How many words is your game?

[Matt Gwinn]

"Have you received criticism from customers for the size of your game? How did you handle it?" They've been there, and I haven't.

I received no critizism on the size of Kayfabe, but I did make a lot of people happy when I announced how much I was adding for the next edition.  I think the fact that MLwM is less sim than a game like Kayfabe lowers the heft expectation a bit.  But seeing that most people at Gencon don't know the a thing about GNS, it's hard to say.

,Matt G.

[ADGBoss]

Even though they do not know much about GNS or similar theory, I think that size might not matter, depending on how its marketed.  People will be wanting to spend cash and they are just as likely to spend money on 2 to 3 smaller and lower priced games as one big one.  

Also, look at the newest Marvel SUpers game. Take away the 100,000 pictures of Spider-Man and you have a pretty small book.  Its not heavy on content.  Of course Marvel is self marketing in many different ways.

At least at Gen Con you will have somewhat of  a chance to pitch your products in person.

Sean
ADGBoss

[chadu]

How many words is your game?

At last count, the manuscript for my "Sekrit Projekt D" (real title forthcoming) as it went into playtest was around 70k.

There's a big chunk that's going to be cut, but I'm betting with the revision comments and additions, that number will jump back up to hit the 70k mark.

I've been making vague notes on the process of writing the book and playtesting it as it's happened on my LJ. (At least one or two of you folks here have been involved, and I thank you.)

More as it develops...

CU

[Luke]

The Burning Wheel is 170,000 words spread across two 8.5x5.5 books.
It is in 9 pt Bauer Bodoni with 12 pt leading and custom set H&Js justified across 4.5 inch columns. There is not one hyphenated word in the book.

I am always happy to answer questions about typesetting as well.

-Luke

[Michael Hopcroft]

I don't count words in my games. I count pages. Not only does focusing on the page count take things like art into account, it also is the major factor in determining things like file size and printing costs.

Of course, you can do all sorts of thing to tweask page count, like reducing the size of your fonts, but the fact is that readers don't count words -- they count pages.

[Adam]

I don't count words in my games. I count pages. Not only does focusing on the page count take things like art into account, it also is the major factor in determining things like file size and printing costs.

Word counts take art into account as well, assuming that you plan ahead  - for example: "There will be a piece of art every 10 pages, 500 words on a page without art, so every 10 pages will be 4750 words, or 475 words per page on average."

[chadu]

How many words is your game?

At last count, the manuscript for my "Sekrit Projekt D" (real title forthcoming) as it went into playtest was around 70k. There's a big chunk that's going to be cut, but I'm betting with the revision comments and additions, that number will jump back up to hit the 70k mark. I've been making vague notes on the process of writing the book and playtesting it as it's happened on my LJ. (At least one or two of you folks here have been involved, and I thank you.)

More as it develops...

Well, more has developed.

The end wordcount for the game-formerly-known-as-Sekrit-Projekt-D -- Dead Inside: the Roleplaying Game of Loss & Redemption -- is around 75.6k.

It will be a 7.25" wide by 9.25" tall book, 200 pages, available in PDF and Print on Demand later this summer.

CU
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