Version 4.5 discussion

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous
November 26, 2010 - 11:14pm
Refer to: A Preview of Version 4.5.

(When viewing a Document you can click on the bubbles to automatically create a topic for discussion)

The document layout is simple, it looks like a page within a page. If that is what you want to capture its perfect.

You might want to consider a Glossary of Terms. Some examples below;

Administrator
Universal Role-Playing System
Strength
Agility
etc.


Comments:

Deryn_Rys's picture
Deryn_Rys
November 27, 2010 - 10:37pm
Should the glossary of common terms go best between the overview and character generation, or in the back of the book?

Again I have this assumption thing going that anyone picking up the rules has some prior experience with rpg games (and it's hard to shake), so by all means keep bashing me over the head and maybe It'll finally sink in that the rules should appeal to both newbies, and long time gamers.
"Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words
"Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words
"You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words
"Did you here that?" -Famous last words

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
November 27, 2010 - 11:39pm
In our book we made a glossary after the overview, and only those words that were important to the game. We do not have another glossary but will have a subject index. We also list the section your are in on each page. 

Deryn_Rys's picture
Deryn_Rys
December 2, 2010 - 2:48pm
I've got the first core book up to the equipment section. I've added some pics that I've mined mostly from the published Star Frontier's books to fill a few gaps in the text, and I've tried my best to keep up with the table of contents.

The core book so far only includes the 4 core races, and three of the Rim races and I'll be trimming down the equipment list only to include those items found in the official SF books and in the magazine, and I'll be paraphrasing the item descriptions and making any adaptations to them to make them fit into the new system.

I'll include the rules for vehicle combat in this set but the vehicle creation rules, and the vehicles themselves will be put into the zebs vehicle guidebook. I figure the book will be a managable size (under 200 pages) when its done, and I'll try to keep each supplement manageable as well.

"Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words
"Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words
"You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words
"Did you here that?" -Famous last words

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
December 2, 2010 - 3:31pm
If your using Word you can insert a TOC which will use the H1, H2 headers.

Deryn_Rys's picture
Deryn_Rys
December 2, 2010 - 4:31pm
I'm currently working on a works version, because I have more access to a computer with works on it. Once I'm done though I'll save a word version of it, make any adjustments for page drift to the table of contents and post the word version, though I might just lock it into a PDF file once I'm done because I'm hoping not to have to revisit the core rules after this, unless we find some horrible hole in the rules that we have to fix.

I'm trying my best to get things to the point that I can start moving forward with the project rather then reworking what has already been written, because I have all kinds of ideas that are currently on hold until I get these rulebooks in better order.

On a related note, whatever I do in these rules I have to reflect in the other game projects I have going because they all share a common set of core rules so were talking 6 rules set I've got to fiddle with so you guys are actually helping me with more than just Star Frontiers.
 


"Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words
"Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words
"You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words
"Did you here that?" -Famous last words

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
December 2, 2010 - 5:19pm
Ahh.
Well, how about using Google Docs?
Bill and I use that to make FrontierSpace documents so we can work on them together before they get put in the layout.

Google Docs allows you to download in different formats including PDF and it creates a TOC for you. Try it out! 

Deryn_Rys's picture
Deryn_Rys
December 2, 2010 - 5:27pm
I might have to try that out...when I'm using my own computer, and have time to learn something new, but since I'm bumming off of my nephew and son for computer time (I'm not home until March or April) every moment I get to use to work on this obsession of mine is precious, so I try to do the most I can with the tools I have at hand.
"Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words
"Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words
"You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words
"Did you here that?" -Famous last words

Deryn_Rys's picture
Deryn_Rys
December 4, 2010 - 12:33pm
This is why the development stage is always a pain in the butt. As I was going over the changes that I was planning to make to the rules set with a friend of mine, He said "So you're going to go the WOTC route and require that we get every suppliment just to have the complete rules." So I asked him what he meant by that, and he said "Your original idea was to have three core books which would contain all the rules you needed to play the game, and then guidebooks that provided optional stuff, but that's not what you have set up right now."

I think he is right that I should stick to my original three core books, so now I'm going to look at everything I've got and hopefully find a compromise. I'm not going to add races to the core books because putting them in the frontier guides makes more sense and frees up page space that can be used for more important things, but we'll see where everything else goes. I'll try to update this as I get things in order again.
"Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words
"Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words
"You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words
"Did you here that?" -Famous last words

Deryn_Rys's picture
Deryn_Rys
December 23, 2010 - 11:08pm
Okay here's where we are today, I've finished the index for the first of the core books. I'm estimating that this book is going to come in at about 250 pages and will include only the core 4 races and the 3 Rim races. The Equipment lists are mostly reworked and it'll be the equipment descriptions that will push the book towards 250 pages. Cybernetic, robots, and the vehicle rules will be found in this book because I really want there to be two core books (3 if you count Knighthawks) with everything that you need to play the game.

If I can get more computer time I can hopefully get the core books ready for you guys before Spring, and depending on what you guys think of them we can seal them as PDF files and go on from there. I'm hoping that once this version is released I might get the thumbs up from you guys that they are ready for public scrutiny and I can start focusing on the suppliments for the game. I'd eventually love to hear that someone other then me has played with the toys I've provided and what they thought of the rules set, but we'll hopefully cross that bridge after the new version is released.
"Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words
"Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words
"You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words
"Did you here that?" -Famous last words

Deryn_Rys's picture
Deryn_Rys
December 27, 2010 - 8:13pm
I got a netbook for Christmas and my wonderful son installed Microsoft Office on it for me, so I don't have bum off of everyone's computers. I just finished reformatting the work I had been doing on Version 4.5 to Office and this means I can spend more time on the rewrite, and hopefully I can have a working version of 4.5 ready much sooner than I expected!
"Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words
"Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words
"You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words
"Did you here that?" -Famous last words

Deryn_Rys's picture
Deryn_Rys
December 29, 2010 - 6:24pm
Making my way through combat now, which means I'm almost half done on the reorganization of the Players Core rulebook! a few things had to be tweaked, but nothing in this section has changed from version 4.0. It's looking better and better that I might have a working version out by February, not complete but good enough for scrutiny.
"Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words
"Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words
"You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words
"Did you here that?" -Famous last words

Deryn_Rys's picture
Deryn_Rys
December 31, 2010 - 11:52pm
Things are picking up steam. I have completed the sections on computers and cybernetics, and made several small changes in each section. All that is left to do on the Player's guidebook is Robots, vehicles, the Equipment descriptions and a revamped listing on the expanded Frontier. I'd say in about a week I should be able to close that book and start the revamp of the Administrator's guide. If there are no unforseen mishaps I do believe I might have a working version of 4.5 ready by February, and can then turn my attention to new things. 
"Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words
"Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words
"You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words
"Did you here that?" -Famous last words

Deryn_Rys's picture
Deryn_Rys
January 1, 2011 - 2:04pm
Hurray!

Okay the robots and vehicle rules have been updated to version 4.5 so all that remains is for me to rewrite the Expanded Frontier systems, and write some details about the equipment in the core rules and I'm done with the first book. The equipment details will probably not be the most comprehensive of works because I put the important info (game effects) in the notes section of each item, and because each race may have a unique design for a particular piece of equipment, descriptions may be a bit vague so that players and administrators can come up with designs specific for a race if they wish to.

Things are looking good so far.
"Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words
"Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words
"You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words
"Did you here that?" -Famous last words

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
January 1, 2011 - 6:16pm
Smile

Deryn_Rys's picture
Deryn_Rys
January 22, 2011 - 10:29am
Well after some very useful advice from w00t I was up til a little after 3:00 in the morning applying most of his suggestions to the character creation process in the core book. The suggestions he made have greatly improved the clarity of what I was trying to do with the character creation rules. I think that between the new changes and the updated character sheet, Character creation should be not as confusing at it might have been, specially because the step by step summery table still dpended on rules that I purged three versions prior to this one.Embarassed

We are still on course, and should be coming out of Voidspace on time.
"Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words
"Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words
"You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words
"Did you here that?" -Famous last words