Hey guys! I've been looking at the book, and actually just finished up my first character, and there was something I noticed that I thought was sort of strange...

In the flavor text, there's a lot of font changes - size, italics, etc. - but the problem is it seems kind of random. To me, it detracts from the story rather than enhancing the emotional impact.

Obviously there's nothing to be done about it now, but I thought I would mention that it seemed very off to me, in case you wanted to consider it for future supplements.

Hullo, Slapstick,

I had also noticed the font changes and the like in the fiction throughout the book. I found that it didn't so much detract from the reading of the fiction stuff, so much as it made my eyes come back to it from time to time.

I can't say that I liked the font changes in the fiction stuff. It's one thing to put something like a character's actual thoughts to himself in italics, but some of the rest of that was needless.

Stephen, Matt, Jamie, if you're reading this...any reason for doing the fiction pieces that way?

To me, the font changes came across as a way of envisioning the stories as being told by someone over a campfire, with the random emphasis put on phrases that stood out as the storyteller spoke.

No idea if that was the intention there, but for me, instead of detracting from the story, it actually enhanced the text, by giving it a rough, uneven look in tune with the post-apocalyptic feel of the game.

In addition to what Nestor said, we did it to add a "visual element" to the page - to try and add a bit of flair to an otherwise boring looking page of text. Based on the feedback we've gotten so far, you probably won't be seeing it on future supplements. All the feedback we've heard has been that it made the stories hard to read. Maybe others loved it an just didn't mention it, but I kinda doubt it.

Hullo, Nestor,



When you put it in this context, Nestor, I can see exactly where it's coming from. With that said, I don't think it completely distracts one from the story, but I don't think it enhances the fiction either.

Hullo, Matt,



Different strokes for different folks, and all that, I guess.

I haven't seen a good deal mentioned about the fiction style and font changes anywhere on the 'net, except this thread, but you guys obviously have a few other means of getting feedback and all, so I guess this just means you guys need to come up with another way of making the fiction pieces less boring looking.

... less boring *looking*.

I have most of the books from the old "Hunter: The Reckoning" line by White Wolf, a game I just loved, especially (if not mostlyP because of the fiction and flavor text in the sourcebooks. However, some of their font choices in later books rendered the text literally unreadable.

I hope that everyone has been able to at least read the fiction and flavor text in Desolation, as we wanted to make sure that what happened in the otherwise superb Hunter books didn't happen to us, while retaining the "texture" of different font and text changes.

Matt's right, though - we'll not do it quite this way in the next book. We'll try something different

Well, Hunter the Reckoning won the Oscar for Best RPG Ever, so you've managed to distract me from whatever this thread was about!

I see what you all were trying to do with the text, don't worry. Maybe another idea would be having all the texts look post apocalyptic - like it's been scrawled on some cloth, or magically burned into a wall?

Yes, apparently the stationery stores were the hardest hit by the apocalypse...

Regardless of the format, I'd like to take this opportunity to offer my kudos for the stories. They are very effective in putting across the look-and-feel of the post-Apocalyptic world.

Thumbs up!

Hullo, Matt,



Oops, sorry, yes, that's what I meant...and will edit the post to reflect that. Sorry about that, boss.

Hullo, folks,



What Nestor said. The fiction pieces throughout the book are simply wonderful and evocative in their content. The very first piece of fiction for the Introduction surprised me (even shocked me somewhat) at its denoument, giving me a really good "feel" for the world of DESOLATION. The same can be said for some of the other ones as well, although not to the same degree. There can be no doubt as to the quality of the fiction pieces in the main DESOLATION rpg book.