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Good examples of rules

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oltyan
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Joined: 04/25/2012

Not sure if this is the right forum, but:

Just finished the redesign of a couple core mechanics and cards in my game, and I'm ready to tackle the rules again. I want to try and get closer to a printable/final version this pass, and so was going to research other rules that people think are very well designed and laid out. I've done a lot of work with tutorials and on boarding systems in the digital world, but don't have a lot of experience setting up a rule book.

Can people point out some examples of rules they found particularly fun and engaging? Well laid out, of course, but I'm also interested in helping create a good environment and feel for the game from just the rules.

avalaunch
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Joined: 04/13/2012
I can't think of any off the

I can't think of any off the top of my head, but have you seen this thread?:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/286303/examples-of-well-written-game-rules

That might help some. I'll try to find some examples I think are well done.

As an aside, I think 7 wonders rules are a mess. So are Munchkin's - I never have any idea where to look for a specific rule with either of those rule books.

MarkKreitler
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Joined: 11/12/2008
Lost post

Hmm...I posted a reply earlier, but don't see it. Must've closed the browser window before hitting, "Save."

Anyway, I don't know of any rules that are concise, clear, and fun, though I can think of individual examples of each.

Concise: Settler's of Catan card game -- it's about 3 pages. Probably the fastest I've gotten into a game that isn't "light."

Clear: Memoir '44. Lays out everything well -- almost reduces to bullet points.

Light-hearted: Zombie Fluxx -- not a laugh riot, but "personable."

Writing good rules is an art. Good luck with it.

Mark

KAndrw
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Joined: 08/20/2008
Epic Spell Wars has a very

Epic Spell Wars has a very thematic rulebook, full of hyperbole and swearing. Read a little deeper, and it's rather subversive. While it does only an adequate job of communicating the rules, it does an outstanding job of establishing the tone of the game.

oltyan
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Joined: 04/25/2012
Thanks for the examples

Got a chance to look over a few of the examples people cited and found some really good stuff. Considering the resources I'm willing to commit to this, I decided to embark on having my cake, eating it, and feeding it to my friends too.

Since my game is scenario based, each scenario card can have setup rules and win conditions on a cheat sheet, probably 2 pages.

I can also create a general rules card for quick lookup.

That just leaves a longer form doc to give story and flavor elements, and I think if I can con my artists into doing a couple pages for a semi-graphic novel-eque type thing I can get that.

And I think it will only take 5x the effort too!

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