I am largely in agreement with Pundit.  Here's what I was thinking:

Top of the page, big bold letters, NPC's name.
Under that, birthplace, born/died, physical chaeacteristics if known.

Upper right-hand corner, pic of said NPC.

Then, in a box, stats such as Intelligence, Leadership, Physical Health, Charisma, etc, all rated either:  Dismal, Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent, and possibly one more on the plus side (Amazing?  Outstanding).

Then, as Pundit says, a brief history, emphasizing possible plot hooks, and hopefully written in an engaging manner (and remembering brevity is the soul of wit), full of entertaining facts (such as [SIZE=-1]Marcius Porcius Cato ending all of his speeches with "Carthago Delenda Est", or Stonewall Jackson's proclivity to suck lemons and keep one arm raised above his head).

After that a few tips and hints on how to integrate the NPC into your game, with a few adventure seeds to boot.

Finish up the formatting by including a map/illustration pertinent to the character (ex:  a battle map of Pharsalus for Ceasar, or an illustration of Traflagar for Lord Nelson.

Perhaps in the back of each book, we could even include a few short blurbs of trivia for each era/setting that would help layers give their game a more authentic feel.

More thoughts?

I'm thinking of doing a US Civil War one first, ease myself in.
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Cleaned up Logo for Tower Source.

Quote from: Zachary The FirstI'm thinking of doing a US Civil War one first, ease myself in.
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Those are all excellent. I think I'll go with the Civil War: Eccentrics and Oddballs first. Is that "The Union Is Dissolved!" broadsheet in the public domain? I think it'd make a great interior graphic. As for the front illustration, Any chance we can get a PD photo of General Richard "Dick" Ewell or Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson? Both will be featured inside, I believe...

Quote from: RPGPunditIm not sure how useful this would be; but it could be useful to give two or three different "presentations" of how the NPC can be portrayed in a game, or what areas of interest he might participate in where he might come in contact with PCs.

That's more or less what I had in mind. For example:

-Octavian, Heir to Julius Caesar
-Augustus, Architect of the Empire
-Augustus, Pater Familias

Quote from: JongWKThat's more or less what I had in mind. For example:

-Octavian, Heir to Julius Caesar
-Augustus, Architect of the Empire
-Augustus, Pater Familias

Ah, well, I would say that this would apply in the case of a very few very influential and long-lived historical figures (like Augustus) who might need more than one "stat bloc" to cover them in different periods/stages of their lives.  In some cases, i concede that this would be useful. But not in many other cases.

Anyways, what I would like to do in all this is pick an era (say, going by Roman Dynasty) and detail all the NPCs I possibly could for that era in that book, along with a timeline of events.  Basically the perfect resource for someone who wants to write a campaign in that era.

I don't see that the "civil war" book examples posted above would really be useful; they're too limited in scope. I think it'd be better to do one big book because that would actually have everything the GM needs in that one product. If I had to buy 4 books to get all the details i needed for a 4-year civil war era, I probably wouldn't bother. Just my opinion, though.

RPGPundit

it might also be better, focus more on the well known events of the time as well. The fact is, while most of you folks with degrees in history might find some of the lesser known events interesting, many lay people would not have the slightest clue of what you are talking about.

Quote from: Mcrowit might also be better, focus more on the well known events of the time as well. The fact is, while most of you folks with degrees in history might find some of the lesser known events interesting, many lay people would not have the slightest clue of what you are talking about.

Well, my reasoning was that their are plenty of resources for the big events: Caesar's Death, for example, or Gettysburg, will have plenty written on them. Gaius Scribonius Curio or Joshua Chamberlain, perhaps not as much.  Perhaps the books could vary in scope--I could see a book detailed 50 NPCs for the US Civil War in general being quite useful indeed. My original thought was a focused, short product with a low price, but I can see the other side, too.
 
Honestly, if this gets off the ground, there are several resources that might be worth considering, including books that detail single battles, leaders, and possible RPG integration of such as well.

Quote from: Zachary The FirstWell, my reasoning was that their are plenty of resources for the big events: Caesar's Death, for example, or Gettysburg, will have plenty written on them. Gaius Scribonius Curio or Joshua Chamberlain, perhaps not as much.  Perhaps the books could vary in scope--I could see a book detailed 50 NPCs for the US Civil War in general being quite useful indeed. My original thought was a focused, short product with a low price, but I can see the other side, too.
 
Honestly, if this gets off the ground, there are several resources that might be worth considering, including books that detail single battles, leaders, and possible RPG integration of such as well.

Solution:

Sell the short books as pdf only, and collect related small books together for print or big pdf.

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceSolution:
 
Sell the short books as pdf only, and collect related small books together for print or big pdf.
 
-clash

That'll work!  Compiling a smaller book at first should be easier on my limited time right now, anyways.

Quote from: Zachary The FirstThat'll work!  Compiling a smaller book at first should be easier on my limited time right now, anyways.

Very short books are uneconomical to print anyway. You generally run into a set-up fee or other fixed fee which can be amortized better over a larger book.

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceVery short books are uneconomical to print anyway. You generally run into a set-up fee or other fixed fee which can be amortized better over a larger book.
 
-clash

To be honest, for the short stuff, I had just envisioned pdf anyways. But this is really interesting stuff!  I'm glad you guys are willing to go through this with me!

Quote from: flyingmiceVery short books are uneconomical to print anyway. You generally run into a set-up fee or other fixed fee which can be amortized better over a larger book.

-clash

Ispecialize in short books and you need to qualify that statement. Printing a 400 page tome means you can charge $50 or more. Printing a 32 page adventure means you will most likely only be able to charge $10-14. So, properly planned, short books can work but you need to be mindful of changes in costs. No, if we are talking about short runs vs long runs...yes, overhead is critical. However, there are ways around that as well.

All that said, I do agree, short PDFs with a compilation at the end is a good way to offset printing/production costs.

I know you want to remain system neutral but have you thought of appendices with d20, Iridium and any other system we can use stats in them?

Just might increase appeal even if it is something like a table
poor = 3-6
bad = 7-10
average = ....


Might be helpful.

Bill

How about using the  FUDGE trait levels?
+4.........Pinnacle
+3............Superb
+2 ............Great
+1 ............Good
+0 ...............Fair
–1 .........Mediocre
–2...............Poor
–3 .........Terrible
-4........beyond bad


Since FUDGE trait levels are easily converted into most any system. The +/- above convert directly to d20 and +4/-4 covers human range.

Well, since it's a HW imprint, perhaps one sheet in the back of each product with Iridium, as well as FUDGE and d20.  That's something that would only have to be done once, and could be used in all the products.
 
The more I think about that, the more I like it!