Thread by @ClayNotestine

After months of intermittent writing, I've finished a less-than-brief guide to #TTRPG layout and "the grid."

Layout design is game design. Anyone can learn it. It's fun, rewarding, and not that hard if you know the basics. Grab your torches... 1/x

theexplorersco.com/home/2019/7/20…

While others start with the final product: layout, my Aspergers brain is very particular about the process, more specifically, the esoteric lore of "the grid."

It's user-friendly, makes complicated layouts easy, and acts like a haste spell on your workflow.

When you master the grid, you can apply other best practices with ease. I don't prescribe to the idea of there being only "one way" to do something. But I do believe others have found a way to do things very well.

3/x

Case in point, @benlawrence, made a fantastic RPG with the help of @bigbaldmatt using the oldest, most proven design ever: the manuscript layout.

In my guide, I tried to reverse-engineer three different #TTRPG products.

4/x

@benlawrence @bigbaldmatt It's clean, efficient, and monolithic. When you're making a zine this spring for #ZineQuest 2020, you might want to use this layout.

Notice how the intro text to Ultan's Door rests on the page like a gateway to something momentous...

5/x

@benlawrence @bigbaldmatt A more intricate example is the Black Hack 2nd Edition.

It stands on two columns just like #dnd, but it builds on that foundation in ingenious, innovative ways. It's a classic #OSR layout design that supports mechanics and gameplay...

6/x

@benlawrence @bigbaldmatt Look at the blocking and how the layout becomes a tool for play.

Or the way he subtly "breaks the grid" to make character creation steps stand out. It's all very deliberate and calculated. I love it.

7/x

@benlawrence @bigbaldmatt And finally, for larger formats, I've been thinking a lot about Offworlders. @chrisperrywolf and @oliviagulin paired the game with a near-perfect layout.

It's so subtly engineered.

8/x

@benlawrence @bigbaldmatt @chrisperrywolf @oliviagulin The white space is airy and vacuous, just like the game's setting. While still adhering to one of tabletop's greatest innovations: pages-as-panels (made famous in products like #OldSchoolEssentials).

9/x

@benlawrence @bigbaldmatt @chrisperrywolf @oliviagulin Of course, this guide is a refinement or retelling of information found elsewhere. I list a few of them, including Dai Shugars @GMDecay, who has some of the best articles on accessible and inclusive design.

Especially this one: gmdk.org/2018/07/12/how…

10/x

@benlawrence @bigbaldmatt @chrisperrywolf @oliviagulin @GMDecay All of this writing is to say just one thing.

Bad layout kills. It kills the best ideas and the most vulnerable. But great layout does the exact opposite.

11/12

@benlawrence @bigbaldmatt @chrisperrywolf @oliviagulin @GMDecay #ZineQuest 2020 is coming up, students of @RPGWriterWrkshp are graduating. If it helps, check out my guide on layout design.

Let me know what you think, like, comment, retweet, you know the drill. And thank you for putting up with the @'s and tags.

theexplorersco.com/home/2019/7/20…

@benlawrence @bigbaldmatt *curses profusely*

@benlaurence1 is the creator of Through Ultan's Door. I knew there'd be a mistake made somewhere in this thread.