Stylish backgrounds for a Players Guide

[BluWolf]

I am looking for the know how and possible source for a stylish page background I can use on my players guide for my campaign world.

I want to use a background similar to the Pathfinder game or like the page design on the FRCS book from Wizards.

Raise the production quality a little.

Any suggestions???

[Miyaa]

I'd Google for a royalty-free tile set or a illustration something that would represent your cover page nicely. Since most old books have a distinct cover, just Google for a illustration of an old book cover, make sure the pictures are considered royalty-free and then select the one that you think would be best for your cover. The best thing is, you can probably use it as the basis for the rest of your pages.

Even if you decide you eventually want to hire an artist to do the cover design and interior illustrations, at least this way you'll have an actual visual idea of what you would like your publication to look like.

[perseus99]

If you're trying to keep it on the cheap or free side, you could also try downloading a trial for Photoshop on the adobe website. It lasts for thirty days so it gives you plenty of time to tinker with it and create something of your own. If you're afraid of your art skills (I know I can't do anything artsy to save my life) you could look for photoshop brushes and whip something together fairly easily. There are alot of tutorials out there.

Just make sure that you check their terms of use.

[Khuxan]

I knocked up something inspired by the Pathfinder paper. It uses:
old paper texture 2 by *night-fate-stock on deviantART as the background
oriental frame brushset by ~withwhipcream on deviantART
spooky swirles brush set by ~ultimategift on deviantART
gvl - Suddenly Spring brushes by ~gvalkyrie on deviantART

Cheers.

[Angellis_ater]

Is this free to use? Donated into Public Domain? Creative Commons licensed?

[Khuxan]

Originally Posted by Angellis_ater

Is this free to use? Donated into Public Domain? Creative Commons licensed?

I'm happy for you to use it however you like, as long as I get credited, but the creators of the brushes and backgrounds used have certain requirements placed on their use:

credit and link back to me
no credits/ links required. just drop me a comment or add as a favourite
if you liked or used, favs and backlinks are welcome
Link/credit please woteva have fun

[Angellis_ater]

Great, so credits to you and those whose stuff you used. Should we refer to you by your username then? I was thinking we might use this as a background for some of our PDFs

[Khuxan]

Originally Posted by Angellis_ater

Great, so credits to you and those whose stuff you used. Should we refer to you by your username then? I was thinking we might use this as a background for some of our PDFs

"Bill Browne" for the credit, please. And a complementary copy of the PDF would be great too.

Cheers.

EDIT: I still have the PSD file, so I can make small changes to it if you'd like.
EDIT 2: Some of the contributors also required a comment on their deviantART page where you explain how you'd used it.