AWW: A question about presentation.

So, the test version of the Basic Character Guide is going to end up clocking in at somewhere between 50 and 60 pages. Which is a lot for a "basic" anything, but most of that is content, e.g., things to choose from.

The rules governing each of the four steps are pretty short... most of the pages are filled up with stuff to choose, rather than restrictions and complications on how you choose them. Describing how to read a Quality, the process of picking them, and how to fill out the sheet takes a page. The rules for picking gear takes about half a page.

So here's a question that I've been bouncing back and forth on: Is it better to have the "rules" for making a character up front, one section just a few pages long with Step One, Step Two, Step Three, and Step Four, and have them refer you the section with the Qualities, the section with the Details, and the section with the Gear to make your choices? Or better to have the process in with the content, at the start of each section?

I've seen roleplaying games handle it both ways, and to be honest I have no idea which one is better because I never read a roleplaying game book from front to back in the first place. Gamers out there, which do you prefer? What's easier to learn?

AWW: Another look at Qualities.

The last time I posted sample Qualities, I was going with a format that fit all three tiers onto one page. I've moved away from that... as nice and neat and orderly as it is to have a Quality that fits on one page, readability suffered.

So I increased each tier to half a page, and used the half left over to cover a basic description of the Quality... what it's for, what kind of stats it works with. A whole Quality still fits on one double-sided sheet, but now you could pick that sheet up and read an overview of what it's about before tackling the nuts and bolts of it.

To give an idea of how this works, I've chosen one of the "busiest" Qualities in the starter pack, Treasure Hunter... this one has more ranked abilities per level than is usual, which means it was badly overcrowded before the change.

Here it is.

For those of you who are following this as it lumbers towards something resembling completion, I'm curious to know how you would rate the readability of the format, and if you feel like you can get the gist of what each of the special abilities is about... they'll make more sense when paired with the rules, obviously, but can you get a sense of what this character does?