Blades is an interesting case. At least when I ran it, I mostly used the quick start guide/starter kit, and only used the book as reference. As for reading it cover to cover, I think art does admittedly break up sections better than type formatting ever can.
Using art to break sections up is probably its only practical purpose, and I agree it does help with that, but IDK if it’s as core as the author of the article seems to take for granted.
I remember recently trying to read through the ICON playtest (a sort of magitech fantasy RPG by the Lancer/KSBD guy), and maybe it’s my particular cocktail of mental illnesses talking, but it was pretty hard to read. Then, more art got added later and it definitely helped the metaphorical medicine go down. Definitely something hard to measure or really pin down at all
Blades is an interesting case. At least when I ran it, I mostly used the quick start guide/starter kit, and only used the book as reference. As for reading it cover to cover, I think art does admittedly break up sections better than type formatting ever can.
Using art to break sections up is probably its only practical purpose, and I agree it does help with that, but IDK if it’s as core as the author of the article seems to take for granted.
I remember recently trying to read through the ICON playtest (a sort of magitech fantasy RPG by the Lancer/KSBD guy), and maybe it’s my particular cocktail of mental illnesses talking, but it was pretty hard to read. Then, more art got added later and it definitely helped the metaphorical medicine go down. Definitely something hard to measure or really pin down at all