How best to list equipment and "stuff"?

Rob Lang · February 05, 2008, 05:22:04 AM

Most Sci Fi games have a lot of stuff. Cars, bikes, guns, spaceships, more guns, armour and so on. There seems to be lots of different ways of listing all this stuff. If it's a hotel room, you might just want a price and a short description. For a car, you'll want a picture and some game mechanics information. I think I've got that nailed.

However, there are loads of things that could be listed in a tabular or list form or as a contact sheet (see below). What do you prefer? You you vehemently dislike either?

NB: There will be a big compilation table included that will have everything in for quick reference.

Contact Sheet:

Tabular:

You can see these in situe in the Icar Equipment Index.

Skyrock · February 05, 2008, 05:36:35 AM

Tabular, it's way better in regards of usability.

Contact-Sheet-style is fun to read (the Chromebooks for CP2020 are a _great_ example for this), but it's a pain in the butt if you want to look up something quickly, compare all types of reflex boosts, or do any other research.

Rob Lang · February 05, 2008, 05:41:53 AM

Quote from: SkyrockTabular, it's way better in regards of usability.

I hope to include a very basic table listing of all stuff as an appendix. There will be a cut down of information and it will be pictureless. I hope that might go some way towards solving this problem. It would be like having an Index in a reference book.

arminius · February 05, 2008, 05:43:22 AM

I agree with Skyrock.

The style I like is to have a columnar/paragraph-style rundown of the items without stats, pictures of some/all the items somewhere on the page (with captions if it's not obvious what each picture is), and then a table of stats.

arminius · February 05, 2008, 05:45:28 AM

Quote from: Rob LangI hope to include a very basic table listing of all stuff as an appendix. There will be a cut down of information and it will be pictureless. I hope that might go some way towards solving this problem. It would be like having an Index in a reference book.

That might work, but then you have to flip back & forth to find the descriptions/pictures while you're scanning down the table.

Rob Lang · February 05, 2008, 11:26:59 AM

Quote from: Elliot WilenThat might work, but then you have to flip back & forth to find the descriptions/pictures while you're scanning down the table.

Thanks for the thoughts! All good points.

I am trying to make the book as easy to use while making it beautiful. I fear ugly books. They seem to be somewhat at odds with each other at the moment. The table version and contact sheet are likely to have the same information to allow those who need quick reference access to a table and those whole just like to browse have a contact sheet.

flyingmice · February 05, 2008, 11:43:08 AM

Quote from: Rob LangThanks for the thoughts! All good points.

I am trying to make the book as easy to use while making it beautiful. I fear ugly books. They seem to be somewhat at odds with each other at the moment. The table version and contact sheet are likely to have the same information to allow those who need quick reference access to a table and those whole just like to browse have a contact sheet.

I've never been able to solve this dilemma. Of course since my talent at layout would fit into a thimble with room left for a slug of expresso, I really don't have much choice, and go for "clean and usable" every time. Sometimes I can actually achieve something like this.

-clash

jibbajibba · February 05, 2008, 02:10:55 PM

In the core book the contact sheet with detail, pictures and I also liked the CP2020 Chrome books with their advertising feel.
Then in the appendix stick the table with no illustrations at all just for reference. Separate tables for Ammo, Weapons, Clothing and armour etc etc .... Then on the web site a little app that lets you build a character and load up all his equipment details in table or contact sheet format:-)

arminius · February 05, 2008, 02:12:18 PM

Quote from: Rob LangI am trying to make the book as easy to use while making it beautiful. I fear ugly books. They seem to be somewhat at odds with each other at the moment. The table version and contact sheet are likely to have the same information to allow those who need quick reference access to a table and those whole just like to browse have a contact sheet.

As long as there's a table in the same section of the book as the pictures/descriptions, this would be okay, if a bit redundant. The relative characteristics of items (even functionally different items are related by cost) matters a great deal, and it's best presented in tabular form.

As for beauty, I'm with Clash. Yes, you want the game to be attractive so people will want to acquire it and play it, but usability trumps beauty in actual play. Are you just trying to avoid having an "ugly" table in the main text? If so, I think that's a misplaced motivation. Put information that goes together, together.

Silverlion · February 05, 2008, 02:44:50 PM

The glove acts as a blunt? I assume that means "blunt weapon."

Might want to fix that

I like pictures only if the weapon is not something traditional. You give ma "Fhakuiresat" and show me that. But a sword, or knife? No need for pictures for the ten thousandth time.

Also you are using the Non-US spelling of calibre, but using a more common U.S standard measurement for firearm bullet size. This is confusing to me. (Most Euro/English go with the YxY MM or often shortened to just Y mm IIRC these days, but I could be mistaken.)

Skyrock · February 05, 2008, 02:59:41 PM

Now that you mention it, the calibres seem odd to me.

I can't talk about whole Europe, but at least German shooting clubs have both notations in use, and for some types the inch notation is more common and even intermixed with German descriptions. (".22 long rifle" for instance is most commonly known as ".22 lang für Büchsen", while the metric notation as "5,6 x 16 mm R" is relatively obscure.)

Rob Lang · February 06, 2008, 05:00:26 AM

Crap! I didn't realise I'd used the work calibre on there. How did that slip in. I'll remove it. Thanks Skyrock!

(One of the few Brits licensed to shoot firearms)