Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Brave Halfling Publishing ushers in the new Labyrinth Lord module branding...

Just a quick note to report that as part of the revamp to the Labyrinth Lord presentation, I designed a new branding appearance in consultation with John of Brave Halfling Publishing, which they've already begun to implement here.

The current compatibility logo remains available for the time being. However, this standard Labyrinth Lord dress is now available by request to publishers using the free Labyrinth Lord trademark license. It's purely optional, because some publishers may prefer their own branding, but we make this available in a continued effort to create a unified push to get more people playing old school games. Keep an eye out for further changes over the coming months!

Oh one last thing, we are releasing a module of our own within the next few weeks, called "Idol of the Orcs," by James C. Boney. It is an introductory module for characters of levels 1-3.

12 comments:

Moritz said...

I got my three print copies of "Fortress" in the new design this morning and they look pretty cool! Old School and modern at the same time!

Unknown said...

I like the look of it! Very cool stuff!

Dan of Earth said...

Glad you like the design!

ze bulette said...

What's the new font? I see it's no longer the Quentin EF/Outlaw style. Looks a little like Blackletter, I likey.

Dan of Earth said...

Yep, it's a black letter with some customization for the main title.

Anonymous said...

If I may be the (respectful) voice of dissent.

The font is cool. I do like it, but...S&W uses a similar font. I don't know if it's a good idea to use something so close.

Also, the 'dress' is, well, boring. Hey, I like the old-school look and style as much as the next nerd, but imo this doesn't exactly scream "Play me!", ya know? It looks too sedate.

-Eric

Dan of Earth said...

As for S&W... A year ago before S&W came out I was working toward a font like this, as you may or may not have seen in the distro drive LL certificates, then S&W was released using the exact same font (the HPL black letter) so I delayed making any switch. So call it co-evolution if you want to. Plus since the whole look of S&W is going to change when the other publisher takes over, it's really irrelevant.

In any case different strokes for different folks. Right now you only have a choice in whether you want derivative in terms of monochrome, plain background with half page color illustration, or something a little different like what we're doing with the new LL format.

So this format may not scream at you to play, but to me it says play the hell out of me. I think it rocks, so our ideas of sedate obviously differ. Plus, consider, this format is targeting an offline crowd, not the same crowd that is bombarded (and has been since 3.x) by old-school wannabe formats 24/7.

Anonymous said...

I can totally dig that you're targeting the off-line crowd, and I'm glad such is the case.

But it would seem to still only be targeting players who are nostalgic with the old-style look of the rpg products of yesteryear. I see value in that as well, but I figured that you'd be wanting to expand the audience beyond that.

Of course, I'm not saying that LL formats and art should look like every new product either. Gonzo costumes and impossibly huge swords and such silliness. It's a very good thing that things seem to be in the works to give LL and associated products its/their own visual identity.
I dunno. I s'pose in my head such a thing would have more..."wham".

Clearly, I'll support the game regardless, as well as decisions made by those directly involved. I only wished to offer my opinion, not try to direct or some such. :)

-Eric

Dan of Earth said...

No problem Eric. The thing is, people talk about these games needing a "modern" look but I've yet to see that defined. I think we've seen every variation possible for the module layout themes, when you consider all the publishers out there for various editions. So what is modern? It seems like to some extent people perceive modern as having various nonsensical elements, or a full page color painting, or layered images some of which are partly see-thru, etc. That's the safest route I suppose. I'd personally like to achieve balance between "unique" and "old-school." To me at least, old-school doesn't have to be one of those things you wake up next to in the morning and want to chew your own arm off to get away from! ;-) Besides, if reports coming in are true, people are looking for old-school right now, so you want to set your book apart from all the other "modern" stuff sitting on the shelf.

Anonymous said...

Dan,
I for one certainly don't think LL needs a "modern" look. I'll confess that I don't know exactly what that is either, except in cases of things that look youth-oriented, which usually are excessively bombastic and EXTREME!. But, heck, wadda I know?

I suppose it's really more an issue of attractive and eye-catching (and if it has an old-school look/flavor, that's just a plus for me, personally).
It's purely subjective, but I don't find the new LL module look from BHP very attractive. But, worse than that, and probably much more important, is that it isn't very eye-catching.
Perhaps that's the way I should have put my viewpoint in the first place (in my initial comment).
It somehow looks like it would be easily overlooked. I hope that makes more sense.

Best,
Eric

Tim Snider said...

I like the new branding font, and I see the main page of the GG site is using the same font. So I assume this is The Look To Come? It begs the question: What will the "branding for the other games produced look like? I can't envision Mutant Future using this font/style, but it will look out of place if it doesn't. Or am I reading too much into this and it's not a "sweeping" design change across GG's products?

Dan of Earth said...

There will be more changes, but there are still some undecided things for Mutant Future.