How Do You Make Playbooks?

Last month my main goal was to finish the Tag chapter of the final book, fully explaining how exactly that mechanic works in great detail. But with out of the way, I set my eyes on a greater task, the playbooks that use them.

As I'm sure you know by now, Protect The Sacred has 28 playbooks in all (though admittedly I have a few more ideas I'm sitting on for post-launch stretch goals.) That's a lot of work. That's a lot of information. And information was the main concern of the month.

Each playbook is representative of 4 pages of content in the final book, or 2, two page spreads. collectively, that makes each playbook, without any of the fluff around it 112 pages of the final page count, a sizable portion of the book. Each playbook must use that designated page space to accomplish the following goals:

-Give you any and all mechanics needed to play the playbook

-Tell you what this playbook is and why they exist in the world

-Get you interested in playing this playbook

-get you thinking about and in the headspace of creating a character

that's a lot lot squeeze into 4 pages. And I need to do it in a way that's accomplishable and sustainable for my one(ish) man team over 28 instances.

Luckily, I spent a good part of development front-loading that design, making sure that this part will go a little faster because the things that have true mechanical weight, (tag question) will be done, save a bit of editing and rephrasing. It's already payed off.

But I spent most of this month planning and iterating on the template for the rest of that information, and I think I'm pretty proud of what I've done. It feels sustainable and substantial even if it takes me some time.

I tried my best to make sure I had 2 playbooks by the end of the month but couldn't make it in time, but I'm just going to hope that 5 pages of writing is enough. That file attachment below is the first of the playbooks, "The Ace", and I wanted to walk you through each section and the whys.

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Page 1

Page one is your first impression, it should catch your eye and draw you in while informing you the basics of who this character is.

Title

A title should be communicative and evocative, and posted someplace easy to find. When shuffling pages, it's the thing you're going to make note of to come back to and help you orientate yourself.

Tagline

The elevator pitch of the class. 1-2 sentences

Art

Probably the most important part of the playbook and takes up page space accordingly. Visual art has an immediate impact for minimal investment. It's why pictures do better on social media than essays. The Art should be something that both answers what something is but leaves a question on what it could be. It's one of many possibilities offered instead of prescriptive.

Story

A snapshot into what one of these characters adventures, about a page long. It's here to tell you a bit more about your visual, to get you hype and dig in. A tiny vision of the world

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Page 2

Now that you're interested, I can offer more details. This is the most informationally dense page but the information I deliver has to inform you of a few things. I want you to start thinking about the sort of characters you can and want to make. Both the spoken and unspoken possibilities of the tool in front of you.

Who Is ___?

What sort of characters is this book for? This should answer if it fill the player in while also asking them to go a little deeper

___ on the Job

What sort of job, adventures, and team roles can you see this sort of character fulfilling? What kinda things does this sort of character provide to a team and where the player should feel like they have authority and narrative initiative. Protect the sacred is a proactive game that reacts to what players what to do, not reactive where players are responding to the story.

___ in the World

What is is like to be one of these guys out in the greater world? Who finds themselves drawn to a lifestyle that would fit this label? How do people treat them? How might have life been before The Memento group?

Impressions

An in character excerpt about the person the story was about from someone this book wouldn't describe.A little flavor can go a long way.

Sidebar

snapshots showing 6 more examples of people that could use this playbook as well as how each book might use the approaches. Made to think about different types of characters and again be a demonstration the possibilities of this sort of character.

Examples of ___

Protect the Sacred has a lot more mechanics than my previous game Exceptionals, and I came to realize that these mechanics, while thoroughly explained, didn't have the same sort of guide rails as my main forms of tags. Expressions, Gear, and Touchstones are all new ways to interact with tags. Stunts are both things some players have a hard time being spontaneous with, but also might need direction with to get out of a mindset of only applying them to physical actions.

Playbooks allowed me to make a targeted answer, that both allowed them to be in a easily referencable place but give specific and open ended answer for things you might want for yourself. What gear does an ace need? How about the talented? What would they find useful as a magic skill or ability? Now you have an answer.

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Page 3

These next two pages come together to form the more mechanical weighted parts of a playbook.

Positive Tags

11 open ended question made to allow a player to self-define their character within a playbooks greater concept. Not every question is for everyone, but there should be enough that highlight the important things and might even overlap. The question is which best fit what you are making?

Examples

Demonstrating the sometimes many way how this question might be interpreted. I want to use these to get the player thinking and plant in references for the keen-eyed. These references are meant to both world build through abstraction and get you thinking beyond any self-imposed boundaries.

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Page 4

Wrapping up the playbook, this delivers the last of the mechanics and acts as a sort of closing thoughts.

Negative Tags & Examples

More open ended questions, these are meant to ground the character as well as offer a level of humanity through vulnerability. Both play a similar role as their positive tag counterparts however.

Optional Sidebar

Sometimes a playbook might need additional context or a reminder. This is where it'd go.

Questions to think on

I got a lot of positive feedback on this in Exceptionals. People really loved just having optional questions that made them think of their character as people. I saw no reason to not include them, especially when I want you to be thinking and considering your stories beyond a surface text. Who are these characters as people? What kindness or empathy have you not offered them before? Is there something familiar you recognize? What don't the words capture?

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So what's next? Playbooks for the foreseeable future! (I did this to myself)