Digest-sized books

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bugleyman
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Digest-sized books

Post by bugleyman »

Hi Solomoriah:

Apologies if this has been brought up before, but a search of the forums appears to uncover only an unofficial option (https://basicfantasy.org/forums/viewtop ... est#p87271).

Have you considered offering an "official" digest-size version of BFRPG? I'm not looking for any textual or formatting changes – which I understand that would be too much work – just the option to print a physically smaller copy. Doing so may be as simple as switching a toggle with your PoD providers, and digest-size would make the game even more portable (with the added bonus of paying a bit of homage to OD&D).

Thoughts?
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Solomoriah
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Re: Digest-sized books

Post by Solomoriah »

Without reformatting, it would make the fonts tiny.
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bugleyman
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Re: Digest-sized books

Post by bugleyman »

You're not wrong, but...pretty please? :)
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Solomoriah
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Re: Digest-sized books

Post by Solomoriah »

You would buy a more expensive book that is much harder to read?
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Re: Digest-sized books

Post by Solomoriah »

Actually, not sure it would be more expensive... I need to double-check that. It used to be true.
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Re: Digest-sized books

Post by Solomoriah »

Yeah, it's not true anymore. Smaller books with the same page count are actually cheaper.

Still can't believe anyone wants to read the rules that small.
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bugleyman
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Re: Digest-sized books

Post by bugleyman »

Solomoriah wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 8:42 pm You would buy a more expensive book that is much harder to read?
I personally absolutely would! And I say that as a guy who has had to resort to reading glasses over the last few years.

I'm a big fan of this book (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1981331395) because of the portability, but having "come up" using basic D&D, I prefer the rules of BFRPG. Basic Fantasy in digest size would be the best of both worlds for me.
Last edited by bugleyman on Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:14 pm, edited 3 times in total.
"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."

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bugleyman
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Re: Digest-sized books

Post by bugleyman »

Solomoriah wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 8:46 pm Yeah, it's not true anymore. Smaller books with the same page count are actually cheaper.

Still can't believe anyone wants to read the rules that small.
The crazies are already doing it! https://basicfantasy.org/forums/viewtop ... est#p87271

But seriously, if it doesn't cost you any extra effort (and you're not concerned about any possible negative impacts, of course) please consider making it an option. If nothing else, you might be able to collect some potentially interesting data on people's preferences.

Whatever you decide, thanks for listening.

Edit: Don't forget that the print size of digest-sized books benefits from the square-cube law. You'd be doing your part to spread scientific awareness! :D
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Malgar
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Re: Digest-sized books

Post by Malgar »

I would also love to see a digest size, it would be great to just throw in my bag to take with me to read on the go. Even if it was only the core rule book that would still be awesome.
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Re: Digest-sized books

Post by Solomoriah »

Honestly don't know how to easily scale a PDF. I can think of several hard ways, but that doesn't sound like fun.

I've considered doing a digest-sized book using the Tablet Friendly version; however, it will need to be matched up to the final print release, and we're not there yet. But that book will likely be more expensive, with a much higher page count.
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