6 HOURS LEFT! We are in the twilight of the Inkvein campaign: if you like the look of those stretch goals and haven’t backed it yet, now is the time! We're closing in on the print-at-home battlemaps!

To tempt you further, and give backers more previews, here’s a look at the ‘one-spread’ centric design of Inkvein’s layout.

The argument that information in a ttrpg book should not be split across multiple spreads is not new, but it’s something that we continue to see in the industry despite this popular rule.

Inkvein holds to this rule and then some. It is strict about space and layout. Make no mistake, detail isn’t sacrificed for this, but usability is more important than ever in a megadungeon. Let’s take a look.

It was important for me to get the contents on one spread. The pdf will be hyperlinked to the point of driving me up the wall, but for the physical copy, having a single spread that shows you where to find everything is essential in a book like this.

I took the same approach for the overview of the book. It’s easy for an adventure of this size to feel intimidating: our answer to this problem is a single spread overview that guides you through how to digest the book.

We use the same technique for the history of the dungeon…

And all the additional sub-systems in the book. Alchemy fits on one spread: procedures, reagents (ingredients), and recipes.

For locations, whether they are caverns, places in the city of Wel, or sub-dungeons, descriptions always fit within a spread. For the city of Wel, sub-locations fit on a spread or a page.

Locations within the cave network never run between pages, and a mini-map is included to minimise page switching.

And for islands within the Sea of Words, each is contained on a single page which details their mini-pointcrawl.

I value detail in an adventure: I often find dungeons that summarise locations in brevity tough to run. But detail doesn’t mean usability needs to suffer. By segmenting information properly and setting spatial constraints, Inkvein is a joy to use at the table. It’s detailed but digestible: the best of both worlds.

We've got one more sneak preview before the campaign closes... something a bit special. See you soon!