[Any] Column Layout

[Reinboom]

I'm interested to know what book column layout various players prefer for Roleplaying Games. Quite simply. Any opinion, especially "why?" would be appreciated.

By column layout, I am referring to how the book is structured. As examples, 2E AD&D and 4E D&D both have two column layouts almost entirely. The 2E appendixes change into a three column, but for actual rules material it tended to stay two column. 3.5E, on the other hand, did a stronger mix between two and three column, listing the actual spells into a three column layout.

Personally, I tend to prefer just a blanket 2 column. This preference isn't hard and fast, however.

[sofawall]

I like 2 column, myself. Lets the lines be long enough to have some decent content of each, but breaks up the walls of text, especially in rules sections where paragraphs aren't going to be very long anyway.

[valadil]

I think it depends on the nature of your rules. IMO you want your paragraphs to look squarish. A single long line won't read as easily as 3 shorter lines. IE

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Won't look as good as
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
when presenting a feat (or spell or whatever) even though they have the same number of characters.

Things like spells are further reduced because they have many short entries that each demand their own line.

School: Abjuration
Duration: 5 minutes
Saving Throw: Will

Those three lines are 2-3 words each. It doesn't matter if they're in a 1, 2, or 3 column layout, they won't look any different because they're so short. With lines like these, the wider you make your columns the more space you'll waste. In a 2 col layout you *might* be able to fit blocks like this in a table that has two of its own columns and that would save a little space.

How you do your typesetting depends on the data you're presenting.

[oxybe]

i'm a 2 column kinda guy. i rather proper use of font size & whitespace then shoving lots of small lettering in 3 confined columns.

i do agree that if all you're doing is shooting keywords & short bursts of info, you can arrange it as to fit more columns per page, but for actual paragraphs, 2 columns is ideal IMO.

[Reinboom]

@Validil
Well, of course. However, it's easy enough to group items individually as well.
For example:
"Target: One creature [tab]Range: 25 Feet."
Which would be the D&D 4E way of handling the space issue.

More significantly, however, comes consistency. In a book that has both. "The Target is dealt 2d8 damage." and the text of, let's say, Programmed Amnesia in the same book there comes the problem that whatever layout is bested suited for one is not as aptly suited for the other.

It's because of my debate with this case that I brought up the topic, though.

[Sinfire Titan]

I use two-column for everything I homebrew, and 3 for MTG Decklists.

[bosssmiley]

i'm a 2 column kinda guy. i rather proper use of font size & whitespace then shoving lots of small lettering in 3 confined columns.

Who is this heretic who denies the blessed layout of BECMI? (Gygax thirsts for eye blood)

Srsly. 2 column. Proper header hierarchy. Unobtrusive B+W lineart. Decent-sized margins (so I can scrawl in marginalia/house rules, of course).

Or you could go full bore, balls-to-the-wall, game-as-art HoL-style "madman's DM notes" layout.

Anything between these two is just being froofy and art schoolish for the sake of it.

[Curmudgeon]

2 columns. It's the most convenient width for readability on standard size RPG books.

[oxybe]

Who is this heretic who denies the blessed layout of BECMI? (Gygax thirsts for eye blood)

Srsly. 2 column. Proper header hierarchy. Unobtrusive B+W lineart. Decent-sized margins (so I can scrawl in marginalia/house rules, of course).

Or you could go full bore, balls-to-the-wall, game-as-art HoL-style "madman's DM notes" layout.

Anything between these two is just being froofy and art schoolish for the sake of it.

one BIG pet peeve of mine is when you overlap text on top of pictures. i point to the "tome" look of 3rd ed where the first page of each chapter would often be a stylized parchment look but have black introduction text overlapping the images. i don't know about other people but this strained my already bad eyes.

[Irreverent Fool]

I like the straight and blocky 2-column layout, but I grew up drooling over the 2nd-edition and older books that looked more like Wall Street Journals or appliance manuals than what we've got now.

I also like black-and-white rather than color in my rpg books.

obnoxious
sig

[Raum]

I'm interested to know what book column layout various players prefer for Roleplaying Games. Quite simply. Any opinion, especially "why?" would be appreciated.

Short answer, it depends.

More detailed answer - A document's line length should be around four to five inches long. In an 8 1/2 x 11 format, this will generally be two columns. In a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 format it's only one column. So on and so forth...

[Reinboom]

Short answer, it depends.

More detailed answer - A document's line length should be around four to five inches long. In an 8 1/2 x 11 format, this will generally be two columns. In a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 format it's only one column. So on and so forth...

Oh ho, I have neglected a bit of information there. Thank you.
I am more specifically referring to 8.5 x 11 in formatting in general.