Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Spell Formatting Questionnaire

I'm sure all three of my followers will be riveted by this topic...

I'm not yet at the layout stage of His Majesty the Worm, but I am editing and clarifying the appendices. That means I'm messing with the formatting of the spell lists. 

I have basically two options for the spells layout. Which of these do you like better, humble reader?

OPTION A (no bullet points)

Brainfever 
Component: A pouch of powder made from wild marjoram, thyme, verbena, and myrtle leaves 
The sorcerer takes a pinch of the component powder and blows it towards the target of this spell. The target creature enters a rage. Attack actions they make gain favor, but they must always play the lowest value card they draw for their Initiative. 
Creatures immune to anger (such as non-sentient constructs) are not affected by this spell. 
This spell must be maintained with concentration. 

Command Undead 
Component: Poppet woven of branches and tied with grass picked from a graveyard on the night of the new moon
This spell allows the sorcerer to exert control over an undead creature. The target undead suffers the Control effect. The sorcerer’s order can be a number of words equal to their Wands attribute. Longer commands may be issued by spending multiple Resolve on this spell—each additional Resolve grants [Wands] more words. 

This spell lasts until the order is fulfilled. The Resolve spent on casting this spell can never refresh as long as this spell is active.


OPTION B (bullet points)

Brainfever
Component: A pouch of powder made from wild marjoram, thyme, verbena, and myrtle leaves
The sorcerer takes a pinch of the component powder and blows it towards the target of this spell. The target creature enters a rage.
·         Attack actions the target makes gain favor, but they must always play the lowest value card they draw for their Initiative.
·         Creatures immune to anger (such as non-sentient constructs) are not affected by this spell.
This spell must be maintained with concentration.

Command Undead
Component: Poppet woven of branches and tied with grass picked from a graveyard on the night of the new moon
This spell allows the sorcerer to exert control over an undead creature.
·         The target undead suffers the Control effect.
·         The sorcerer’s order can be a number of words equal to their Wands attribute.
o   Longer commands may be issued by spending multiple Resolve on this spell—each additional Resolve grants [Wands] more words.

This spell lasts until the order is fulfilled. The Resolve spent on casting this spell can never refresh as long as this spell is active.

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Does the prose section feel cluttered? Do the bullet points feel too much?

I'm sure that actual design geeks would laugh at the simplicity of this question, so please mock me in the comments. Thoughts? Opinions?

10 comments:

  1. Having read a good many sourcebooks lately, I come down heavily on the side of the bullet points. I think visually separating discrete points makes descriptions like this easier to digest, especially when they're being referenced in play. It might be a little less aesthetically pleasing, but I REALLY prefer the utility of having granular points that can be understood one at a time, in sequence.

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  2. Yep bullet points all the way. The only time I wouldn't is if I'm really really desperate to save space.

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  3. Another vote for bullets.

    Are the players going to scavenger hunt ingredients for their spells or is that fluff?

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    1. It is unlikely (but not impossible, I suppose) for sorcerers to scavenge ingredients while dungeon crawling.

      Usually, sorcerers would take a City Action before delving to create as many components as they want. Spell casting is mostly a inventory management game, not a memorization one.

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  4. If you can put the whole spell on one line, that's worth doing. Since you can't, definitely option B

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  5. Bullet points yes, nested bullet points not so much.

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  6. Bullet points. Separates important info for easy finding. I'd go easy on the nested bullet points, though. Avoid if you can.

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  7. Put me down in favour of bullets, too.

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