I'm Making A New Edition of D&D, What App Should I Use To Create The Rules Document?

[Jools]

For the last 6 months I've been working on a new edition of D&D featuring all of the things I would like to have. I'm at the point where I'm starting to type things up but man, they really don't look pretty in a microsoft word document! What I really want is to ape 4th edition's design and aesthetics as much as possible. Ideally, I'd like it to look pretty much exactly the same. Could someone reccomend to me the app that would be most appropriate for achieving this? Whatever it is, I am more than willing to put in the work required to master this, even if its something that may take some time. I'll enjoy the journey.

 

[Relique du Madde]

You need to use a publishing/layout program like adobe indesign that is capable of rendering output in a pdf file (or one for a ebook reader). I have to warn you... if you plan on posting the file anywhere on the web, or in a ebook store, then you CAN NOT emulate the 4e layout w/o expecting a c&d letter (layout is considered trade dress).



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[riotshieldnation]

Right, like as was stated before, you probably shouldn't copy 4e directly or call your project "d&d". You'll get a c&d.

As for typesetting programs though, there are a few options. Adobe InDesign is very good, but also very expensive. There is a FOSS alternative called Scribus, but I can't vouch for it as I've never tried it.

HOWEVER, if you want to be really really serious about being hardcore, use Latex. It's a programming lanugage for typesetting, and it's very powerful, but it's not exactly the most user friendly set of programs. But like I said, it's for hardcore only. If you have questions about it, you can go ahead and PM me.

 

[blargney the second]

Does it need to be printed? If not, I recommend making a wiki. So much easier.
-blarg

 

[Janx]

Depending on how fancy you are getting, you may be failing to use MS Word properly.

In the modern era, MS Word is capable of quite a bit of page layout, style templates, etc. Such that it has killed most of the need for seperate page layout applications for all but the heaviest of duty uses.

Which also means, if you are failing to utilize MS Word to its fullest, odds are good you're going to have just as hard a time using another fuller featured tool.

I'm not saying you don't know how to use MS Word, heck I don't even know exactly what you've got already and where your going. I'm merely raising the point that there MIGHT not be anything wrong with the tool you have.

 

[BriarMonkey]

There is also MS Publisher. It's a light-weight desktop publishing tool, and costs a fraction of what Adobe's products cost. And, if you have both Word and Publisher on the same machine, you can work on your layout in Publisher and actually link to Word to do the text entry (which can be easier in Word than Publisher - depending on what you are used to).

Unlike Word, Publisher does allow you drag and drop to place elements right where you want them, the resizing of elements, master pages, much better clip art and graphics support, rulers, discrete text boxes, linked text boxes, tables, layout guides, and a host of other tools. As I said though, it is light-weight so a lot of the bits that the Adobe and other expesive tools have, this doesn't (such as layering, filters, enhanced CMYK support, automatically allowing PDF exports [you'd need Adobe Acrobat or a third party printer to do this in Publisher], etc.)

I like the tool well enough, especially for the price.

 

[Desdichado]

You need to use a publishing/layout program like adobe indesign that is capable of rendering output in a pdf file (or one for a ebook reader).

Word already does that.

I have to warn you... if you plan on posting the file anywhere on the web, or in a ebook store, then you CAN NOT emulate the 4e layout w/o expecting a c&d letter (layout is considered trade dress).

Well, there's expect and then expect. I wouldn't expect a cease and desist letter. Although WotC are legally within their rights to do so, I haven't ever heard of them having done so for a fan project. And exactly how similar trade dress needs to be to be legally without problem is always problematic; you never really know for sure until you get a decision from a court.

That said, I certainly wouldn't want to find myself playing chicken legally with a Hasbro subsidiary. I don't have a corporate legal office all my own.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Depending on how fancy you are getting, you may be failing to use MS Word properly.

In the modern era, MS Word is capable of quite a bit of page layout, style templates, etc. Such that it has killed most of the need for seperate page layout applications for all but the heaviest of duty uses.

Which also means, if you are failing to utilize MS Word to its fullest, odds are good you're going to have just as hard a time using another fuller featured tool.

I'm not saying you don't know how to use MS Word, heck I don't even know exactly what you've got already and where your going. I'm merely raising the point that there MIGHT not be anything wrong with the tool you have.

I was thinking the same as Janx - MS Word does give you quite a lot of layout options, and quite importantly it is very good for compiling indexes and tables of contents for long documents.

Probably not so good if you want graphics-heavy pages with pictures all around the margins (but those are a real pain for people to print themselves from a PDF).

Anyhow, best of luck with your project!

 

[Jools]

Thanks so much everybody. It seems I haven't told you enough detail for you to give me the best possible advice. I would like to share my work with the community, but I don't plan to charge any money at any point. I'd like to take feedback and make changes as I go along. I guess this would make the wiki idea a good one. Eventually I'd like to type it all up beautifully in a printable document though.

I'm sure I am using MS Word wrong btw! Perhaps I should learn more about that. What I do want though - more than anything else - is I want to copy the way WOTC formatted powers, magic items and monsters in 4th edition. I wish I could put up an example from an official pdf but I know enworld is quite strict about putting official content up here. I'd like to be able to do that in a document (and now I'm also interested in doing that in a wiki too!).

 

[Mark CMG]

Didn't WotC send a Cease & Desist notice early in the 4E era to some website, that subsequnetly shut down, that had a tool for people to make their own powers and print them out in the WotC format? (Anyone?)