Updates

[Beoric]

I think, at the least, people like Mike Mearls and Chris Perkins, who have very public personas and have been the public face of the official game, can take it. It isn't going to hurt their careers or crush their dreams of being game designers if Bryce makes fair critiques of portions of their work. Particularly if he can also find examples of what they do well (which might be a stretch in Mearls' case, but Perkins and other big names have their moments).

 

[The1True]

Also, I'm going to put this out there: Bryce is trading on his name here hopefully to bootstrap himself up to some respectable book sales. Part of his brand is built on extremely honest, occasionally savage reviews. We can't pretend like we aren't here for the 'The Best's and 'Don't Buy Ever's. Some of these books live on in infamy and should be enshrined as such. Most of us would kill to get a Tenfoot review. Getting an epic low score here is a definitive motivation to either go back to your day job or go back to the drawing board and get better.
If (when) I buy Bryce's book, I'm going to be looking for those lows as much as the highs and the morbid frustration and hilarious self-flagellation that goes along with that. The black humour is the spice.

 

[bryce0lynch]

I'm going to try and relegate Bryceness to the footnotes.

 

[squeen]

I'm going to try and relegate Bryceness to the footnotes.

So the title of your book is "Bryce Sells Out"?

(kidding---really)

 

[bryce0lynch]

The first third of the book has now been editing.
*) FInish edit
*) Stick in expamplex
*) Reedit the cringy parts

 

[squeen]

Congratulations! Whoot! Whoot!

(Hopefully the first third was edit[ed] better than your post. )

Still on my to-do list to give you a serious mark-up. I am a lazy poop.

 

[bryce0lynch]

First draft of the first draft is now complete. I will not go to Kinkos and print it out and spend some time reading it and making notes, to clarify, note bad passages and incomplete concepts. Then I fix those. Then I add examples. Then it goes to the concept editors, then the copy editor.

I'm at 73 pages. I expect to hit 100 after the second draft and before the examples.

Book - Draft 1 - organizing

PREFACE Were you born with the innate ability to write a good adventure? No, of course not. The ability to write a good adventure is a skill, like any other. And, like all skills, you start off bad at it. You don’t really know what you are doing. But you must practice your skill in order to get b...

docs.google.com

 

[PrinceofNothing]

First draft of the first draft is now complete. I will not go to Kinkos and print it out and spend some time reading it and making notes, to clarify, note bad passages and incomplete concepts. Then I fix those. Then I add examples. Then it goes to the concept editors, then the copy editor.

Congratulations man. This is a milestone. Its solid work too.

 

[TerribleSorcery]

It's finally happennnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiing!!!

 

[bryce0lynch]

It's finally happennnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiing!!!

Arent you the optimist?

 

[TerribleSorcery]

Arent you the optimist?

I've been accused of being many things in my life - but rarely that!
I am about 3/4 through the draft - I think it's coming along really well man. Add in examples, an editing pass, maybe a few all-caps rants just for the primitive screwheads.... you'll be there.

 

[The1True]

maybe a few all-caps rants just for the primitive screwheads....

HEY! I represent that insinuation sir!

 

[bryce0lynch]

I fucking hate this shit. I've been putting it off again. Guess which song came on my playlist during my bike ride today?

*sigh* back to work

 

[The1True]

You can do eet! Think of the dozens of dollars you'll make when your Kickstarter goes viral across the OSR!!! Fame! Fortune! Girls?

 

[Commodore]

Nice job man, it's a good read. Hit a few grammar points while reading, mean to be helpful not anal.

 

[bryce0lynch]

The last edit for philosophical purity is now done.

Tomorrow I start work on adding example, a couple of bad ones and a good one for most of the points. I may take inspiration from real world bad examples and then reword them to hide the designer shaming.

Then I will add the bibliography and footnotes. Then I will send it to the edit. It's looking right now that will cost me about $4k for each of the two editors I'm planning on using.

Then I need to start thinking about art, the kickstarter, and marketing.


Life Is Pain.

 

[squeen]

Great news. The effort put in will equal the reward I'm sure.

 

[The1True]

That sounds expensive? Can you run the Kickstarter before editing? (I'm showing my ignorance of the whole process here...)

Speaking of which, maybe pick up some teaser art to get started, so you have something to splash on your Kickstarter? I'd like to think you've got the pull to get one or two of the more well known names in the community signed up...

I held off reading the rough drafts because I was looking forward to holding the finished product in my hands and reading it, AND really because I was afraid that I'd have nothing intelligent to add, so this next one's once again coming from a place of total ignorance: What's the chance that this product could be rendered down to a worksheet or checklist as an appendix? Like, I read the whole book, I've picked up some great tips; some do's and don'ts and I'm itching to set out on my own and I'm looking for a worksheet asking me questions from the book or a summary list I can print out and keep on my desk. Crazy talk?

 

[Palindromedary]

I gave it all an initial edit. The vast majority is just basic copyediting, but I left a handful of deeper comments as well; feel free of course to jettison anything unwelcome into the sun. Overall I enjoyed it and I think it will be quite successful once it's polished up.

 

[bryce0lynch]

I gave it all an initial edit. The vast majority is just basic copyediting, but I left a handful of deeper comments as well; feel free of course to jettison anything unwelcome into the sun. Overall I enjoyed it and I think it will be quite successful once it's polished up.

Yeah, there's gonna be a checklist, and I'll have some art up front also.

I'm looking at two well known editors, if I can get them on board, so, no worries, there will be copyedit.