Source
r/RPGdesign•
beruda

Inquisition - a leaflet RPG - Cover page

Hey guys,

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Lately I have put my main project aside while I'm studying for exams. This, however hasn't stopped me from designing in the back of my mind, so I started this little game as a side project that I'm working on during study breaks and in the evenings.

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I recently finished the cover page and thought I'd share it. I'm doing it as a leaflet, meant to be printed on A4 paper in landscape and then folded into thirds, so this is the reason for the weird form-factor.

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Inquisition - cover page

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Some design notes:

  • The whole thing is done in Affinity Designer, as well as Affinity Photo to a lesser extent.
  • I wanted to have runes on the edges, because runes are cool. To get this effect, I used Google Translate to translate some "lorem ipsum" text into Khmer, used the font Moul, and then added some cool borders to it in Affinity.
  • The Latin fonts used are Montserrat, Almendra, Almendra SC, and Almendra Display.
  • For the art, I went to Old Book Illustrations, and just browsed around until I came upon some illustrations by an artist by the name of Walter Crane (1845-1915). I downloaded all of his illustrations that kind of fit the theme I was going for. I went with That Old Dragon in the end, and colored it in Affinity Photo. I must say I really like how the piece turned out – coudn't have hoped for a better effect.
  • I wanted to put the game's tagline, or what have you, on the front page, since space is limited, and I am shooting for fitting it on a leaflet. Since I probably won't have enough space elsewhere in the document to write flavor text, I thought I'd try to take the three major things (for this game, at least) – design goals, flavor text, and who the characters are – and wrap them up into three paragraphs to fit on the remaining space on the page.

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I would like your feedback on the design, idea, theme execution, and writing.

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Thanks in advance!

Posted May 22, 2019, 9:20 AM UTC

3515
Gulix33xp•

I really like the execution. The image is stunning, and it's a great idea to put your pitch like this.

The font of the title is strange as it doesn't match the rest.

I'll keep an eye on this.

8
berudaOPDabbler•

Thanks for the feedback and kind words!

The font of the title is strange as it doesn't match the rest.

I see where you're coming from, but I liked it for the readability and weight. I tried almost every fantasy and old English font I could find, but all of them didn't work for me, personally. Montserrat is clean, and allows the other parts of the design to keep the reader's attention.

… buuuut, I may be wrong about this, and it's definitely not the final design. I'll keep it in mind and revisit the title font down the road.

Anyway, glad you liked it!

5
wkinchlea•

I would at least go with a serif font - the geometric nature of Montserrat really doesn’t jive with the rest of the design. You could even take a relatively simple font and spice it up by manually adding white space into the letters.

5
berudaOPDabbler•

Noted! Thanks!

I've searched through Google's font library, and haven't found one that I like in place of Montserrat. I'll maybe try drawing my own, and I'll revisit all the ones I've tried already.

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wkinchlea•

Charter is free for use as well: Font page with d/l link.

2
chk-chk•

Nice work so far! I’m going to keep an eye out for it too... I could see this being very cathartic for players in the US ;)

So far, I think the modern font for the title is ok. I’d be curious to see how you balance the visual elements throughout the rest of the leaflet.

4
berudaOPDabbler•

Thanks for the feedback! My plan is definitely to post as I finish each "section", I guess, and take in feedback as I go. So I think you and u/Gulix33xp wont have to keep an eye out for long.

I could see this being very cathartic for players in the US ;)

I sure hope the game doesn't come across as politically motivated in any way, because that wasn't the idea. That being said, I think the catharsis won't be limited to the US :D

As for the font, yeah, I think you see what I was going for, but as I said, I'll play around with it more, see if there's anything better. And, yes, balancing fonts with the design and theme is very important to me, so managing space with art and text will turn out to be perhaps the biggest challenge of this project, since I've chosen to confine everything to a leaflet.

Maybe I should have mentioned it in the post, but I'm actually doing game design and visual design at the same time, just kind of winging it as I go. I know that it might not be a good idea, but I'm having a blast, so I guess we'll see how it shapes up when I'm done.

Cheers!

1
LukeMootoo•

Well done, thank you for sharing your process. I like how the Khmer / Moul turned out, and it all makes a nice visual composition.

2
berudaOPDabbler•

Hey, no problem, and thank you for the feedback!

Yeah the Khmer language is really interesting. I hoped that it wouldn't be deemed insensitive, so it's a relief to hear that it had the desired effect. I wanted to be as open as possible about the whole thing, and point people in the direction of learning more about the Khmer people and their language... also, as both GMs and Players, we can always use more inspiration for the peoples and characters of our worlds.

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RogueHorsemen•

Honestly? I'm speechless!! I can't get over how cool this is. Everything seems so intricate but simple. It's really a perfect blend...I agree that the title font takes me out of the "world" you're building, but don't go too heavy in the other direction if you get me...great work!!

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berudaOPDabbler•

Thanks, and glad you like it!

I addressed the font, and all other feedback! Check out my latest post to see the progress.

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sofinho1980•

This looks great, just came here from your update post and wanted to look at the cover page. I think you set yourself very clear design objectives and have fulfilled them both aesthetically and functionally.

I would agree with criticism of the title font, it seems a little too contemporary, or at least deco.

My only other observation concerns grammar: sit is an intransitive verb, so:

"Wretched creatures sit in chairs once sat by kings"

Should read:

"Wretched creatures sit in chairs once sat in by kings"

But it's repetitive so how about:

"Wretched creatures sit in chairs which once enthroned kings"

1
berudaOPDabbler•

Should read:

I just looked it up, and you're right. It sounded old-timey and correct when I wrote it. I'll see about changing it. Thanks for the great suggestion and for pointing it out!

Glad you like the project so far!

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sofinho1980•

Yea

Glad you like the project so far

Yeah, consider me a follower! Looking forward to seeing some more.

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berudaOPDabbler•

Thanks so much!

Also, I wanted to point out that I changed the heading font to Federa, and I talk about it in my second update.

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