Arium TTRPG Books: Create and Discover

Year: 2020

Role: Book Designer

Tags: Branding , Game Design , Graphic Design , Infographics , Publication Design

The Challenge

Arium arrived as two companion books with a shared purpose: Arium: Create gives players the tools to build a world, and Arium: Discover gives them the rules to play in it. Both books needed to work together visually while each standing on its own, delivered simultaneously to Kickstarter backers after being produced in parallel.

Two Books, One Visual System

The books shared a predetermined format and needed to feel like a cohesive set. The logo and overall brand direction came from the Adept Icarus team, with Will Munn serving as Art Director for his creative vision. My responsibility was developing the interior layout, the back covers, and coordinating the cover designs to create a unified visual flow across both books.

Dense Content, Accessible Design

Arium: Create is built around procedural world-building rules — structured, text-heavy content that could easily feel like a dry reference manual. The challenge was making that density feel approachable and even inspiring to indie TTRPG players, whether they were new to the hobby or experienced world-builders.

Functional Design Problems

Several specific layout challenges required custom solutions: demonstrating the creation structure visually and concisely, designing legible small icons that worked at booklet scale, and building a Quick Reference Guide and Results Sheet that served players at the table.

The Character Sheet

Arium: Discover presented a distinct challenge in the Character Sheet — a spread that needed to track both the creation of a character and their ongoing play, serving two different uses in a single designed space.

The Solution

Arium: Create is a collaborative worldbuilding toolkit that lets players and game masters build a shared world together in one to two hours, with every voice heard in the process. Arium: Discover is the companion rulebook that brings that world to life through a streamlined d6-based system for roleplaying in the setting the group created together.

A Shared Visual Foundation

Both books use the same typefaces and core layout structure. Each carries its own primary color palette drawn from its cover, visually distinguishing Create from Discover while keeping them clearly related as a pair. Cover design was coordinated across both books to build a continuous visual flow when seen together.

Layout for Dense Content

The interior layout had to make rule-heavy, text-dense content feel structured without becoming oppressive. Sidebars were central to this, calling out specifics within the rules without interrupting the main reading flow.

Icons and Graphics

All icons and graphics were developed from written descriptions or sketched notes provided by the Art Director. Stock art selected by Will Munn was integrated into the layout and adapted as needed to fit the design system.

Book-Specific Design Challenges

Arium: Create required a visual language for demonstrating the creation structure concisely, along with small icons that held up at booklet scale. The Quick Reference Guide and Results Sheet needed to function as practical table tools while staying consistent with the rest of the book.

Arium: Discover’s Character Sheet was its own problem: a single spread that had to serve two purposes, building a character and tracking that character through play.

The Results

The project exceeded all expectations and established the publisher’s reputation in the industry:

Commercial Success

Kickstarter campaign funded at 2,363% of the original goal ($23,629 raised against a $1,000 goal)
Publisher’s best-selling release to date

Industry Recognition

3 Ennie Award Nominations (a prestigious honor in the roleplaying game industry):
- Best Aid/Accessory – Non-Digital
- Best Supplement
- Product of the Year
Covered by Geek Native and other industry outlets at launch

Community Response

Overwhelmingly positive reviews from game masters
Active community creating content inspired by the books across YouTube and social media
Adept Icarus launched a “Grown With Arium” game jam supporting community creators

Client Impact

The success of this launch established Adept Icarus as a best-selling independent game design and publishing studio, with follow-on releases including Arium: Evolve and additional titles.