This afternoon, before heading in, I laid out the cover for Black Tokyo Unlimited, and thought I'd preview it here. The cover illustration is by John Picot- I've had this image in my morgue for a while, and I knew I was going to use it for BTU the moment I saw it.
Font geekery: I chose the "Invisible Killer" font, as opposed to the "Flat Earth Scribe" font I initially planned on. Not only does using Invisible Killer recall Black Tokyo's first edition, for which Mark used the font, it just looks a lot stronger and punchier. I had tried a variety of color schemes and layout using Flat Earth Scribe, but none of them had the sheer visceral, movie-poster feel that using the blood red Invis. Killer font did.
Over the last couple days, I've added about 15 pages to the manuscript. Right now, the raw text file tops out at about 115,000 words, or about 290 pages, up from 275 pages at the beginning of the weekend. The new content includes more options for the Hentai Hero class, a new Modern Spellcaster archetype, and lots of cultural sidebars, on subjects ranging from how a Japanese arcade looks to how the Japanese Self Defense Forces are percieved by the public at large. Basically, one of the things I want to do with BTU is write a setting with enough depth in the text, that it will feel like Japan (or at least a cinematic equivalent) even if a 17 year old kid who's never been out of his home state is running it. I don't think I gave enough a sense of culture in the first edition, and I hope I correct that oversight with BTU.
So when can you expect Black Tokyo's second edition? I'm going to start laying the book out during mid-week sometime, and will likely have a finished book available at RPGnow within 2 weeks.
CHRIS
1 comment:
The cover looks great! I can't wait to see the final product.
I'm particularly looking forward to the new Modern Spellcaster archetype.
Keep up the good work.
~Chris Mattson
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