In case anyone was wondering what I’m doing…welp, I’ve been working on my B/X Companion. And of course, I’ve gotten to the point where I must ask the question: am I using the correct font type?
I’ve got the complete spell chapter outlined and 22 of 58 spells completed. These include all the “original” spells, the other 36 are all variations on BECMI or AD&D spells. I expect the rest to go fast (once I have all my texts laid out in front o me), but I can’t help but notice I’ve already got close to six (double columned) pages done…and the original X set had no more than 8, AND had illustrations.
Is 10 point font too big? Should I be using 8 or 9? How does one measure a font anyway.
I know that JM over at Grognardia has decried basing new retros on the tropes and styles of the original, but I really would like to get my B/X Companion in at 64 pages. Moldvay and Cook were able to do it, and dammit, I’m guessing I’m older than they were when they wrote it up! I can do this!
Hmm…maybe I should take a short break to work on the monsters…around 58 right now….
I did a quick experiment. In 10 point type with name on one line, two statistic lines and 100 word long descriptions it's 9 spells per page in 10 point type for me with those counts.
ReplyDeleteI think in the case of a project like this, you can be forgiven for imitating the style of the works that inspired it.
ReplyDeleteAnd FWIW I'm really looking forward to what you do with it.
Wow...high praise indeed, MR. Maliszewski, sir!
ReplyDelete@JDJ...I think I'm getting it okay...turns out I DID need to fix the margins a bit, but I think 10-point's going to work just fine.