Citadel at Nordvorn: Working Layout

I always feel better when I’m working on something that, while not final, is at least good enough that I feel comfortable showing it about.

Today, I spent a lot of time pounding on the layout and look of the next book: The Citadel at Nordvorn.

This is what I came up with, and the basic look which which I’ll go to Kickstarter but it’s been modified since the original. The new look is reproduced below instead!

What might change?

The pagination circles will probably become either towers or (more likely) gate-houses.

The sword on top will be re-done in Illustrator or by a professional render, because at the moment the look is OK but it’s not an image that I can use other than a placeholder.

The running title font characteristics may be adjusted

The color scheme is very beige, and a better graphics pro than I am will help with contrast and readability, though most of the elements are OK.

In short: it’s not bad, and will get better, but it’s solid progress on delivering a good-looking book. I wanted it thematically related to Hall of Judgment. This qualifies. I also wanted it different than HoJ, and this also qualifies.

Tomorrow needs to be a real writing day, but I know what I have to do. I now have layout chapters where before I just had a wall of text. I have a look that makes the book distinct, though different elements may wind up being final, and those could be very different. I tentatively have six sample characters and a bunch of monsters in there, and while I cut the stuff from the HoJ bestiary that wasn’t there, there’s still a lot of placeholder for things that might be there but may or may not need writeups. I’m looking to make this one shorter, not longer, unless the Kickstarter does very well. There’s almost no way I can bring the entire thing in at 80 pages . . . but 96 or 112 is probably doable, and there’s content enough for 128 easily if the crowdfunding goes well.