Planescape Quarterly Zine

A fair criticism!

For those coming to this thread first without looking at the rest of the forum.

We're currently picking a name!
/forum/magazine-name-brainstorming-thread

We just basically start putting choices in writing really. It's less important what the decisions are exactly, than that they're written down and openly posted so everyone can be on the same page. We can always update the style guide as we need to.

I can pull the one over from the EP site as a basis to start with if that will help? It has a lot of not relevant stuff (being a SF setting), but the basics might help.

This is what the EP style guide looks like roughly. I've clipped the sections that are just not going to be relevant to our setting. A number of these examples really aren't going to apply in our situation - we're not taking articles in RTF or DOC format - so header size notes aren't going to be important for example.

This is a base we can tweak into something we want to use long term.

Eclipse Phase Style Guide / http://www.firewall-darkcast.com/forum/style-guide#comment-1012

Top Eleven Mistakes That Everybody Makes
... but will never ever make them again after reading this, right? Right?
• Title Caps in Headers: The layout style for #1, #2, and #3 headers is to entirely capitalize the words, but in writing and editing drafts these should be kept title case. This matters because we use programs that autogenerate the table of contents from the headers, but we do not autocapitalize them in the TOC. It's a pain to have to re-type words because they were originally typed in all caps.
• Wrong Punctuation Style: Punctuation follows the style of the word that precedes it. If a word is in bold or italics, the comma or period that follows should also be in bold or italics. This does not apply to parentheses, but it does apply to colons.
• Quote Marks Before the Punctuation: Quotation marks come after the punctuation: "I hate editing," he said.
• Ellipses: We use the ellipsis symbol, not 3 periods. There should be a space before and after the ellipsis. If you don't know what an ellipsis is, ask.
• Em-dashes: Use em-dashes, not hyphens, when separating a clause in a sentence. As in, he did this—but then suddenly this other thing happened! There is no space before or after the em-dash. If you don't know what an em-dash is, ask.
• Incorrect Use of Serial Commas: It's "this, that, and the other" not "this, that and the other." Use a comma before that last clause.
• Proper Header Hierarchy: If you're not familiar with the distinction between #1, #2, #3, and #4 headers, ask. For sidebars, tables, and text boxes, use a #3 header.
• Empty Headers: There should always be content after a header, even if it's only a simple line explaining what that (sub)section is. There should never be two headers in a row with no normal text between them.
• Single Tabs in Tables: In tables, there should only ever be a single tab per column. Do not put multiple tabs. If you do not know how to manipulate tabs so that your columns line up evenly, just ask.
• Indents, Not Tabs: Do not use tabs to indent paragraphs. Use the indent function in the text style. If you do not know how to do this, ask.
• Self-edit Your Work: Before you send in your work, read it through carefully, run a spellcheck, and go through this list. You are responsible for editing your own work. If a manuscript is poorly edited, we may return it to you for clean-up.

Capitalization
When in doubt, capitalize official rules terms. Here's a table to break down what should and shouldn't be capitalized.

Capitalize:
(list clipped)

Don't Capitalize:
(list clipped)

Punctuation
● Punctuation follows the style of the word that precedes it. If a word is in bold or italics, the comma or period that follows should also be in bold or italics. This does not apply to parentheses.
● Quote Marks Before the Punctuation: Quotation marks come after the punctuation: "I hate editing," he said.
● Use the ellipsis symbol, not 3 periods. There should be a space before and after the ellipsis. If you don't know what an ellipsis is, ask.
● Use em-dashes, not hyphens, when separating a clause in a sentence. There is no space before or after the em-dash. If you don't know what an em-dash is, ask.
● Serial Commas: It's "this, that, and the other" not "this, that and the other." Use a comma before that last clause. (aka we are pro-Oxford comma)

Skills
● Field skills are written in the format of Skill Name: Field. For example: Pilot: Groundcraft or Hardware: Electronics.
● Specializations are put in parentheses after the skill: Kinetic Weapons (SMG) or Hardware: Robotics (Arachnoids).
● The specialization and the modified skill should follow in parentheses after the skill and its rating: Kinetic Weapons 50 (Pistols 60)
● When referring to a skill, remember to include “the” in front of it: “The character may use the Athletics skill for this test.”
● Note that many skill names are plural (Pistols skill, not Pistol skill).

Numbers
● Use the en-dash (not a hyphen) to indicate a negative number, continuing number, or a subtraction:
● –3, see pp. 32–35 or pp. 101–4, (5 – 3 = 2)
● Use the em-dash for spaces on tables.
● Follow the Chicago Manual of Style (spell out all whole numbers between one and ninety-nine, as well as any numbers followed by hundred, thousand, million, and so on—"five hundred"—except in the following cases:
a. Numbers that pertain to game rules or concepts:
2 Action Turns, 3 stress points, numbers expressed in formulas, etc.
b. Whole numbers under one hundred if they appear in the same sentence or paragraph as numbers that should be expressed numerically:
"All 12 of the snakes were 166 feet long."
c. When a sequence contains several spelled-out numbers that are difficult to read:
"Type all documents on 8.5 x 11-inch paper."
d. Do not spell out numbers in hours, degrees, percent; however, do spell out the words "percent" and "degrees"
24 hours, 60 percent, 30 degrees

References
● Eclipse Phase the game is always italicized, as are product titles (Sunward).
● References in text should read as follows:
● page reference in the same book: “(p. XX)”
● section references in the same book: “(Section Name, p. XX)”
● book references: “(p. XX, Book Name)”
● section reference in another book: “(Section Name, p. XX, Book Name)”
● When referring to the Eclipse Phase core rulebook, you may abbreviate it as EP.
● References to tables should not be italicized.
● Don’t reference out of print books or books not yet published.

Gender-Neutral Language
To promote gender-neutral language and handle EP's gender-bending setting, we use the Singular They rule (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they). What this means is that rather than just going with male pronouns (“he”) or switching between gendered pronouns (“he” in one chapter, “she” in the next), we have adopted the use of “they” even when referring to a single person.
When referring to specific characters, we use the gendered pronoun appropriate to that character’s personal gender identity, no matter the sex of the morph they are in. When in doubt, use they.

Abbreviations
The following abbreviations are ok to use:
(list clipped)

Specific Terminology Examples
(list clipped)

Terms NOT To Use
(list clipped)

It may be less confusing if we use PSCS instead of PCS for the Planescape Campaign Setting PDFs Planewalker created, as they're referred to as PSCS in the Campaign Setting sections of this site.

I use Brit English myself, too, but agree that it's probably desirable to use American.

I think somewhere around here (online) there are released notes on the format for stat blocks for Pathfinder and DnD3.x and 4 - so I think for stat blocks, let's just the standards for the system being used.