You're correct in that my comment was rhetorical in nature. Well, mainly, there was the germ of honest curiosity there too.

I don't think that I've ever seen a game with too many examples but I can easily imagine that such a beast could exist. I definitely think that there would be some kind of tipping point where a critical mass of examples made the book either a nightmare to read or just far too large. I also think that said tipping point will vary from person to person.

Now me, I like examples. Examples are good. They let you know how a particular rule or procedure or whatever is supposed to work. At some point though you do have to assume some level of prior knowledge where examples aren't necessary. I couldn't say where that level is however.

As for Six Bullets, I'd need to read the document to get a feel for how near you are (or aren't) to my black hole of example density.

I tend to put in examples where I need to explain a rule that might be complicated to try and describe otherwise. Also at the ends of sections, like maybe character creation, I will put in a full worked example.

I think the tipping point may be where you start to condescend to the reader rather than inform them. This will be very much a matter of preference.

Cheers

Iain

Lead Developer Mob Justice RPG

Check out my home brew games like 'Reel Adventures'

I'd limit myself to two good examples, exploring the same thing from different angles, e.g.: setting of stakes, conflict resolution, narration, how to conduct a vehicular chase or whatever.

I think yes, you can have too many examples. Getting bogged down in them doesn't help and could, potentially, prove to be confusing. Concentrating that effort into one or two really punchy, effective examples is better than a plethora of the things.

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios

I'm of the opinion that you cannot have too many examples. My reasoning is as follows:

When I read a rulebook, I read a rule and try to understand it. If the rule is unclear, I read the following example. If it's pretty much clear, I skim the example.

Examples ought to be clearly marked in the text, italics or boxes or whatnot, so I know when to start paying attention again.

Some of this is the Tech Author in me: I write something like "Click 'File' -> 'Page Setup'" and then I'll insert a screenshot of the menu with a cursor over it in the right place. People who understand what "Click 'File' -> 'Page Setup'" means don't really need to look at the screenshot, but can easily not bother to study it and skip on the the next part. Because a screenshot is obviously just repeating what they've already been told for the benefit of the less adept readers.

I agree with Rich, actually.

Have a look at the Game Chef entry, Schizonauts. Nearly half of the main text is examples. It's an astonishing amount, but it makes it very clear.

Graham

Fred does very clear games text very well. I tend to use DRYH as one of my reference books when I hit a problem with style or presentation of rules (along with Polaris and Dogs).

Hmm, I'm not sure that the continuation of this discussion is really going to achieve much other than laying out our different opinions. Obviously, there is quite a spectrum of opinion on exampling within game text. I'm certainly on the side of 2 (or maybe 3 at most) examples as a good level. For me, anything else becomes excessive and un-necessary.

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios