SRD 3.5 Competition

[Conaill]

maybe a couple days before the deadline dimwhit could start an official submissions thread. Only for posting your submission and no submission not in that thread will be accepted.

I like the submission thread. But I do NOT think it should be mandatory! For one, because that would require contestants to put up hosting space for their submission, adding in an extra barrier to submission.

I mainly like the idea of a submissions thread, because it will allow the public to give input on the submissions. It's great that we have so many judges lined up, but more eyes and more opinions is always a good thing.

 

[Dimwhit]

quote:
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Originally posted by Drawmack
maybe a couple days before the deadline dimwhit could start an official submissions thread. Only for posting your submission and no submission not in that thread will be accepted.
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I like the submission thread. But I do NOT think it should be mandatory! For one, because that would require contestants to put up hosting space for their submission, adding in an extra barrier to submission.

I mainly like the idea of a submissions thread, because it will allow the public to give input on the submissions. It's great that we have so many judges lined up, but more eyes and more opinions is always a good thing.

I agree, for the same reason. Some people may not be able to post their stuff. So when it's set up, they can either post the submission in the new thread, or email them directly to me. We'll get everything posted once it's all over with.

But a new submission thread will be necessary. This current thread is getting so bloated and long it will be completely impractical to weed through it.

 

[Drawmack]

I don't understand the hosting issue? I was figuring that people could upload them to the boards as attachements unless they are server side scripting which needs to be hosted to work anyway.

Hey dimwhit email me a list of all the judges names and email addresses and I'll set up a submission form on suryvial where people can upload their entries or send the links to them and then I'll email all the judges automatically when one has been uploaded. So that this doesn't get exploited it would help of those entering could send me an email as well and then I could send them a username and password they would use to upload their submission.

Alternatively if you email the submission to dimwhit he could upload it to the system to take advantage of the features in the system.

This will also avoid someone getting a 10mb file in their email unexpectedly as they'll just be emailed a link to the file.

Then when the contest is all done we'll have all the entries in a mysql database with the php to access that database which makes writting a front end to allow people to download them a matter of about a 1/2 hour's work.

 

[GentleGiant]

That said, what do people think about landscape vs. portrait for book layout? My preference is to go with landscape (8.5x11), because then a page basically fits perfectly on screen, and fits perfectly on the paper. But most people seem to dislike this, so i'm currently working on a portrait-orientation version. Less useful on-screen, but seems to upset fewer people when printed. Opinions?

Just to throw a stick in everyone's design wheel (well... if they care)
Remember, again, that this is an international board and when you design something that people are able to print out you might consider how your design looks when printed out elsewhere in the world.
For instance, an American's Letter sized design (8.5x11 (21.59x27.94 cm)) might look awful (with respect to the art, if any, but most importantly also with readability) when printed on a piece of A4 paper (21x29.7 cm <- A4 size (European standard)).
Now, granted, I don't know if this is as serious a problem that I'm putting it up to be, but it might be worth considering?!?
Btw, I'm voting for Portrait layouts

 

[Sovelior]

I was hoping to join this friendly competition and post the finished html product on the deadline itself. However, due to other commitments, I just realized that I won't be able to beat the deadline and finish the entire thing on time. Rather than put everything into waste, I decided to share what I have so far and inspire those who are still in the running. I'll keep on updating the site whenever I get the chance. It will be finished when it's finished but I don't think Aug 31st will cut it.

Anyway, here's the url link of my supposed entry:
http://geocities.com/sovelior/srd

The site is hosted in an ad-based free web hosting facility, so my apologies in advanced for the popping ads.

 

[Dimwhit]

Sovelior,

You should go ahead and submit what you have. I don't know how many people are submitting, so it's possible a partially-done version could win. You're looks very nice at a quick glance.

Just watch for the submission thread and post it. It can't hurt any!

I honestly don't know if we'll get 2 submissions or 200!

 

[Dimwhit]

Hey dimwhit email me a list of all the judges names and email addresses and I'll set up a submission form on suryvial where people can upload their entries or send the links to them and then I'll email all the judges automatically when one has been uploaded. So that this doesn't get exploited it would help of those entering could send me an email as well and then I could send them a username and password they would use to upload their submission.

Drawmack, I'll try to email you this weekend. The info is at home.

And I'll tell you what I told Sovelior: you should submit what you have done. You never know.

 

[Conaill]

For instance, an American's Letter sized design (8.5x11 (21.59x27.94 cm)) might look awful (with respect to the art, if any, but most importantly also with readability) when printed on a piece of A4 paper (21x29.7 cm <- A4 size (European standard)).

Excellent point! Americans tend to be pretty myopic when it comes to issues like this. A4 is an international standard, whereas "Letter" size is a largely US standard.

 

[Estlor]

Seeing as I'm an American and doing this largely for my own use, naturally my entry will be in Letter size format.

Of course, if I won I'd be more than happy to reformat it into an A4 size. It would take some time, but if it meant making it easier for my patient fellow gamers across the Atlantic and Pacific...

 

[Conaill]

I wouldn't expect you to do a complete reformat for A4. You can keep the text area the same, and just change the width of the borders. If you keep the top and bottom border for the Letter version on the small side, I bet it will look reasonable in the A4 version.

PS: Not that I think this sould be a *requirement* for all entries. But it could score some bonus points, just like having a separate screen and print version...

 

[doktorstick]

Would people mind submitting their template files or master pages for their layouts when they are done (or whenever)?

There are some samples in the competition that I have seen that are real nice, and I would like to prettify my house rules in one of those styles.

Cheers,
/ds

 

[Sage]

Anyway, here's the url link of my supposed entry:
http://geocities.com/sovelior/srd

Wow, that's really beuatiful work there Sovelior!
I hope you get to finish it.

 

[FluidDragon]

If anybody needs temp hosting space for their submission drop me a line I'll hook you up. No banners, ads etc. This is free for contest entires. Or if you need low cost hosting for other projects sites let me know, just be sure to include you are a member of enworld.

scott"no spam" @ fluiddragon.com or contact form

-fd

 

[Cecil]

FluidDragon,

If you get overwhelmed, I also have a lot of webspace and bandwidth I can use for entries.

--Cecil

 

[Sulaco]

Drawmack, I'll try to email you this weekend. The info is at home.

And I'll tell you what I told Sovelior: you should submit what you have done. You never know.

I concur. I am not going to do the whole SRD just cos there is too bloody much of it and I have too much other stuff to do, but I am probably going to be able to get the main stuff done (ie. the contents of the PHB and DMG, and maybe MM if I have the time).

 

[woodelf]

I concur. I am not going to do the whole SRD just cos there is too bloody much of it and I have too much other stuff to do, but I am probably going to be able to get the main stuff done (ie. the contents of the PHB and DMG, and maybe MM if I have the time).

huh? If you get the content from the PH, DMG, and MM done, what *haven't* you done?

Anyway, as far as content: having slogged through the rules, and most of the character stuff (still have equipment and spell lists to go), i'll have to say those are the hard parts. Spells and monsters should go fast, since it's mostly lists and i can mostly autoformat it. Only thing that should take much effort is the tables/lists for some spells (Summon Nature's Ally, frex) and the monster statblocks that have to be pulled out into a separate frame 'cause they're wider than a column. 'Course, i'll probably eat my words next week when i get to them. But, so far, so good. The hardest part is the assinine organization of the source files--this'd go a *lot* quicker if i could just slap the stuff into a file and start formatting, instead of having to do all this editing first. And since i refuse to undertake the effort required to properly organize the rules--with *very* few exceptions, i'm trying to do this just by cut-n-pasting the source files, rather than rewriting the content--it's still coming out a bit rough around the edges.

 

[woodelf]

Just to throw a stick in everyone's design wheel (well... if they care)
Remember, again, that this is an international board and when you design something that people are able to print out you might consider how your design looks when printed out elsewhere in the world.
For instance, an American's Letter sized design (8.5x11 (21.59x27.94 cm)) might look awful (with respect to the art, if any, but most importantly also with readability) when printed on a piece of A4 paper (21x29.7 cm <- A4 size (European standard)).
Now, granted, I don't know if this is as serious a problem that I'm putting it up to be, but it might be worth considering?!?
Btw, I'm voting for Portrait layouts

Ack! You're supposed to remind me of these things *before* i've put several dozen hours in to format and tweak the first 40% (and, by far, the detail-oriented 40%) of the material. I often design specifically with both letter and A4 in mind--that is, i use the shorter of each dimension as my baseline, so that you end up with wasted space (on the sides for letter, on the top&bottom for A4) with either paper size, but nothing is chopped. Of course, that means no full-bleed margin art, but then i'm not too fond of that to begin with.

That said, I don't think i'll bother going back to do it for this project (unless it starts getting tons of downloads once i put it up)--as i said, i'm just too far into it already, and, for some reason, it just totally slipped my mind. However, Acrobat provides a fairly reasonable solution: Shrink to Page when you print. The amount isn't enough to render things illegible (~2.5%), so, while you end up with some whitespace on the page (top&bottom when you shrink letter to A4; sides when you shrink A4 to letter), it's otherwise perfectly functional.

 

[woodelf]

Anyway, here's the url link of my supposed entry:
http://geocities.com/sovelior/srd

Just one critique: change the table shading. That yellow really clashes with the brick red and light blue you use everywhere else. I'd suggest trying the same blue you're using for headings.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Anyway, here's the url link of my supposed entry:
http://geocities.com/sovelior/srd

Sweet! Me likey!

 

[GentleGiant]

Ack! You're supposed to remind me of these things *before* i've put several dozen hours in to format and tweak the first 40% (and, by far, the detail-oriented 40%) of the material. I often design specifically with both letter and A4 in mind--that is, i use the shorter of each dimension as my baseline, so that you end up with wasted space (on the sides for letter, on the top&bottom for A4) with either paper size, but nothing is chopped. Of course, that means no full-bleed margin art, but then i'm not too fond of that to begin with.

I know, sorry for not speaking up before (I wanted to read all the posts to make sure I didn't suggest something someone else had already suggested).

That said, I don't think i'll bother going back to do it for this project (unless it starts getting tons of downloads once i put it up)--as i said, i'm just too far into it already, and, for some reason, it just totally slipped my mind. However, Acrobat provides a fairly reasonable solution: Shrink to Page when you print. The amount isn't enough to render things illegible (~2.5%), so, while you end up with some whitespace on the page (top&bottom when you shrink letter to A4; sides when you shrink A4 to letter), it's otherwise perfectly functional.

You are right, most fonts are still fully legible when shrunk this way, but I have come across some that just kind of muddled together when shrunk (sorry, no idea what the names of those fonts are).
Anyway, I just thought I'd mention it, in case someone hadn't finalized their design yet.