The second Installment of Questions
Matt & Julia
Well I must say that my last set of questions got a very indepth answer from
some and I appreciate the feed back so if I did not reply to you thanks for
your input. It has been put to good use.
Art in a roleplaying book it the subject this time round.
1. What do you think of the art in the RPG's you currently have?
2. What do you think they could to improve them?
3. What do you consider too much art or not enough?
4. What do you consider art in an RPG?(the Borders, etc)
5. Is there anything that you would like to see in the RPG's you have Art
wise?
Well that is it from me have fun and enjoy.
Matt
Sara
"Matt & Julia" <alak...@iinet.net.au> wrote:
> 1. What do you think of the art in the RPG's you currently have?
Some are very professional [e.g. AD&D 3E] but some are very amatuer
[e.g. early GURPS or AD&D 1st & 2nd ed.].
>
> 2. What do you think they could to improve them?
Intelligent use of colour and/or blackwhite can make images look good.
Only use colour if you can afford to do full colour, spot colour
frequently looks bad, and if using B&W, use images that were meant to
be B&W, or at least use a decently screed greyscale. Duotones are OK if
done properly [e.g. sepia]
>
> 3. What do you consider too much art or not enough?
While I really like the quility of the artwork in the new AD&D PBH, I'm
finding the constant underlining within the text distracting, borders
or frames are good, whole page artwork is probably too much.
Most RPG books are presented as 'art books' that is, artwork on every
page, whether it be simply framing or headers and footers. It is now
our expectation that a professionaly produced RPG will have this level
of artwork as a minimum. For page after page of rules, having graphics
to break it up is probably a good thing, and can be very important for
giving context to some sections, e.g. information about scale or range
or line-of-sight/concealment or other physical aspects of the rules.
>
> 4. What do you consider art in an RPG?(the Borders, etc)
>
Frames, borders, explanitary images, anything that is not straight
text, this includes titles if presented in a graphical manner [framed,
drop caps, etc...].
> 5. Is there anything that you would like to see in the RPG's you have
> Art wise?
Player handout templates that are easy to copy, in some kind of wallet
or sleeve at the back of the book, such as character sheets, spell or
skill lists, mapping templates, etc...
--
Sara@labyrinth
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Before you buy.
Ho Chi Ho Chi Zen
Matt & Julia <alak...@iinet.net.au> wrote in message
news:39acf13c$0$51...@echo-01.iinet.net.au...
> Hello again,
>
> Well I must say that my last set of questions got a very indepth answer
from
> some and I appreciate the feed back so if I did not reply to you thanks
for
> your input. It has been put to good use.
>
> Art in a roleplaying book it the subject this time round.
>
inner
lame (palladium), through to good (white wolf, atlas), to pretty good
(tsr/wotc)
cover
lame (daedelus), through to good (r talsorian), to great (palladium), to
outright brilliant (the immortal line! wow)
> 2. What do you think they could to improve them?
two words; tony diterlizi <sp>
oh, third word; brom
> 3. What do you consider too much art or not enough?
not enough; pages without border pictures (ie, block text). a block of
portrait sized text is some-what intimidating.
too much; a middle of 4-12 color plates. sure, definately throw 'em in, but
*space* *them* *out*.
> 4. What do you consider art in an RPG?(the Borders, etc)
all of it. every last skill modifier.
> 5. Is there anything that you would like to see in the RPG's you have Art
> wise?
less 'character class posing' art, more situation scenes.
people doing more than running or fighting (every day life shots; an 8'
troll stooping under a 7' doorway tells me a lot more about trolls than the
same troll hitting a foe with a mace)
scenes of architecture are very atmospheric, and help picture the world
markets and council meetings get the local dress across a lot better than a
sidebar on 'local dress'.
Pagrin
>1. What do you think of the art in the RPG's you currently have?
in general of the art in RGP stuff. However appart from the cover art will
not make me buy a book, that is ment to have rules in it.
>2. What do you think they could to improve them?
The art work needs to be relevent to whatever is being written about in
the near by text. Art for Arts sake while nice is just filler.
Art which shows the city being talked about, or the type of weapon, or
things like that are great.
>3. What do you consider too much art or not enough?
Everything have a picture is a little over the top. However a more than
a double page of text is borring as bat shit when flipping through a book.
Art work is also the best way for remembering where a rule or reference is
located in a book half the time. While I may not remember the heading some
info was under I might remember the castle pic in the top left hand corner
of the page.
>4. What do you consider art in an RPG?(the Borders, etc)
I would tend to thing of borders and graphic design, not artwork. (I
live with a graphic designer. )
>5. Is there anything that you would like to see in the RPG's you have Art
>wise?
No off hand. But what ever art work is there should be half decent.
Pagrin :-)
Dave M
Replies below:
> Art in a roleplaying book it the subject this time round.
>
> 1. What do you think of the art in the RPG's you currently have?
Mostly pretty good. I am pretty content oriented, so I do not put too much
stock in art, but look for how much info is available. An Index is vital.
> 2. What do you think they could to improve them?
I think the art chosen should be carefully selected to convey the look and
feel of the gameworld info being presented. For fantasy games, this means
that the art should all be consistent with the game world and have the same
look and feel as the rest of the game world. By this I mean, No pictures of
gritty, gory barbarians if this is supposed to be high, fantasy. Conversely,
there should be no clean, fresh, scrubbed knights if this is supposed to be
a "realistic" fanatasy setting. For sci fi it is even more critical that the
art matches the setting.
> 3. What do you consider too much art or not enough?
The only time I think there is such a thing as "too much" art is when it
forces the rules to be brokemn into two or more pages (then the rules would
have fit without the "cool" piucture or other art pieces). The other time
art is intrusive is in "watermark" or other "background" type art. If these
are done in too dark of a color, the text of the book becomes hard to read.
The only time I think there is too little art is when I finish the book and
still have no idea what a race or monster or whatever looks like. Unusual
equipment, new races, new interpretations of old races, etc. Thee should all
be illustrated.
> 4. What do you consider art in an RPG?(the Borders, etc)
I guess anything that is not a rule or table. Illustrations, diagrams,
borders, background images, maps, etc...
> 5. Is there anything that you would like to see in the RPG's you have Art
> wise?
Illustrations of game items and people, maps, if there are wierd maneuvers,
illustrate or diagram them. Subtitles to all pictures in the book. Ther are
far too many times that you see a picture and wonder, is that supposed to be
an elf, I can't see her ears. Is the weapon that guy is holding the one
described on this page? It doesn't look exactly like it is described, maybe
it is this other weapon. Is that a sorceress or necromancer, etc... You get
the idea. It may be hard on the artist to precisely define what we are
looking at, but it is easier on the reader to help them understand what the
"game world" is like.
Dave M