Shadowdark Shadowdark General Thread [+]

Fenris-77 · 2026-03-15T17:13:15+0000

Lidgar said:
Nice sheet. Just need to fix the misspelling of Deity.

Yeah, I saw that, but thanks for pointing it out.

I haven't edited anything there, I'm
just getting the layout roughed in.

I need to work on the placement of the logo top and bottom too.

darjr · 2026-03-15T17:19:15+0000

Lidgar said:
Nice sheet. Just need to fix the misspelling of Deity.

Please do not.

Scribe · 2026-03-16T15:47:56+0000

I've got some stuff going into affinity now, and I really dont want to work today, would love to just tinker with this.

Fenris-77 · 2026-03-16T16:13:10+0000

Scribe said:
I've got some stuff going into affinity now, and I really dont want to work today, would love to just tinker with this.

View attachment 432090

I often end up staying up far too late fiddling with design after all my other stuffs are taken care of. I feel you.

Whizbang Dustyboots · 2026-03-16T17:17:38+0000

Fenris-77 said:
I often end up staying up far too late fiddling with design after all my other stuffs are taken care of. I feel you.

Ha, doing the Affinity part is what's keeping me from finishing a (theoretically) quick thing for DMs Guild: I just don't want to start wrestling with spot art and layout yet, which always takes me far longer than it should. (I always feel like I'm starting from scratch looking for art. Anyone who puts together a single master directory of it would be doing the RPG industry a Dyson Logos-sized solid.)

Fenris-77 · 2026-03-16T17:28:57+0000

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
Ha, doing the Affinity part is what's keeping me from finishing a (theoretically) quick thing for DMs Guild: I just don't want to start wrestling with spot art and layout yet, which always takes me far longer than it should. (I always feel like I'm starting from scratch looking for art. Anyone who puts together a single master directory of it would be doing the RPG industry a Dyson Logos-sized solid.)

If you have affinity/layout question I'm more than happy to try to answer them. Layout basics are actually pretty low overhead, even with art in the mix (once you know what you're doing at a basic level). Are you on Discord? I'd be more than happy to do a video call thing and work through some basics if that would help get you going.

Alternatively, if you want to keep in on the forum, start a new thread about layout basics or somesuch and I'll happily pitch in with lots of screen shots and suggestions.

Finding art is always a problem. If you want a good one-stop place to start looking send me a DM. I know a guy.

Whizbang Dustyboots · 2026-03-16T17:33:59+0000

I have grabbed the free Explorer template, but just haven't had time to start monkeying with it. It's mostly a matter of time. Life and work have been very busy for the past few months.

When I get the last few bits written (I was thinking about them in the shower today, so another flurry of writing is imminent), I'll hit you up on Discord. I suspect my Affinity issues are pretty basic for someone who's done this as often as you have.

Scribe · 2026-03-16T17:39:16+0000

Fenris-77 said:
If you have affinity/layout question I'm more than happy to try to answer them. Layout basics are actually pretty low overhead, even with art in the mix (once you know what you're doing at a basic level). Are you on Discord? I'd be more than happy to do a video call thing and work through some basics if that would help get you going.

Alternatively, if you want to keep in on the forum, start a new thread about layout basics or somesuch and I'll happily pitch in with lots of screen shots and suggestions.

Finding art is always a problem. If you want a good one-stop place to start looking send me a DM. I know a guy.

If you have time or links to how you are making maps, that would be sweet.

Fenris-77 · 2026-03-16T17:41:47+0000

Scribe said:
If you have time or links to how you are making maps, that would be sweet.

I do the maps in Affinity as well. I don't have any links online, but I'd be happy to walk people through it given a forum and interested bodies.

Fenris-77 · 2026-03-16T17:48:59+0000

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
I have grabbed the free Explorer template, but just haven't had time to start monkeying with it. It's mostly a matter of time. Life and work have been very busy for the past few months.

When I get the last few bits written (I was thinking about them in the shower today, so another flurry of writing is imminent), I'll hit you up on Discord. I suspect my Affinity issues are pretty basic for someone who's done this as often as you have.

I'm a gifted amateur at best, at least in terms of the vast functionality of Affinity versus the bits I actually use. My layouts are perhaps more a product of study, both exemplars and books, than anything about the program I use.

The basics, as I see it, are about understanding grid layouts, using white space properly, choosing and pairing fonts, grokking visual hierarchy, and some technical bits like the vast number of things that tables do better than other methods. Let me put it this way, I really don't do anything fancy in terms of layout but rather focus on doing some core things to the best of my ability.

Another layer is that of, mmm, maybe technical RPG writing? There I mean the function of the layout to create useable text at the table. That is something I've spent a mint of timing working on and only feel like I've scratched the surface of what might be possible.