Creative Director
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When we print a watermark or other texture in the background of an adventure, we try to keep that background faint and unobtrusive. What do people think: are they too visible? We can always lighten them up more or do them less, but I personally think that they look pretty nice with backgrounds like that. And although players never see the magazine, it still needs to look awesome; DMs deserve pretty picturs and neat-looking adventures just as much as players do... perhaps more, since they do so much work!
As for ink costs... I believe that it costs us the same if we print a white page with a single black dot in the center as it does if we print a rainbow elemental fighting an animated box of 64 crayons; changing the backgrounds wouldn't save any money.
When we print a watermark or other texture in the background of an adventure, we try to keep that background faint and unobtrusive. What do people think: are they too visible? We can always lighten them up more or do them less, but I personally think that they look pretty nice with backgrounds like that. And although players never see the magazine, it still needs to look awesome; DMs deserve pretty picturs and neat-looking adventures just as much as players do... perhaps more, since they do so much work!
As for ink costs... I believe that it costs us the same if we print a white page with a single black dot in the center as it does if we print a rainbow elemental fighting an animated box of 64 crayons; changing the backgrounds wouldn't save any money.
Wow. Someone needs to write an adventure with that epic rainbow elemental vs. crayon box battle in it.
Then again, that black dot sounds pretty sweet...
When we print a watermark or other texture in the background of an adventure, we try to keep that background faint and unobtrusive. What do people think: are they too visible? We can always lighten them up more or do them less, but I personally think that they look pretty nice with backgrounds like that.
As one of the DMs/readers who makes a habit of scanning the adventures that I use from Dungeon in order to prep my games, I would strongly vote for the little-to-no watermark option. Although I don't use OCR like some others do, I have noticed that the image scans that I use in Adobe Acrobat are more difficult to read when the background has watermarks.
When we print a watermark or other texture in the background of an adventure, we try to keep that background faint and unobtrusive. What do people think: are they too visible?
In issue 140, I found the black text on orange sidebars (e.g. in "Bullywug Gambit") to be attractive and legible in good lighting conditions, but rather difficult to read in dimmer light.
White pages, black text - definitely the way to go. I, like LV, scan (and OCR) at least portions of the adventures and the watermarks make for a lot more work correcting reading errors.
White pages, black text - definitely the way to go. I, like LV, scan (and OCR) at least portions of the adventures and the watermarks make for a lot more work correcting reading errors.
I don't mind a little color, but I too have found the watermarks a bit excessive in the Savage Tide (both Dungeon and the Savage Tidings in Dragon). I almost couldn't read the new Savage Tidings in one sitting due to eye strain. I'm not sure if it's the color, or just the fact that the design has so much going on that it draws your eyes away from the text.
To tell you the truth, I hadn't even noticed the watermarks in the background before I read this thread, so they're obviously not too bad.
I found the watermark in "There is no Honor" to be distracting. More than once, I found myself trying to rub dust or dirt off my issue, only to find it was the watermark. There were also times where I had to really stare at the page to see the word. That breaks the flow of reading. But - I have terrible eyesight, so I may not be the best judge of legibility out there.
It was a little distracting in There Is No Hoinor, but all the pictres were dark as well. I believe you mentioned something about an issue with the printer.
Nice idea, but it does make the eyes strain a bit.
Here's a vote for the rainbow elemental and the crayon box.
I like the watermark in both "There Is No Honor" and "The Bullywug Gambit". It's considerably darker in my copy of the first adventure than the second, which I too attributed to whatever caused the unexpected darkening of the illustrations in issue 139.
The only instance that I found somewhat overdone was Dragon's "Savage Tidings, Beyond Sasserine." In contrast, however, I thought the colorful backgrounds in "Hitting the Bullseye" and, most particularly, "Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Dagon", were gorgeous, adding splendor and atmosphere to both articles.
I'm against switching either magazine's colorful graphic display to simple black-on-white text. Ugh. I get that in my newspapers, my legal journals, and all of my art magazines (even Photoshop User is bland). After all the pedestrian graphics in the other periodicals I must read, sinking into the rich, creative colors of DUNGEON or DRAGON is a joy. Please don't take that simple pleasure away!
The watermarks should go. I find it difficult to read STAP because of them. The background can be any color as long as there aren't any watermarks to mess with the text. I would like to think that my vision is still somewhat normal but if it's causing problems for me, what would it do for someone who really vision impaired?
I too like to scan some of the module for use during the game but I've decided that it would be too much trouble to "fix" the text because of the watermark so I probably won't use STAP. Hmmmmmm..... a low-tech DRM? :) Having a mag in front of me is just more difficult to use when DMing for some reason.
If the watermark has to stay, I would suggest only putting it on the first page of the adventure.
--Ray.
As someone with more than a little astigmatism, I can use all the help I can get focusing quickly on text (especially stat blocks during the heat of combat). There have been a few issues that have given me trouble due to the background images.
I'll agree that the Savage Tidings articles have been rather harsh on the eyes but heck, even the new encounter format pages in WotC's Expedition to Castle Ravenloft are a little straining in places. At least they lightened the areas behind the stat blocks.
To give you an example of how much this can affect some people, the main reason I never ran the original Forgotten Realms boxed set was due to the parchment paper the books were printed on. Also, I didn't buy Goodman Game's Gazetteer of the Known Realms because of the heavy watermark they used behind every page of the books inside the boxed set. RPG accessories are meant to be used in game and for quick reference. If the graphic design will not allow that, they're useless to me and many others
Hmn. I personally LIKE the watermarks.
After reading Dungeon (and Dragon) for the past 20 years, the magazine has "grown up" and become something to look forward to every month.
The inclusion of (nearly) unobtrusive art in the background adds a mark of professionalism that seems complementary to the adventure.
Or, we could go back to the "Nostalgia Days" of issues below #50. Just seems like a step backward, in my opinion.
I also like the watermarks. Though it wouldn't hurt my feelings if they were softened a bit. Having them on the pages gives the overall feeling of the magazine a sense of depth, like there is even more there than just the written content. Almost like bonus artwork, adds a bit of the feel and flair to what you are reading.