anyone self-publishing rpg/pdfs?

[fireinthedust]

So I have this idea for a game that I think is fun. I want to playtest it with my friends, and make a pdf or even a booklet someday. That said: how do I go about making a pdf?

are there any stories of the process that writers out there have for me?

any pitfalls? (bad fonts, organizational mishaps, pains that cropped up, etc.)



I'm not expecting to actually make money off this; rather it's something i want to do before I die, and do it with a fair amount of quality. That said, assuming I was going to go to some online store (like here at ENworld), what should i know?

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey there fireinthedust!

So I have this idea for a game that I think is fun. I want to playtest it with my friends, and make a pdf or even a booklet someday. That said: how do I go about making a pdf?

Get Adobe Acrobat - I believe its a free download from Adobe. It converts documents into pdfs.

are there any stories of the process that writers out there have for me?

any pitfalls? (bad fonts, organizational mishaps, pains that cropped up, etc.)

I used a terribly unclear headline font in my first book and got a lot of bad feedback on it - so I changed it for the print release. So use something legible.

Also I noticed its difficult to read my cover at a glance, so make sure the cover (text) is clear enough to read even when you reduce the cover to a thumbnail size.

Lastly, if you are working in colour remember a pdf/document will be RGB (to be viewed on screen) but CMYK for Print. Otherwise your colours will either look either too muted or too garish.

I'm not expecting to actually make money off this;

That won't be a problem, you won't make a lot of money unless your name is Monte Cook or Mike Mearls.

rather it's something i want to do before I die, and do it with a fair amount of quality.

Good luck.

That said, assuming I was going to go to some online store (like here at ENworld), what should i know?

You'll have to join the store first. Some like RPGNow have set-up fees for publishers.

 

[Guest 85555]

INdesign is a very good layout program that can also make PDFs. It has a bit of a learning curve, and is a little expensive, but if you really want to do the PDF thing, it is one way to go. It took a while for me to get used to (I would say about six months of reading the manual and messing around with the program).

 

[pawsplay]

There's an e-publishing forum here on the boards. Why don't you check it out?