RPG a Day: Day 23


Question 23: Which RPG has the most jaw-dropping layout?

I'm not a great one for noticing design and layout, except for when it is done badly, I think this hots me more than when it's well done, as this is one of those things that the goal is to make something so user friendly that the actual layout isn't what hits the normal user.

I can think of a few RPGs that hit me as having bad layout. Old games aside of course, as back in the day we didn't really think of these things so much.

Call of Cthulhu 6th ed, English version, is one such layout. They got into the habit of making huge columns down the side of the pages with repeated art that just took up space, and padded out the book for nothing. This added with the use of dark pages with grey text. *Shudder*

However, the flip side is the way the european verions of Call of Cthulhu (German version by Pegasus, and French version by Sans Detour) changed how RPG books were made. With both art work and layout changes that literally rewrote the rules on RPG sourcebook design.

I never owned any of these versions, even though the French versions are readily avaiable here in Quebec, but what I have seen is pretty Jaw-Dropping. Furthermore, these versions of the game have had a huge impact on how Call of Cthulhu 7th ed was designed and produced, especially the new version of "S.Petersen's Field Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors".

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