Key Components in a Rulebook?

[Easy E]

I was reading some reviews of rules and found that there are a few different ideas about what a rulebook needs to be considered "complete".  Therefore, I come to you all to help me get a temperature for what you think a rulebook needs to have in it besides the core rules of play for a game. 

Pictures?  How important is it to have photos of minis on table?  Either during a game or just posed shots?  Is there a preference? 

Artwork?  How important is line art, actual historical finds, full-color artwork to show what the game is about or capture the feel for the period? 

Index?  These can make finding keywords helpful, but are they necessary?  Is a table of contents enough? 

Quick Refence Sheet?  I find that many games expect this in the core rules now-a-days, and do not want to make their own.  How do you feel about it? 

Diagrams?  How important are diagrams of game play?  I find they can help make some concepts much easier to grasp BUT are also hard to produce and get printed.  How important are they to you as a player? 

Blank Unit Roster sheets?  Again, this seems to be something we use to make ourselves in the old days, but that approach may not be the way forward?  Your thoughts? 

Stories?  Do you like little fluff blurbs to help highlight the period or setting of a game?  Sometimes full short stories, other times just little in-character snippets?  Do you want it as part of the core rulebook? 

Tokens, templates, or counter sheets?  Again, this use to be something we made back in the day but more modern wargames seem to like them in the booklet?  How about you? 

Is there something else that I missed that you really like to see in the Core rulebook to help you feel like a game is a complete set of rules? 

[Mikai]

Here my opinion about it:

Index? These can make finding keywords helpful, but are they necessary? Is a table of contents enough? 

Regular listeners of the WSS-Podcast can only argue for an index at this topic 
I think it depends on how many pages the rulebook has. At some certain amount an index is a must to be able to quickly refind some informations.

Pictures?  How important is it to have photos of minis on table?  Either during a game or just posed shots?  Is there a preference? 

Artwork?  How important is line art, actual historical finds, full-color artwork to show what the game is about or capture the feel for the period? 

These two points can be taken together I think. And the answer is here very likely 'it depends'. It might depend on the setting on the book. Also if there is some specific art style which goes along with it. Late medieval or new time eras can profit from images mimicking the contemporary style of art at their period. Sci-Fi works at such too if you find some kind of futuristic art style which can mentally be connected with the setting. Early medieval and antique settings can profit from drawings (perhaps you know the magazine 'Ancient Warfare'? Something alongside this) or from pencil sketches, so do fantasy settings (iirc the Midgard rulebook has only drawings and no images of miniatures? I think I have read this in some review).
Images with miniatures are thus no real necessity but are a natural partner at a rulebook about miniature wargaming. There you have also different options though, not only if the pictures are from mid-game or some pose shots (balanced mixture works probably the best). You can also vary the degree of profesionalism on how good they are painted or even at all. Might sound stupid but perhaps readers can feel more connected with a rulebook when they see that the author is as bad at painting minis as they are.
And to connect both points you could also paint the minis in an own specific perhaps unexpected art style. You know no artist for doing pencil sketches? What about some minis with white foundations with black ink/wash photographed in front of a green screen? You could edit the pictures such way that you get some comic-like pictures.

Quick Refence Sheet?  I find that many games expect this in the core rules now-a-days, and do not want to make their own.  How do you feel about it? 

That is something which I would always like to see and which I deem very useful.

Diagrams?  How important are diagrams of game play?  I find they can help make some concepts much easier to grasp BUT are also hard to produce and get printed.  How important are they to you as a player?

Not really important for games which aren't meant to be tournament games I think. That also plays together with images of minis. If you have good images of some midbattle situation a complex situation could be visually better explained than with diagrams.

Blank Unit Roster sheets?  Again, this seems to be something we use to make ourselves in the old days, but that approach may not be the way forward?  Your thoughts? 

It depends on if the rules make it possible to create own units (some kind of free point system) or have preset lists. At latter one blank sheets might be useful if a faction offers a lot of different units one can choose from. At games like Saga I could imagine that something like that would be less useful. If the rules enable the creation of own units, it would be nice to have some blank sheet to have at least a reference on how to set up own ones.

Stories?  Do you like little fluff blurbs to help highlight the period or setting of a game?  Sometimes full short stories, other times just little in-character snippets?  Do you want it as part of the core rulebook? 

Depends again on the setting I guess. If it is a relatively well known setting ('Vikings pilgering to Saxon churches, praying, buying some relics and peacefully heading home' or such) it might be not that useful as at unknown or made up settings (which are at some point also unknown, refering to fantasy and scifi  )

Tokens, templates, or counter sheets?  Again, this use to be something we made back in the day but more modern wargames seem to like them in the booklet?  How about you? 

Depends on if the rules make it necessary to have plenty different tokens or not. If I only need three or four, I use little coloured chips, agreeing beforehand on the meaning of them with my game partner (red token for wounds is very intuitive). Should be at the bottom of the priority list anyway.

Is there something else that I missed that you really like to see in the Core rulebook to help you feel like a game is a complete set of rules? 

Perhaps some few basic scenarios. Maps for the basic build up if necessary are also an option. That are the two things coming to my mind at the moment.

[Belligerentparrot]

Hello Mr E,

I think the answer to your questions really depends on whether the rule-book is also selling fluff.

Pictures/artwork: don't really need 'em unless the rulebook is also selling its own fictional setting. The artwork in Space Crusade's rulebook (my first mini game) hooked me into the GW universe more than anything else. See also the Realm of Chaos books: so many fantastic conversions in those photos that really inspire you to dive into the setting and rules.

Index: absolute yes for anything beyond a simple game.

Quick reference sheet: yes please.

Diagrams: I wonder if this one depends on the age-group the rules are aimed at. I don't really need diagrams now, but as a kid learning Space Crusade the diagrams really helped me figure out what certain weapons did.

Blank unit roster: probably easier to have these as free downloads on a website now, eh?

Stories: Again, depends on the age-group and whether there is fluff being sold too. That said, I always found the GW stories more annoying than interesting - really good fluff description sells itself. If you know someone that can *really* write, maybe stories are useful, I dunno.

Tokens etc.: Always liked the GW way of giving you these on punch out card, but that I imagine is crazy expensive. Free downloads on a website again easier, maybe?

[fred]

Pictures: In game pictures can be useful to show how the game is setup and played - more useful if there are different / unique ways of doing things.  But just pictures of some figures, not that useful.

Artwork: Similar to the above - some simple line drawings can be effective at adding character.

Both the above are also useful from a layout perspective - of breaking up walls of text.

Index. Depends on complexity of the rules. For simpler rules at ToC is sufficient. If you have the rules in PDF format then it’s much easier just to search the PDF. Whilst I like the idea of an index, I don’t think I use them that often in rules. Clear chapter names, that are repeated on the top of pages make finding the right area much easier when flicking through the rules.

Quick Reference Sheet: Essential. Happy for this to be a separate download. Whilst it can be instructive to make your own QRS, they take a lot of time to put together. A good QRS needs to be compact - 2 sides of A4 / US letter max.

Diagrams. Important - these can really simplify and clarify explanations. I’m a bit surprised that the two prior commentators don’t see these as important. Too me these are typically items that get looked at repeatedly - and are a very easy way to understand items like how flanks are defined in the rules, or ZoC etc.

Blank Unit Roster sheets. Not important at all.

Stories: Little snippets are good, pages of stuff I just don’t read. Info to whet your appetite is good.

Tokens, templates, or counter sheets. Templates (unless they are very simple shapes) should be given. Counters and Tokens - unless they are unusual / specific hardly seems essential.

Other stuff:  Include some example force lists - this can really make getting a first game on the table so much simpler, especially if the game allows unit building - if I have to learn the rules, and build up unit profiles and work out two sides and a scenario, its an awful lot for a first game.

Examples of play - walk through a couple of examples of key mechanics - again helps understand what the rules are trying to do, when you can see them being applied.

There are examples of rules that hit all sorts of levels of content and production - perhaps at the top end you have games like Hail Caesar and Black Powder which are essentially coffee table books. Lots of lovely photos, lots of background, lots of examples of battles and forces. But the actual rules are almost secondary within this.

Perhaps at the other end is a set like Irregular Wars, which is black and white, has some line art, and simple diagrams, has good clear rules, a huge number of diverse army lists (which are an introductory paragraph then unit details, all on a single page). But these lists are still very inspiring in triggering new armies!

And then you have the really basic (generally older sets) that are just text.

[warwell]

Pictures?  Artwork?  Stories? Completely unnecessary
Diagrams? It depends. If you can explain the concept without them then not needed. But they can be crucial in some cases
Index?  Again depends. Can the reader find info easily without it? Then not needed. But probably helpful in most cases.
Quick Refence Sheet?  Yes please.
Blank Unit Roster sheets? I generally don't play games that require them but would like them if I did
Tokens, templates, or counter sheets?  I usually make my own

[Storm Wolf]

All of the above is good and nice to have, but one thing missing from most rulesbooks these days is a proper summary sheet listing ALL of the things likely to come up in a normal game and also keep said summary sheet readable but compact. Not spread over 5 or 6 pages of mostly empty blank space or worse with lots of surrounding distracting artwork 

Of recent years the best proponent of this in my experience has been one page rules, other games manufacturers please take note!

My last rant for 2024 (hopefully )

Merry Christmas to one and all

Glen

[Elbows]

Pictures
Sure, particularly if the models are decently painted with decent terrain.  I've seen many cheap PDF rules with very poorly painted models on terrible terrain and it can actually detract from the appearance/value of the product.

Artwork
If you can afford it, and it makes sense...sure.  I'd argue this kind of thing is more important if you're selling a nice, expensive hard-bound book, etc.

Index
Yep, or very clearly laid out rulebook with easily recognizable sections, bits, etc.

Quick Reference Sheet
Yep, to the extent that I now do my rules in two parts: a rulebook, an then a set of QRS or appendices.  Ideally you read the rulebook once or twice, but should rarely need to reference it once you play the game a few times.  After that all the info you need is on the appendices or reference sheets.  Basically boiling down the rulebook to 5-10 pages for the gamers once you've figured out the system.

Diagrams
Yes, but only if needed.  Some rules are easily explained in text and don't need a diagram.

Blank Roster Sheets
Yes, but mainly because that's incredibly easy to do and something a consumer shouldn't need to do.  Can consumers make sexier/cooler ones?  Absolutely, but it's dead easy to put together a simple roster sheet if your game requires that kind of info on hand.

Stories
Ambivalent.  Only likely if you're selling an IP/story/theme, and only worthwhile if you write well.  I've seen some massively cringey stories crammed into some PDF rulesets I've picked up.

Tokens/Templates/Counter Sheets
This would depend entirely on how much your game uses them.  If they're simple common things like "wound markers", it's not necessary.  Players will figure it out.  However, if your game centers around 12 unique orders/actions...then yeah you should have some capacity to provide those, etc.

_______________________________

On top of all that...is simply a well laid out, easy to read rulebook.  Don't bury core rules in the middle of a paragraph.  Use fonts, backgrounds or bullet points to highlight key concepts and rules.  I don't make 'attractive' lay outs for my rules, but I concentrate on very simple and to-the-point rules which you can reference very quickly and easily.  In your shooting section, each major rule should be in bold and easily picked out.  These major sections should be in the table of contents or index.  It blows my mind how many 'wall of text' style rules I see in a lot of amateur game designs, etc.

Bold fonts, obvious headers, and bullet points can be your friend, use them.    If you're wondering "hey how does cover affect my shooting attack?"  You should simply find the "Shooting Attacks" section with the "Cover & Shooting" subsection and be done with it.