Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 3

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Seven
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 3

Post by Seven »

Aren't monster entries in the core rules written mostly using the plural?
Even the first Field Guide seems to use mostly the plural, the printed one I have anyway.

"The Aboleth are an ancient race" serves the double purpose of specifying the plural form of the monster name. If it's anything other than take an "s" than it should be in the entry.
We just ran into that with the Ibix.

I like singular for monster that are always solitary.
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SmootRK
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 3

Post by SmootRK »

Like Solomoriah said, it is more about avoidance of certain pronoun usage. One of easiest methods to accomplish this is by writing with the perspective of "members or individuals of the race/species", rather than the perspective of trying to encapsulate the entirety of a species with such pronouns (ie they/them).

I am guilty of such writing style as well (usage of they in particular). It takes me quite a bit of effort to avoid this usage. ;)
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Solomoriah
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 3

Post by Solomoriah »

My preference is to describe a monster type in the plural if the number appearing can be more than one, and singular otherwise; however, Chi developed a singular style as his preference, and he's done most of the editing on the Field Guides. We are primarily avoiding "singular they" as that was not considered acceptable in the 70's and 80's, the era we are mimicking, and secondarily avoiding overuse of "he or she" (and outright avoiding all-male pronouns, unless the monster type is specifically male).
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Bumblepig
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 3

Post by Bumblepig »

It's not a big deal to switch back to plural. So if it's ok with Solo I'll do so because I prefer that too.
Just trying to stick with whatever our style is, and I get not all of that is set in stone. I try to refer to the Style Guide, but that can't cover everything.
Seven
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 3

Post by Seven »

Maybe it's more an issue with some types of playable monsters?
For example, if I look up bear in wiki, it's mostly "bears" and "they".
If I decide to write a story about 2 Cu-Sidhe, it's great if I can just look at the first sentence of the description to figure out the correct spelling. Otherwise, I don't really mind any editing as long as the information is preserved.
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chiisu81
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 3

Post by chiisu81 »

Hopefully the monster entry subheading has its name, with the correct spelling. ;) And I always try to have each entry name the monster in the first sentence or two, bolded.

The singular/plural is not a hard-set rule. I honestly don't remember when it came up, probably buried in the FG1 thread somewhere. There are some entries where singular doesn't make that much sense (like a swarm or such), but like most other things in the Style Guide we're aiming for consistency.
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Bumblepig
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 3

Post by Bumblepig »

For Brugh Elf I'm just keeping it singular. Chi, I'm happy with you editing as you see fit during your next pass. If it matters, in most cases a Brugh Elf encounter will be with multiple opponents.
Style is a funny thing, but the important thing is general (but never perfect) consistency. Much blood has been spilt over the Oxford comma... :)
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SmootRK
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 3

Post by SmootRK »

Chii is right, the origins of singular writing style came up really really early... mostly because we had so much inconsistency in writing style with the early creations that came from all over the place, coupled with trying to follow Solomoriah's disdain for that specific "they/them" usage. This is a shared disdain at this point. I read certain passages that seem just awful now because every other sentence says "they they they"
And it did not specifically start with Chiisu, I took Solomoriah's writing advice to heart and re-wrote a lot of stuff... and surely created new writing oddities.

Chiisu did amazing work in fixing stuff I missed, as well as that stuff I wrote with additional inconsistencies. Even so, Solomoriah did a huge (recent) re-write of FG1 material to clean up even more.

Nowadays, we (or mostly Chiisu) can apply writing fixes more readily, almost real time... so I don't think it comes up as a topic for discussion much. Again, more Kudos for Chiisu, as he is an "Editing-Machine", especially when AlMan is slamming out corrections too.
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Bumblepig
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 3

Post by Bumblepig »

SmootRK wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 2:05 pm Kudos for Chiisu, as he is an "Editing-Machine"
Amen to that.
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Fabian
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 3

Post by Fabian »

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