Designing an RPG book? You need STYLE

RPG design needs to pay special attention to STYLE, which is its editorial and visual consistency. This video breaks down the elements of style and shows how InDesign can help maintain style.
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This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
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This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at dnd.wizards.com/resources/sys.... The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at creativecommons.org/licenses/....
▼▼ Timestamps ▼▼
0:00 Introduction
1:17 My credentials
2:11 What is style
4:04 Editorial style
5:20 Headers
6:16 Body text and justification
8:16 Colour swatches
9:00 Page elements
11:02 Layout
12:20 Images
13:20 Breaks and text flow
14:37 Breaking your style
17:37 Desktop publishing software
19:10 InDesign paragraph styles
20:20 InDesign master pages
21:11 Invisible characters and guides
22:09 Commissions
#dnd #5e

[@ZipperonDisney]

When choosing a typeface, make sure it actually comes in italics!! 😉 You did such a great job on the book! I got the revision done quickly with another layout artist because of how well organized the files were too!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Oh that's good to hear! Whenever I open up anyone else's source files, I end up saying, "WTF? This a mess! This hurts me!" So I was worried about someone else saying the same about my files haha

[@TzuVar]

Long time lurker here... As a designer/D&D fanatic, this video combines two of my passions and has had me enthralled throughout. I just needed to comment to show my support and to thank you for teaching so passionately. This may even be the inspiration I needed to try the DM's Guild myself!

[@heyitsMattyP]

I'm glad my D&D design video woke you from your lurking slumber haha! I'd absolutely encourage you to try publishing something, though DriveThruRPG is a bit better than DMs Guild for royalties / usage rights. I'm really excited for this series, even though I don't expect it to have a wide audience - it's a good opportunity to challenge myself and learn some new design skills as I try to replicate some of these RPG books

[@marshallsriboonrung2887]

I've been a designer for 15 years. This video about RPG book design is better than any video on You Tube about page layout. I wish I saw this years ago.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Mate, high praise - thank you.

[@naomihunter7749]

The algorithm blesses me once again. I'm building a mecha RPG and my *current* project when I find this is to redesign the PDF's aesthetics to match that vibe a bit more. I was looking through some RPG books and realized I could do so much better than my initial bare bones layout. This is such a wonderful wealth of knowledge.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Cheers Naomi :) I'm going to continue this kind of content on a dedicated channel, starting sometime in the next two months: kzbin.info/door/UD2cj2dW1vo0WCryC-jb_g

[@naomihunter7749]

@@heyitsMattyP Awesome! I look forward to seeing what you put out.

[@SoloStudiosOfficial]

Loved seeing you speak so passionately on a field I hardly even knew existed! I think a lot of people take typesetting for granted, but you've shown very clearly that a lot of work goes in to making our books look as great as they do.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Cheers Solo! I don't think this series will draw as much attention as my other RPG videos, but I'll be glad to be the talking-about-layout-design guy, even if it's just for a few people every couple months

[@RichMerry]

This has legit helped me with book design, I was changing font sizes manually for each line before you mentioned the headers at 19:30 thanks Matthew!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Glad to help! There are HEAPS of amazing features of desktop publishing software which will have you a bunch of headaches, and this is just the beginning my dude :)

[@skydoesthingsfan]

Question what's the best site to publish a book?

[@LutesDice]

Wow, that was very educational. Thanks

[@craigmcnamara8948]

I have made this video a favorite. Thank You!!

[@callyg.628]

I hope to write my own setting book some day, but it's early days and my players inform a lot of the lore and interesting tidbits in the world - so it's gonna be super collaborative. This video is so helpful, thanks!

[@Jason-ji8ql]

This is *exactly* the resource I've been looking for. I've recently stepped into the world of graphic design, partly because of things like this. Creating cool layouts and designs are awesome, but the fundamentals always seemed a bit obscured. Honestly, I have more questions than a simple comment on a video, but by all means, I eagerly await more of this sort of content. Thank you!

[@pmd4439]

Great video. Always like crossing over profession with hobby. I've learned a lot of this kind of stuff working in writing the last few years and forget it's so easy to overlook for those who've never had to do it professionaly. Would love to see more like this.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Thank you! I think by starting basic and laying a little groundwork about the tools and goals, it'll be fun to unpack some fancy stuff from other RPG books further down the line

[@Loweves2]

Glad you made this as we are in the middle of figuring this stuff out and this is a nice layout for helping think it through

[@heyitsMattyP]

Glad to help! What is your project? If you're interested in more, I've made a separate channel where I'm planning to post similar videos: kzbin.info/door/UD2cj2dW1vo0WCryC-jb_g

[@Loweves2]

@@heyitsMattyP its Called "Mercs,Mages and Monsters" A 3d8 roll under system closer to Symbaroum than Dnd in how it functions. Just did the 4th public playtest. And thanks. I preemptively subbed for when things pop up.

[@Reiji77]

Absolute fantastic video, Matthew! I'm also in the process of writing my own campaign setting in InDesign and I'm still struggling with a few things that you might want to cover in a future video of this series: - picture wrapping (particularly alpha channel wrapping. I'm still manually deleting all the dots around the wrap, surely there's a better way via Photoshop) - table borders (how do you create those beautiful frames around a table that don't warp when you change the size of it?) - table of content (how to make it fully automated and neat looking) - structure (doesn't really belong to style but could be featured in a different series with guets maybe? How to set up a logical structure of a book) - page setup (how to properly set up the page size so you will have it properly printed and bound afterwards?) Looking forward to seeing more of this! Keep up your great work!

[@alexanderwizardjar9540]

this video is exactly what i was looking for, and it's really helpful! thanks !!!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Glad to help!

[@Tusitala1967]

Matthew, I really appreciate you bringing your expertise to bear in this video. I have plenty of material I would love to bring to the community, and the main barrier to accomplishing that for me has always been how to make it look good. I'm a words guy and a musician, without much in the way of artistic or design ability. So this was very helpful to me. Thanks and keep up the great work!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Glad to help! I'm hoping to do more design content on my channel pinned in the top comment :)

[@N1GHT_H0UND]

Dude, super helpful I would love more content like this.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Glad to help! More coming soon on my TTRPG Design channel, which is linked around here somewhere

[@BeyondTheScreenRPG]

Awesome video my dude! Would love to here about the differences between designing for PDF and Print. What are some things we should think about? For example, I know page bleed is a thing, but no real idea on how to work with it yet.

[@user-wr4uz8pg7m]

Absolutely fantastic video, thanks so much for this. I self published an RPG solo adventure last year as the culmination of one of my "COVID-era projects". Aaaaand, I knew almost nothing about style and layout. A year later, I know slightly more than nothing, enough to know some of my errors. :) Now I'm writing a 2nd RPG adventure and trying to learn as much as I can before I launch. For #3 I might actually hire an editor to improve the product. Thanks again, very informative Matthew!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Glad to help mate! If it helps, I feel like I know next-to nothing too :)

[@timetolisten4856]

I don’t even want to make something like this but you are really a great person for putting this resource together for people. Rad stuff Matty P.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Cheers! Especially in the wake of the OGL drama, more people than ever are eying their own TTRPG projects -- typesetters rise up!

[@Toddalotapodamus]

Liked, subbed and saved! I'm starting my own RPG system in a golden age scifi setting and there's a lot of stuff here I never would have considered. Thanks for the info!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Glad to help! Please check out the dedicated design channel where I'm planning to continue this kind of content: www.youtube.com/@TTRPGDesign

[@RobertHartleyGM]

Love your work. This was an interesting video with a deep dive into something I thought I knew more about! I'll possibly have more questions for you in future when I finally get round to publishing my own stuff.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Cheers Rob! Yeah hit me up about anything regarding publishing stuff -- I'm across the whole process.

[@user-zq6ke1fi5c]

thank you! the video really helped me :)

[@heyitsMattyP]

Glad to help! I'll be continuing this kind of content soon on a dedicated channel. There should be a link in the description or pinned comment somewhere.

[@garrettdaly9893]

This is great stuff. I'm trying my hand at tinkering with zines and pamphlets I think there's some rad content made in different formats other than books I'd definitely like to see stuff on this lol

[@heyitsMattyP]

I'd love to get my hand on a few zines to showcase! I'll keep an eye out once the stores start opening after lockdown

[@kristenlueken4023]

For the bucket list, would love to see a video about how to approach both the design and story elements when creating something for younger audiences. I know a couple young aspiring DMs who love that role but can struggle absorbing a lot of the published material which can be very dense. Even content designed for younger players is usually written up for adult DMs. Iv'e gotten started distilling classic encounters and one shots down into 1 page handwritten, color coded summaries with highlights and how tos... But would be interested in any tips in making something more widely useful.

[@techpriest6962]

Appreciate the information, I'm very far along in my own RPG project. Though as a one man project so far, i've been having to learn every step myself.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Layout is fun! Especially when you're doing the whole thing yourself. You get to make so many decisions at every step of the process, it's such a cool puzzle.

[@techpriest6962]

@@heyitsMattyP Haha, wish I felt that way. I'm so OCD about line spacing that I am nitpicking everything.

[@fearofdark77]

This is so valuable, why aren't there more videos in the playlist?

[@heyitsMattyP]

Thanks! I'll continue this kind of content on a dedicated channel: www.youtube.com/@TTRPGDesign

[@ALJessica]

This video is great, thanks❤ I believe the thing you talk about at 10:16 is called a footnote

[@WraithWright]

OMG, I also have the 16th edition CMS. I thought I was one of those out-of-date losers, but now I'm in good company!

[@heyitsMattyP]

haha that's why we're a good team!

[@avatarrojopredeterminado5983]

This is gold I think I love you

[@heyitsMattyP]

tytytytyty

[@brownesque2188]

Would love to see you do a comparison of Old School Essentials vs. Moldvay basic. It’s an interesting example because it’s the same set of 1981 rules redone with contemporary design.

[@heyitsMattyP]

That would be a really good way to compare this stuff! I own the Into The Borderlands 5e conversion, so maybe I could compare that style to the original too

[@Zr0din]

OMG, please get a copy of Rise of the Drow. It's a HUGE book (400+ pages) with so many style problems you would be SURE they fired the GD that worked on it. Pretty sure they got a new person that didn't have experience because there are some issues that look like they were riding the defaults on inDesign. This is an expensive collectors edition with a huge bumper on the bottom of each page not put to use, and inconsistent break-out boxes and color decisions throughout the book. Some of the art direction could use help because the style and quality kinda "jump around". The page makers that are cut to bleed off the edge of the page so you can see them from the side of the book, between pages 278 and 318 have some weird color jumps that may have been caused by art placement. Many of the colors don't have the contrast needed, so you can't see the chapter changes. Some of the page markers don't seem to move down the page as they progress. For instance, in the Bestiary between the letters D (which is a big section in a book called the rise of the DROW) and F don't seem to shift down the page and since the colors are close to each other (all dark purple variants) you can't see the difference from the outside of the book as intended. More importantly, if you have a book called "Rise of the Drow" and have a bunch of Dwarves and Fungi in it as well, you KNOW the bestiary sections for D, E, and F are going to be large. How are those sections not correctly marked? Am I a little salty because I paid full price for this book? Yes. Is this a good adventure? Yes! Frankly it's a better WORLD BOOK than anything else. I even backed their next book Rultmoork! You can check a review Here kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmOsoWehnLiHq5I

[@MasterKeyblader25]

Love the vid Matt! Just curious do you know anyone with typesetter expertise looking for work? People experienced with TTRPGs would be super super helpful

[@skydoesthingsfan]

Hey question, how did you get the page background though is it just a number blank page?.

[@K_E_Robin]

I really like that layout choice with the whole column illustration at 13:05! Looks better than having smaller illustrations just breaking up the flow of a column. I would though have an illustration that fully utilized that space. So it would be less "cut-out" in certain areas.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Commissioning art of characters with a transparent background is cheaper though :D

[@K_E_Robin]

@@heyitsMattyP Yeah but it'll be worth it. 😊

[@andrewlaverghetta715]

I haven't considered making a book, but I HAVE made a couple of modules for 1-shots that a friend has used. I'm fairly happy with how it turns out and I've modeled it after some other one-shot modules I've seen. Love the typeface and all that for all these books.

[@crapphone7744]

To see the formatting marks in Microsoft Word, while your documents open go to file-> options ->display. About halfway down the page there's a little thing that says "show all formatting marks". Check that option and you'll see all the formatting marks like carriage return line feed etc.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Thank you! I knew there would be a way to use them in Microsoft Word, though I didn't know how. I can't do anything without invisibles turned on anymore! So useful

[@crapphone7744]

@@heyitsMattyP thank you for that awesome video you made some excellent points that somebody like me who's got no experience in this area can really put the use as we write material so thank you very much!

[@danielfbrb]

I loved this video. I'm always interested in watching an expert share their perspective on the design elements of pretty much everything and RPG books are some of the most beautiful stuff you could ask for. Do you plan on checking out non-D&D stuff (I don't know, like Cyberpunk, Call of Cthulhu...)?

[@heyitsMattyP]

Thanks Daniel! It's really encouraging seeing someone who's been subscribed since I first started the channel be down for this new kind of content, even though it's a bit different to my usual stuff. YES I'm planning to immediately step outside the realm of D&D (or at least step out of 5th-edition style). This series will be a good excuse for me to explore the wider TTRPG space :)

[@Scott_Inksmith]

Have you seen mork borg? I’m obsessed with this style can you give any tips on the weight and design put into that book?

[@heyitsMattyP]

I would love to! I've only seen bits and pieces, but I want a copy for sure. I bet my attempt to give advice about it will end up being, "Wow, I couldn't do this!"

[@buttponcho101]

Hello. I used to make my stuff using homebrewery, but its super janky. Would you say that learning a typesetting tool makes it easier in the long run than using some type of inbuilt browser wotc style tool? Because I really struggled with some of the inbuilt options like them spell lists and such. Are those style things relatively easy to figure out in tools like InDesign and the like? Would listen and watch any video related to the subject btw, very interested.

[@heyitsMattyP]

InDesign would be more difficult than the Homebrewery. If you're interested in replicating 5th-edition style, I think you might as well use the Homebrewery. It's going to get you more accurate results faster than learning new software. BUT as soon as you want to do anything outside that rigid 5th-edition style, I'd recommend experimenting with Affinity Publisher (because it's cheaper tahn InDesign). This first video is the only time I'll be looking at anything similar to 5th-edition style. There's some crazy TTRPG stuff out there I want to explore with layout, a whole ecosystem outside two-column 5th-edition boilerplate.

[@wbbartlett]

Cat! :) This was a very informative video. I would watch a whole series about this topic! Shame it was a one off. It earnt a sub regardless, well... that and the cat at the door.

[@heyitsMattyP]

The plan has always been to come back to it. I made a new channel for these videos if you want to get notified: www.youtube.com/@TTRPGDesign

[@Weird_Quests]

I've got Affinity Publisher, but would you recommend learning Adobe InDesign as that's what most clients expect me to use when it comes to layout and design? I haven't used either yet and I'm only just getting started in layout/design - I'm mostly a writer, editor and narrative designer so far.

[@heyitsMattyP]

The best software is the one you know how to use. After that, the next best software is the one you have access to. You can get good results anywhere - my main writer is a Microsoft Word power-user and he outputs stuff better than most of the PDFs on DTRPG.

[@Weird_Quests]

@@heyitsMattyP wow! Nice! :) I just finished my first one shot adventure and publishing on DTRPG (currently trying to figure out layout at the moment :) )

[@SoloStudiosOfficial]

As a typesetter, how much control do you have over the way each text element looks? I.e. do you decide what typeface/font size/colour to make each header, or is that decided by someone else in charge of the overall design of the book? Are you able to influence those decisions at all?

[@heyitsMattyP]

With this GG project, I had heaps of say in how things looked. I designed the templates and decided how many pages each section got, where images landed, sometimes whether we needed to commission extra art or not. Zipperon Disney came to me with some example fonts, styles and colours, and I took that baseline and used it as a base to build off. I could have been even more involved in the process, but I wanted to stay purely in realm of layout rather than slipping into any subediting work.

[@kidmurdock]

I'm a year past finding this video but I hope my question will make it to you. Right now I'm interested in how custom frames for tables are made. Do you have to make them on PS after they're done being made, or is there a dynamic way to do it inside InDesign? Thanks!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Hey mate! These ones are made in photoshop and layered over the text, but there are a few basic stroke styles in InDesign you can use too.

[@kidmurdock]

@@heyitsMattyP right on. Thanks for the reply!

[@TwistedTentacleInn]

This was a very informative video! Any recommendations on where to find a good editor / format specialist? - The Innkeeper

[@heyitsMattyP]

Twitter is full of independent creators and designers in the TTRPG scene :)

[@TwistedTentacleInn]

@@heyitsMattyP Thank you for the tip, too bad i haven't used Twitter for ages. Although with recent positive changes, maybe I'll join! - The Innkeeper

[@ALJessica]

What font size do you use for the main text Body? And how about H1-h4? Also, how do you find out what size to use? I am creating my own ttrpg and I want it to be the size of 5e players handbook.

[@heyitsMattyP]

I'd recommend checking out The Homebrewery and mimicing what it outputs. D&D body size used to be 9.5pt in earlier books, but after Xanathar's I think they bumped it to 10.5pt. In this book, my H1 is 22pt, but I can't remember the rest, sorry! I'm planning to continue these videos soon, but probably in a different format.

[@ALJessica]

@@heyitsMattyP okay thank you :)

[@quench100]

If you've got a block of text which is meant to fit on one page but it spills over by a paragraph or two, what do you do? Do you squeeze it in somehow or speak to the author and ask them to cut some some content out?

[@heyitsMattyP]

Ideally you have authority to edit the text yourself, or the writer is able to write-to-size. You should never be squeezing to fit. It's an easy fix which you can sometimes get away with, but it's a bad habit

[@nGuy1901]

I'm an academic not a typesetter but I know just enough to be dangerous. I've done most of my work in TeX/LaTeX. There are lots of example style files "out there" for 5e look-a-like publishing.

[@cotiew]

So I know this was two years ago, but I looked and you never talked about this topic anymore. You should do an update or just talk more about this!

[@heyitsMattyP]

I should! And I will :)

[@cotiew]

@@heyitsMattyP woot woot! Can't wait to see it!

[@Lowe2847]

I had a questions about the page dressing or borders. Were those provided to you to use or did you create/find them on your own?

[@heyitsMattyP]

We commissioned the page borders and the table borders, but you can find stock art versions of similar design which you can cut up to fit your sapce

[@Lowe2847]

​@@heyitsMattyP would you happen to have a suggestion for where to find the stock versions? I hope that's not too much to ask, I've searched google quite a bit and a lot of the 'free' ones aren't free. I really appreciate the reply.

[@heyitsMattyP]

@@Lowe2847 I don't know anything about free art, but you can license all kinds of stuff from Shutterstock

[@Lowe2847]

@@heyitsMattyP thank you very much!

[@davedoublee-indiegamedev8633]

Hi! What is a good place to hire an illustrator to make such a rule book?

[@heyitsMattyP]

Lots of freelancers are active on Twitter! Whenever I need to hire a writer at least, that's where I get a lot of interest. An illustrator would be the person drawing the pictures, but a typesetter would be the person doing page layout.

[@davedoublee-indiegamedev8633]

@@heyitsMattyP I have tried this once. Twitter is full of scammers unfortunately:( But it's worth a try!

[@DareToWonder]

Awesome stuff. You gonna be in UKGE?

[@heyitsMattyP]

I am in Australia, not the UK, so no cons for me!

[@josephmoreau9615]

Do you have any interest in commissioning out your service to do layout on a RPG manual?

[@heyitsMattyP]

Hey Joe! Not at the moment, sorry.

[@sportyeight7769]

And there comes Mork borg, and all the rules goes away !

[@heyitsMattyP]

Great book! No single page is the same style as any other

[@heyitsMattyP]

If you want MORE of this kind of content, I'm going to continue TTRPG page layout and design coverage on a dedicated channel - subscribe to my new channel www.youtube.com/@TTRPGDesign -------------- ❤ Support the Channel ❤ -------------- 💚 Patreon: matthewperkins.net/patreon 💚 Donate: matthewperkins.net/donate 💚 Store: matthewperkins.net/store 💚 DM Guild: matthewperkins.net/dmsguild 💜 Twitch: matthewperkins.net/twitch 💜 TikTok: matthewperkins.net/tiktok 🧡 Discord: matthewperkins.net/discord 🧡 Facebook: matthewperkins.net/facebook 🧡 Twitter: matthewperkins.net/twitter 🧡 Instagram: matthewperkins.net/instagram 🧡 Reddit: matthewperkins.net/reddit ✏ Blog: matthewperkins.net/blog 📧 For marketing/business/sponsorship inquiries, email: [e-mail]

[@SonOfSofaman]

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the relative value of content and design. In my mind fancy graphics and artful layout is just lipstick on a pig if the content is low quality.

[@bryansmith844]

MORK BORG

[@joakimandersson7769]

[MÖRKBORG has left the chat]

[@heyitsMattyP]

But Morkborg simultaneously gestures at design rules while it breaks every one of them :)

[@robertsouth6971]

Why not use different styles in different chapters?

[@heyitsMattyP]

Style consistency is a general rule, and there's always exceptions to the rule. When you use consistent style, readers can learn how to parse your document and find the information they need quickly. It also helps with branding, and generally looks neater. But you could look at Mork Borg as an example for how to break this rule successfully.

[@adammetc]

This comment is actual size.

[@heyitsMattyP]

THIS REPLY IS ACTUAL SIZE

[@DareToWonder]

Hot take... orphans are ok if the section they are in is already too short.