GOD RULES: Player's Guide (5e) Previews/Discussion

[therealselah]

On trade dress:
It looks nice enough, but the excerpts you have sent already look very good without it. I don't like the black at top and bottom, even though I understand why it's there.

It's a shame to lose so much space on each page for the trade dress when you are already concerned about the total page count.

You lose nothing by ditching it.

I vote no. (Not that this is a democracy.)

 

[Upper_Krust]

IMO, the new internal trade dress is absolutely awesome, and you should go for it.

Cheers amigo - thanks for the feedback.

Also, I do have a question, what exactly is the Brandmind? I know that the OWNON are AFAIK meant to be game designers, so would the Brandmind basically be the incarnation of DnD itself,

The incarnation of the Corporatisation of it.

and what DR would it roughly be at?

Divine Rank 38

 

[Upper_Krust]

On trade dress:
It looks nice enough, but the excerpts you have sent already look very good without it.

Thanks for the feedback mate, much appreciated.

I don't like the black at top and bottom, even though I understand why it's there.

Its a framing device to give a depth of field - I am happy with how it turned out. Over the multiple years of working on this book I have tried maybe half a dozen layouts and brainstormed a dozen more.

Once I get the PDF completed I will likely get Mixam to print out a book or two so I can see what it looks like in my hands before allowing the Drivethru Print option.

It's a shame to lose so much space on each page for the trade dress when you are already concerned about the total page count.

The Frame has zero impact on text or Page Count.

You lose nothing by ditching it.

I suppose, although the book looks a tad anaemic without any trade dress, particularly on non-art pages.

I vote no. (Not that this is a democracy.)

I am happy to go with the majority on this.

 

[Alzrius]

For what it's worth, I like the new trade dress; it feels appropriately celestial for the subject matter in question.

 

[Upper_Krust]

For what it's worth, I like the new trade dress; it feels appropriately celestial for the subject matter in question.

Thanks for the feedback Alzrius amigo.

I do like it, its how the frame crosses art pieces that concerns me though. Needs a bit more testing.

 

[therealselah]

I suspect the majority will like it - my main concern was about impact on page count and text size. You've resolved that issue.

I hadn't considered what it might look like without it on pages which have no illustrations - a very valid point.

 

[Upper_Krust]

I suspect the majority will like it - my main concern was about impact on page count and text size. You've resolved that issue.

Yes I made sure I wasn't giving myself the massive extra workload of changing any of the text or tables - already enough on my plate.

I hadn't considered what it might look like without it on pages which have no illustrations - a very valid point.

In fairness its only maybe one spread every 10 pages or so that has no illustrations - and in some Chapters I think much less than that.

But there is a sterility to zero trade dress, which I think works in digest-size format (like Shadowdark) but doesn't look great in full US Letter/A4 size RPG books.

I have a version with Page Marbling, but that clouds over visibility with small text sizes (my book uses 9 point text) which is something brought into focus (if you'll pardon the pun) by my current Eyesight Problems. Additionally the Page Marbling really messed up my illustrations and I'd have had to go back and redo all non-full page art with transparency.

So I like the 'cleanliness' of the white page contrasted against the gold Table frames and Column Headers. But I also like the marble columns and the black frame top and bottom to give it that 'classical' look.