Events in 2016 (Latest news: IRE playtest day?)

[Cortez]

Drat thought I'd found all the dates.

Ok, I've added my Email address should anyone need to contact me:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/6ali9680lq9oldz/IGT+2016+Event+Pack+V1.01.doc

p.s. I'd never even noticed the bit about the lack of air conditioning before.

[MarcoSkoll]

Right. After a bit of a delay, I finally booked my train tickets last night.

Looks like, more or less as usual, I'll be on the 0731 out of St Pancras, and the 1928 on the way back, so if there's anyone else on those trains, give me a heads up and we can try to meet up.

[Van Helser]

Just had a thought - last year we had those rather excellent leaflets on display, but not many were taken. Plenty of folk had a look at them, but I got the impression that people weren't sure if they were allowed to take one away. Would a sign explaining that we're holding the IGT and what Inquisitor is all about in simple terms, before suggesting people take a leaflet for more details, be a good idea? How many of the leaflets are kicking around as it stands?

Ruaridh

[MarcoSkoll]

It sounds like a reasonable idea. I'd personally suggest that it was generic, rather than specific to the IGT, so we've got something for any event - although I suppose there's no real reason both versions couldn't be made.

If we want to do signs/posters, I've still got a high-res version of the Conclave logo around:


It's not quite identical to the logo at the top of the page, but unlike the one at the top of the page, I have it in high resolution (8x the dimensions above) and I have the original files, so it's suitable for printing (it's all from the old 'Clave t-shirt project that never reached fruition) and could be adapted to go on a white background without too much difficulty.

There's also a textless version:


As far as available leaflets, I think I have about half a dozen left, but running off a few more is fairly trivial.

[MarcoSkoll]

Here's a rough draft for an abbreviated description. I'll likely mess around with it more, but I've pulled some key phrases from the leaflet and trimmed it down to about 150 words:

Inquisitor is a narrative wargame set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Unlike its older brother, Inquisitor is not about the front-line of mud and gas and behemoth engines. Instead, it is set amongst the internal and domestic complexities of the Imperium, where the Holy Inquisition wages shadow wars against subtle and insidious threats (even if they come from with its own ranks); a world where good and evil, right and wrong all merge into indistinct shades of grey.

Contrasting many tabletop games - where players field balanced 'armies' in an attempt to claim victory - the Inquisitor ethos is one of semi-competitive storytelling. It is wargaming for poets; part skirmish and part RPG, offering players the freedom to both envision and play a cast of characters with their personal drives, prejudices and heroics.

Inquisitor is your chance to tell the dramatic, daring (and sometimes clumsy) stories of these unsung heroes... or villains.

[greenstuff_gav]

is it possible to have a slew of photos from different people?
just thinking a mix of the best figures'd help as there are very different styles around, some love blanchian works, some hate that style for example!

[MarcoSkoll]

I'm not sure the sign itself needs pictures on it (there's already quite a few to look at in the leaflets).
My inclination would be to keep it fairly simple - a logo, some fairly large print text, maybe style the thing with an suitable but unobtrusive border or background.

Anyway. Three possible versions of the 'Clave logo to go on white paper. My personal thinking is probably #3, as #1 is a bit hard to read and #2 is a bit too demonic with that "glowing black".

[greenstuff_gav]

i agree, but maybe fill in the skulls eye sockets as that's a bit unnerving too!

unrelated note, i has a slew of goodies to donate to the prize pool

[MarcoSkoll]

A fair call. Versions #4 & 5 then:




I think my bet is on #5 now.

Throwing it into a very basic mock up, you might get something like this:



It could probably be prettier, but I'm not a graphic designer.

[Raghnall]

Version 5 is my favourite by a fair margin, although I actually liked the 'glowing black' from version 2. The text is good as well, but I would like to see some sort of quote on it. Maybe not the clichéd 'EYHBTIAL' line, but something like that.

Looking through the first few pages of the LRB, I find several possibilities.

"You accuse me of being a madman. What right have you to judge what is sane and what is not?"

"I have fought with the shadows on the edge of your vision.
I have seen the faces that laugh at you in your nightmares."

"I have entered the realms between worlds where there is no time or place.
I have clashed with creatures the sight of which would sear your soul to the core."

[MarcoSkoll]

A quote isn't a bad idea. I prefer the second of those, as it fits thematically better with the rest of the text.

On which note, I've tweaked the text again:

Away from the frontline of mud and gas and behemoth engines, there is still war.

Amongst the internal and domestic complexities of the Imperium, the Holy Inquisition and their allies wage shadow wars against subtle and insidious threats (even those from within its own ranks) - conflicts where good and evil, right and wrong all merge into indistinct shades of grey.

This is the world of Inquisitor, Games Workshop's 2001 narrative wargame.

Built around semi-competitive storytelling, Inquisitor is wargaming for poets. Innovative, unique and flexible, it combines RPG and skirmish elements to offer players the opportunity to envision and play a complete cast of characters, complete with all their personal drives, prejudices and heroism.

Inquisitor is your chance to tell the dramatic, daring (or sometimes clumsy) stories of such unsung heroes... or villains.

Rather than telling people what it's not like (e.g. "Unlike its older brother", "Contrasting many tabletop games"), I've pruned that down, which takes about 20 more words off the count. The leaflet can handle the specifics.

That gives us something like this, depending on whether the quote looks better before or after the text:

[Van Helser]

That looks good. I would go for the first option.

[Raghnall]

Agreed, the quote looks better at the top. I can't quite place my finger on it, but there just seems to be something off with the second design. Whether it's that it's jarring to be suddenly drawn in character like that, or just that the line length matches up better with the logo than the main body of the text, I can't decide, but it is better at the top. Definitely the right quote though, and I can't find anything thematically better.

[Heroka Vendile]

#5 is best version of banner.
Quote at top is best positioning.

I think it's just fine in it's functionality, I could prettify it a little, but my computer is going in for a service tomorrow and then I'm away on holiday.

[MarcoSkoll]

The quote at the top is my preference too, but I thought I'd try it both ways.

If anyone has any thoughts on the main text, feel free to chip in with those too. I did briefly consider "there is still only war" for the end of the first line, as the whole sentence is an attempt to sort of play on the famous "grim darkness of the far future" tag-line (mixing in that "mud and gas" line from the Eisenhorn foreword), although I felt it wasn't entirely true to the spirit of Inquisitor (which is not only about war).

I'm also not certain that "Games Workshop's 2001 narrative wargame" is necessarily quite the best way to describe it; I'm not sure I'd describe Necromunda or the like by release date, for example.
I'd sort of like to keep "narrative wargame" (as that's the genre the rulebook uses to describe itself), and wouldn't mind working in "Specialist Game", but at the moment my attempts to combine the two...

... well, I mean, something like "the narrative wargame from Games Workshop's Specialist Games range" isn't catastrophic, but it sure has the word "game" in it a lot.