Hello everyone! Susan the Mustache here to provide you with another one of my insights to help you write a better rulebook that comes from the world of comics!
Just about everyone has a favorite comic from the kinds of things you see in newspapers like Garfield, Dilbert, or Snoopy to web comics like Cyanide and Happiness, and xkcd. While some rulebooks feature comics in them to explain the story of the game (we even reviewed one, N30N City Rumble) I don't plan on talking about how to use them in your rulebook today. Today I want to compare comics to rulebooks and show how their graphic narrative structure can teach us how to write a strong first draft to a rulebook.
Hopefully I haven't scared some of you away with the words "graphic narrative structure". I promise this isn't as complicated as it sounds, and I'm going to keep it even simpler by just talking about the simple structure. This is something you see in most of the comics you read. To serve as an example for us, the artists over at the web comic Chaos Life have graciously allowed us to use one of their comics as an example! Written by A. Stiffler and K. Copeland, they also make the serious Find Chaos which can be found online. We'll be taking a look at their comic Sluggish Sleuth so go give it a quick look before you read on.
Just about everyone has a favorite comic from the kinds of things you see in newspapers like Garfield, Dilbert, or Snoopy to web comics like Cyanide and Happiness, and xkcd. While some rulebooks feature comics in them to explain the story of the game (we even reviewed one, N30N City Rumble) I don't plan on talking about how to use them in your rulebook today. Today I want to compare comics to rulebooks and show how their graphic narrative structure can teach us how to write a strong first draft to a rulebook.
Hopefully I haven't scared some of you away with the words "graphic narrative structure". I promise this isn't as complicated as it sounds, and I'm going to keep it even simpler by just talking about the simple structure. This is something you see in most of the comics you read. To serve as an example for us, the artists over at the web comic Chaos Life have graciously allowed us to use one of their comics as an example! Written by A. Stiffler and K. Copeland, they also make the serious Find Chaos which can be found online. We'll be taking a look at their comic Sluggish Sleuth so go give it a quick look before you read on.
Now that you're done enjoying the comic, let's get down to business (to defeat the Huns). There are four parts to a simple graphic narrative structure: the situation, the complication, the resolution, and the denouement.
Let's start with the beginning and talk about the situation. This establishes the location, time, and circumstances of the story. It also introduces the character(s) that will be participating in the story. This is important because without us knowing what is going on there can not be a complication. In our example, our situation would be A. Stiffler looking at this bottle of lotion in the first two panels of the comic.
Let's start with the beginning and talk about the situation. This establishes the location, time, and circumstances of the story. It also introduces the character(s) that will be participating in the story. This is important because without us knowing what is going on there can not be a complication. In our example, our situation would be A. Stiffler looking at this bottle of lotion in the first two panels of the comic.
So, how can we take the situation and apply it to a rulebook? To start you should show the circumstances of your story, why is the game being played, what is the theme, what are the basic mechanics? From here you show them how to set up the game, the game has to be put together before they can learn the complexities of the rules.The stage has to be set for your game before the players can move on to the "complication" of the rules.
We've mentioned it quite a bit, so let's discussed the complication. The complication is used to introduce the problem, an unexpected opportunity, or any other kind of complication to the situation. We knew our main character was looking at the lotion bottle, this where we figure out there is something about that bottle that is interesting.
We've mentioned it quite a bit, so let's discussed the complication. The complication is used to introduce the problem, an unexpected opportunity, or any other kind of complication to the situation. We knew our main character was looking at the lotion bottle, this where we figure out there is something about that bottle that is interesting.
Now we take this and put it into your rulebook! This is the place where you put the bulk of your "story", in this case it would be the rules for how to play the game. This is where you as a rulebook writer explain the complicated part of the game. It's an easy way to help you remember!
Now for the resolution. This one is exactly how it sounds, it resolves the story by showing a complete response to the complication by the character(s) involved in the story. In our example, A. Stiffler finally figures out why that letter I looks so funny.
Now for the resolution. This one is exactly how it sounds, it resolves the story by showing a complete response to the complication by the character(s) involved in the story. In our example, A. Stiffler finally figures out why that letter I looks so funny.
For your rulebook the resolution is when you write how to win your game! People have learned why they are playing and the complex process on how to play, they have to learn how to resolve these things to have a complete game, a complete story if you will.
There is one final step in the simple graphic narrative structure called the denouement. This is the aftermath of the story. This can also show how the original situation has changed in some way due to what has happened in the complication and resolution.
But we have already showed all of the panels to the comics right? The denouement for our story is K. Copeland talking from off panel tot tease our main character.
So how do we apply this one to the rulebook? This can apply in a few ways. Remember how I said this could show how the original situation changed in some way? This can be a good time to introduce game variants in some way! You also want to close our your story by including those credits, something way to many people forget in their rulebooks!
So when you go to write your first draft of the rulebook, remember situation, complication, resolution, and denouement. This is an easy way to make sure you cover as many of the basics as you can on your first draft. I want to thank the artists and writers of Chaos Life again for being awesome enough to let us use their comic for our example, be sure to read more of their comics! Until next time: Every Game Deserves A Good Rulebook.
There is one final step in the simple graphic narrative structure called the denouement. This is the aftermath of the story. This can also show how the original situation has changed in some way due to what has happened in the complication and resolution.
But we have already showed all of the panels to the comics right? The denouement for our story is K. Copeland talking from off panel tot tease our main character.
So how do we apply this one to the rulebook? This can apply in a few ways. Remember how I said this could show how the original situation changed in some way? This can be a good time to introduce game variants in some way! You also want to close our your story by including those credits, something way to many people forget in their rulebooks!
So when you go to write your first draft of the rulebook, remember situation, complication, resolution, and denouement. This is an easy way to make sure you cover as many of the basics as you can on your first draft. I want to thank the artists and writers of Chaos Life again for being awesome enough to let us use their comic for our example, be sure to read more of their comics! Until next time: Every Game Deserves A Good Rulebook.