Working as an editor and co-writer for the Book of Brutal Races has been wonderful. As an editor, working side by side with Cihan and Ibrahim was one giant ball of fun. I had to get the translations and guide their narratives with a keen eye and a deep respect for their tones and voices. From the first drafts to the completed edits, it was a strong collaboration where we bent the ideas into structures, structures into chapters, and chapters into a strong book.
It was a delicate task that involved elevating the raw manuscript to its fullest potential. Beyond the warm confines of my trusty desk, I had a great chance and privilege to witness the birth of great stories. We had to work swiftly because we had tight deadlines and too many obstacles to turn into stepping stones. Thus, my role as an editor involved refining the language and enhancing the inner workings of gameplay in a balanced way.
Our obstacles can be grouped into two categories: literature and balancing issues. Literature issues were mainly caused because of the language barrier between the Turkish concepts and their English interpretations. I spent a lot of time to remedy this to make Book of Brutal Races a book everyone can enjoy.
Editing this Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition book was a journey in itself. Other than narrative, our balancing issues for the races, classes, subclasses, magic items, and spells demanded tremendous time. The game narrative demanded my editorial role to become an intricate dance between preserving logic and balance on the one hand and the magic of the fantasy world on the other hand. This was all done to ensure a coherent and engaging player experience and to provide our followers with balanced gameplay.
The new classes demanded tremendous playtesting, debating, and recalculating. The new Half-orc variants and subclasses were a lot of fun to create, reshape, and finalize. The new lore we created, transformed, reworked, and strengthened needed to be different from the traditional information given in the prior editions of the game, so we had to research the texts of the ancients and find our way.
In conclusion, this was an epic adventure to behold, and I hope we brought a legendary beast to its heels to provide our followers with a great gameplay experience.
MEHMET ORTAC
EDITOR/WRITER
- ADVANTAGES OF HAVING MANY DEITIES IN THE BOOK
- “LETS RULE THEM!”- A TRAP FOR PLAYERS IN BRUTAL GAMES
- THE BECOMING: PLAYING AS MONARCH MINOTAURS
- Didn’t Make The Cut: CHURGRUN
- UNUSUAL PARTNERSHIPS AMONG BRUTAL RACES
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