tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973193492803191556.post4297854612671698921..comments2024-03-19T00:34:06.489-07:00Comments on Bones of Contention: Dungeon Dioramas - Night LandBen L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04568198881628052274noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973193492803191556.post-43276335708901448312021-09-27T10:20:42.047-07:002021-09-27T10:20:42.047-07:00Thank you for the insight into your process, Vasil...Thank you for the insight into your process, Vasili! We're always happy to hear from the original authors on here. I remember seeing Kevin Crawford talk about that technique too. It's nice to see successful ideas passing from one person to another.<br /><br />I think Hodgson's "Night Land" is a better setting than it is a novel. I can understand why you'd take inspiration from the basic idea but then go in your own direction to populate the land. I appreciate hearing about your other inspirations though! I'm not really as big a Hodgson fan as I've made it seem like - it's just that like you, I'm drawn to the "world of perpetual night" as the starting point for a game.Annehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15493700749333105771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973193492803191556.post-38132120264479206722021-09-27T09:54:14.530-07:002021-09-27T09:54:14.530-07:00I think good incidental art can help out a page th...I think good incidental art can help out a page that doesn't have much going on, but you're right, there are limits that way too. It's probably worse if you have both problems in the same book!Annehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15493700749333105771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973193492803191556.post-23882737392977343762021-09-23T05:56:59.955-07:002021-09-23T05:56:59.955-07:00Thank you kindly for this review. It’s very genero...Thank you kindly for this review. It’s very generous to get this level of scrutiny into my work and to have such a substantial post devoted to it. I particularly welcomed the references to ‘baroque minimalism’ and the work of Jack Shear, both of which I was previously unaware of. <br /><br />In terms of Hodgson and Night Land, the question was asked countless times when I was teasing the book on social media in the lead-up to release. Most people wanted to know if this in fact would be a setting based on Hodgson’s world. I did borrow the title from his book, although I must embarrassingly admit, I have not read it. I tried a few times, but I struggled to get through the first 30 pages or so. However, I did read several reviews and articles about Hodgson's story, so I must go back to the original at some stage. So, the overall tone of Night Land (the elevator pitch being ‘a world of perpetual night’) is partly influenced by Hodgson. In hindsight, I should have noted that in the credits (I will do so in further printings). The biggest influences were the nihilistic apocalypticism of Clark Ashton-Smith, Vance’s Dying Earth setting, and the Dreamlands stories by H.P Lovecraft. I was especially influenced by Chaosium’s Dreamlands setting books for the Call of Cthulhu RPG, which they made for the 2nd and 5th editions (I believe a new volume of Dreamlands is in the works for CoC 7th ed). <br /><br />In terms of the layout and two-page spreads (which have been spotlighted in the review and mentioned in the comments), I’ll give you a bit of insight into my process which may interest your readers. I write all the text from raw to edited state purely within the final page layout. I use InDesign. I make decisions about page structure, typeface styles, font spacing, margin widths, heading sizes, etc, even before I begin the writing. This gives me full control over the layout, and allows me to edit as I write to make things fit onto one or two pages - it’s intentional. I learned about this technique from reading an interview with Kevin Crawford (from Stars Without Number fame), who writes all his books using this method. I find the two-page method can also have downsides, as it may compel the text to have a terse (and perhaps sterile) quality, because of the limitations imposed on the layout. For example, if you’ve designed a page where the description of a dungeon room MUST be in one column only, it sometimes demands a particular kind of writing. It's a parameter that some writers wouldn't want to work within.Vasili Kalimanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03984616402869560100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973193492803191556.post-67866034292597766152021-09-22T13:06:15.391-07:002021-09-22T13:06:15.391-07:00I think this is a great point about upsides and do...I think this is a great point about upsides and downsides about two page spreads. Going out on a limb here, but I also think it's a problem when there's *not enough* information to fit the rigid two-page spread. You end up with uneven amounts of blank space on different pages that otherwise resemble each other, and so it looks uneven and ragged. On a separate note: I hope you one day find your Hodgson-inspired RPG material!Ben L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04568198881628052274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973193492803191556.post-25341872801155294932021-09-22T12:55:47.266-07:002021-09-22T12:55:47.266-07:00Thanks, Trey! And thank you again for bringing thi...Thanks, Trey! And thank you again for bringing this one to my attention.Annehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15493700749333105771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973193492803191556.post-39620342424568239492021-09-22T12:54:21.489-07:002021-09-22T12:54:21.489-07:00Thanks, atanamar! I'm glad you were able to fi...Thanks, atanamar! I'm glad you were able to find a copy.Annehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15493700749333105771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973193492803191556.post-13778409148276147172021-09-22T11:00:06.315-07:002021-09-22T11:00:06.315-07:00Good review!Good review!Treyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04647628467658839351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6973193492803191556.post-90280348324277834122021-09-22T08:53:47.178-07:002021-09-22T08:53:47.178-07:00Thanks so much for this review! I'd taken a l...Thanks so much for this review! I'd taken a look at Night Land on DTRPG and didn't think I'd be able to find it in print, so very happy to see the adventure in their store along with a few other Singing Flame zines I'd wanted!atanamarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17369207355770059506noreply@blogger.com