Thread by @delaneykingrox

A nice improvement out of the starting gate that #pathfinder can take on for next editions to help with this overload that a lot of neurodiverse players have is sacrificing packing for consistently spaced information blocks.

Let me give an example...

So I was using this as a worst case example of easily digested and searched through layout. Again, this is just grabbed off the preview for the bestiary but it is an excellent worst case.

So here we have two listings for enemies- a goblin warrior and a goblin commando.

So if you scan the page quickly, it is hard to tell there are two entries, as the name is doubled, the data is placed differently and colors, font sizes and boldness jumps about

Give me a sec, I just have to edit it up on my pc...

Okay, so isolating the data from the art, this is what we are presented with here

What we have here is actually two creature profiles.

But due to the layout, these paragraphs are blocked together.
This is increased by the fact that the red font is resessive, black font and underlines are dominant (they come forward in your minds eye)

This means that the darkest, boldest part of the page is these two lines here- and teh fact they are underlined suggests they are the start of a section.

Even if I just switch these two paragraphs around, and remove the redundant red text, you can see they now read as two sections- two creatures.

Now if I take the data that is here and align it, you can now scan cleanly down and then across to find the information you need. It isn't as good as it can be for finding things- but now your eyes can do two moves instead of zig zagging

With a few tweaks you can make the data scan a little easier. Note how I shuffled the attack information to give you the modifier, the damage, then any of the bracketed feature details underneath.
So you scan ökay, melee attacks... dogslicer,, which is +8 and does 1d6...

And you end up with something like this- I hope this demonstrates clearly what I mean.
Thanks for checking out this demo, and I hope it helps you design friendlier to parse game books!

Compare

So I just did half the page, skipping the commando.
I would personally make each creature variant entry have its own image next to the stat block, reinforcing the search and scan.

So I would commission the goblin commando illustration and most likely make them both one page

That means thicker or more books, but in this case the book would be much more approachable.

Remember jazz is about the notes you don't play as well- so spacing and allowing room to rest your eyes is worth it.

If you enjoyed this lesson and you would like to support me writing more, you can drop me a tip at ko-fi.com/dellak or join me on patreon.com/darkling
And you can find me at delaneyking.com for consulting.

Lemme know if you want to see more breakdowns like this for the ttrpg space.

And best of luck to Pathfinder in kicking Hasbros ass.

(In response to the genius retweeting and saying I didn't fit the commando in, this is literally half the page, I am not going to do the other half because of time restraints- it ain't like I am being paid to layout the book. Just imagine this twice. Duh.

See? Half a page.

When I said "this is just half the page" I meant take the whole page, and this is half of it. Ergo half page.

*sighs in "uhhg people"*

And to the other champ saying this is just a stat block not a page of text, yes this is about taking a stat block page and making it scan easier. If you want to see me do this with flavour texts, rules explanations and so forth I can but that would be a different thread.

How I would personally do this entry is quite different.
For example, I would split the pages with stat blocks on one page and flavour text on the other, and I would extend the flavour text to be more inspiration ideas with the GM in mind.

I would also take out a lot of the short hand and write the sentences like "step" in straightforward English, so you don't have to cross check anything.
Basically the pages are more "how to make up fun goblin encounters" including tactics, typical names and words.

Buuuut this isn't how I would do it, it is highlighting how it can be done with much easier parsing of information.

Okie dokie?