasis, another for pull quotes and such, yet another for headings. This way it will be much easier to import it into your editor of choice.

This is something I think I didn’t mention before but: don’t invest in a lot of art unless you know what style you’re aiming for and what general layout you’re going to have. Polish two to four pages from your document in Affinity Designer or some other tool you’re familiar with/have access to. Make sure you include most of the things that will end up in your layouts so, for example, if you plan on having tables, have a table there; if you want vertical art, have it there. It’s crucial that if you plan on sharing it to gather feedback, you should commission the art pieces and shouldn’t use random placeholder art you have no rights to - but I’m sure you’re aware of that.

I can’t guarantee that but I suspect that you won’t be satisfied with your first super polished attempt. But that’s OK since you’ve wasted time on two pages instead of eighty. Even things like the number and sizes of columns, margins and gutters will take time to get right. And these things interact with the desired sizes and proportions of art you can have. You may realize that in order to improve access you need page headers with section names. Size, placement and presentation of page numbers will matter. And so on.

What I’m trying to say is: polish a tiny vertical slice of your book first to get an idea of how much and what sort of art you need before you pay for it (among other things). And try to stick to fonts that are free for commercial use so you don’t end up with a problem on your hands.

[DeReel]

typo : rules of crop up (to),
typo ? : categories; Physical , bonds; Personal, ( : ) “his condition is also interference by our enemies” (also caused by)
shave : what would commonly be called skills. codified ; or player ;

Suggestions :

(age) from teen to geriatric ;

rephrase Personal bonds to justify their being called Bonds at all (as is done with Magic-Wands)

I need this upfront : “you are aiming to make a character that will create drama, not to be a perfect conqueror.”

Rather than explanation of Affect, bonds, works or ToI, I would prefer ready made examples to pick from. It’s very handy and fast too, and there would be a general rule that “you can begin to change things when you know the game better”

I want a cheat sheet on howto Use Bonds during game on my Character sheet or something.

I sometimes don’t know whether the rules speak of the fictional world or the real world, which is not comfortable at all ; eg : In “the rank of a work … depleted” we switch from “work” as a game term to its fiction analogue.

This is page 15 and I really like the epistolary pauses. They remind me of Annalise, where rules, actual play and comments waltz together.

[DeReel]

So, where is it at ? Do you make progress ?

[Radmad]

sorry for the radio silence. I’ve been chipping away at final edits. My artist bailed on me so I’m looking for a new one.

I apologize for the delay, but don’t worry, I haven’t abandoned the project.

[Radmad]

Oh god it’s been 7 months…

Art is done! Rules are done! Now it’s just layouts, final edits, and publishing. It’s been a hell of a year, thanks again for everyone that took the time review and critique. I’m sorry it took so long for me to get back to this project!

I’m gonna be talking a lot about HatG on Twitter to promote. If you’re active there a hundred blessings to anyone retweets and/or helps with engagement! If you want a demo kit just let me know.

[dominik]

Congrats, @Radmad! Where/in what form are you planing on publishing?

[Radmad]

For now digital only. I plan to release on Itch.io and Drivethru.

For Itch I plan on doing a perpetual promotion where for every sale I add a community copy.