When Less is More
The mathematician, philosopher, and all-round clever-clogs, Blaise Pascal, once wrote in a letter, "I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter." This statement has become justly famous and oft-quoted. One thing it suggests is that sometimes, shorter is better. With regards to RPG writing, I think this is very often true.
Writing coach, Gary Provost, said:
"Many new writers use too many words too often, and all writers use too many words sometimes."
When we overwrite, we fill our prose with words that are redundant, weak, and wasted. As Provost said, "The smaller the number of words you use to contain a thought or an image, the more impact that thought or image will have."
You may retort that this is Writing 101, and you are correct. But overwriting is at epidemic levels in the tabletop RPG industry. Furthermore, when I discuss wordiness with RPG creators, I get a lot of pushback. One RPG veteran dismissively told me that all sourcebooks had to be 250+ pages or "no-one will take them seriously." I spoke last week about a graphic design and art "arms race" between low-priced products--well, there is also a content arms race we have to navigate.
There are a few problems with this state of affairs. If writers are producing 250-page books because that is the "professional" length, then over-writing will be prevalent. This undoubtedly leads to lower quality writing and could be why people rarely praise an RPG book for its prose!
But the situation creates another problem. Margins are very tight on most books--that is true of publishing in general and tabletop RPGs in particular. So, how do publishers make that work? Usually by squeezing creators, which often means below-poverty level rates for writers. And how do writers make a living? By writing faster--that is, churning out more words in a shorter span of time, which inescapably lowers quality.
There is also an impact on the customer. They get trained to expect massive books at discount prices. For some, an RPG book is like an all-you-can-eat buffet--you want to consume as much product as possible for your money. Publishers consequently feel the pressure to "bulk up" their books with fluff, and the vicious cycle continues.
With all this in mind, I was interested to note that Wizards of the Coast had increased the font size in their latest hardcover book. In previous books, WOTC has used Bookmania 9-point for their body text. My aging eyes find that hard to read but just barely acceptable in print. Unfortunately, many designers have followed WOTC's lead and used that same font size in PDFs, and it is often illegible for me (and others) without zooming.
However, in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, they use a very civilized 10.5-point font. I find this gloriously legible on the printed page. And if PDF creators follow their lead, it will turn into much more usable PDFs.
But there is a benefit beyond beautiful, readable pages. Bigger fonts mean fewer words on the page and increased page counts. We can see this if we compare Tasha's with the WOTC product most analogous to it: Xanathar's Guide to Everything. Both are roughly 190 pages long. But while Xanathar's is approximately 130,000 words in length, Tasha's is 100,000 words in length.
So Tasha’s is significantly shorter. But do customers feel that the book offers lower value because of the reduced content? I ran a Twitter poll which got over 1,000 responses. Over 86% of respondents thought Tasha's provided average or above-average value-for-money. Ok, not scientifically rigorous, but at least indicative. Quality has triumphed over quantity!
It might seem strange to be celebrating less content per dollar, but sometimes less is more. Looping back to where we started and given rampant over-writing in the RPG hobby, shorter books may well be of better quality. Also, as a publisher and a creator, I'm happy to see WOTC do their part to de-escalate the "content arms race." This can only lead to better rates for creators.
And my poor eyes are grateful for books I can read.