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- Apr 2, 2012
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As the title says. I have a story idea that centers around a TCG or rather trading card game along the lines of magic the gathering or yugioh. However, due to legal reasons I cannot use an actual trading card game in this story, so I have instead crafted my own fictional trading card game, complete with it's own rules set and a bunch of planned out cards in a word doc.(In fact, my frustration with yugioh is what pushed me to create the game, which I made before I even had the story idea, which in turn was created as a more "novel friendly" alternative to the extremely anime/manga-esc story that originally was meant to go with the game)
Anyway, my delima is that, since the game is 100% fictional, nobody will know the rules going in, which means that, somehow, I have to explain them. However, flat out just having one of the characters info dump the rules on the reader right at the start of the book may lose some people, especially if it gets particularly wall-of-text-y, so my question is what would be the most elegant solution to explaining the rules of the fictional game to readers?
Would it be best to have an -apendex- or possibly a section in the very front of the book that explains the rules of the game to readers, or would having the characters explain it to them really be the best way? If the latter, how would I go about doing this without -losing- readers to long-winded explanations? Would it be best to do it slowly, with the a more experienced character teaching a total new player and breaking up the rules explanation with action(such as the video/holo/VR displays of the monsters battling) and the emotions/reactions to the game the characters(especially the new player) have?
Finally, and most importantly, how do I prevent a agent or publisher who rejects the work from taking the card game idea and using their corporate ties to go to somebody like, say, wizards of the coast(who has a patent that prevents anybody from actually producing a real TCG without first paying them royalties) and being like "hey...I have an idea for a TCG..." and making money off my idea.
If anybody has advice for me on any or all of these concerns, I'd be grateful!
Anyway, my delima is that, since the game is 100% fictional, nobody will know the rules going in, which means that, somehow, I have to explain them. However, flat out just having one of the characters info dump the rules on the reader right at the start of the book may lose some people, especially if it gets particularly wall-of-text-y, so my question is what would be the most elegant solution to explaining the rules of the fictional game to readers?
Would it be best to have an -apendex- or possibly a section in the very front of the book that explains the rules of the game to readers, or would having the characters explain it to them really be the best way? If the latter, how would I go about doing this without -losing- readers to long-winded explanations? Would it be best to do it slowly, with the a more experienced character teaching a total new player and breaking up the rules explanation with action(such as the video/holo/VR displays of the monsters battling) and the emotions/reactions to the game the characters(especially the new player) have?
Finally, and most importantly, how do I prevent a agent or publisher who rejects the work from taking the card game idea and using their corporate ties to go to somebody like, say, wizards of the coast(who has a patent that prevents anybody from actually producing a real TCG without first paying them royalties) and being like "hey...I have an idea for a TCG..." and making money off my idea.
If anybody has advice for me on any or all of these concerns, I'd be grateful!
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