Oh, I'd actually be satisfied with less. I mean, sure - if I was allowed to entertain unrealistic / unreasonable solutions, I'd demand a public, Japanese-style apology from Bostria (with intense bowing, tears and all that ), as well as a new printing of the books with improved layout. But I know that's not going to happen. What I'd be satisfied would be, actually, if CB released a paid PDF version of the N4 set. Seriously, I understand that they need to make profit - and it's actually pretty great they are giving away the complete rulebook for free. I can pay for fluff, even in PDF form - I already have some hobby books in PDF form (like, say, a big set of Pathfinder 1E books I have deliberately been purchasing as e-books). CB weren't able to print the new books in a form I could read in paper? Yes, that would be a bit frustrating - but ultimately, I could live with selling the physical books and buying the PDFs instead. But CB doesn't give me that option - it's either trying to read the fluff book on paper (and going through the hoops with page magnifiers or new glasses), or not reading it all... This is surprising to me, because on the RPG side of my hobbies, PDF books are a standard. I buy stuff from Modiphius, Green Ronin, PEG, Paizo... and PDF is *always* offered as an alternative. Heck, Modiphius gives you *free* PDF editions of all physical books you purchase in their store. So, I don't understand why CB cannot do the same? It really wouldn't hurt their business... So, yeah - a paid PDF would be absolutely okay with me. Also, some basic comment on CB's side - we're having this discussion since September 25th and, so far, nobody from CB actually commented on the matter (aside from @psychoticstorm informing us that he cannot comment yet). It kind of irritates me, admittedly - I *like* CB as a company, but guys! Come on! Some simple acknowledgement of the complaints..? Paging Agent Gibbs... :D And yes, as Nuada observed - the layout isn't good, either. There's really a lot of wasted space that could be used to compensate for a bigger font. I have read a ton of RPG books and I won't be convinced that you cannot pack that amount of information into 380 pages without resorting to a miniscule font. Many RPG books have the same amount of information to cover, if not not more - and they do it, while still being readable. A good example would be the already mentioned MnM 3E book that covers a robust system, GMing basics, sample scenarios etc. in the space of 320 pages - with the font being larger and pages being much smaller...
I second your motion @Varsovian. I had problems reading previous books already, but that was mostly due to me being dyslectic on top of failing eyesight, the new core book is completely beyond my capabilities. That can change with electronic version of the book, being able to change colours of the background and the font and to adjust size of font itself makes a world of difference for me. I’d be really appreciate the PDF (or any other ebook format).
Many RPG companies nowadays gift you PDFs when you buy deadtree books and their market hasn't died because of that. That's an old '00s fearmongering of oldfashioned publishers. The incentive to buy deadtree is the nice colorful physical form, the limited miniature gifted with it, etc. When I buy Call of Cthulhu rulebooks and sourcebooks from Chaosium as PDFs months ahead of them being printed, I gladly pay 35 EUR for them because I know for a fact that since I bought directly from the publisher, they will lower the deadtree price for me by the exact amount I've spent on the PDF. CB could easily sell nice PDFs which can also get updated later on and deduct their price from the deadtree version while still giving the players a nice physical copy with a limited mini.
Absolutely tickled by the amount of typography discussion in this thread. Something I notice a lot in CB’s rulebook layouts is that the information hierarchy is sometimes unclear or isn’t consistently reflected by the typography. They could also tone down some of the heading sizes and line spacing just a bit, and free up a lot of space to accommodate slightly larger body type.
Hello @Varsovian ! Sorry to being late here, but I didn't noticed I was mentioned here >_< My apologies. I'm pretty sorry that you're having difficulties to read the book due to the font size :( I'll pass your feedback and concerns to the graphic design and layout team to be aware of it for upcoming publications. Have a nice day :)
That sounds like there is no consideration for helping Varsovian now, only looking towards possibly adjusting future products. I guess that's progress. In other news the font used for the body text in the CodeOne rules is Aglet Slab 8. In some of the examples they use a teal Aglet Slab 7. It seems they really like the small fonts.
Thank you :) Any chance for the PDF version of the books that was discussed here? Even a non-free one? It'd really be a step in a good direction for CB.
I second this, and urge CB to reconsider their approach. It is not an isolated, nor marginal problem. Accessiblity is crucial, and not just for people with disabilities, but for everyone. Both Code One and N4 were born out from the presumed needs for streamlining and improving the game's system and the rules, so it baffles me if they think that readability, legibility and visual appeal of those same rules and system components are not of utmost importance. Even the Infinity RPG has got the critique back in the day that it is one of the most difficult rpg to read. Not to play, but to read. CB seems to be in dire need of understanding, that they won't win over new players for their IPs, if they do not make the access as easy as possible, and that typography and visual design of their printed/written source materials is the very first step in that way. Potential new players won't bother to read the rules or the fluff if it is hard to read to begin with. It would be a shame if Infinity would get the same 'one of the most difficult, not to play, but to read' label like the RPG got.
It also seemed to me that the font size was a bit small. At least a couple more points in font size would have been better.
My copy has finally arrived and I have begun to read the fluff book. I agree, the font is marginally too small. I can read it, but it is just a little difficult to do so. I really struggled to read it at night with artificial lighting; it was somewhat easier with sunlight. I read a lot and read a wide variety of books. The poor readability of this is abnormal in my experience.
My copy arrived today. I'm confident that the font in the Core book is still 8 points. I think the reason people are having more trouble with it is not that the font is smaller than the Rules book. It's that it's mostly large blocks of text. The rules have a lot of headers with larger fonts, color boxes and bullet points to break up the content making it easier to read. Anyway, I can read it as is, but it's better if I take my glasses off. Because the font is smaller I want to bring it closer and that puts it inside the range band for my bifocals.
Fiddling with the rules pdf file, I have edited one page (#5) to see what the text would look like with a larger font size. The first paragraph («Infinity N4 es un juego competitivo...») is in the original size of the font (8 points), the second («Una vez preparada la mesa, los jugadores...») has a size of 9 points and the third («Durante la partida, las Rondas...») 10 points. I think that a font size of at least 10 points would help a lot to improve reading
I just got my book the other day and I didnt have any issues with reading the font size. And I don't have particularly good eyesight either.
Absolutely. Despite the fact that I'd like to own Octavia, I feel I've dodged a bullet for not preordering the rulebooks.
