I picked up the Runescape one since I'm a big fan of the game and lore and want to get into ttrpgs. The module does have character sheets, but you have to scan a qr code to download, so they will eventually be lost to time. Unfortunately it also doesn't come with friends to play it with that you don't need to bribe, which I think would REALLY up the package on these.
Even if a character sheet takes up only one page, you can split it into two halves, and put two front halves on one side and two corresponding back halves on the other, so you can tear out the page, cut it in half, and have two sheets.
The layout talk was interesting but I wanted to know more about the actual games as someone who can't go out to get these. I'd like to learn about how well they introduce concepts to brand-new players, what they keep for these demos and what they remove from the full game to make for an easier first timer experience, how well they represent the actual games they are demoing in a bite-size form or if they give you an experience unlike what you'd find in the full game, etc. Would you plan on going over any of this in a separate video?
The runescape has Pregen's sort of that you use the Qr code to find, which I find great because you don't need tear or photocopy the pages.Heliana's book this year is a great MVP of class while it may not have pregens. it Had a sample of what the book has 1. adventure, 2 rules for small crafting and magic items, 3 new statblocks. 4 music 5. samples of their world's new class and races. Edit: another fail this year for me is obojima's adventure. For a 24 page booklet 8 is blank character sheets for dnd 5e, and for insprided by Studio Ghibli/Legend of Zelda I didn't feel the art was enough to push me into the world they wanted to make. If they included more of a splash art of the world or having the howler with a background maybe it would of been better.
Would you believe that there is only one official RPG for Dragon Ball? The kicker is it only covered the first two arcs of Z and was made in the late 90s by R Talsorian. The same ones you didn'te even pick up from this year.
We've been in a digital-controlled world for so long, companies have forgotten how to make physical products. It's kind of sad, really. Don't let your tools shape you.
The worst layout I've seen was just character info dumped in a three column layout shared with the rest of the module. Like a character would start in the lower third of one column and end halfway through the next column. Start on the third column, and continue to the next page. Worst of all was the first pregen character started on the same column as the surprise twist at the end of the adventure. Just terrible.
@@Kohdok you wouldn't. that's an example of bad engineering which could bode poorly for other engineered parts of the car. This is an issue of layout design which is often done by a separate professional from the actual game designers. A fitting analogy would be "why would I trust a car to be safe when the upholstery is an ugly color?". It's a weird analogy and I don't know why someone would think that way, but it's a bit more comparable to this situation.
@thecoolestbro No? A character sheet is literally a mechanic, not aesthetic. One as frequently used as a door handle on a car. I literally explained that it costs nothing, zero dollars, to arrange the pages in a way that dodges that problem. If someone is that careless with the layout of essential game components, why should I trust the rest of it? Literally free.
@@Kohdok but you don't even talk about what's in the character sheet! Like you said, just adding one page to sync it would solve the problem. You would not have a problem with a PDF. The difference between form and content is very distinct. You have an issue with the form and are dismissing the content. One is done by a layout artist and one is done by a game designer. I thought this was a game design channel. Try commenting on the ~game design~ even just a little bit!
Unfortunately I couldn't go to Free RPG Day this year due to a terminal case of "i don't wanna go outside" disease, so I really appreciate you showing off some of the stuff that was on display this year. I definitely would've liked that Dragonbane adventure and I'm so glad such a cool RPG passed the test, and the rest ranged from "that's kinda neat" to "I'll probably never use this". But man, Free RPG Day is always such a delight!
Honestly, if the RPG is a 'zine' sized book (5x8), I can totally imagine having a 'spread' character sheet, because you can literally slap that baby onto a photo copier and photo copy multiple sheets if need be without ruining the book. Because the spread is just the size of a single sheet of paper. Its why I always love a good single sided character sheet in a physical book, because then I have multiple ways of just 'getting more character sheets' ((Then again, for the longest time a personal photocopier was kind of a given for any home computer room, so I might just be the odd one out when it comes to the ease of "Just photocopy it bro")) But I can see the appeal of the 'tear out', especially if its a very floppy and larger 'magazine style' module that's designed to be pulled apart at the staples. A bit difficult to get a print out to something that uses a much larger sheet. It really just depends on how 'disposable' it's designed to be, or if it can serve as like, a 'mini rulebook' that can be supplemented with a full release or even as a 'pocket' variant of said rulebook. I mean, the "Mazes" concept is a very fun one, as those custom notepads arn't terribly expensive.
Two things: 1.The Avatar module was supposed to come with a pair of d6s, or at the very least each store should've received a pile of them to hand out (different from those premium ones some companies sent out). One guy apparently just loaded his pockets with them at my local store... but they exist, probably! 2. I noticed those character sheets in the Root book all fit on one sheet, how many are there? If there are more than 4, is it maybe 2x the number you need to run the campaign? And by chance, are the back to back characters ones who fulfill the same role in a balanced party? I guess what I'm saying is I've seen just enough to want more info before judging it poorly.
Kohdok, I'm a magazine designer and gamer for 20 years now, and I can't tell you how often I see awful arrangements like this. They simply don't employee a layout designer, it is much different from an artist.
Layout of game rules/characters/ maps is really essential to strategy and ease of use. Great presentation point. Thanks!
Oh is that where Peggy the pegging frog came from.
I picked up the Runescape one since I'm a big fan of the game and lore and want to get into ttrpgs. The module does have character sheets, but you have to scan a qr code to download, so they will eventually be lost to time. Unfortunately it also doesn't come with friends to play it with that you don't need to bribe, which I think would REALLY up the package on these.
Even if a character sheet takes up only one page, you can split it into two halves, and put two front halves on one side and two corresponding back halves on the other, so you can tear out the page, cut it in half, and have two sheets.
The layout talk was interesting but I wanted to know more about the actual games as someone who can't go out to get these. I'd like to learn about how well they introduce concepts to brand-new players, what they keep for these demos and what they remove from the full game to make for an easier first timer experience, how well they represent the actual games they are demoing in a bite-size form or if they give you an experience unlike what you'd find in the full game, etc.
Would you plan on going over any of this in a separate video?
The runescape has Pregen's sort of that you use the Qr code to find, which I find great because you don't need tear or photocopy the pages.Heliana's book this year is a great MVP of class while it may not have pregens. it Had a sample of what the book has 1. adventure, 2 rules for small crafting and magic items, 3 new statblocks. 4 music 5. samples of their world's new class and races. Edit: another fail this year for me is obojima's adventure. For a 24 page booklet 8 is blank character sheets for dnd 5e, and for insprided by Studio Ghibli/Legend of Zelda I didn't feel the art was enough to push me into the world they wanted to make. If they included more of a splash art of the world or having the howler with a background maybe it would of been better.
There's actually plenty of pregenerated characters for the essence 20 module but you have to download them from the qr code
Would you believe that there is only one official RPG for Dragon Ball? The kicker is it only covered the first two arcs of Z and was made in the late 90s by R Talsorian. The same ones you didn'te even pick up from this year.
We've been in a digital-controlled world for so long, companies have forgotten how to make physical products. It's kind of sad, really. Don't let your tools shape you.
The worst layout I've seen was just character info dumped in a three column layout shared with the rest of the module. Like a character would start in the lower third of one column and end halfway through the next column. Start on the third column, and continue to the next page. Worst of all was the first pregen character started on the same column as the surprise twist at the end of the adventure. Just terrible.
Afaik the marvel one is not a one shot it's a preview of the next book
I’m playing a fan made DBZ rpg right now 😆
commenting voor the sake of commenting
But... What are the games at? Are you really going to just look at how the character sheets are formatted and move on???
If the handle of a car comes off in my hand, why would I then take it for a test drive?
@@Kohdok you wouldn't. that's an example of bad engineering which could bode poorly for other engineered parts of the car. This is an issue of layout design which is often done by a separate professional from the actual game designers. A fitting analogy would be "why would I trust a car to be safe when the upholstery is an ugly color?". It's a weird analogy and I don't know why someone would think that way, but it's a bit more comparable to this situation.
@@Kohdok Tehcnically what you did was, "oh that handle looks like it might come off, I'll disregard it wholesale without touching it."
@thecoolestbro No? A character sheet is literally a mechanic, not aesthetic. One as frequently used as a door handle on a car. I literally explained that it costs nothing, zero dollars, to arrange the pages in a way that dodges that problem. If someone is that careless with the layout of essential game components, why should I trust the rest of it?
Literally free.
@@Kohdok but you don't even talk about what's in the character sheet! Like you said, just adding one page to sync it would solve the problem. You would not have a problem with a PDF. The difference between form and content is very distinct. You have an issue with the form and are dismissing the content. One is done by a layout artist and one is done by a game designer. I thought this was a game design channel. Try commenting on the ~game design~ even just a little bit!
Unfortunately I couldn't go to Free RPG Day this year due to a terminal case of "i don't wanna go outside" disease, so I really appreciate you showing off some of the stuff that was on display this year. I definitely would've liked that Dragonbane adventure and I'm so glad such a cool RPG passed the test, and the rest ranged from "that's kinda neat" to "I'll probably never use this". But man, Free RPG Day is always such a delight!
Honestly, if the RPG is a 'zine' sized book (5x8), I can totally imagine having a 'spread' character sheet, because you can literally slap that baby onto a photo copier and photo copy multiple sheets if need be without ruining the book. Because the spread is just the size of a single sheet of paper. Its why I always love a good single sided character sheet in a physical book, because then I have multiple ways of just 'getting more character sheets' ((Then again, for the longest time a personal photocopier was kind of a given for any home computer room, so I might just be the odd one out when it comes to the ease of "Just photocopy it bro"))
But I can see the appeal of the 'tear out', especially if its a very floppy and larger 'magazine style' module that's designed to be pulled apart at the staples. A bit difficult to get a print out to something that uses a much larger sheet.
It really just depends on how 'disposable' it's designed to be, or if it can serve as like, a 'mini rulebook' that can be supplemented with a full release or even as a 'pocket' variant of said rulebook.
I mean, the "Mazes" concept is a very fun one, as those custom notepads arn't terribly expensive.
Two things: 1.The Avatar module was supposed to come with a pair of d6s, or at the very least each store should've received a pile of them to hand out (different from those premium ones some companies sent out). One guy apparently just loaded his pockets with them at my local store... but they exist, probably! 2. I noticed those character sheets in the Root book all fit on one sheet, how many are there? If there are more than 4, is it maybe 2x the number you need to run the campaign? And by chance, are the back to back characters ones who fulfill the same role in a balanced party? I guess what I'm saying is I've seen just enough to want more info before judging it poorly.
Wish those companies had done this in my country u.u specially Paizo
Dragon bane is Scandinavian
Knowing how surge acts that's even funnier if you think about it
"Sonic the Hedgehog, how unexpected! And by unexpected I mean COMPLETELY EXPECTED!"
Kohdok, I'm a magazine designer and gamer for 20 years now, and I can't tell you how often I see awful arrangements like this. They simply don't employee a layout designer, it is much different from an artist.
I didn’t buy anything. Just picked it up and left
I really feel you disregarded the renegade rpg book without even looking at it.