The Travels of Mendes Pinto

THUS DO WE START

Well, last month I said I would start presenting the actual TToMP AB01 draft. I even digressed about the introduction to TToMP but in the end I didn't actually present that document. This was because I needed some more time to reach a consensus with Aeon (our own Columns manager at RPGnet) on the new format of the column. Let's start here.

From now on each column will be broken into three sections: Discussion, Notes and Index. Discussion will present the designer notes on the advances done that month in the design of AB01. By "advances" I mean, in this context, new sections added to the game book. If there are changes to past sections still under development, these will be mentioned in the Notes part of the column. The Index will have links to the different sections of AB01.

In a sense, my last column (Part II, as it was christened by Aeon: ruleslawpt2may02.html ) should be the Discussion section of the present column, since it is now that I'm advancing the first chapter of AB01. That's all right. It saves me time to discuss things in the present month.

So, just go to the Introduction to TToMP AB01 (first public draft) through the link in the Index and tell me what you think.

Sérgio

DISCUSSION

Here are some topics for discussion.

On quotations
I asked it in the last column whether, when I present geographical descriptions, I should use notes I produce, quotations from Mendes Pinto book or other 16th centuries sources, or both. I'm sure the question would not make sense without examples to substantiate it. You find these in the draft. Which of the three alternatives should I retain?

On naming chapters
I decided to name chapters with quotations from Mendes Pinto's book. Does this work or should I follow a more conservative approach where chapters are named with standard concepts like "Introduction", "Character Creation", "Game System", etc.? Or should I go for a mix (say, I name the first chapter as: 'Introduction - "Do I Thus Start My Peregrination"', and so on)? In any case, below I added explicative notes to the index so that you can grasp what's in each chapter.

NOTES

A small note on format. I use Win Word as my word processor. Me and Aeon decided to stick to it. That means the game book drafts are Win Word docs you download. There are several reasons to this but the most important are: it simplifies a lot the technical part of this column (no need to convert files from a format to other); you have access to exactly my draft instead of to something produced based on it; there's no risk of problems coming from the production of two drafts, one my personal, the other one for RPGnet. Aeon can also convert the Word doc to PDF, though. (Ed. I already have, at least for this first installment; see below) Would you prefer this? What if you don't have Win Word? Please go to Microsoft's site and search for a tool called Wordview. (Ed. It's right here) It will allow you to open the game files.

And another note on maps. The maps in the first section are "hand"-drawn. They are based in 16th century maps. I would love to have the maps in TToMP to retain the feel of those old maps. In order for you to get an idea on how so they look, please check these maps of the globe: globo.jpg and Asia asia.jpg.

INDEX

 PREFACE
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
 - DOC (48K)
 - PDF (16K)
 
 I.	"DO I THUS START MY PEREGRINATION"
 Introduction
 - DOC (224K)
 - PDF (272K)
 
 II.	"OFFERED TO ANY VENTURE, GOOD OR BAD"
 Fast play
 
 III.	"BEGINNING IN MY CHILDHOOD"
 Character creation
 
 IV.	"TRAVAILS AND MISFORTUNES"
 The basics of action or the action resolution system
 
 V.	"MISERIES, POVERTY, AND MISCHIEVOUS ACCIDENTS"
 Descriptors and activities
 
 VI.	"LIKE ONE THAT SAW DEATH IN THE EYES"
 Combat
 
 VII.	"READY TO SAIL"
 Seamanship
 
 VIII.	"THANK THE LORD FOR HIS GIFT"
 Religion
 
 IX.	"IN GOOD REASON I MAY COMPLAIN ABOUT FORTUNE"
 Character advancement and development
 
 REFERENCE MATERIAL
 
 INDEXES