Form and Format

 I’ve been thinking a lot about book formats recently. For many, many years, I’ve been wanting to scale down, and do something smaller. I even made a video about it 10 years ago (back before the rebrand and with the old logo). 

There was something about those first Traveller ‘little black books’ - the simplicity of design, and how you could afford to get a new book on what was basically ‘pocket money’ costs. And they were just cool. Probably more complicated rules-wise than I’m used to now, but Traveller has always stuck with me. It was the first RPG I ever played (as covered in a very old blogpost here) and those little books seem to have been seared onto my mind. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love those big core rulebooks, with their glossy pages, colour artwork, and robust hardcovers, but as I get older and lazier, the prospect of something smaller and easier is certainly appealing. 

Hip to Be Square

Of course, the smaller little booklets were not the only thing to constantly bug my mind when it comes to book formats. There is also the lovely square book, a fascination that started with the complete opposite of Traveller’s ‘little black books’ - Nobilis’ ‘big white book’. 

Cover for 2nd Edition Nobilis - aka “the big white book”

Again, I wrote a blogpost about square books here, but before I even started working on the game system for WILD: Wake Initiated Lucid Dreaming, I knew I wanted the book to be square. Nobilis had sown a seed of interest in square books, and I couldn’t shake it. The idea that you could have text as normal, but have space in the extra-wide margins (thanks to the square format) for additional guidance and notes… 

Example of page layout from Nobilis, showing the two column layout in the centre of the page, but space in the wide margins on either side for additional notes.

Awesome. Special thanks should go out to Stoo at we_evolve who published WILD for me and ran the Kickstarter, for letting me stick to my guns and go with a square book. (Click that link and you can buy WILD, Aegean, Action Potential, and more…)

Square books are no longer a weird or strange thing – the award winning and incredibly popular Slugblaster RPG is square, as is the recent Sleepy Hollow RPG that uses the Year Zero Engine. 

But I’m getting off track. We were talking about smaller books…

The Mothership Lode

With the recent resurgence of smaller ‘zine’ sized RPGs, it was inevitable that someone would also be inspired by the ‘little black books’ of Traveller, and the most popular of those would be Mothership. 

Same A5 format, same sized box, with a heap of books within - player’s guide, GM’s book, one filled with creatures, one for spaceships, and an adventure… and that’s not all (as Brian Butterfield would say). It also includes dice, a GM screen, a map, and standees. 

So much damn stuff in there! Stoo bought a copy at Tabletop Scotland and I read through the contents with my mind racing about how this was the future. This was what I wanted to do – “remember you always wanted to do Traveller sized books” said the voice in my head. Notebooks were filled, so many ideas for little books in a new range that I can’t really produce at the moment. 

But, I’m planning for the future…

All of this planning has been going in a notebook. A sketchbook actually as I’m doodling artwork at the same time as working on the game and the system. However, the sketchbook is one of my new favourite pieces of stationery, and it’s making me think… or rather, rethink…

A5 Sketchbook next to a copy of original Traveller (book 1)

I mean, that photo makes it look like it’s bigger than Traveller, but it isn’t (it’s just that the sketchbook is chunky - 92 pages of 140gsm loveliness. I may have got a little hooked on buying them from Hobbycraft. They were in a multi buy at the time, so don’t give me that look. 

But it did get me thinking - the idea I have, it would work nicely with a small hardback that size, with smaller booklets like Traveller as supplements or player only guides (the bigger book would be for the GM). You could even bind all the little supplements together to make another hardcover…

…and then along came the Shadowdark RPG Kickstarter. Which does just that. Over a million $1 and it collects six ‘zine’ sized supplements into a book the same size as the core book. 

Well, it’s all a while off. I can’t do anything about it at the moment, but I can make notes and plan for the future.

So what format RPG books do you like at the moment? Are you a traditional D&D hardback sized fan, or are you really into your zines at the moment? 

Comment if you like, I’d be interested to hear what you think.

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Meanwhile, if you get chance, check out this Kickstarter by one of my former work colleagues, Emmet Byrne. He’s put together a rather gorgeous looking 5e setting based on traditional Irish mythology. Looks glorious!! 

Beyond the Woods 5e

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Until next time, stay safe and stay multi-classy.