Quote Originally Posted by Zherog View Post
In Word you can create an em-dash by holding down ctrl and alt and pressing the minus key on your number pad. Similarly, you can produce an en-dash by holding just ctrl and pressing the minus key on your number pad.

In RPG publishing, there's three different dashes.

Hyphen: (-) This guy is the one we're mostly used to, and sits to the right of the zero key. This is used as the dash between compound words, like up in my first paragraph.

Em-Dash: (—) This one has been pretty well described in this thread. Note that some publishers (again, in the RPG world only - don't know about others) do not want spaces on either side of the em-dash. others specifically do. For example, from kindablue's post:

His first thought on getting out of bed — if he had any thought at all — was to get back in again.

Some publishers want those spaces. Others:

His first thought on getting out of bed—if he had any thought at all—was to get back in again.

Take 'em right out!

En-Dash: (–) This little guy is ever so slightly bigger than a hyphen. RPG publishers like it in place of a minus sign, as well as a separator on lists. For example:

1d20–5

or

1–20%: blah blah blah
Whether or not to surround an em dash with spaces depends on the style guide. The Chicago Manual of Style instructs no spacing whereas journalistic style guides instruct spacing.

Spacing after sentences is another style question. The CMS instructs one space after a sentence but many people prefer two. In this matter, follow whatever your boss says Whether or not to use the Oxford comma is another style question. CMS supports the Oxford comma.

Overall, the main thing is consistency. For example, if you are a company that I have done business with, it is acceptable to send me an e-mail (there is a current style debate of whether to use "e-mail" or "email" by the way) with the shortcut "--" in lieu of an em dash. However, it is not acceptable to use the shortcut and an em dash in the same sentence--that is, don't do this—as it makes the e-mail look sloppy.

Out of curiousity, do the RPG publishers release their house styles so that submitters can conform their work to them? Or do the publishers just have copy editors deal with it?