I've decided to finally compile my disparate homebrew RPG writings into a true rulebook. I figure if I want people to playtest it, it has to look good, and I enjoy formatting. I've used these guidelines in the past:

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Basic_Book_Design

-but I'm curious about fonts in particular today. I've used online programs to figure out what fonts were being used in various RPG rulebooks, but they're not very good. Does anyone have any advice where to look?

EDIT: Per Cave Bear, What physical dimensions do you guys prefer for game books? A4? Digest sized?

Would you mind if I latch on to this thread with a question of my own?

What physical dimensions do you guys prefer for game books?
A4? Digest sized?

Quote from: Cave Bear;938002Would you mind if I latch on to this thread with a question of my own?

What physical dimensions do you guys prefer for game books?
A4? Digest sized?

I personally prefer A5: it's how I print out all my PDFs. And now I've reached the age of 35, I prefer a bigger font size!

Why try matching the fonts? What style are you looking at? I mean, don't get me wrong, for my internal stuff I love matching styles and fonts. I drop the PDF into adobe illustrator and it tells me everything I'm missing. Then it's off to dafont.com to hunt around. But if I was going to do anything for official publication, I'd want it to distinguish itself with its own look.

But tell you what, just let us know what book you are using for a model and I'm sure we can find out what fonts you need.

Swords and Wizardry.

Adobe reads a lot of Time New Roman and Helveteka. Did I just answer my own question?

Also looking LATFP, but I wasn't able to find a decent "arno pro."

For a full list of TSR fonts, you can consult the Acaeum edition list. For more information on TSR layouts and general book design, you can grab my A Brief Study of TSR Book Design freebie. An IDML file template for Little Brown Book-style rulebooks is available with Exemplars & Eidolons, and a 1980-style TSR module IDML template is with The Smoking Pillar of Lan Yu. If you search for "art packs" on DTRPG, you'll find several freebie art packages I put together that you can loot for illustrations.

I prefer US letter-sized pages for my books, but that's in part because they're easier to lay out when you have large chunks of content that cannot be broken over pages, such as tables. A single two-page letter-sized spread can treat a larger topic than the same spread in a digest-sized book, which also makes it easier to organize the information.

Wow. This is incredibly helpful. Gave my exactly what I'm looking for.

You win the thread, SineNomine. Also, loved reading through SWN - found it very inspiring.

I've noticed I've been producing a lot of writing, but not much of it lately has been all that useful. So I've decided to just go down the chapter headings on a model rule book and make sure I've got my rules written. At the moment I'm not going for pitch perfect imitation, but knowing what I'd have to do to get there helps me leave bread crumbs for when I get to that stage. Right now I need a book I can give to playtesters.

Quote from: Ashakyre;938017Wow. This is incredibly helpful. Gave my exactly what I'm looking for.

You win the thread, SineNomine. Also, loved reading through SWN - found it very inspiring.

I've bought SineNomine's games just off how helpful he is. SWN is worth it for sure.

One bit of personal advice as a playtester and development helper.

Make sure the damn font size is readable when printed out!

Take your PDF or files and get a piece of paper the size you plan to print to and then adjust the image on the screen to the same size as the paper. Is it readable at that scale? Print it off and hand it to someone with less than optimal eyesight and get their opinion too.

Quote from: Omega;938050One bit of personal advice as a playtester and development helper.

Make sure the damn font size is readable when printed out!

Take your PDF or files and get a piece of paper the size you plan to print to and then adjust the image on the screen to the same size as the paper. Is it readable at that scale? Print it off and hand it to someone with less than optimal eyesight and get their opinion too.

This post gets +1

Quote from: Ashakyre;938058This post gets +1

As an aging feeb with bifocals- fuck yes.

Larger print isn't just for blind geezers. It's better for comprehension. In an age where everyone spends too much time in front of screens, having the added stress of tiny fonts is not conducive to comprehension or enjoyment of the text.

As for book size, I tend to prefer typing sheet size, aka 8.5x11. But A4 would be fine too. BTW, the story of why the whole world (except USAstan) uses A4 and why we use a half inch larger on each side is just weird.

The content here is entirely provisional. Do you think the layout and font is good enough for playtesting?

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwuYURG0h86fM3dNLTdtUDRxbHM

As a playtest doc, it's fine as it is, and is probably overkill.

When you take it to final, I'd single-column it if you're using about a 5.5 x 8 footprint at that font size, though I've seen small books use two columns with a smaller font. Also, small tables don't need strokes; if it fits in a single column, you don't need to stroke anything, and you don't need fills either unless you want to add a little texture to the page. Most designers would center single-column tables, or if you've only got a couple horizontal inches of table in a single column book, they'd stick it against a margin and flow the text around it at a breathable remove. I noticed the columns aren't set to a grid, either; this is optional, but it's generally a good idea. Your subheads are equally-spaced between preceding and following material, which is generally not what you want- you want the subheads to be closer to the following material, which can be tricky when setting to a grid, but can be done by choosing a subhead font size that fits well into your leading. If you've got 12 points between each line, for example, you might have a 16-point subhead with 8 points of following space, fitting neatly into two lines with a full 12-point blank line above it. As usual, you want to be ruthless with your subhead styles, choosing a single style for a particular use and then never mixing styles. If you've got font X at 16 points for section headers, then only ever use font X at 16 points for section headers. Ideally, the reader should be able to tell what kind of information they're looking at just by your design choices without actually reading the text.