RPG Editing: What’s New in "D&D Style Guide: Writing and Editing" Version 1.08a

As a budding writer and editor for the DMsGuild, I rely on the DMs Guild Creator Resources available on DMsGuild.com. As an editor, in particular, the Style Guide Resources are essential to perform my job. If you are doing similar work and have not downloaded these resources, stop reading now and invest your time in downloading the latest version and committing it to memory. If you are like me, the last version of the “D&D Style Guide: Writing and Editing” you probably downloaded was version 1.04a (which was what was available when I checked for updates in mid-February).

Once I had the new version, I set about discovering what had changed from the version I was using. As a matter of practice, I will reference the latest style guide. However, as a matter of cognitive expedience, focusing on the changes first has the biggest benefit and I will be less likely to gloss over a change. If you have also invested in committing to memory version 1.04, you may find the following comparison helpful. If you haven’t, focusing on the latest document will serve you better.

The changes are generally a combination of format changes, additions that may only be changes by fact of their inclusion (New), and actual style changes (Change). Also references to Chicago Manual of Style have been updated to the 17th edition. I have ignored format changes and have identified each material change with the terms above followed by the section heading of the style guide. First a few notes and then on to the list of changes.

Note: Always use the latest style guide available for your project (at least, the latest available when you start your editing process). This is no replacement. I have been deliberately brief and tried not to replicate the actual text. This article is already more formal than I intended.

Note: What this is not. I am making no value statements about the changes. (Although, I make one comment about the location of one addition).

Note: Guidance identified as "New" may represent a change to the way you have been editing your content.

• Change: References to editions of the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game 
  • “1st Edition” is now “first edition”
  • Preferred use is "the fifth edition Dungeon Master's Guide"
  • Basic Rules is now italicized like other publications.
• Change: Achieving Gender Neutrality
  • In addition to changes in the text to be more inclusive of gender identities, the significant change is allowance for using "they" and "their" as singular pronouns, though with some advice to use them sparingly. The preference remains for writing rules text in the second person.
• New: Gender-Specific Suffixes
  • Addition of this section which restricts the use of terms like "actress" and "priestess" to in-world titles.
• New: Headings
  • Previous versions of the style guide assumed familiarity with general use of headings, jumping straight to details about subheads. Additional guidance on headings:
    • Don't skip levels in the hierarchy.
    • Use for structural, not aesthetic reasons.
    • Exceptions in the RPG: One exception to the heading hierarchy is the name of a spell at the top of a spell description always uses the Heading 3 style.
• New: Sidebars
  • Added guidance on sidebars: If a sidebar must follow a particular section of text, it probably isn't a sidebar.
• New: Punctuation, Boldface, and Italics
  • Added reference to Chicago and examples for punctuation adjacent to decorated text.
• New: Variant Spellings
  • A small change in the text and added examples.
  • Added exclusion of hyphen in a number-abbreviation combination. (EX: "100 gp treasure")
• Change: Possessives
  • Previous advice was incomplete and has been replaced with a reference to Chicago.
• New: Fractions
  • Added exception to using a fraction's symbol when it stands in numeral form, as in a table.
• New: Appendix References
  • Letters are used for appendices and style for references follows that for chapters.
• New: Planes of Existence
  • Added how to refer to a character’s relationship to a plane of existence; when to use "on" (“on the Plane of Fire”) and "in" (“in Elysium”). 
• Change: Terms to Capitalize (although, I think these were common practice)
  • Added Action names with examples (the Attack action).
• New: Terms to Set in Bold (although, I think this was added since this was not common practice)
  • Added guidance for stat block references with examples. By default, a bold stat block name refers to a stat block in the Monster Manual. A stat block name in your manuscript is followed by a parenthetical reference to the stat block. Example: “Four air elemental myrmidons (see chapter 7).
  • Also added here, though tangential to the section, is the guidance to not separate the number from the name of monsters. The four goblins may be loud, but don't use "four loud goblins".
• New: Passive Perception
  • Added clarification on "passive Wisdom (Perception)" vs. "Wisdom (Perception)" when a check is made.
• New: Extra Damage
  • Added guidance to keep the die expression with the damage type with examples ("an extra 1d4 fire damage")
• New: Misusing "Human" and "Humanoid"
  • Added guidance that "human" is not synonymous with "mortal" and the "humanoid" refers to a creature type, it is a term, so be cautious not to use it as an adjective.
• Change/New: Word List
  • "Bladesinger" is now "bladesinger"
    • There are many additions, reflecting how the multiverse is expanding. Can you feel it?
• New: Adventuring Parties
  • Guidance on terms to describe the collective of characters. Avoid "fellowship" with a preference for “group,” “band,” “company,” or, especially, “party.”

There were a few clarifications that I was happy to find in the document, but a few that were missing for my needs:

• Terms for adventuring parties were gratefully present, but terms for player characters were not.
• Abbreviations for source books since 2013 would be useful. Example: I have seen abbreviations that include/exclude the “small words” equally. Example: Volo’s Guide to Monsters as “VGM” and “VGtM”.
• Headings Exceptions:
  • Heading 1 is routinely skipped in adventure-length manuscripts (e.g., Adventurer's League).
  • Inline Subheads [aka Heading 4] are invariably used in WotC documents in several cases, skipping one or more layers of headings. Noted instances are: "Adventure Overview" and "Adventure Hooks" sections/parts, Location feature headings, and NPC names in a list. 
• Explicit guidance for average damage and dice math. For example: "9 (2d6 + 2) fire damage"