Ok, folks check out the Forge logo I created for Cafe Press items, T-shirts etc. It's not meant to trump anything Ron & Clinton have going, just to contribute what I can!

http://www.chimera.info/demos/forge_logo.gif

I'd love to hear comments, suggestions, and any continued ideas you might have for what might appear on the back of a shirt w/ this logo on the front.

I have this image in my head, something like the signature clip for, phew, it was some production studio. Well, anyway, it goes like this:

Hot, glowing metal poured into a mold. Cut to a forge workshop, with fire, dark lighting, and of course, an anvil. Some brawny dude going WHANG WHANG WHANG at some item we can't see because his furry back is in the way. Cut to a closeup of the red-hot cube (of course y'all know what this is by now), then the camera follows the cube tightly into the quenching water (it's held by big chunky forge-style pliers, of course), and whshhhhhh, it's brought back out to reveal a solid steel six-sider.

Now obviously this is probably beyond the Forge's collective means to produce, and kind of useless anyway. But what it made me think of is that in the line-art for the forge, it would be nice to include something that actually calls gaming to mind, that brings up craft along with the badass connotations of a big ol' anvil. A while ago there was an interesting discussion on rec.games.frp.advocacy, I think it was, about a universal recognition tag for RPGers generally--my favorite was the masks of tragedy & comedy with a die or dice between. But anyway.

What about putting a die & a hammer in there somewhere, to get some implied motion in the thing? I think that would be, as they say, schweeeet.

--TQuid

I think Matt's logo, with its stark black-ness, would look absolutely great on an ash-grey t-shirt or sweatshirt. The only thing that I'm not certain about is the repetition of "indie RPGs'. I know the top one's the URL, and we need that, but it seems redundant.

Is the problem with the old logo that it was in color? I kinda liked it. Not that Matt's isn't pretty cool as well. I like the whole "forged die" imagery as well.

As far as a universal symbol for gamers, the RPGA already has the polyhedron, which seems to suit well.

Mike

Thanks for the feedback thus far -- after sleeping on it, I found things I don't like about the design, as I usually do after walking away. So, clearly, this is a first draft.

I think Clinton's right about how well this would show up on a T-shirt. That was part of my goal -- to create a stark image that would work on a number of media -- cloth, small cards perhaps, etc.

I'll keep tinkering and post another draft later on.

Ok, here's that 2nd draft I mentioned. You'll see it's largely the same design with some tweaking. Based on suggestions I got from Ron, I'm working on another version that will look similar, but with "The Forge" inset in the anvil itself.

http://www.chimera.info/demos/forge_logo2.gif

I really liked the "Indie RPGs" at the bottom of the anvil in your first design, and I like the idea of "the FORGE" inset in the anvil.

The question then becomes where to put "www.indie-rpgs.com" - on top the anvil, waiting to be forged? Across the bottom - perhaps on a chunk of wood the anvil rests upon?

Anyway, just one man's thoughts . . .

Gordon

If you want to be properly thematic, the text "Indie RPGs" should be on top of the forge, waiting to be, uh, forged. :)