So what’s a primer?
A primer is one of those booklets they give free in shops and conventions so that players can have a taste of the game in the hope they will like it and move to buy the real thing.
“First Game”: The Newsies & Bootblacks Primer
It’s set in one column with a 11 point sized font, for a total of word-count of around 15,000. It’s now 55 pages long of US-Letter size, but the addition of a few good illustrations would probably add a few pages.
Why one column?
Because it is meant to be read mainly on a computer screen and two columns are a pain to read in most screens. It looks great printed too, the only downside being that it requires a few more pages. Two columns are more compact and excel at displaying lists and small tables, but, again, they are hassle when you have to scroll up and down to follow the text. I am speaking from personal experience here.
Why an 11 sized font?
Because I wanted to be easy to read on a computer screen. The downside is that it adds a few pages to print, but I expect that most players will only print a few reference pages, if at all. E-book readers, thin laptops, and netbooks make it easy for a game-master to never feel the need to print anything but the character sheets — if at all.
Why an US-Letter size?
Because I expect most of the players to be American. Printing it on DIN-A4 only adds some extra white-space which, if disliked, can be easily trimmed in any shop which provides printing services.
If there is a real demand, however, I would consider other sizes.
On illustrations
I will follow a simple rule that will guide every MiniM Role-Playing product unless proven wrong: good illustrations only. They can be small, or just a few, but they need to be good. I prefer the beauty of nicely set bare text than to endure a cheesy home-made doodle just for the sake of having pics.
Unfortunately, I lack the resources to buy many illustrations, so I will resort to old but excellent public domain images, stock images and whatever I can pay. In this primer I will, at least, provide with one illustration every 5 pages, making sure that there is one per chapter too. That will mean around 10 to 12 illustrations of different sizes.
On Content
It begins with an introduction, which contains a 2 pages primer on the city of New Paris, which you can see you drafted on this very blog and b/w map of New Paris.
Then there are two chapters on the basic rules, which are pretty much the same than the standard rules except for, character creation, the optional rules, unusual weapons and the like. Any player who goes through the primer will have a very good grasp on the regular game.
Then there’s a very condensed chapter on equipment, followed by game preparation, including six pre-generated characters.
The book closes with “Forsaken”, an adventure that combines action, some thinking, learning who to trust and a flavor of campfire scary tales.
Free as in free beer
First Game will be free to acquire on rpgnow as soon as it will be available. So please don’t go around pirating the standard game. You will me harming my dreams and making fun of my hard work and the dreams and hard work of others.
If you want to test the Newsies & Bootblacks, “First Game” will do that nicely for free. And if you can’t afford the standard game, or you need it for a children’s home or a school just contact me and I will email the pdf to you discreetly.