Full Color Reboot

[Piperdog]

So now we have the 3 Sisters coming out in full color, and let me say by just what I have seen in the PHB, this is a fantastic thing. While I can appreciate the old school feel of plain black and white, most of my rpg friends are taken in by fancy books as they flip through the pages at the local game store. Black and white is just boring to the common, casual consumer, and I think TLG is going to pull in a whole new fan base simply because the presentation of the new books will grab the casual shoppers attention at the local game store.

With that said, I really think this needs to continue with every TLG product, including all the adventures. That's just a marketing thing really, but comparing a black and white adventure with tiny font to some of the full color spreads we see for PF and D&D...well, many gamers won't be able to get past that to see how good the TLG stuff really is. It is my hope that maybe TLG can start with the Umbrage Saga, reformat it with a larger font and the whole full color treatment and release it as a hardcover. I am just thinking out loud here, but I think it would be a cool thing to see.

[serleran]

I can understand where and why that might be a good thing, but I cannot endorse it.

RPGs need to have coloring book elements.

[Warunsun]

It is my hope that maybe TLG can start with the Umbrage Saga, reformat it with a larger font and the whole full color treatment and release it as a hardcover. I am just thinking out loud here, but I think it would be a cool thing to see.

I agree that full color and nice looking adventures would be more eye catching at a game store. Not sure if it would make a difference because first they need to want to buy C&C adventures so that probably would mean they were already willing to get involved. Having the three main rule books in color and reformatted could be a big boon if stores are willing to stock them but honestly I don't think adventures matter if they are color. Also, I would hope if TLG was going to spend the money to produce a few awesome full color adventures with maps and handouts that they would not reprint old material and instead commission new stuff so everyone would be interested in buying it.

[DMSamuel]

I would rather have my adventures on b/w with matte finish, not the glossy pages that come with full color art. It allows me to take notes in them, lightly, in pencil (a practice that I started just in the past 6 years or so, and it is glorious - give me b/w any day!).

Having said that, I do appreciate a full color reprint of a set that contains something new for me, or has a combination not previously published. So, for example, if you want to do just the A0-A5 Umbrage box, I'm not likely to be very interested, but... if you want to do A0 through A12 with all of the bells and whistles, new color maps and such, I might decide that is a nice collection piece. If you add Aufstrag to that, I would be in for sure!

[Zudrak]

I can understand where and why that might be a good thing, but I cannot endorse it.

RPGs need to have coloring book elements.

Yes! Crayons ain't just for the dice!

/jest

[tylermo]

I agree that color is good for the three sisters, beyond that I don't know. TLG keeps a pretty good price point on their material. These days, adventures average about 6.99. That seems to be 3.00 below industry norm for black and white adventures. Seeing the other hardcovers (m&t of a, cm, bof, rl, cc, cn, og&m, etc.) in color would be tempting, but the price will go up. I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly, but don't M&T and CKG go up 5.00 respectively for color? From a sales viewpoint, I'm not sure I want to see prices go up across the board like that (if indeed that were to be the case).

[Julian Grimm]

On thing that I see that sells C&C is the price points. I can sacrifice color and snazzy production for a lower cost of admission. If TLG can go with color and keep the price down then, go for it. If not they should stick with what has worked so far.

[Treebore]

Yeah, I am OK with color for the "big" books, but leave the modules black and white. Personally, I'd love it if TLG made a B/W version of the newest printings available as well as the full color, because over all, I still prefer B/W to full color, especially when it comes to artwork. To me, well done B/W artwork is the mark of a good artist. Color hides too many mistakes, so can make an artist who still isn't that good look like they are great.

[Lord Dynel]

I would like to see a companion box set for Umbrage, personally. Then if there's going to be a big, A0-A12 book, then that's fine. My first box set is awful lonely up there!

[tylermo]

At one point, I think there was talk about a big book compiling all of them. Haven't heard anything in sometime. On the A-series front, I'm sure A13 would probably come before that. Then again, it's not for me to say.

[ArgoForg]

As an artistic type, myself, I can tell you that I am naturally more receptive to color printing, whether gloss or matte. Even if it's just color plates and accenting, ala the original TSR 2E books. It catches the eye, and grabs my interest, and makes me give a second look to something I might not have thought twice about in simple black and white. Maybe it's because I've been spoiled by the top-notch production in some of the Paizo work, or maybe it's because I got jaded by the immense morass of borderline-quality black and white splatbooks put out during the d20/OGL heyday. Or maybe it's as simple as "pretteee colorrrs". I dunno.

So I would be all about color printing if the production value is worth it. I can't bring myself to drop $50 regularly on a book, even if it's in color. But I can say I tend to be more favorably inclined to a book in color than I am to the same book in black and white.

[concobar]

Some of the most iconic images from AD&D were the black and white line drawings.. Paladin in hell comes to mind. The thing is that if an image is black and white then I as the viewer get the pleasure of imagining the colors of the various objects shown and as someone who did take a set of color pencils to one of my books I can assure you that what I see may be very different from what another person sees. When a color image is shown no matter how cool it is the interaction and interpretation of the viewer is lost.

This may be why I would argue that some modern RPGs have lost the spirit and soul of AD&D. In more modern offerings very little is left to the interpretation of the GM and so the game becomes one where the GM is transmitting someone else idea rather than their own. Consider the difference in 1989 forgotten realms and 2014 forgotten realms.. one was a tool set that could be used to create many different and varied game worlds, the other is is not and worse has become so over powering that the core rules have changed to allow for drizzt type characters as standard playable races. The fact is that Drizzt is the face of D&D now. Imagination and creativity replaced by something else.

Now that is a ramble for 4:20 am.. lol