Because I sold all my PoD copies and my printer is broke, and it's a bit rough to expect players to play a game they don't have a copy of.

Mind you, old Gygax said in the DMG that the players knowing all the rules of the game deprives them of the "joy" of a "sense of wonder" the'd have from not knowing just how the world works.

Also, my players like to roll lots of dice. A couple of d4s just doesn't do it for them. Also I want to really make them suffer by alpha-testing my Action Points and Risk Dice ideas on them. I have the write-up of it. I wonder if 11 pages is too long for Cab here?

PS, Check your yahoo, Clash. There's a short and sweet rpg in there.

Size of an RPG book?

 If they want to be friendly to retailers then they should all be close to the size of the typical WotC, White Wolf, or SJG hardback book - thats what all of our shelves are sized to.  

MUCH easier to stock said books that way.

 STAR WARS SAGA edition ? Annoring shape & size, VERY annoying. It juts out from the shelf and grabs attention sure, but customers have also complained that it doesn't fit their backpacs(briefcases, shoulder bags) as well as their other RPG books do.


 Also TOO THINK is a big pain. Both World's Largest Dungeon and Ptolus had the problem of being so large that browsers were honestly concerned about hurting the bindings. Also the prices were too high and intimidating for many people.

There gets to be a certain point when a book gets so big and thick that it could be used better as a doorstop  than a book - thats too THICK  a book.

- Ed C.

Quote from: Kyle AaronBecause I sold all my PoD copies and my printer is broke, and it's a bit rough to expect players to play a game they don't have a copy of.

Mind you, old Gygax said in the DMG that the players knowing all the rules of the game deprives them of the "joy" of a "sense of wonder" the'd have from not knowing just how the world works.

Also, my players like to roll lots of dice. A couple of d4s just doesn't do it for them. Also I want to really make them suffer by alpha-testing my Action Points and Risk Dice ideas on them. I have the write-up of it. I wonder if 11 pages is too long for Cab here?

PS, Check your yahoo, Clash. There's a short and sweet rpg in there.

Hah! I ran StarCluster Risk Dice on Saturday. It ran very well, with one exception, which I house-ruled around. The players seemed to really like the idea.

Your d6*s are actually JAGS Dice...
I used regular d6s.

The pdf looks very good at first scan! I'll poke at it later. I'm just happy to see you productive again!

-clash

I'm fine with a large rulebook so long as the size is from text related to the game, and not shit like pictures and twenty pages of opening fiction intended to "set a mood". Also, I'd like to be able to haul it around easily, so under a kilo is ideal.

I like the big books at the moment.

Well, you have the basic stuff.  Then, you have ... "filler" (for lack of a better term).  In Dead Inside, for instance, he takes care of the whole game in about 120 pages.  Games like WoD-types take care of it in about 325 pages.  Which is better?  Depends on what you want them for and how much "crunch"/"system" you want.  Dead Inside is perfect for running the types of stories it tells.  However, you may want to "flesh-out" your character more than that game allows.  That's where WoD games come in.  You get the idea.  There's no good answer.  It depends on you and your group, really.

Talislanta 4E is frickin' huge. But the rules themselves are short (about 30 pages) and complete. It's the setting that takes up the room, and that's fine with me.

I feel I should be able to play an RPG with a single core rule book and a single setting/adventure book and never have to buy anything else.

I prefer my books thin (like Savage Worlds), but I can live with thicker books - as long as they aren't bloated by stuff that is useless for actually playing the game, like fiction or metaplot. (Only CP2020 is an exception to me in this regard - but then again, the fictional news reports and so on actually contain setting information instead of just being purple prose about an unimportant vampire ninja who decapacictes an unimportant mook while being on an unimportant mission.)

Freakin' huge!!!

I remember one GenCon I was strolling through the vendor room and I saw this gigantic, hardback, red-covered, post-apocalyptic game. I think it was of Aussie origin. I mean this thing was the biggest single game book I had ever seen ... it had gravity. I forget how much it cost, but I remember it being enough to dissuade me from immediately buying it.

And I now live with that regret.

Worse, I don't even remember the name of that game now.