Suggestions for future articles / features in the zine

[ravells]

Thanks very much for the indepth feedback, Del. It's very much appreciated.

I'm a bit concerned you saw the body text font as arial as it was set in Times New Roman - could you check it again please? As far as I know, with .pdf files you don't need to have the font natively installed unless you want to edit the document itself. If you wouldn't mind doing me a quick screenie of a small section of bodytext, that would be appreciated.

My chief concern with the zine at the moment is that it seems to lack a centre (or it's just my imagination, but I really don't know). I'm hoping that it will evolve to fill a niche, but at the moment, I'm not sure what that is, but the fact that you found it an interesting read is a plus. I really didn't think that joe public would find the map competition entries all that interesting because they dealt with worlds which were the invention of others which could not be easily ported over into their campaigns.

I would love the zine to have more 'how to' articles - particularly with the mapping. After all people (as far as I know, but I'm a bit out of touch) want stuff which either supplements existing commercial products or which they can bolt onto their own campaigns - but that sort of material is everywhere (personally I think Johnn Four's newletter is the best example of it - that man deserves some sort of medal).

I really appreciate your thoughts on the layout. At the moment, it's bland, safe and boring, but as the zine evolves and I have a better idea as to what it's really about, I will change the layout - but there have to be good reasons behind it and hold together coherently, but until I know what the vibe is, it's hard to make a decision there on the look and feel.

Thanks again for all of your thoughts, I'm very grateful for them.

Ravs

[Midgardsormr]

(personally I think Johnn Four's newletter is the best example of it - that man deserves some sort of medal).

Hear hear!

I agree that indented paragraphs would be easier for me to read, particularly in the fiction piece, where the leading between paragraphs was only slightly larger than that between lines.

As concerns giving the zine a "center:" I think if the Alliance does more collaborative challenges, those could be used to build some synergy between the articles. That might cause each issue to hang together a little better.

I don't know how much work the shared challenges are to set up, though.

I haven't actually finished the entire zine yet--I got distracted and haven't gone back to it yet. I may have further comments later.

[Badger]

My apologies, I did say Arial... with this toothache I have, its been hard to do anything .. mainly sleep and concentrate... My text is NT Roman and when I went to look for the font, I tried to insert text instead of viewing properties.... Still, changing the font to something other than NTRoman would do well for the overall look (Verdana, or perhaps Georgia). But that's neither here nor there right now...

Lacking a Center.... you hit the nail on the head my friend, couldn't have said it better myself. That is also the way I felt about the overall aspect of the zine. As it evolves, the center should find itself... at least I hope it will.

I don't think the mapping challenges should be seen as articles themselves, but as a stepping stone to creating a working zine. I love maps, and I can't think of not being interested in them, so I can't fathom why anyone wouldn't be interested. However, any gamer, esp. GM's, worth their salt can take a map and implement it into their game in some form or fashion... at the very least... a concept or idea. So the mapping challenge shouldn't be a focus as much as the maps and the campaign arc behind them should be.

I'm sure I had a point when I started... but an idea occurred to me. Perhaps a challenge in reverse, for instance, suppose TM's map wins this month's challenge. take the map itself... forget the reasons it was made, and give it to stormers or CBG to build an adventure and/or story around it... present it that way. I really hope that hasn't been done before now, because then I'd feel like somewhat of an idiot... lol

I agree with you 110% about how the commercial plug and play stuff is everywhere. But I've never been a fan of this kind of style.. I've always had a homebrew and so little caters to those who have their own worlds. I think we should really stray away from that and concentrate on what CBG was founded on and that's the original creative individuals out there with their own stuff. I think a few how to articles that are themed right will stand out among other clones. (And yes, Johnn Four Rocks... he's a machine.)

Bland, Safe and Boring is good because its.. well, safe... but sometimes change is brought on by the pebble atop the mountain... little changes in layout might just push the zine into what it needs to be....

[ravells]

Thanks Mid / Del,

I will definitely give the paragraph indents some thought, although the usual rule is that you either indent, or you use extra space between paragraphs - using both is considered overkill (or so I read) but these rules are often made to be broken.

We have had some shared challenges with the other guilds in the past, but they are on a bit of a hiatus at the moment. I'm thinking about a new challenge across all three guilds on the maritime theme of our next issue - more about which probably in the April Challenge.

[The Cartographist]

I really like Del's idea about reversing a mapping challenge. Who knows? Maybe include two or three good stories/adventures instead of just one for the winner of a mapping challenge. Or even, start with a piece of fiction, and then use that as the basis for a mapping challenge, and then go from there (for inclusion into the zine).

I'm sure more will occur to me as I re-read the zine. . .

Overall, it was pretty good.

[Gamerprinter]

I finally downloaded the Ezine yesterday and haven't read it through yet. As far as layout, fonts and graphics go - I plan on making a complete redesign using the existing issue to come up with optional ways to go.

I've spoken to Arcana somewhat regarding the need for paid-for advertising space in the 'zine to help pay for things. I see Ravs, touched on this regarding a "classifieds section", although regular ads placed throughout the zine could prove more "sellable" spaces.

Although I'd like to see a monthly ezine, I also see the problem of cross-site challenges, since each challenge is a month to complete if a map winner inspires a Plotstormers story or a CBG game arc - using all three sites require 3 months to complete challenges. Quarterly works with that. If each new month creates the start of the next cross-site challenge, then monthly can be eventually achieved.

As far as everyone's point on content goes - yes it needs to find a center. I'll see what I can do to become a part of the editing staff and help direct this...

[ravells]

Thanks for the offer Gameprinter but I think we have sufficient input at the production end of the e-zine and won't be needing any more people, at least at the present time ....' too many cooks' etc, but we'll definitely bear your name in mind if we need to expand - Don't forget we have 3 guilds contributing not just the CG.

However if you'd like to contribue specific articles, maps etc which you think might appeal, or help with proof-reading the issue before it goes out then we'd be very grateful for help with this.

We'd be happy to look at any complete redesigns you may have in mind, why don't you post dummies of your options here?