WANTED: Graphic Designers for an Asian Fantasy RPG Character Sheet (Contest)

[Andy Kitkowski]

[Andy Kitkowski]

OVERVIEW<PRIZES
The winner of the contest will receive $50.00 Cash (US), plus a free copy of the final Tenra Bansho Zero RPG (plus shipping) when it is released in early 2009.
The runner up in the contest will receive $20.00 Cash (US), plus a free copy of the final Tenra Bansho Zero RPG (plus shipping) when it is released in early 2009.
The third place winner will receive a free copy of the pre-release Tenra Bansho Zero rules (plus shipping) when it is released in late summer 2008.
For people outside the US, I will send the money via Paypal or International Postal Money Order (your choice).

DATES
Begins Immediately (June 05, 2008) and lasts until 11:59PM on the evening of Sunday, June 29th, 2008. A little over three weeks, and 4 weekends. Submissions are entertained at any point throughout the contest, up until the cut off date (Monday the 30th).

JUDGING<MATERIALS<FORMAT<SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
1) See format guidelines.
2) When you submit, compress all materials you are submitting with RAR, ZIP or TAR.
3) If possible, email the set to me at ziggurat ATMARK gmail.com
4) You can also post your materials online somewhere (your own website, etc), and send me the download link.
5) If neither method is available for you, contact me before Friday June 27th, 2008 and we will work something out.
6) You can submit as many different character sheets as you want before the deadline.

PUBLISHING RIGHTS<QUESTIONS
can be directed to Andy K, at ziggurat ATMARK gmail.com or through private messaging here at The Forge.

[Illetizgerg]

Sounds like fun! Now I've just got to find some Japanese-esque fonts that are royalty free.

- Gregory Zitelli

[Andy Kitkowski]

Thanks for your interest, Gregory! 

Yeah, I want to make sure that if people use fonts, they own the rights to them.

However, I don't want that to be too much of a tripping point ("Damn, I don't have any asian-y fonts, I can't participate!"). I'm looking more for clever information arrangement and general design over the fonts themselves, when it comes down to it.

In the end, if it's a concern for you, I have access and license for this font called Linotype Seven, a brushstroke-looking font that is used for section headers and the like in the actual Japanese Tenra Bansho Zero book. It's a sweet font when used sparingly (too much use, and it's simply overdose; hard to read, etc).

http://www.linotype.com/10120/linotypesevenregular-font.html

So, like, if you had an awesome character sheet, but just didn't have a cool font like the above to highlight a section or a few words, then you could perhaps make a note of that:

"I used ARIAL for the titling on the border of the page. However, in a final version I'd have liked to use that Linotype Seven font." And in that case, I'd do the replacement from my side (unfortunately I can't simply share the font with all the folks participating, because of the terms of Linotype's agreement on using their fonts once purchased) and weigh that in at judging.

In other words, if you can find some rocking royalty-free fonts, go for it! Just know that:
- Fonts, while nice, are lesser on my priority scale than just overall nice design, data arrangement, etc.
- And if it helps, you can imagine parts of your sheet using the above font: Let me know you're doing so, and I'll take that into consideration.

I just don't want anyone to not join simply because they don't have a good font, when they're sitting on a great idea for a sheet layout (which holds far more weight in my opinion).

Thanks!
-Andy

[Illetizgerg]

Do you have official artwork that can be featured on the sheet? In particular, a nice logo would probably be helpful.

- Gregory Zitelli

[Andy Kitkowski]

Do you have official artwork that can be featured on the sheet? In particular, a nice logo would probably be helpful.

Heya: Unfortunately, because of complications that I haven't explored the depth of at this point, there isn't any official art that I can throw out to be used on the sheet.

There is a logo, if you wish to use it: http://www.tenra-rpg.com/secret-samples/tenra_logo.jpg . However, it's kind of a giveaway. There's no extra credit for using it or anything like that. But if it helps you organize your design-brain, feel free to look at it/use it.

Thanks!
-Andy

[Andy Kitkowski]

Only 10 days left (and two weekends) to get in on the action!  We're already received a few submissions, so there's a good chance of winning with a little creativity and effort!

-Andy