D&D 3E/3.5 Formatting/Page Appearance Suggestions and Tips For Publishing

[jdrakeh]

Don't overdo the gutters. A while back, I purchased a PDF to find that two thirds of each page was unused white space (the left and right gutters), while only one third of each page contained actual text. I assume the publisher did this to pad out the page count. I was not a happy customer.

 

[Gus L]

Don't overdo the gutters. A while back, I purchased a PDF to find that two thirds of each page was unused white space (the left and right gutters), while only one third of each page contained actual text. I assume the publisher did this to pad out the page count. I was not a happy customer.

I tend to agree but the use of white space is a hot topic in the RPG design space.. I'd says avoid the miniscule gutters and margins of old TSR adventures as well. You need a margin of more then .3 inches or whatever - especially between columns. I've had complaints about 10 or 11 point text on a 12 point leading as being too dense and hard to read even - so there's a lot of variety in advice on spacing and layout. Eschew extremes when it comes to basic text blocks. Not everyone can be Johan Nohr ... especially with more complex things then Mork Borg.

Consider some of the stuff on this blog when it comes to RPG layout:

Typography 101: Getting Started

Beginner tips and tricks for setting up, arranging, and pairing your game's typography.

www.explorersdesign.com

 

[Ath'kethin]

OP didn't mention PoD being a factor, and they mentioned money being a problem. That's why I mentioned Scribus instead of Affinity.

Why did DMsGuild stopped accepting pdfs made with Scribus?

OP didn't mention PoD being a factor, true. But if they ever want to do PoD through DrivethruRPG, they can either use Scribus to create the web PDF and a different program to create the print PDF, or they can choose a different program and just use it for everything.

This page specifies that DTRPG wants the files created in Affinity or Indesign. Note that this is a DrivethruRPG page, so it is not specific to DMSGuild, but anything on DMSGuild will also have to follow these guidelines.

https://help.drivethrupartners.com/...00178583-Quick-Specifications-for-Print-Books

It gets even more fun. Now, it seems that in order to be approved for Print on Demand on DMSGuild, they require you to work with a select list of "Layout Designers," detailed here:

https://help.dmsguild.com/hc/en-us/...ments-Guidelines#h_01HXW5JDT7H85NM0R4T97G8D3Y

I don't remember when they specifically said they no longer accepted files created using Scribus; I can't find the announcement anywhere. It would have been in mid to late 2021 or maybe early 2022, though, shortly after my Zakhara campaign guide was published.

Again, if the OP either isn't ever going to want to do a book as PoD, at least through DrivethruRPG, none of this will matter. For example, I've had books printed on Lulu that I made using Microsoft Word(!).

But if they ARE considering PoD and want to use Drivethru, Scribus is just not a great option.

 

[MoonSong]

But if they ARE considering PoD and want to use Drivethru, Scribus is just not a great option.

If OP is considering PoD on Drivethru, they'll need to pony up cash to one of these pre-approved designers and all of this is kinda moot.

 

[_Michael_]

Thank you all for your replies--been away working on a sample home design for my campaign world I'll post here in the forums right after this. I'm sort of taking this information all in, and will likely re-read this thread again tonight after dinner to be thorough, but it I do appreciate it. The wife made pulled pork in the slow cooker tonight, and it looks delish.

I have been using Google Docs right now just for ease of storage on the cloud and they have some okay fonts, too, but I sort of need that flourish art found in the corners and whatnot. I have center pieces on every page but they're only 3.5 x 3.5 inches or so with a simple border and a "title" below it with the faux artist and location in the game world of where the painting is located...haven't quite figured out how the High Council is able to produce lithographic copies of beautiful, high reolution art yet for their decennial travelogue, but I digress...the look is supposed to mimic a high quality almanac of the known world put out every ten years by the Uthenian embassies, with dissemination likely through the Sintari navy's Siral Exports and Shipping company. That should give you an idea for the direction of the art I'd like to take. Something like a National Geographic meets Poor Farmer's Almanac.

I want to feature full color art of maps and excruciating amounts of details such as floor plans, character sketches, cutaways, and all that good stuff that keeps your eyeballs glued to the pages for hours. But doing so on a budget of nil means relying on AI within reason, replacing it as I can when I can find free stuff that matches the vision better.

I would love to be able to publish through DTRPG, but they have strict prohibitions in place against NSFW artwork, and while tasteful, I do have some. I'd be very happy publishing an expurgated version that's SFW on DTRPG, though, just to get it out there. I could always republish later on a vanity press site with physical copies as an "Official Author's Copy" version.

This is honestly one of my favorite fonts as it works for both header/title blocks and normal text (for those who haven't heard of Artifex):

Artifex CF | Adobe Fonts

Explore Artifex CF designed by Connary Fagen at Adobe Fonts.

fonts.adobe.com

 

[Alzrius]

I would love to be able to publish through DTRPG, but they have strict prohibitions in place against NSFW artwork

Really? Because as far as I know, there are plenty of "adults only" products for sale on their site.

 

[_Michael_]

Really? Because as far as I know, there are plenty of "adults only" products for sale on their site.

I could have sworn I read they don't allow it...I'll dig into it--thanks for the heads-up!

 

[jdrakeh]

I could have sworn I read they don't allow it...I'll dig into it--thanks for the heads-up!

They don't allow some adult stuff there, but they're not super strict about it, AFAIK. For example, I know that several years ago they removed a product called Tournament of Rapists, for what I think should be obvious reasons. As long as you're not in ToR territory, you're probably safe.

 

[_Michael_]

They don't allow some adult stuff there, but they're not super strict about it, AFAIK. For example, I know that several years ago they removed a product called Tournament of Rapists, for what I think should be obvious reasons. As long as you're not in ToR territory, you're probably safe.

Yeah, no...this is all cheesecake/luis royo style stuff.

Edit: Finally got to re-read through it. A few questions...

OP didn't mention PoD being a factor, and they mentioned money being a problem. That's why I mentioned Scribus instead of Affinity.

Why did DMsGuild stopped accepting pdfs made with Scribus?

Are there any good scribus tutorials? I'm aiming for WotC-tier artwork and layouts.

OP didn't mention PoD being a factor, true. But if they ever want to do PoD through DrivethruRPG, they can either use Scribus to create the web PDF and a different program to create the print PDF, or they can choose a different program and just use it for everything.

This page specifies that DTRPG wants the files created in Affinity or Indesign. Note that this is a DrivethruRPG page, so it is not specific to DMSGuild, but anything on DMSGuild will also have to follow these guidelines.

https://help.drivethrupartners.com/...00178583-Quick-Specifications-for-Print-Books

It gets even more fun. Now, it seems that in order to be approved for Print on Demand on DMSGuild, they require you to work with a select list of "Layout Designers," detailed here:

https://help.dmsguild.com/hc/en-us/...ments-Guidelines#h_01HXW5JDT7H85NM0R4T97G8D3Y

I don't remember when they specifically said they no longer accepted files created using Scribus; I can't find the announcement anywhere. It would have been in mid to late 2021 or maybe early 2022, though, shortly after my Zakhara campaign guide was published.

Again, if the OP either isn't ever going to want to do a book as PoD, at least through DrivethruRPG, none of this will matter. For example, I've had books printed on Lulu that I made using Microsoft Word(!).

But if they ARE considering PoD and want to use Drivethru, Scribus is just not a great option.

There must be other options to PoD that do use Scribus, surely? Can we just use another site to print physical copies and then sell them on DTRPG, or are we barred from using third party publishing for such things? Digital, I'm not too worried as I can just post a link to a MediaFire file with the pdf and put it on various forums and other sites. Might not get as much reach, but in all likelihood, this will never really go anywhere and is a simple vanity project. Still, I wouldn't mind having physical copies in a nice hardcover copy with high quality paper and layouts...

 

[J.Quondam]

There must be other options to PoD that do use Scribus, surely? Can we just use another site to print physical copies and then sell them on DTRPG, or are we barred from using third party publishing for such things? Digital, I'm not too worried as I can just post a link to a MediaFire file with the pdf and put it on various forums and other sites. Might not get as much reach, but in all likelihood, this will never really go anywhere and is a simple vanity project. Still, I wouldn't mind having physical copies in a nice hardcover copy with high quality paper and layouts...

I know there are publishers on there who sell PDFs on DTRPG and provide a link to their own website in their profile where they make POD available elsewhere, often by a link to Lulu. (And I know Lulu isn't too picky about what software is used to make the submitted PDFs, just as long as the file is properly flattened.)

An example is Hostile Solo by Zozer Games: it's only available in PDF on that dtrpg link, but if you click on the "Publisher website" link on that product page and poke around his website, you'll find the page where he has hardcopies on sale at Lulu.