Leafing through the PDF of Ultimate Equipment....

Two observations:
1. I do not much like the format.

2. The format used is very useful.

Yeah... kind of bothers me.

I think that my only real problem is aesthetic - I do not like the look of the format. Not the illustrations, they look fine.

But the information is well organized, I can find what I am looking for very easily, or at least find that what I am looking for isn't in the book. (Looking for masks for a female frost giant miniature that I just finished painting. I may need to make something up out of whole cloth.)

Items are broken down by type, by the slot used to equip the item, and broad level of power.

There are 'kits' to help beginning players select their equipment. (FIGHTER’S KIT PRICE 9 GP
WEIGHT 29 lbs.
This kit includes a backpack, a bedroll, a belt pouch, a flint and steel, an iron pot, a mess kit, rope, soap, torches (10), trail rations (5 days), and a waterskin.)

There are treasure tables for the random allocation of hoards, lairs, etc. (Reminds me of the original Dungeon Master's Guide.)

And for $10 the PDF is well worth it.

I just wish that I liked the look better.... Not the fault of the book, it just looks... too polished, maybe?

The Auld Grump

Lordy, you are hard to please!

Missed that one, I may need to pick it up. We have a GM (finally) getting ready to run Pathfinder this fall.

Steve

I don't play Pathfinder, but the "too polished" had me rolling with laughter.

Yeah - it leaves me disgruntled. I don't like the look, but everything that I can point at makes perfect sense.

Maybe I want more wasted space? An index that doesn't work?

Oooh! I know! Illustrations that don't match the description! That would help!

(Yep, mocking myself there - I really have no complaints except a nebulous 'it don't look right'...)

The Auld Grump

Easy solution: Rip out the text from the PDF, find a template you like, spend a bunch of time reworking the text into the new format. Optionally: Print and bind. Voila!

The formatting style seems very similar to many 4e equipment books. Maybe that is your issue?

Never looked at enough 4e equipment books to notice.

Ah well, I am certain that I will get used to it over time.

The Auld Grump

Not sure then. Are you becoming senile?

I finally realized what was bothering me - it looks like pages printed from a database.

Which... it almost certainly is.

And having that as a db means that adding new items in the same format as an ongoing process makes sense.

But my brain was connecting that as either lazy or amateurish, even though it is neither.

I did something very similar back when I was still using a Commodore 64. Paperclip Publisher*, updated to Pagesetter when I went to the Amiga. I used something similar when handling characters for a Vampire LARP in the nineties.

In short, it was bothering me because it was something that not only could I do, but had done. Better looking pictures, full color output, but otherwise... I have done the exact same thing.

Now I kind of wish that I had the database, because then I could print out the individual items used as index cards, complete with illo.

The Auld Grump

* The most fun that ever I had with a Desktop Publisher - in part because it was my first experience with one. Once I sat down to play games on my computer and called up Paperclip Publisher instead, that's how much fun it was. I still have some of the forms that I created for Call of Cthulhu on that program.

I looked at the book at my FLGS last night, and probably will buy a copy. Grump, when you commented on the format, I chalked it up as...grumpiness. But then when I saw it I totally understood what you meant.

My take: The book is really logically laid out (your 'useful' category). But for me, the choice of styles is too jarring, not pleasing to the eye. The block headings are too big and high contrast, almost forcing my eye to only see them and not the blocks that go with them.

What's really interesting for me is usually I want publishers to make a bigger contrast between different levels of headers. I can't tell you the number of times I've flipped back and forth in a book to figure out if this header (in, maybe bold 12 point font) is the same level, a sub-level, or above the previous one (which might have been an 11 point bold font).

As it got easier to create good-looking and functional game books, my expectations went up. I want it to be really easy to tell when I'm still in one section or moved on to a new one. Usually the publisher makes the distinctions too subtle (for me). In the Ultimate Equipment guide, the distinctions are not subtle enough -- I can't see the forest because each tree keeps saying "look at me"

Steve

Yes, the style choice much more than the format itself.

And, going by Rise of the Rune Lords that, or something like that, is going to be the format for magic items going forward.

Hopefully the style will be toned down a tad - I very much doubt that we will see massive changes to the actual format. With good reason - it makes life a lot easier for layout and typesetting to have a database that can just plug in the information for them. (Still 99% certain that this is a prettier version of the Report function on a db.)

Nothing at all against the book itself - it does what it is intended to do.

The Auld Grump

What, make us say, "Gaa, my eyes. My eyes!" when we open it?

Hey, at least the typeface didn't make your eyes bleed... (Alterinty? I am looking at you!*)

The Auld Grump

* Then looking away again, 'cause, you know, bleeding eyes....

Or that old beaux-arts style typeface that Chaosium used until recently.

One of my players nailed why I don't like the look of the thing -
It looks like one of those guides that they sell for computer games. Specifically the Gear section of those books.

I went and looked at the one that I have for Fallout New Vegas... yeah, he's right. It looks very much like that.

The Auld Grump

I have not thought about PaperClip in years.

I had the same reaction to UEG. Your right it does look/feel like a db report.