I hope you didn’t get the feeling that I thought the brief descriptions were a bad idea, I think they were a great addition to have above and beyond a product that would have been “just artwork”, but I would have loved if they were longer so that’s what I said in my review. I can completely understand the limits of printing and having space in a product. I’ll be taking a look at the third issue shortly and I’ll be sure to let you know how it looks!

Appreciate you taking the time to talk about our product. Its a tough but fair review. And since I was the one who came up with adding ‘Initiative Intros’ the buck stops with me for their criticism.

So a brief explanation. I wanted to include something additional besides simply the name of the piece & patron who commissioned it, as both of these bits are not likely useful to a reader. But one of the challenges was what could be fit in the little space we had available.

The other issue was that we didn’t want to limit the DMs by presuming what they would do with an image. The design deliberately was left generalized to allow more utility. In the end, Initiative Intros are tiny calls to action, sort of like a writing prompt. They don’t tell the story, they (along with the art) just help get the story started.

Essentially, its all about using a K.I.S.S. format. And I think some of the Intros have a depth to them, even in a few sparse sentences. In the end, the goal is to have the DM read a brief bit of text which purely lands the ‘what now’ ball into the player’s side.

I’ll be sending you a copy of our ‘Monster-sized’ double issue (#3) to let you see if we did any better. And as testament to what you’re saying, there are plans in the works to use the web to give additional info such as stat blocks or backstory to each piece of art. And- this should make you extra happy- it will involve an upcoming cross promotion with Yax & DM Tools.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

Steve G.
Project Manager
AvatarArt
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