Vajra Enterprises Style Guide
Formatting
-Text should
be ideally be delivered as Microsoft Word (.doc) or Rich
Text Format (.rtf).
-Extensive formatting
is not required (this will be taken care of during final page layout) but some formatting
for the sake of readability is appreciated: two columns, bolded section headings,
larger section headings for higher-level sections (e.g. 30 point font for chapter
name, 20 point for sections within a chapter, 15 point for sections within a section
within a chapter, etc.).
-Do not tab
at the beginning of paragraphs. (Tabs
are for the beginning of list elements, see below).
-Use
paragraph spacing (in MS Word, go to Format, Paragraph, Choose 6 for Before and 6 for After) so that each paragraph is separated
by only one paragraph
-All sentences
should be separated by two spaces.
-All compilations
of short items should be presented in an indented list. The format should be either: new line, tab, label
in bold, dash, space, description beginning with a capital letter, OR: new line,
tab, dash, description starting with a capitol letter.
Example 1:
Item 1- Description goes here.
Item 2- Description goes here.
Item 3- Description goes here.
Example 2:
-Description of item 1 goes here.
-Description of item 2 goes here.
-Description of item 3 goes here.
-When
putting in a text box, simply say: “[Text Box:” then the text box title and text,
then “]” at the end. Example:
[Text Box: Are People Stupid?
Yes. Yes, they are. ]
-Difficulties
should list the name and then the number in parentheses, (e.g. “This would be a
Hard (30) difficulty STH feat.”)
-When you are
referencing a subject that hasn’t already been described, or has been described
many pages back, insert a page reference, using “p.xx”,
e.g. “for more, see Talon-Beasts, p.xx.”
Style
-When
referring to a hypothetical person, use “he or she.” Use “they” only when referring to multiple
hypothetical people. Use “he” or “she”
only when referring to a specific person.
Examples:
They like to drink the blood
of humans.
He goes to the opera every
Tuesday.
The drinker of this fluid will find his
or her skin turning jet black.
-Narration
in the main body of the text should be passive, opinionless,
characterless, neutral and use plain language. It should be told from the point of view of
an outsider, not an insider, of the game setting. Slang should only be in quotes (e.g. ‘Only about 1 in 5 members of the group are true
“world-fuckers.”’)
-Text boxes
with quotes, fictional vignettes, letters, lyrics, and anything else from the
“mouths” of game world characters, will give the
‘color’ that the regular narrative text lacks.
-Avoid long
unbroken sections. Each paragraph should
have no more than 4 or 5 sentences. Each
section should have no more than 4 or 5 paragraphs. Each section should have a title that describes
that section.
-Each section
should be conceived of as a narrative describing a particular aspect of the game
universe. Anything that doesn’t quite fit
in with the current narrative should be put into a text box.
-Any section
which is more than 1 or 2 paragraphs should begin with a text box that says “In
Brief- “ and then has a 1 or 2 sentence summary of the section.
-It doesn’t
matter if a sentence is technically correct; if someone has to read it over more
than once to figure out what it means then it is not a good sentence.
-When describing
multiple items, come up with a standard template and use it for each. E.g. when describing character classes each should
have entries for In Brief, Favorable Stereotypes, Unfavorable Stereotypes, History,
Lifestyle, Dark Side, Skill Costs, etc. Even
if the entry only says “none” you should still have it for consistency’s sake,
-Rules
should be followed by examples with named characters. Example text should be italicized. E.g. “The STH difficulty to lift something is
equal to its weight in pounds, divided by 10.
Example: Tim wants to lift the body of his injured comrade, who
weights 180 lbs. Tim must make a STH
+1d20 roll and beat 18 (180 divided by 10).”
Typical
Items
-NPCs should be listed in text boxes, in the following
format:
Name (title, or short phrase describing what
makes that person interesting). Example:
Bob McKenzie (Leader of the Bam-Boozlers)
Level (if
applicable). Example: Level 5
Sociopath.
Appearance (should be short,
suitable for GMs to read to players during game play).
Attributes
Personality Metrics (specific to
the game, for instance in Fates it’s Personal Ideals
and Worldviews, in
Social Status
History
Personality
Motivations (it’s
okay to leave this out if it’s redundant with personality)
Methods (how the NPC gets things
done)
Special Skills (no need to list
every skill, just the ones that would probably be important when PCs deal with
this NPC)
Special Equipment
Special Abilities (any special
powers)
Typical Action (give the full
computation and the simplified version, e.g. “Will strike with his club at STH
(15) + AGY (15) +5 (skill) +1d20 vs. 25 (or 1d20 +10 vs. 0), doing 3 blunt
damage if successful.”)
Typical Reaction
-Adventures
should generally have:
Synopsis (one paragraph, describe
the adventure in brief to GMs)
Character Introductions (how to get
PCs involved in the adventure)
Sections detailing each of the
places, encounters, problems, mysteries, etc. that players
might encounter.
NPC writeups for every significant NPC.
Possible Solutions (a discussion of
some of the ways PCs might solve the problems encountered in the adventure, and what the aftermath of different solutions
might be).
An XP sheet showing XP specific to
the adventure (e.g. “Kill the lion, or otherwise render it harmless: +5 XP”).
-Each game
should generally have:
-A one or two page introduction
geared for first time players.
-Other introductory materials.
-A character creation chapter.
-A rules chapter.
-A chapter describing the game
world for players.
-A chapter for GMs, describing and
giving advice about the type of adventures that might be run, and giving in
depth info on various dangers/threats to PCs and detailing any “game world
secrets” not included in the chapter for players.
-Two introductory adventures.
-Appendices with stuff like maps,
glossaries, etc.
Values
-Realism. Although Vajra games often start with a fantastic
premise, they proceed by asking “if that were premise were
true, what would the logical consequences be?” All game material takes as it’s first and
foremost goal to be as realistic as possible.
-Research:
Similarly, whenever possible we base everything in the game setting on research
into the real world. For instance, if a
setting has a group of high-tech-skateboarders, we would want to look into the
history and culture of real-world skateboarders. We believe that reality is often more
interesting than anything writers can make up.
-Adult
Audiences: Our games are
-Dark:
We don’t go for the gross, scary or disturbing purely for shock value. However, there are a lot of topics that have
not been thoroughly explored elsewhere because some people might find them “disturbing.” We try to explore those topics thoroughly.
-Hope:
Although typically dark, all of our settings offer some glimmer of hope, no
matter how small, that the PCs can actually make things better for themselves
or the world.
-Underdog
Heroes: We are bored with heroes that are rich, handsome, beloved and supported wholeheartedly by the government. Instead, we prefer heroes that from the
underside of humanity: criminals, heretics, rebels, street punks, homeless
people, the mentally ill, sexual deviants, political radicals, etc.
-Thorough
Analysis: A setting can be limited in scope (in fact, this is preferred)
but it should be considered from all angles: every group and minority, no
matter how small, and their viewpoint and history, should be discussed. Similarly, every character creation option should
be given to players, not just those we think they would want.
-Low
Power: Heroes generally have greater-than-human abilities, but we avoid
comic-book-superhero or god-like levels of power for heroes. We want characters to be powerful enough to do
interesting things, but not so powerful that whether the PCs live or die might
not hinge on a PC thinking of a clever use of a piece of duct tape.