So the very short story on how I got to this moment is as follows: The OSRIC 3.0 Kickstarter that happened a while back included an option for a landscape-formatted long rules tome for the Player's Guide and the GM's Guide. I, in my moment of weakness to novelty, ordered the landscape edition of both books with my order. Then some other shenanigans happened leading to a delay of the shipment, but they did eventually arrive.
Queue to now! I have been getting thoroughly back into the OSR groove, but mostly with Shadowdark and Old-School Essentials, both of which are lovely digest-edition rulebooks by design, extremely convenient to drag around and reference at the table. But I have not done anything as of yet with OSRIC, which is odd one might say, as the ruleset that OSRIC emulates (AD&D) is indeed well within the scope of the "ruleset that will most accurately scratch my 80's and 90's era itch" wheelhouse. So what gives?
The landscape format, that's what! It's a damned akward way to manage a rules tome designed for frequent reference. The satisfaction of long-wise pages opening up with extensive charts is brutally offset by the utter lack of proper utility in design. You can't open it in your lap and flip through it comfortably (well I can't anyway); you can't open it up behind the GM screen for reference because the landscape format makes the book longer than the hidden space behind your GM screen can comfortably accomodate. The paper used in the books is a bit thinner than normal, meaning there's a constant risk of a rip or tear while flipping through it.
It's ultimately more proof that landscape books work best in a specific environment: the coffee table, where long-form books go to reside and be admired by guests for their contents in an utterly casual environment, and not as game table references. I remember now that I ran in to the same problem with the "Your Best Game Ever" book from Monte Cook games, though in defense of that book it actually makes a fine coffee table tome to have lying around for casual inspection in the safety of a large common table area.*
Okay, my rant is over with! To show how much I am bothered by the lack of utility for the format, as well as how much I'd like to use OSRIC 3.0 at the table soon, I have now caved in and ordered some standard format copies from Mythmere.
*Monte Cook Games earns a different ire though for the fold-out pages in the Cypher Bestiary, which are terrible ideas for use at the game table. Paizo also gets some condemnation for the use of these fold-out pages in one of their books, too, The Lost Omens Dragons book iirc.
Post Script: You know, I can't think of too many other game books in this format off-hand. Trilemma Adventures did publish their collection of lovely maps and dungeons in a landscape format, but that was a sturdy book with very sturdy pages. Maybe the real issue with OSRIC 3.0's books is that the pages are too thin. If the paper quality had been higher then the sturdiness factor would have offset the landscape format a bit.
