This was a little mini project I put together. It’s a pamphlet adventure for an ambiguous Western table top game. It took about a little more than a week to finish and I wanted to dissect how I did it because I think this might help me understand how to work on a larger scale.
The project took ten days to put together. Looking at the document’s history, it looks like I spent about seven hours online. Of course I did a little bit of thinking outside of the computer, but most of it was done while at the keyboard.
It was touch and go. A little work here, a little work there and it turned out alright. I dig it. It’s a nice little project and I’m glad that it’s finished.
Here’s how I did it:
I had written down the prompt sometime last year and thought that now was the time to use it. I had no idea what the monster might be or what the cause of the problem might be, all I knew was that it took place on a ranch and what the title was.
The first thing I worked on was the cover. I decided on the font, the style, the picture… that kind of stuff. I did a few tests but wound up with this design choice pretty early on. It’s simple and I think that’s what I liked.
I’m fairly familiar with what goes into these types of module pamphlets, so I was able to come up with a couple of section headers that I knew I’d need to include. I was using Motherships’ The Haunting of Ypsilon-14 and Gromb’s Canned Heat as references for what information is standard.
I knew that these were likely going to show up in some shape or form:
- The Monster: What is causing the havoc?
- The Ranch: What is the location that the adventure is taking place at?
- The Issue: What is a short paragraph summary of what is going on?
Knowing that having a few interesting NPCs would be smart to add, I came up with a feuding neighbor type of idea. I wrote down a family name, came up with some details as to who they could be, and ended up making them the heart of the situation. I find this a little odd in hindsight as they were never a part of the initial idea I had come up with, they just organically worked their way into things. I didn’t spend much time, if any time really, thinking of other potential avenues, I just rolled with the first thing that came into my head.
If I had stopped to think about it I’m pretty sure that the project would have ended there. By opening up the potential for many different avenues I’m sure that I would have been struck with decision paralysis and would never have continued. Luckily I didn’t let this happen.
Things followed one another. As I laid out the NPCs and what they had done, everything else was pretty self explanatory.
Everything had to fit on one piece of paper and had to adhere to the guidelines laid out by the format, this created a limitation which was also a boon. By not having infinite space I was forced to make decisions about cutting away content rather than adding content. If it didn’t fit on the page it was deleted.
I also did all of my writing in document. I know that this is not something recommended by graphic designers as it can result in the formatting having to constantly change, but it worked for me. The design was simple enough that this did not get tedious.
The only thing that was particularly difficult to think up was the list of items. Unlike the story elements that the rest of the document consists of which build off of one another, these items start and stop with each entry. The last item does not inform the next one so you are forced to think long and hard about what an interesting item could be.
This was a nice short term project. It didn’t require long hours of thinking each day, I could jump in and out when I felt like it. I did not work on it every day for the ten-day period, there was a day or two that I skipped and this was fine. I came back to it because it was fun to work on and it felt like I was getting some work done. There was never a time that I just sat and stared at the document, I always did at least a little bit of typing.
Takeaways:
- Before beginning with the content and design, decide on the format. For an RPG: is it a pamphlet, a one-pager, a twelve-page zine? What are the formats for your medium?
- Understand what needs to be included. For a scenario like this, you’ll need a section to explain the situation, describe the location, and to flesh out the monster/antagonist. What are the things that need to be touched on for your project?
- Think Less. If you allow yourself to over think something, your project is going to fall apart. Don’t spend too much time looking at the different avenues, just get started.