OSR OSR Layout and Design Thread

[Fenris-77]

Class Talents for example, just fighting with getting the font to set, row height, basic stuff but it didn't seem intuitive.

Big deal 1 - ,make sure that you have the right font size and type selected before you make the table. Then the basic row height will be broadly correct. Big deal 2 - don't worry about setting row height before hand. I always fill all the info in and then adjust the spacing in mm above and below to get the height correct. You can do whole columns at once once you're finished.

Another big deal - make sure you know how many columns you need before you start. Trying to add and remove columns once there is text in there is a huge pain. Rows are easy to add and remove, columns not so much.

I actually use table to do all my bullet point lists as well. You get a lot more easy control over spacing and once you take out the cell borders it looks just like a bulleted list.

 

[Fenris-77]

My first real publication was a game called Vac Suits and Duct Tape, a sci-fi horror/exploration game written for the Trophy Gold rules. I'm giving some serious thought to porting the game over to Shadowdark. Not for simply commercial reasons (which do exist) but also because I bought a bunch of art of the project and I have some cool ideas for modular class design and space combat. Anyway, it inspired me to redo a cover (which is often the first thing I do when I'm excited about a new project).

 

[zottel]

My first real publication was a game called Vac Suits and Duct Tape, a sci-fi horror/exploration game written for the Trophy Gold rules. I'm giving some serious thought to porting the game over to Shadowdark. Not for simply commercial reasons (which do exist) but also because I bought a bunch of art of the project and I have some cool ideas for modular class design and space combat. Anyway, it inspired me to redo a cover (which is often the first thing I do when I'm excited about a new project).

View attachment 432261

Looks rad, and the name slaps! It conveys a really strong vibe.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Looks rad, and the name slaps! It conveys a really strong vibe.

Agreed! I love that.

 

[MoonSong]

I'm late to this party, but a key piece of advice. When in word / (or your friendly FOSS alternative, n_n) make sure to properly assign text to a paragraph/text style group as you write. Nothing is more time consuming than having to do it manually later. Once you have all of your manuscript properly indexed, giving it format in Scribus In Design will be a breeze. Don't give format early, just tag it.

Another option if you don't have the ability to design, is to process your manuscript through LaTeX. If it is tagged correctly, LaTeX will give you something that just works.

Justified text is really popular, but it can be samey. The right border of the text can be beautiful on its own.

 

[Scribe]

'm late to this party, but a key piece of advice. When in word / (or your friendly FOSS alternative, n_n) make sure to properly assign text to a paragraph/text style group as you write.

YES. I suffered through this over the last week, that is, the cleanup for it not being done! lol

 

[overgeeked]

Justified text is really popular, but it can be samey. The right border of the text can be beautiful on its own.

I cannot express how much I hate justified text. The only worse sin is body text that’s white on a black background.