What GURPS needs... now

[dbm]

Originally Posted by Anthony

If there were separate layouts for electronic and physical books (which would increase layout cost substantially so it probably isn't going to happen), the electronic book could be as inefficient with space as it wanted, but if you're paying per page to print a physical book, you don't want a lot of white space.

Physical and electronic books are the same, here. I think there is a balance point between readability and information density, and getting that right will offset a small additional cost for printing.

ETA: As an example, most people seem to to agree that the new profession template is an improvement, even though it is less space-efficient.

[allluckyseven]

Originally Posted by dbm

Have you seen the layout Monte Cooke Games uses for their games (Numenera, Cypher System etc.)? They have a side bar used for short notes and cross references; it works well in my opinion. There is quite a bit of white space but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

That hadn't occurred to me, but yes, absolutely! Great example!

Another book that I've seen recently that really caught my eye was Symbaroum. Sure it's nowhere near generic, it's for a very specific setting, like Numenera. But it's beautifully laid out. People should definitely check it out.

Blocks of text are usually short, and stat blocks for monsters and NPCs is kind of like that of the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, but divided into two columns, one for the type of trait, other for the actual trait description. Like a definition list.

The illustrations are great too, despite not being super refined. But the whole thing is consistent (picture something like rough concept art for movies, like Justin Sweet's work for the Narnia series).

They did put some boxes into those narrow columns some times, which bothers me. But overall it's a great looking book.

There's also the Degenesis books by famous comic book & film illustrator Marko Djurdjevic which, granted, do not have sidebars, but use a fair amount of whitespace, making the pages really light and easy on the eyes.
And the art is just amazing.

Modiphius' new 2d20 Conan books look great too.

SJG has chosen to use a 3 column layout for its 4th edition books and a good sized type, which in itself is fine, but when using justified paragraphs has the problem of the gap formed in between words, especially noticeable when a line is composed of short words.
I'd prefer if they had opted for a 2 column layout, or a 2 column + a (narrower) sidebar.

And there's the amount of content, which arguably means good value for those books, but for a beginner player is probably too much.

[JMason]

Originally Posted by allluckyseven

SJG has chosen to use a 3 column layout for its 4th edition books and a good sized type, which in itself is fine, but when using justified paragraphs has the problem of the gap formed in between words, especially noticeable when a line is composed of short words.
I'd prefer if they had opted for a 2 column layout, or a 2 column + a (narrower) sidebar.

And there's the amount of content, which arguably means good value for those books, but for a beginner player is probably too much.

Only the early books were 3 column, later ones are 2 column.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by allluckyseven

Another book that I've seen recently that really caught my eye was Symbaroum. Sure it's nowhere near generic, it's for a very specific setting, like Numenera. But it's beautifully laid out. People should definitely check it out.

Symbaroum is gorgeous. I think that they use three columns, but one column is half the width of the other two: 40%/40%/20% . . . but which column (inner, middle, outer) gets the 20% changes page by page.

It's well done and I may try it myself in a future product.

I pulled out my hard copy of the book and measured. The column spacing is 7 mm each. The thick columns are 68 mm, and the small column is 32mm. It’s how they are used...and not used...that makes it art.

[trechriron]

In a completely unrelated manner...

Every time I swing by the forums and read this title I start singing...

"What GURPS... Needs now... Is love sweet love."

Is this just me?

[AOTA]

Originally Posted by trechriron

In a completely unrelated manner...

Every time I swing by the forums and read this title I start singing...

"What GURPS... Needs now... Is love sweet love."

Is this just me?

No I've been thinking it too.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by trechriron

In a completely unrelated manner...

Every time I swing by the forums and read this title I start singing...

"What GURPS... Needs now... Is love sweet love."

Is this just me?

I don't know whether you need love, sweet love. <g>

Oh, right. No, you aren't the only person to have that reaction.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by trechriron

Every time I swing by the forums and read this title I start singing...

"What GURPS... Needs now... Is love sweet love."

Is this just me?

I was thinking this too, but someone waaaaaaaaaay upthread beat us to it.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by dbm

Physical and electronic books are the same, here. I think there is a balance point between readability and information density, and getting that right will offset a small additional cost for printing.

I don't think the additional cost for printing is small. Especially not if you want printing at the level of what went into, say, the Basic Set.

[Tom H.]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I don't think the additional cost for printing is small. Especially not if you want printing at the level of what went into, say, the Basic Set.

That's an interesting point, but is it worth it?

Fantasy Flight Games (among others) broke so many rules of cost effective game production:

• Thick, double-sided counters
• Well-formatted, colored rules with professional artwork
• Abundant, detailed plastic minis
• Huge boxes
• High prices

But it all created consumer value.

Many other companies were compelled to break there own prejudices about what could or should be done.