AAW Games LLC, 2017
206 pages, 8.5″x11″
Fonts, D&D 5e Version: Andada, Junction, TeX Gyre Bonum
Fonts, Pathfinder 1e Version: Mirage Gothic, Alegreya, Georgia

This was one of AAW Games LLC’s most ambitious projects to date. Normally, independent tabletop role playing game publishers use print-on-demand services, as they have a very low cost overhead. In this case, Jonathan G. Nelson decided that we would create a full print run. That meant pulling out all the stops.

Jonathan specifically requested that I create trade dress that would harmonize with books published by Wizards of the Coast (publisher of Dungeons & Dragons) and Paizo (Publisher of Pathfinder) so that the books would look nice when opened next to products created by those companies. This meant walking a delicate line: ensuring that the books still had a look unique to AAW, but which would still evoke the feeling of the other company’s texts. This also meant that I had to create two completely different layouts for two different texts: effectively, two books instead of one. Justin Andrew Mason created the two different types of stationary for each layout, and I then used Mates Laurentiu’s artwork combined with different stock art, textures, and photoshop brushes to complete the look. I also sourced fonts that were similar to Wizards and Paizo’s trade dress, but different enough to be distinct.

I continued this when I worked on Occult Secrets of the Underworld, using the same stationary originally provided by Justin. I also refined my technique, especially for the banner splash pages at the start of each chapter.

Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition

Pathfinder 1st Edition