Compression in RPG Writing

Something’s on my mind. Compression. Elision. Condensation (not the wet kind). Whatever you want to call it, I have a persistent brain-worm about it. There’s nothing my particular brand of mind-goblins love more than trying to fit it all onto one page…

I think about this when I’m reading other people’s work, my mind automatically seeking words, arguments, and ideas to trim. It’s become an impulse I have to actively think around/against, because, as a writer I know once told me, “Some people like words”. Less isn’t always more, right?

Part of this drive - to make game content as condensed as I can manage - is about respecting the time and energy of folks at my table. Getting the crew together once every week or two is hard enough, logistically, even if the desire is there (and it isn’t always). So when someone sits down to play, I dream of handing them a single page, emblazoned with everything they need to get playing.

Sounds great, right?

But when I create these beautiful (mwah) one-pagers, I forsake a lot of content: some necessary, some frivolous, some beloved…There are many games I love that are packed with content that isn’t strictly vital to the basic experience of play, but still serves as a sort of MSG flavor enhancer that can seriously enrich that same experience. Think along the lines of random tables, gruesome spells, extensive bestiaries…

Somewhere out there is a happy medium, in which the vital parts of a games text (especially a rules text) can be rapidly and clearly communicated, but still be filled to the gills with flavorful, enriching material.

Maybe someday I will find that happy medium in my own work.

Until then! Oh wait, but first…

Joesky Tax

Groveburn, +0 Magic Axe

For Into the Odd/CRAWL

Once, it may have resembled a simple axe for splitting wood. Now, the haft is coiled in a woody vine studded with suspiciously runic-looking marks. Bright green moss clings to the head, swallowing all but the keen edge. And that edge…it gleams like a razor, even in pitch dark. When held aloft, the runes glow baleful green, and the edge makes an ominous shwing noise. When you chop downward, it unleashes years of scorn in a fiery blaze of crashing light.

• d8 weapon, bulky (2 slots)

• Anything it strikes is scorched and electrocuted as if struck by lightning

• If it so much as nicks a living tree, storm clouds burst open overhead; there will soon be a wildfire here that will rage unconquerable for days

Missives from the Void

Another update merits another check-in with the blog-o-sphere. Remember, as always, I am sharing posts I find inspirational. I am not, nor have I been asked to, promote anybody. I just like reading their stuff!

Sidrak the Sage Asks Some Questions, from Throne of Salt.

1937 Hobbit as Setting, from Rise Up Comus.

Non-empty Rooms, from BASTIONLAND.