The best recorded panels and seminars about analog game design and publishing. Sponsored by Genesis of Legend Publishing and Metatopia.
Recorded at BreakoutCon 2018
Presented by: Robin Laws, Rachel Kahn, Jax Bryk, and Cindy Moore
Moderator: Pieter van Hiel
From fascinating NPCs to deadly dragons, each adventure the heroes brave must be memorable. Join our incredible panelists to discuss how to keep your adventures interesting and keep your players coming back for more!
Recorded at Metatopia 2016
Presented by Joshua Yearsley, John Adamus, Dr. Jessica Hammer.
Writing and editing rulebooks is still a black art, not an empirical science. In this panel, Dr. Jessica Hammer and professional editors John Adamus and Joshua Yearsley hash out the state of the rulebook. What works? What doesn't? Why do so many professionals (including us!) disagree about how to write good rulebooks? Why are so many rulebooks still bad, and what can we do about it? We won't have all the answers - maybe you'll help us find some. It is somewhere between a panel and a roundtable. We'll certainly have things to say and discuss with each other, but we absolutely welcome audience input to figure out what the world's thinking about.
Apologies for the poor sound quality.
“Editing and Organizing Game Text” presented by Amanda Valentine, Fred Hicks, Jason Pitre & John Adamus. Successful game text requires clarity, structure and style. Learn the secrets of this dark art at this roundtable discussion.
How to Work with Editors
This seminar was originally presented at Metatopia 2013 in Morristown NJ. This panel was led by
Ryan Macklin, Amanda Valentine, Cam Banks and John Adamus.
Everyone needs an editor. How do you hire one? Once you have one, how can you work with her most efficiently? How does somebody become a great game editor themselves?
The Writer’s Workshop
Recorded at Metatopia 2013
Presented by John Adamus.
Here’s a chance for authors and creators to get answers to their writing questions as they work on developing their first, or tenth project. Questions often include issues of layout, editing costs, the best way to write to the reader, and the best way to take an idea from the abstract idea phase to the down-on-paper phase
What Editors Do
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by John Adamus, Jeremy Morgan & Amanda Valentine.
Cleaning up your tortured syntax and fixing your punctuation is only the beginning. A good editor can help you improve the presentation of your game on many levels
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Style Guides are your Friend
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Amanda Valentine and John Adamus
Style guides are one of the indispensable tools an editor uses to help make your project the best it can be. Learn more about them and the other must-have tools an editor uses, and find out why following the style guide can mean the difference between making “a thing” and “a game”.
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The Best Practices for Information Organization in Tabletop RPGs
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Brennan Taylor, Matt Wilson, Meredith Reitman, Krista White & John Stavropolous
Tabletop RPGs serve as both a “let’s play!” and a reference document. RPGs designers and writers often attend to one of these goals at the expense of the other. Come to this panel to learn about professional theories of information organization, best practices for making the important information in your games findable and learn lessons from experienced game designers who have made information organization innovations and mistakes in their own games.
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Editing Rulebooks
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Joshua Yearsley.
Your rulebook is the heart of your game, so why not give it the love it deserves? In this seminar, you’ll learn ten best practices for improving the structure, style, and clarity of your rulebook. Got any burning questions about rules craft? Get answers from a professional rulebook editor.
Additional references and a copy of the presentation is available at http://joshuayearsley.com/case/ten-things-you-can-do-to-make-your-rulebook-awesome/
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