In search of a proper font.

[Ail]

Hi,

I'd like to know what fonts you use, if any, when you want to show to the players or others a message that was handwritten, say, in a letter or a book, but with care and refinement. Plus, the particular text I have in mind was written in 350 BC (barovian calendar, not Before Christ).

I have been experimenting with teh default fonts in Windows XP, and I favoured the several scripts, but their readability is sub-par, and that's what is annoying me.

So far, I found interesting:
Blackadder
French Script
Kunstler Script
Palace Script
Parchment

For me, the most readable font of these is French Script, but it does not seem old enough. Parchment is interesting, but either it is me or it becomes extremely difficult to read, compounded with the fact that I'm writing in a make-believe Latin.

The other fonts are too slanted and although all of them are very elegant, they either are not easily readable or seem to recent.

Given the choice, what would you pick?
This is not a completely idle choice, since eventually this text will appear in The Veranda as part of my campaign and you are the target audience anyway....

Ail

[Jasper]

The best gothic style hand writing font I've found is called A theme for Murder.



It has that quill pen and runny ink style you see in old horror movies.

You can get it here-

http://www.1001fonts.com/font_details.html?font_id=2902

[Ail]

The best gothic style hand writing font I've found is called A theme for Murder.



It has that quill pen and runny ink style you see in old horror movies.

You can get it here-

http://www.1001fonts.com/font_details.html?font_id=2902

I'm sorry to say that is not at all what I was looking for
What I wanted was a refined, composed, even elegant handwriting that at the same time could be well read.

But thanks anyway Also I was trying to rely on default fonts that almost anyone could be expected to have installed.

Ail

[Samael Hands of Stone]

Love that font.

Another good source is http://www.dafont.com/ it even has a "gothic" section.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I'm afraid you're going to find that a font "almost anyone could be expected to have installed" is going to leave with three choices: courier, times new roman, and arial.

Not everyone has XP. I don't have any of the fonts you listed on 98 or 2000.

If you're willing to download some free fonts, here are some that I've used. Not all fit your current need, but they're all good for assorted RL stuff. I don't have handy links for them, but you should be able to google them up:

A Charming Font (the font from the credits of Charmed. Refined with a fairy-tale-like quality)
BethanysHand (a very plain and simple handwritten font)
Buffied (the font from the credits of Buffy. Maybe too bloody and dripping for your purpose)
Carmilla (an elegant, slightly italic font. Not quite handwritten looking)
Crosspatchers delight (my go-to font for psychopath's notes. too sloppy for your purpose)
Daresiel Demo (fancy caligraphy kind of font)
Dark Horse (another psychopath font with think brushstrokes)
Edwardian Script ITC (fancy swirly caligraphy)
Herman Decanus AH (thick fountain-pen kind of old fashioned letter writing font)
Mariette Tryout (kind of dainty handwriting)
Mistral (a bit messy, but pretty script)
The Alchemist (kinda Tim Burtony, eccentric)
Treasure Map Deadhand (the pirate font!)
Untidy Italic Skrawl (for hastily written notes)
Wolves and Ravens (kinda runic looking block letters)

PS - thanks for "a theme for murder" Jasper. I'm definately gonna use that!

[Rotipher of the FoS]

I've used Monotype Corsiva for player hand-outs a lot. It's maybe not as antiquated as you're looking for, but it's both dramatic and readable, and sometimes that's worth a slight fudging as to how old something looks. Ravenloft's never been too hung-up on pseudo-historical anachronism, in any case; check out Strahd's post-medieval pipe organ, if you doubt that.

If you're looking for a font that's really consistent with a 350 date, you might check out the lettering used in the various products' renderings of Strahd's classic "I am the Ancient, I am the Land" rant. I'm not sure if you could find that exact font, but certainly there's bound to be something close out there.

[Ail]

I'm afraid you're going to find that a font "almost anyone could be expected to have installed" is going to leave with three choices: courier, times new roman, and arial.

Not everyone has XP. I don't have any of the fonts you listed on 98 or 2000.

Indeed you're right. This must have been my own prejudice taking the best of me. Still, you gave a very good list and I'm going to look into some of them. Some I already knew.

Regarding Rotipher's advice, I've also used Monotype Corsiva some time ago and I always turn to that one sooner or later too. It's one of my favourite fonts.

Thanks all again.

Ail

[Rotipher of the FoS]

No problem! BTW, if you do track down a font that looks like Strahd's most oft-cited quotation, could you post and let us know? I'm sure a lot of DMs out there would like to know which one that is.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Sorry to disappoint, but the Tome of Strahd seems to be printed in some pretty boring fonts.

In the original I6, it's just in Times Roman.
In the 25th anniversary version, it's in ITALICIZED Times Roman
In the Black Box, it's in Korinna, same as the rest of the 2e RL main text.
In the Red Box, it's again Korinna, but this time italicized and RED.
In Domains of Dread, we get something somewhat interesting, but not too fancy. It appears to be Monotype Corsiva, or something similar, and it's RED again.

Ah, here we go... in R3E, it gets nice and pretty. This might be the one you were thinking of: Vinque. Nice and gothic, but not really a handwriting.

I don't have House of Strahd, so I don't know how it was rendered there...

EDIT: hold the phone, they actually changed the font between R3E and RLPH. Bizarre... they had time for that, but not for updating rules correctly to 3.5? It's something similar to Lombardic or Vinque, but it's neither of those. I don't have it in my collection. Still not handwritten, though.

[Ken of Ghastria]

First of all, thanks for the list of other fonts! Very cool, I must go Googling this weekend.

I used a font called Lucida Calligraphy when giving my Ravenloft PCs an entry from a journal. It worked really well. My work PC already had it installed, but I'm not sure if it's one of XP's default fonts.

--Ken

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

EDIT: hold the phone, they actually changed the font between R3E and RLPH. Bizarre... they had time for that, but not for updating rules correctly to 3.5? It's something similar to Lombardic or Vinque, but it's neither of those. I don't have it in my collection. Still not handwritten, though.

What? You expected them to do their job?

Silly gonzoron...

[Joël of the FoS]

For handscripts handouts, I ususlly use the Carmilla font too.

Joël