Drafts of Digital and Physical Layouts

Designing for player use:

One of the main things that has really been center of my focus while writing ahs been how people would interact with the actual text. 

I love a beautiful physical copy, but often that is not the most accessible option. With multiple people at the table, it can be hard to have an official physical copy for each (either getting a hold of on or being able to afford them). 

PDFs are often a great way for people to be able to use texts, but often these are designed as simply a digital simulacrum of the physical copy.  Text is not copyable, things are not linked, it is often little better than a scanned copy.

When I GM I like to create notes documents for sessions, copying text from a book in order to create something that is purely unique to my table. Some examples of my play prep: Into the UVG (Into the Odd vs UVG),  All is Quiet on the Bastion Front (a mission through a war-torn district for Electric Bastionland) , The Endless Library (a mission taking inspiration from the stygian library and the library at the back of EB).

So, in creating Liminal Horror, I am afforded the opportunity to present the text in ways I find interesting.

- Digital Draft: This pdf is designed to be read digitally. Things are hyperlinked, with opportunities to go back to the table of contents. When I do the actual layout in Affinity, I will work hard to make it searchable, have a side bar table of contents available, and make it inner linked in order to truly take advantage of the digital format. There will be limits to my design/layout since I am new but I will fill it with navigation capabilities in order to make this a valid use option.

- Physical Copy: To me, a physical copy is designed to be printed at home. So it will be in booklet form with instruction on how to home print. I need to grapple with understanding the different margin and gutters needed to make this possible, but think this is an important option to have for people who need the physical text in front of them. I'm not aiming to do a print run (I don't think) but want people to be able to print for themselves easily.

- Static Website: The great thing about the rules is they are simple and require only minimal reference. Thankfully one of the things Cairn has shown me is that a static website is a doable thing that allows people to search/navigate the text on their phones. This option will help people quickly reference the information on the fly using just a browser (website or phone).

- Player Aids: I love player aids.  As someone who often runs games and is the one reading the text, this allows me to get the most important information to players so they can paly. A character sheet with the rules reference on the back, a one-page magic reference with stress fallout tables on the back, and a quick character creation cheat sheet are my aims.