The Holodex Style Guide

Apr 27
5 min read

Updated: May 2

LAYOUT AND STRUCTURE FOR WRITTEN RULES ON THE HOLODEX

Looking to see your rules added to the Holodex? All of the entries on the Holodex are subject to review and editing to meet the criteria for inclusion. You can help us save time by putting your rules into the Holodex format!

SUBMITTING RULES

You can mail us at support@gamesofthegalaxy.com

You can join us on the Holodex Discord Server. This is probably the best way to get involved!

Use the template below to lay out and structure your rules in the Holodex entry format.

HOLODEX GAME ENTRY TEMPLATE

GAME TITLE

Designer:

Playtesters:

INTRODUCTION TITLE (FORMAT 'HOW TO PLAY' OR 'THE COMPLETE' - GAME TITLE)

A general introduction to the game and its place in the Star Wars universe, typically describing the background, origins and significance of the game.

At the bottom of the introduction paragraph is short paragraph detailing the contents of the tabbed guide below.

E.g.

Under Rules - A complete breakdow of the game, including table setup, game components, gameplay structure and order, win and loss conditions, hierarchies and tables.

Under Sources - Documented sources for Centran Sabacc in the Star Wars, including the Expanded Universe/Legends, Disney Canon, including published materials and merchandise.

Under Downloads - Player Resources for playing Centran Sabacc. Download a copy of the rules.

SECTION/TAB 1 - THE RULES

TITLE - RULES FOR [GAME TITLE]

Under the title is a shorter, briefer introduction focused on the core goal or game mechanic.

GOAL

Describe the overall goal of the game and how it is typically achieved

SET-UP

Identify the core components of the game, how they are set up on the table, and their function in the game. This includes things like cards and card decks, special card types, player and table areas, dice, tokens, chips and buy-ins.

GAMEPLAY

The first part of this section should be a precis, a condensed, top-down view of the structure of the game as it is played from beginning to end, without going into detail about each stage. This gives a clear picture of how the game is structured into hands, rounds, turns or phases, the objective and win conditions.

EXAMPLE:

Each player has a stock of credits or credit chips. Players compete in successive hands to win a portion of these credits.

Each Hand opens with:

— The Ante

— Opening Deal

Each Hand is played through successive Rounds until one of the following conditions is met: — The game reaches 5 rounds;

— All players check during betting.

— All of the Wild Fives are played to the table.

Each Round has three phases:

— The Card Phase

— The Betting Phase

— The Shift Phase

Once one of the endgame conditions is met, the player's cards are revealed and scored to determine the winner of the hand. The game is played for either a set number of hands, until someone takes all the credits at the table, or players cash out of the game.

After this overview, proceed with sub-headings to describe each stage of play in detail.

EXAMPLE:

THE HAND

Each hand opens as follows:

— Dealer Selection: The dealer rotates clockwise each round.

— Ante: Each player contributes an ante to the Hand Pot and half of that sum to the Sabacc Pot.

— The Deal: Each player is dealt two cards face down.

Each player begins the game with a stock of credits or chips which they use to pay the Ante and make bets. The goal of the game is to win all or as much of the chips on the table and from other players. Typically, chips or credits will come in different values. In Sabacc, these values are often represented by a selection of bronze/copper, silver and gold chips (or credits).

THE ROUND

Each round proceeds through the following phases:

— CARD PHASE

— BETTING PHASE

— SHIFT PHASE

1. The Card Phase

Each player takes a turn. On their turn players may:

— GAIN: Draw the top card from the draw pile— TRADE: Exchange a card from their hand with a card in the Array— STAND: Take no action and continue with their current hand

At any time in their turn they may:— PLAY TO STASIS FIELD: Add or remove one card from the StasisField.

2. The Betting Phase

Each player takes a turn. On their turn players may…

Etc.

Additional sub-headings may be used to describe special rules, to show examples of play, or any other crucial information not already covered in the Set-Up section.

WINNING THE GAME

In this section, give full details about the different victory conditions for players. This should include any guides to scoring, hand rankings, and rules for tiebreaking.

ADDITIONAL TABLES AND INFORMATION

At the end of the rules, if you have any structured information tables or aids that players will need to play the game, this is the appropriate place for them to appear.

SECTION/TAB 2 - ADDITIONAL/VARIANT RULES

Detail any game variants or alternative rules which can be used with the game in addition to or instead of the core set.

SECTION/TAB 3 - SOURCES

If your game is based upon existing sources, or interprets a game named in the Star Wars universe, in this section you can name and reference those sources, and link if appropriate. We will try and find supporting media, documents and images to highlight and illustrate those sources!

SECTION/TAB 4 - DOWNLOADS

This is where visitors to the site will be able to download a copy of the rules, in a similar format to that seen on the site.

SECTION/TAB 5 - LICENSING

Specify a Creative Commons license type for your rules. By default, we apply a CC BY-NC-ND license as it offers the most control and protection to you as the rules author. You can, however, choose a less restrictive license.

Please remember that licensing relates only to your authorship of the rules and mechanics as you've packaged and presented them. They obviously do not cover the use of copyrights and trademarks pertaining to the intellectual property of Disney and Lucasfilm. They are included primarily to make people aware of and promote good practice in respecting each other's work in the community.

CC0 (Public Domain) – No rights reserved. Others can freely use, modify, and distribute your work without attribution.

CC BY (Attribution) – This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation.

CC BY-SA (Attribution-ShareAlike) – This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.

CC BY-ND (Attribution-NoDerivs) – This license lets others reuse the work for any purpose, including commercially; however, it cannot be shared with others in adapted form, and credit must be provided to you.

CC BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial) – This license lets others reuse the work for any purpose, including commercially; however, it cannot be shared with others in adapted form, and credit must be provided to you.

CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike) – This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.

CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs) – This license is the most restrictive, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

For more information about the Creative Commons license system visit the Creative Commons website.

DISCLAIMER: Games of the Galaxy is an independent fan project. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Disney, Lucasfilm, or any related companies. Star Wars and all associated trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.