I Barfed Forth this Apocalyptic Booklet (pics)

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I Barfed Forth this Apocalyptic Booklet (pics)
« on: September 06, 2010, 08:25:25 PM »
So I was analyzing the character classes, and looking through a lot of the stuff on these forums, right? And I wrote up some of my own character classes. And then I decided to make a thing, instead of just throw them up on the internets. After all, Vincent said he wants plenty of exclusive playbooks floating around. So I made 13 copies of this:


My little cameo:

And my most favorite part:


It contains five custom character classes, all with a somewhat sinister bent to them: the Damned, the Haunted, the Horseman, the Last Child, and the Sorcerer.

The Horseman I have already posted, including pdfs.

The Damned is a stealthy assassin type, like a vampire or a Jason Voorhees.

The Haunted has ghosts following him around. Does something similar to JWalt's Valkyrie class, but is much more open-ended. Also has a list of ghosts to choose from.

The Last Child is a creepy psychic child, who foretells doom and lays down curses. Probably the most teamwork-oriented of these five playbooks, despite the ability to curse people.

The Sorcerer is somebody with a familiar. It can do a boy and his dog, or stuff from the game it's named after. Or be an alternate version of Driver or Horseman.

Getting the layout to look right wasn't too hard. Vincent used a lot of free fonts (thanks Vincent!), and I avoided using lots of black.

Making two-tone art was hard, though! I kept wanting to leave it with grey tones or keep various shades and colours in the pictures. They turned out okay, not quite the same as Vincent's. If anybody wants tips and techniques, though, I'd be happy to talk about that.

I had it printed at a local shop, 44 pages regular paper, at 5.5x8.5, so it's a tad bit taller than the rulebook. And then I dug my camera out for the first time in a year to take those pictures.

This was a pretty easy process, I'd say. The hardest part was making the foldable booklet pdf for the Horseman, although writing a balanced and interesting character class takes some work, too.

But if you've already written character classes, I encourage you to go the whole way and make it look like a real thing. Go get it printed, too. Then we can trade!

Re: I Barfed Forth this Apocalyptic Booklet (pics)
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2010, 09:32:46 PM »
Getting the layout to look right wasn't too hard. Vincent used a lot of free fonts (thanks Vincent!)

They are? Can you let us know where to find them, please?

Also, your booklet looks awesome.

Re: I Barfed Forth this Apocalyptic Booklet (pics)
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2010, 11:07:43 PM »
That's super cool, Johnstone. Want.

Re: I Barfed Forth this Apocalyptic Booklet (pics)
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2010, 02:20:41 AM »
Sweet.  I've been thinking about how to revise the Valkyrie and now really want to see what your Haunted looks like.

Re: I Barfed Forth this Apocalyptic Booklet (pics)
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2010, 03:09:06 AM »
Thanks guys!

Mike: The distressed fonts are VTKS Good for You and Crust Clean. Crust Clean doesn't come with punctuation, so Vincent used Dirty Ego for that. All three are available for free at dafont.com.

In the mini playbooks, Consolas is the body text, and Verdana Bold is used for the R Rating and the footers and numbering. Those are both standard fonts that your should have already, or you can get them from the MS website.

The body text in the rulebook is Chaparral Pro, an Adobe font. I believe it comes bundled with certain Adobe programs, but maybe somebody can suggest a free font that is at least passably similar.

Re: I Barfed Forth this Apocalyptic Booklet (pics)
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2010, 03:12:49 AM »
Oh, also, in case you don't know this trick: When you have a pdf open, right click on it, and select Document Properties, then Fonts, and you'll get a list of fonts embedded in the pdf. Then you can look them up on the intarwebs to see which ones they are.

Re: I Barfed Forth this Apocalyptic Booklet (pics)
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2010, 06:00:15 AM »
Very cool Johnstone, good work. I'm working on some playbooks myself, but want to get more actual play before I finalize them. Thanks for all the font sleuthing, so I didn't have to do that myself.  :)

Re: I Barfed Forth this Apocalyptic Booklet (pics)
« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2010, 07:02:42 AM »
Johnstone, thanks for all the font info. And also the handy trick.

Re: I Barfed Forth this Apocalyptic Booklet (pics)
« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2010, 09:15:24 AM »
Very cool! Good work!

Re: I Barfed Forth this Apocalyptic Booklet (pics)
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2010, 04:51:29 PM »
Thanks, all.

Re: I Barfed Forth this Apocalyptic Booklet (pics)
« Reply #10 on: September 08, 2010, 08:42:42 PM »
I WILL PAY 100 DOLLARS FOR ONE OKAY WHERE DO I SEND THE PAYPAL TO

Re: I Barfed Forth this Apocalyptic Booklet (pics)
« Reply #11 on: September 08, 2010, 09:40:44 PM »
I've got one! OK, direct all your gamer-geek-envy my way. :)  I'm going to bring them for my players next week. Awesome work, Johnstone.