Tactical Command
http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/

Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=133&t=23212		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  Evil and Chaos [ Wed May 09, 2012 10:26 am ]
Post subject:  Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
Hey everyone,

Before we do the big unveil of the rulebook publically, I thought it'd be cool to give a bit of a preview of our game system here on Taccomms -

http://www.freewebstore.org/troublemake ... 76805.aspx


Let us know what you think, either just by eyeballing it or playtesting the game!

For those that have been helping out with the closed Beta playtesting, this is the latest version.
Author:  Apocolocyntosis [ Wed May 09, 2012 10:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
Do you only want feedback on game mechanics stuff, or the document itself?
Author:  Evil and Chaos [ Wed May 09, 2012 11:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
Well I'm aware that there are some formatting errors etc, but if you want to do a pass looking for en-dashes that'd be most apprecaited too!
Author:  Apocolocyntosis [ Wed May 09, 2012 11:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
Well, as there are a minimum of 150 hyphens that should be en dashes in the document, i recommend using find and replace:

To fix them where used in text do:
Find: ^w-^w
Replace: [SPACE]^=[SPACE]
(just type a single space in with the spacebar where i've put [SPACE])

and then turn on wildcards in the find and replace options and do this:
Find: ([0-9])-([0-9])
Replace: \1–\2

(ensure you have an en dash – in the replace)
The above is for word, YMMV in other applications.

Couple of very fast general layout thoughts:
• If doc is intended for home printing by players, your pages numbers are outside the print margins of most home printers.
• The drop shadows used on the bits of paper/parchment are different sizes?
• Line length is excessive.
• Pop some letter-spacing/tracking/whatever your application calls it into the full cap headings
• Vertical spacing in the army cards sections, put some space after the text paragraph for each entry to separate it from the next army card.
• A lot of things seem to have lines/frames around them. Eww.
• Weapon arc diagrams seem to be placed as a low res jpg or similar, replace with vector or a good .png.
• Shift the event entries in the time line closer to their respective dates.

Not convinced by the bold Palatino being used on the cover.
Author:  Evil and Chaos [ Wed May 09, 2012 11:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
Quote:
If doc is intended for home printing by players, your pages numbers are outside the print margins of most home printers.

Intended for an eventual hardcopy print run.

Quote:
The drop shadows used on the bits of paper/parchment are different sizes?

Yep they have different colours and textures too.

Quote:
Shift the event entries in the time line closer to their respective dates.

It's an alternate timeline - stuff happened differently. :-)


Quote:
Not convinced by the bold Palatino being used on the cover.

It's temporary.
Author:  Apocolocyntosis [ Wed May 09, 2012 11:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
Fair enough.

Updated the find and replace for the numeric ranges as what i had there first time round didn't work if wildcards were already on.

Meh, drop shadows just look a bit odd when there are several different ones on the same page at different sizes. Especially given that ones of the same type of paper sometimes still have different size shadows.

Quote:
It's an alternate timeline - stuff happened differently. :-)

No i mean spacing wise, move all the text to the left to be nearer the numbers.
Author:  Evil and Chaos [ Wed May 09, 2012 11:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
Ah I see lol.
Author:  Apocolocyntosis [ Wed May 09, 2012 11:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
ooo ye, and maybe use the degree symbol ° for degrees
Author:  Tiny-Tim [ Wed May 09, 2012 2:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
Interesting read, I'll look forward to giving the game a go.
Author:  Evil and Chaos [ Wed May 09, 2012 4:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
Well, I'll be bringing some "studio" armies with me when I move. :-)
Author:  Tiny-Tim [ Wed May 09, 2012 4:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
The thought had crossed my mind. Do you have a move date yet?
Author:  Evil and Chaos [ Wed May 09, 2012 4:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
19th/20th depending on when we hire the truck.
Author:  madd0ct0r [ Thu May 10, 2012 3:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
reading over now.

thoughts to go here:

1) too many commas and run on sentences in the introducton

2) [spoiler]HGW - :D[/spolier]

3) [spoiler]Overthrowing this grim dark future :D[/spoiler]

4) Rules look ok on a first pass through. Possibly the interaction of turning rules and weapon arc rules are overly complex - it's meant to be a fast paced game yes?

5) Rules for releasing a giant arthropod on the battlefield required in future expansion :)

6)No mechanism for flyers except for slow skimmers... I suppose they can be bundled with an expansion should you choose to include them later.

7) it's silly, but i find when reading Anti-I and Anti-V in tiny type to be quite difficult to differentiate them at a glance.
a -I- and -V- would be quite sufficient.
Author:  RexHavoc [ Thu May 10, 2012 4:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
Wow. Very impressive work. The artwork though out is fantastic, really suits the image, very very cool old school sci-fi.

Will read through the rest of the rules over the weekend! Just one question; When will there be a movie be out?? ;D
Author:  pixelgeek [ Thu May 10, 2012 5:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Timeline 300 BETA rulebook preview
Evil and Chaos wrote:
Intended for an eventual hardcopy print run.


If that is the case then I would try to find someone to do a proper layout for you. Even using Pages or a similar consumer level package is going to give you better results and probably save you a few pages.

Are you using Word/Open Office to do your current layout?
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