Troll Lord Games

As you lunatics seem intent on putting formatting and layout comments in the Clarifications Thread, I though I should start a new thread about layout and format.

Okay. To start.

The PH 6 will be in color.

Peter will add a bit of color to those pictures that aren't.

We are working with walsworth to find a better paper stock to 'hold' the color (that word is mine and has no relevance outside my internal monologue).

The page count will be the same. Why? Because we've already set in motion having wooden boxes made to hold the CKG, PH and the MT. That's not the real reason, but I'm sticking with it.

For this reason, we can't port over lots of charts and stuff from the CKG or MT.

The PH 6 will not contain the high level material from the CKG. My apologies to the completionists, but this is an underlying principle that Mac Golden (co-designer of the game) asked me to maintain in the core book. And I intend to honor my commitment to him. (with that in mind Peter Bradley has been secretly laying out a C&C Cyclopedia or some such and been pushing me to do one giant book for years).

That's all I gots for now.

Steve

When you release the PDF of the 6th printing, can you have the background on a layer, or release a b&w version? Or whatever it takes to make the PDF fast, maybe do as some others do and have a high res, large file size PDF and an optimized, low res version (usually optimized for printing, but seems to be fast for screen too).

I find the rulebook PDFs are slow to render. Sometimes the problem is I am reading them from a network share, but copying them locally doesn't necessarily help. Less complex PDFs with a similar page count seem OK.

Or maybe I don't know what I am talking about.

Have you guys got anywhere along the tab indexing thought for quick reference for the chapters?

Aergraith wrote:When you release the PDF of the 6th printing, can you have the background on a layer, or release a b&w version? Or whatever it takes to make the PDF fast, maybe do as some others do and have a high res, large file size PDF and an optimized, low res version (usually optimized for printing, but seems to be fast for screen too).

I find the rulebook PDFs are slow to render. Sometimes the problem is I am reading them from a network share, but copying them locally doesn't necessarily help. Less complex PDFs with a similar page count seem OK.

Or maybe I don't know what I am talking about.

Hmmm.

Let me think on this. Having two versions might cause confusion and delay. Then we'd have to get Sir Topem Hat involved and then it would all be trains, trains, trains.

But seriously, let me think on this.

Steve

post script: I love Thomas the Train.

Dracyian wrote:Have you guys got anywhere along the tab indexing thought for quick reference for the chapters?

We have gotten no where on it. hahahaahah

But it is on my to do list. I know Peter can do it, but suspect it would have to be some type of die cutting in the print process, which will of course drive the cost up (I'm guessing).

Steve

I'm trying to think of money saving here both you and my, our wallets, what about this:

So on the outside edge of the pages in the book past the ToC in the margin where you have no print what about having a different colored spot on the margin at the top of the page for chapter 1 and the bottom of the page for the last chapter and all the inbetween chapters each one further down the page then the last chapter and in that different colored spot it reads the chapter title. See my crappy ASCII art to demonstrate what I am trying to talk about :p lol.
I understand ink costs money and adding this increases time and changes the printing and I have no idea how the printing works for this, so I can't even begin to guess if this is monetarily feasible or even compares to whatever your troll brain concocted but to me I would imagine this is cheaper than some die cutting process lol. But i'm a bank teller who wants a degree in math, so all I am really good at is counting money and manupilating numbers

_____________________
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................................|//////| <---- "Chapter 1 Goes in the shaded box
................................|//////| Classes "
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ok I am done editing I think

Troll Lord wrote: post script: I love Thomas the Train.

I remember when Ringo was the host...

Arduin wrote:

Troll Lord wrote: post script: I love Thomas the Train.

I remember when Ringo was the host...

Ringo and George Carlin were the best it seemed.

Color PHB 6? Aw yeeeuh! TITTIES!!!

Troll Lord wrote:(with that in mind Peter Bradley has been secretly laying out a C&C Cyclopedia or some such and been pushing me to do one giant book for years).

This, seriously just came out of the Troll Lord. Somebody whom is better as such things please place an image in this thread saying "TAKE MY MONEY!" Dear Lords of Troll, how I can't wait for thee.

~O

PS: I apologize if I have offended anybody who does not like my colorful choice of words. I'm sorry, but I am excited about very few things in life. One would be a full-color PHB 6. And the other, is well, quite clear.

My biggest complaint about the book is ease of reading. There does need to be a much better contrast of the print and the background color. As it is I would have been much more excited to hear we would be going back to B&W, so I hope you can do something about it. I hope you mean your actually adding some color to those several "mud" pictures.

Treebore wrote:My biggest complaint about the book is ease of reading. There does need to be a much better contrast of the print and the background color. As it is I would have been much more excited to hear we would be going back to B&W, so I hope you can do something about it. I hope you mean your actually adding some color to those several "mud" pictures.

I was just about to write something similiar, but for brevity's sake I'll just say, "ditto."

I know I much prefer the the races section be before the class section. Just saying.

R-

Rigon wrote:I know I much prefer the the races section be before the class section. Just saying.

R-

Just thinking out loud and I am new to this comparatively to the rest of you old folks here lol, but what order do you create your character in? Then whichever order makes the most sense or is like the pretty popular girl in school the layout of the book reflects that? If Steve is even considering changing the order of the chapters lol

Dracyian wrote:

Rigon wrote:I know I much prefer the the races section be before the class section. Just saying.

R-

Just thinking out loud and I am new to this comparatively to the rest of you old folks here lol, but what order do you create your character in? Then whichever order makes the most sense or is like the pretty popular girl in school the layout of the book reflects that? If Steve is even considering changing the order of the chapters lol

I usually pick race first and then class, but some times I pick class first then race. My preference comes from that's how it's always been done.

R-

Like in my case I much prefer to build a character around an idea or concept that I have preconcieved in my head and then change it to fit what I want in the game with that being said

1.) I pick the class
2.) Pick the race
3.) We roll for attributes
4.) Outfit our character with equipment and the whatnots and the whoseits
5.) Then we run off to certain death

My biggest complaint about the book is ease of reading. There does need to be a much better contrast of the print and the background color. As it is I would have been much more excited to hear we would be going back to B&W, so I hope you can do something about it. I hope you mean your actually adding some color to those several "mud" pictures.

Have to agree the PH5 printing never gets used, I have gone back to PH4. The print is too difficult to read, black on brown was used in D&D 3.5 and I didn't like it then.

All I require is -

. Make the print clear to read, i.e. Black font on a White page
. Take your time and fully errata this next printing, ask us all to provide feedback on what's still to be errata'd, and fix before you print.