[Tex/LaTex] Authoring RPG books in LaTeX: what packages to use

bookspublishing

I am intending on authoring a role playing game (RPG) and was wondering which LaTeX packages I should use. I have most of the useful PDF packages installed: bookmarks, graphicx, etc..

Pen and paper role playing games have a wide range for formatting mostly adding tables, graphics (images, maps, etc…), and text. The latter can be in-character fiction, generic descriptions, and game rules. Some have layouts that are genra specific (for example, science fiction will have a printed circuit board border between two columns). A good example of layout would be Eclipse Phase which you can get here — creative commons.

The main book layout seems to do most of what I need it to. However, I have seen the memoir class that seems to more more suitable but I have had no experience in using it. Does anyone?

For indexes, I use the makeidx package, is there anything better?

Any other suggestions of packages that would be helpful for authoring RPGs?

Nothing is wrong with what I am currently using, I am just looking for people who have done the same kind of things for something "better" than the default.

Best Answer

Tables

There are any number of packages for improving the look of tables and adding extra functionality. Here is an excellent summary.

If you want sideways tables, the rotating packge's sidewaystable environment might be useful.

If you're building a big book, you probably don't want to recompile for every time you make some change to a big table. The standalone package allows you to keep the big table in a separate file which can be compiled separately.

Graphics

Including pictures can easily be done with the graphics or graphicx packages.

Drawing your own diagrams can be achieved with tikz or with pstricks.

Adding a background image to the page could be achieved with eso-pic. (I think, I haven't tested this).

Large scale formatting

As Martin mentioned in the comments, memoir is a nice package for typesetting books. Given that your aim is to present information, rather than be bound by the niceities of typograhical convention, KOMA-script's scrbook might be more easily customisable, though this is a matter of taste.

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