# tactiq.io free youtube transcript
# How to Write a RULEBOOK - Designing a New Board Game
# https://www.youtube.com/watch/eaayIuMtAfQ

00:00:00.360 [Music]
00:00:28.840 hmm
00:00:34.000 rules rules rules today we're talking
00:00:36.559 about how to begin writing the rules
00:00:38.719 when designing a board game and if i get
00:00:40.559 you to stick around past this point in
00:00:42.160 the video
00:00:42.960 i've accomplished something there comes
00:00:44.719 a time in a game designer's life where
00:00:46.559 you have to write down the rules
00:00:48.239 a time where you need to define the
00:00:50.239 undefined not only to make sense of the
00:00:52.239 game for other players but also to make
00:00:54.559 sense of the game
00:00:55.680 for yourself it is through the practice
00:00:57.920 of writing
00:00:58.719 or typing your game's rules where you
00:01:00.960 get closer to fully understanding it the
00:01:03.120 loose concepts in your brain become more
00:01:04.959 interconnected and concrete and you
00:01:06.799 begin to see more of your game's
00:01:08.240 strengths
00:01:08.960 and weaknesses writing down the rules
00:01:10.960 may not seem like an
00:01:12.000 interesting task but i think it can be
00:01:14.880 it is another form of the creation
00:01:16.720 process when designing a board game
00:01:18.400 making
00:01:18.880 something out of nothing similar to the
00:01:20.960 practice of journaling where you
00:01:22.400 intentionally describe your day and
00:01:23.759 define what you're feeling
00:01:25.200 writing down the rules to a game can be
00:01:27.119 just as enlightening
00:01:28.400 when you are finally able to put those
00:01:30.240 fuzzy ideas
00:01:31.600 into words let's talk about designing
00:01:33.759 the rules to a board game
00:01:38.560 and just like a good rule book i'm
00:01:40.400 beginning with an overview page
00:01:42.079 in this video i'll cover and oh never
00:01:44.640 mind reframing the rules
00:01:46.240 where to start five pro tips resources
00:01:49.520 and well you know it's a lot but there's
00:01:51.759 a lot of great points to cover and i
00:01:53.600 want this video to be helpful
00:01:55.280 and thought provoking here we go
00:02:01.520 before we get into how to author the
00:02:03.600 rules in a board game
00:02:04.880 i want to reframe the way we view rules
00:02:07.600 in games
00:02:08.399 this video opened up with b-roll from
00:02:10.318 the rule book from ticket to ride
00:02:12.000 ticket to ride is renowned for its
00:02:13.840 concise easy to learn rules
00:02:16.000 the rule book from ticket to ride
00:02:17.599 represents the simplicity of the game
00:02:19.680 very well
00:02:20.560 because it's only two pages front and
00:02:22.400 back now most game designers will not
00:02:24.560 realistically be able to condense their
00:02:26.400 rules down to two pages
00:02:27.920 that would likely make their player
00:02:29.520 experience much worse
00:02:31.040 longer world books are not bad if they
00:02:32.959 need to be long however i bring up
00:02:34.560 ticket to ride to symbolize
00:02:36.000 the spirit behind writing a good rule
00:02:38.319 book your challenge as a game designer
00:02:40.720 is to give your players confidence
00:02:42.400 enough that your game is easy to learn
00:02:44.480 that the rule book is as approachable as
00:02:46.400 possible and that they will get through
00:02:48.160 playing your game with almost
00:02:49.519 all of their questions answered by just
00:02:51.680 what comes in the box
00:02:53.040 for me when i pick up a rule book i'm
00:02:55.360 already in the headspace where i don't
00:02:57.200 know if my question
00:02:58.400 is going to be answered i'm hopeful that
00:03:00.319 the game will be made clear soon
00:03:02.159 but i don't know if it will there's been
00:03:04.480 enough instances when playing games
00:03:06.239 where the rule book fell short of being
00:03:07.840 helpful in the moment so i carry a bit
00:03:09.840 of baggage with me every time i open a
00:03:12.000 rulebook you may feel similarly the
00:03:13.760 amount of times you had to take out your
00:03:15.440 phone to scour the internet only to find
00:03:17.680 an unofficial answer to your current
00:03:19.599 question
00:03:20.080 meanwhile your playgroup is quickly
00:03:22.000 losing focus and you're all not sure how
00:03:24.239 long it will take to clarify the rule
00:03:26.319 rulebooks can either discourage or
00:03:28.560 empower players
00:03:29.680 solidifying or dissolving a player's
00:03:31.840 commitment to playing our games going
00:03:33.599 forward
00:03:34.239 that is why how to author a great rule
00:03:36.239 book is so important
00:03:38.130 [Music]
00:03:43.280 so where do you start when writing the
00:03:45.120 rules to a board game most roblox have
00:03:47.200 several sections
00:03:48.239 pages and pages of text and art to
00:03:50.879 explain the game there's only a few main
00:03:53.200 sections that make up
00:03:54.239 any decent rulebook but here's the
00:03:56.080 basics of how rulebooks can be broken
00:03:57.920 down most of the time
00:03:59.120 if you pick up any of the rulebooks to
00:04:00.720 your games at home chances are you'll
00:04:02.560 see these sections represented in this
00:04:04.720 order
00:04:05.200 especially in the medium to heavyweight
00:04:06.879 games you have an intro to theme or
00:04:08.879 setting
00:04:09.519 the main objective for winning how to
00:04:11.840 set up the game
00:04:12.959 how to play the game or the game play
00:04:15.280 the game's end or winning conditions
00:04:17.600 and possibly supplementary materials
00:04:19.680 like player aids
00:04:20.880 most of the elements of your game will
00:04:22.400 fit in these separate categories
00:04:24.560 making it easier to organize your notes
00:04:26.400 or sketches also this outline for a
00:04:28.479 rulebook is the typical order you would
00:04:30.479 follow to teach someone orally
00:04:32.400 when teaching a new game it's best to
00:04:34.320 start with a theme or setting
00:04:35.919 begin by pointing out the main objective
00:04:37.759 of the game like getting victory points
00:04:39.759 or having the most resources etc then
00:04:42.160 you get into the turn by turn gameplay
00:04:44.400 just like we try to be good teachers
00:04:46.240 when we're trying to teach someone in
00:04:47.600 person at a table
00:04:48.720 our rulebooks need to be written in such
00:04:50.560 a way that they will be good teachers to
00:04:52.320 anyone who picks up the game
00:04:53.919 now in the early stages of your game
00:04:55.520 design the section that matters most
00:04:57.360 when writing a rulebook
00:04:58.639 is probably the gameplay section sure at
00:05:01.360 any time you can jot down ideas about
00:05:03.440 components
00:05:04.160 or nice flavor text to accentuate your
00:05:06.240 theme but early on in the rules writing
00:05:08.400 process
00:05:09.120 most of your intentional effort should
00:05:10.800 be focused on fleshing out the gameplay
00:05:13.039 since that is what your game depends on
00:05:14.880 to work so maybe more
00:05:16.400 specifically that's where you start you
00:05:19.360 start with the chord gameplay
00:05:21.199 once you begin to hash out what a player
00:05:23.039 does exactly on their turns
00:05:25.360 the general actions they can take then
00:05:27.520 you will start to understand your game
00:05:29.199 on a deeper level
00:05:30.240 i noticed when i started writing down
00:05:31.840 the basic gameplay to my game i
00:05:33.680 realized the nuance and possible
00:05:35.600 variations of player turns which got me
00:05:38.000 excited not only did writing down the
00:05:39.919 rules help me understand the gameplay
00:05:41.919 fundamentally but it also helped me
00:05:44.160 piece together
00:05:45.039 all the possible elements that could
00:05:46.800 make a turn in my game fun
00:05:48.560 that's what i mean by writing down the
00:05:50.160 rules can be like journaling when you're
00:05:52.160 forced to put ideas into words
00:05:54.160 then you start to understand things
00:05:55.759 better and it often leads to more ideas
00:05:58.000 in the process
00:05:59.039 so where do you start well you start
00:06:00.960 with the core gameplay
00:06:02.240 that's a good place to begin
00:06:07.030 [Applause]
00:06:07.170 [Music]
00:06:10.800 now i'm going to quickly run through
00:06:12.400 five pro tips when riding the rules to a
00:06:14.400 board game i'm calling them pro tips
00:06:16.240 because they don't come from me i've
00:06:17.680 compiled them from podcasts
00:06:19.600 videos articles that i've read or
00:06:21.680 watched over the course of these several
00:06:23.440 months
00:06:23.919 and they include commentary and tips
00:06:25.520 from professional designers who've
00:06:27.280 already made a game or two
00:06:28.720 this list is not exhaustive but it's a
00:06:31.199 great start the first one
00:06:33.199 is write your rough ideas down now and
00:06:35.680 plan to clean them up later
00:06:37.120 terse descriptions are okay especially
00:06:39.440 when you're just starting the rules
00:06:40.880 writing process
00:06:41.919 your first pass at writing the rules is
00:06:43.759 always going to be a rough draft anyway
00:06:45.840 so don't worry about making them perfect
00:06:48.319 yet that was quick the second
00:06:50.000 tip is always keep in mind the beginner
00:06:52.319 player when writing your rules
00:06:54.240 ask yourself these questions will my
00:06:56.240 rulebook effectively teach a player how
00:06:58.160 to play my game without me being there
00:07:00.240 and does a new player have everything
00:07:02.319 they need to know
00:07:03.360 to get through playing my game for the
00:07:04.880 first time these questions will help you
00:07:06.720 think through what all to include in
00:07:08.400 your rulebook
00:07:09.199 to facilitate a smooth play experience
00:07:11.520 chances are if you tailor your rulebook
00:07:13.520 to beginner players
00:07:14.720 it will be good for all players even the
00:07:16.960 experienced players out there
00:07:18.319 if you think about it experienced
00:07:20.160 players don't know how to play your game
00:07:21.919 yet
00:07:22.400 they may know tons of games inside and
00:07:24.560 out but not yours
00:07:26.720 yeah tip number three always include
00:07:29.440 example
00:07:30.000 turns it's common practice nowadays to
00:07:32.080 include a full player turn
00:07:34.080 inside of a rulebook because these
00:07:35.680 example turns are extremely helpful
00:07:38.240 for a player who's learning the game for
00:07:39.919 the first time just as you would walk
00:07:41.759 your friends through their first turns
00:07:43.360 when playing a new game in person
00:07:45.120 you want your rulebook to gently hold a
00:07:47.120 player's hand while walking them through
00:07:49.120 what a full turn looks like
00:07:51.039 visuals are always helpful as well so
00:07:53.440 don't be afraid to include those two tip
00:07:55.280 number four
00:07:56.479 clarity and language is key what i mean
00:07:59.039 there is is when writing the rules to a
00:08:00.879 board game you are always aiming to use
00:08:03.120 clear and exact language even at the
00:08:05.360 risk of redundancy
00:08:06.639 often in a rule book you want to use the
00:08:08.560 same words or descriptions
00:08:10.080 over and over again so players know
00:08:12.400 exactly what element or component the
00:08:14.560 rule applies to now this doesn't mean
00:08:16.400 you have to aim to be redundant
00:08:18.479 there's ways to include unnecessary
00:08:20.479 information in a rulebook but if there's
00:08:22.080 a type of component or a card or some
00:08:24.160 sort of element to the game
00:08:25.520 that you want players to draw an
00:08:27.599 association to
00:08:28.720 as they read the rules and see the terms
00:08:30.720 multiple times in the rulebook that's
00:08:32.320 when you want to be clear and use the
00:08:33.760 same terms over and over
00:08:35.440 for example this paragraph from a root
00:08:37.760 expansions
00:08:38.640 learn to play rulebook describes the use
00:08:40.799 of plot tokens
00:08:41.839 the term plot tokens is used multiple
00:08:44.159 times for clarity
00:08:45.360 and there is other descriptive language
00:08:47.120 around it to explain how these tokens
00:08:49.040 work
00:08:49.760 that's a lot of plots but you get it i
00:08:51.920 recently watched a game design
00:08:53.360 documentary
00:08:54.080 called game master you can find it on
00:08:56.320 amazon if you'd like in the documentary
00:08:58.160 the renowned game designer
00:08:59.760 reiner kenicia spoke briefly on when
00:09:02.560 writing down the rules to a game he said
00:09:04.480 something along the lines of
00:09:06.160 you're not writing a novel our rule
00:09:08.399 books are not meant to be
00:09:09.760 poetic beautiful texts that are meant to
00:09:13.040 woo the reader no our rule books are
00:09:15.519 meant to be objective
00:09:16.880 precise maps to the play experience
00:09:19.680 we're not trying to impress people with
00:09:21.120 fancy words
00:09:22.080 we're just trying to be the right amount
00:09:23.839 of boring and redundant so that players
00:09:26.560 know how our game works
00:09:28.080 the last tip tip number five use indexes
00:09:31.200 reference sheets or player aids another
00:09:33.600 best practice for modern published games
00:09:36.000 is the use of supplementary materials
00:09:38.399 that accompany the rulebook these often
00:09:40.399 come as separate reference sheets that
00:09:42.080 give detailed descriptions of each
00:09:44.080 playing card or component in the game
00:09:46.160 or it could be a smaller player aid that
00:09:48.080 breaks down each stage of a turn and
00:09:49.920 round
00:09:50.480 they could also be as simple as
00:09:51.920 providing a glossary on the final page
00:09:54.080 of your rulebook as a list of defined
00:09:56.000 terms or symbols for each distinct
00:09:58.320 action
00:09:58.959 either way us modern gamers are getting
00:10:01.200 pretty spoiled when it comes to these
00:10:02.959 player aids or included materials so
00:10:05.200 just keep a look out for how you can
00:10:06.640 supplement your rule book with these
00:10:08.240 helpful additions
00:10:10.040 [Music]
00:10:13.519 lastly in the description of this video
00:10:15.360 i'm going to include
00:10:16.560 a lot of helpful resources that were
00:10:18.560 great for me to learn how to write a
00:10:20.320 good rule book this
00:10:21.440 includes podcasts videos articles
00:10:24.640 blogs anything that i came across that i
00:10:27.279 think would be helpful for you
00:10:28.720 in addition to the helpful resources i'm
00:10:30.560 going to include a downloadable
00:10:32.560 word document that has those common
00:10:34.560 sections of a rulebook inside so it's
00:10:36.720 basically a template for you to download
00:10:38.959 and just have at the ready whenever
00:10:40.399 you're ready to start writing your rules
00:10:42.560 i'm just trying to be as helpful as i
00:10:44.160 can in conclusion
00:10:45.680 if you have any ideas on how to write a
00:10:48.240 great rulebook please post your ideas in
00:10:50.160 the comments that's helpful to me
00:10:52.160 and any other new designers out there
00:10:54.000 that watch these videos
00:10:55.360 and search through the comments if you
00:10:57.040 like these videos please
00:10:58.480 like and subscribe i'm doing my best to
00:11:00.959 post videos whenever i can
00:11:02.800 but it's always encouraging to see
00:11:04.720 people subscribing to the channel
00:11:06.640 or posting comments in the video or
00:11:08.640 liking what i make
00:11:09.760 we're almost to a thousand subscribers
00:11:12.160 that's showing me that what i'm doing
00:11:13.760 here
00:11:14.160 is worth it to you all so thank you
00:11:16.160 that's all for today
00:11:17.680 thanks so much for watching and i hope
00:11:19.760 you have a great day
00:11:30.760 [Music]
00:11:43.519 you