Repeating Rules

I think in the case of one page of rules it is better to streamline the rules rather then repeat them. It not like the player will have to flip to other pages in the book :)

I generally find it confusing when things are repeated verbatim - I find it breaks the flow of my understanding as I stop and consider "Didn't I just read this?" "Why is it being repeated?" "Is it the same, or is another point being made?"

Rules can be reinforced without repetition. Without repetition there will be no question about where to go to get the complete rule on a particular scenario.

If you are worried about your rules might I suggest you post them to the forum. One thing that BGDF is really good for is peer review of rules.

It's nice that your rules are short and fit on one page, but it shouldn't be a goal in itself. If you need a tiny font and need to leave out examples to be able to cram the rules on one page, then that is not a good thing. If you need more space to show examples or to better explain the rules, then do so. Two pages of rules, including examples, is still very short!

It's not a good idea to explicitly repeat rules. As jwalduck pointed out, it may cause confusion. Sometimes, however, when explaining a certain rule, you may want to remind the reader of an earlier rule, but be very clear that is a repetition of an earlier stated rule. Example: "Whenever you draw a black card from the display of face up cards, you score points equal to the number of palaces you have built in the corresponding province. Remember, you may only draw a black card from the display of face up cards when you have at least 10 gold.")

What you can also do is provide a player aid with a summary of the rules, or add an paragraph at the end of the rulebook where you provide a summary of the rules.

A picture is work a thousand words, when it comes to rules. I write a clear text version of my rules, and, when people can playtest with just the written explanation, I add examples and diagrams, so I know that these will just add to the understanding, rather than shore up weak text. This makes my rules bloat to about four to six times their prior length, as pictures displace a huge amount of text, after all of the column shifts and stuff to avoid orphaned words and sentences. This is a far more effective method than repetition of the rules. As has been stated above, rules can be "re-enacted" within examples.