This title is free, so by all means I apologize for even rating it low. I hope to make this as constructive and useful as possible for your future documents! (and thank you for giving this away for free)
My first criticism is reduce the redundancy of some of your points; meaning that several of the core concepts are repeated multiple times within one paragraph, then again in the next. I think you could make this whole document feel like a much lighter and smoother read if each section was cut down.
For example, in the very first paragraph it reads "This simple and direct seven-step approach will [...]" and in the section immediately following it says "We developed this simple approach to [...]" --- This is just the first example of a theme that happens several times throughout the guide with different things, and really slowed down the flow of the writing and made it feel more like I was reading a pitch rather than an educational type guide.
In the same fashion I do not think you need 7 whole steps to capture what you're guiding players through! A few of the steps could be combined, such as "Build connections among characters" and "Tie backstories into campaign plots", or "Tie backstories into campaign plots" and "Plant the seeds for future adventures". Essentially, some trimming and review would really lift your writing!
My second criticism is that this advertised a guided approach, and there was not a lot of guidance included in any of the steps. There were many examples, but nothing that assisted me with new techniques or skills I could use for session zero. (ie, introducing the web-technique for tying NPCs together in backstories, or questions to ask your players or yourself and other party members) Even simply asking more questions rather than explaining examples would assist in making this a good guide as opposed to a collection of examples and advice.
My third criticism is that towards the end this guide introduces "characters’ goals and motivations" which is explicitly noted as being separate from flaws ideals and bonds... But does not go into any full explanation of what makes a goal or motivation vs an ideal, and even lists a table of ideals in the same section. I'd recommend having a table of goals or a table of motivations so people can either roll (my players love their dice!) or get tangible examples of a variety of goals before seeing them in action in the full character examples.
I also do LOVE the way the table splits up Individual ideals, vs Relational ideals, so on so forth. I just wish there was some explanation of what those categories mean, because I feel like there's so much untapped potential in the way it's broken down. Eventually my players and I took it as "how do you see the perfect relationship" but I would have loved to read more about what you were thinking in the way you split these up, and why they were split.
And finally, in the character sheets at the end there is a section of "beliefs" for each character. I expected to see "goals" or "motivations" there, but found it seemed to be more about their political ideologies. Most of them are "Republican" (with one "Monarchist") and it seems pretty evenly split on "Loyalist" vs "Revolutionary". I was sad there wasn't anything in the document about what those identities would mean for characters in DnD, and how you went about picking your character's beliefs in these fashions.
Also, there are some grammatical errors/typos I'll tack those on here: "Believes" should be "beliefs" and "sparkles" should be "sparks". (ie, "This sparks an idea" not "this sparkles and idea") --- Those are minor, honestly, but they're repeated several times in the book so I thought you'd want to be made aware!
My last review note is that, as is, this is very much for new roleplayers and not much for older or experienced roleplayers. That being said, it does cover some great aspects of fundamentals and has good advice for any new DM or player on important aspects of making a game immersive and impactful. It's worth having. and reading, just know it is a bit of a commitment to read all the way through in one sitting so I recommend if you do get it, it might be better read in parts.
Again, this long ass review is in hopes that this is helpful and constructive feedback for all your future endeavors! Don't feel like you are any way obligated to come back and edit a completely free guide when lots of folks obviously find it very useful!
All the best~
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