Today we have 2 related topics:

• Designing a coherent and useful rulebook
• The current state of Chronomutants and roadmap

A: How (not) to Write a Rulebook

It turns out that designing a game and writing a game are different crafts. Chronomutants currently is a blast to play, but the rules are a confusing slog to read. It was written during the design process:

Come up with a concept > prototype concept > refine concept > playtest feedback > rewrite concept > editor feedback, rewrite concept.

This is a good way to design a game, turns out it’s not a great way to write a coherent rulebook. This is a good way to explain a pile of confusing rules, not a useful reference book.

So what does a good rule book need?

• Exciting hook at the beginning
• Most important stuff first/reference content at the end.
• Basic overview 1st, detailed rules later
• Do not put mechanical information you need to make a character after character creation
• All information you may need to look up in one place
• Use examples

So there is a push/pull between putting the information people need to play at the front rules, without dropping all kinds of extra crunchy “noun soup” at the beginning and overwhelming and turning off players. I see this like a web or spokes on a wheel, with a core of abstracted rules with spokes of more detailed crunchy rules coming out of the core.

I have been having a lot of difficulty deciding how much information to put up front. I want to give the basic information you would need to understand play. I think it’s been extra tricky for me with this project for two reasons.

• Chronomutants does not play like other games
• Chronomutants uses the Fantasy Flight Dice which introduce a slew of symbols needed to resolve the core mechanic

Even though Chronomutants is fairly rules lite, with a focus on narrative improv, though it doesn’t present as one. I’m working on it. Hopefully I’m only a few iterations away from making the rules much more coherent and easy to reference. Which brings me to…

B: The Long Road to Version 1.3

I have been really excited to share and get feedback on version 1.2 of Chronomutants. It’s the 1st content complete version of the game. It’s all there and all free. While I might be adding or tweaking a few things, the game has been tested with many groups and many sessions. I’m happy with how it plays. I’m less happy with how it reads and presents.

Recently I put out a request for proofreading/editing feedback, and have gotten 1,000s of comments/messages/emails. It’s been really great and I have already made some updates that were easy to fix like typos, Etc. The most substantial change that needs to happen is a reordering of the book so the most important information is upfront. I can’t really begin to implement art/formatting until the written rules are in a less fluid state.

So current focus for 1.3 is:

• A cleaned up version of the rules overview
• Adding in examples of play for clarity
• Making sure the information is presented in the order of importance
• Cleaning up typos/grammar
• An introduction
• A radical new cover illustration to help sell the tone upfront

Doesn’t seem like too much, but it’s lots of hours of work. These are the most important things to me before I start on the next 4 steps. I’m not sure of what order I will tackle these in but these are the final checklist to make the 1st edition of the game done.

• Condensed printable zine version of the rulebook
• An online tool for rolling on those huge random tables (needed to condense the full rulebook down to zine size)
• Artwork
• Stylized layouts that aren’t just google docs

We’ll get there eventually. Until then please check out   the game if you want, it’s really fun and free. If you have any questions or comments you can leave one here or on the social media post that steered you here.

Time travel is dangerous, stay safe, destroy the timeline

-g