@Mike I actually commend you for the choice of filling the white space with the propaganda stuff. It was a better alternative than pure text over load.

I for one am one of the people who think the art packs have contributed to a little over saturation in the design space that turn what could be average or above average indie books look and feel like under-par quality additions to the Superlink product cluster. (Even if they ARE above average or excellent — it’s a first perception situation).

That being said, you made GREAT artist choices and I hope they see more work from you again in the future (and other publishers).

It retrospect there are always things we wish we could have done differently (I have a closet full on non-disclosed projects myself with their own reasons for failing to reach the public). I do think DEFCON could have held its own as a multi-supplement. You are a great creative concept writer and I’ve been a fan of your work since 6th Seal (http://www.nunoxei.com/2007/10/10/superlink-review-the-6th-seal-by-adamant-entertainment/).

I really do have high hopes for your projects and any reviews I can give for your products to spread the word are my pleasure. I have utmost respect for any indie publisher out there that take a product right to the end given their means–it’s a valuable attribute to have and for every indie creator to strive for (including myself)!

Jon – thanks again for the great work you did on Defcon – and I hope to work with you more in the future.

Regarding the art and use of the public domain propaganda art: With Defcon 2 things were very important to me

1) Not to use the same artpacks from RPGnow that a bunch of Superlink publishers have (arguably) overused. This meant I had to commission original art – and Mr Gibbons, Jacob Blackmon and Steff Worthington did a great job IMHO.

2) Having a visually interesting book -ie I wanted to avoid the pages of unbroken text that you can sometimes see in longer pdf products. Unfortunately, my ability to commission art was constrained by time and budget – (or there would have been a lot more original art in there.) So – using a lot of public domain art that fit the theme was the solution.

It wasn’t an ideal solution – but it seemed the best one I had.

If I could do it over, I’d probably break DEFCON1 into two or three shorter books (A couple of character packs and a related adventure.) This would have been better from a marketing point of view (shorter books sell better and generate sales for other books in the line) AND (back on topic) would have given me more time and money to commission more original art to get the look that I really wanted for the product.

It was my first creator-produced project. Live and learn as they say.

Currently – I’m considering a couple of DEFCON1 related releases (short adventures chiefly, but possibly another character pack) – -I might have a chance to try that approach instead. Fingers crossed

The cover is great by the way; I think it captured the content of the book excellently! Patriotic flag heroes looking at eachother tensely with a mysterious Nazi villain looming in the shadows–just great!

As an artist myself I could write a review on each piece of art itself trust me . Even if some art doesn’t please me I could most probably explain why and not just say “I don’t like it” or “I think it’s crap”. Many “critiqueres” leave me perplexed sometimes with these kinds of statements.

Perhaps I may add to the review above to take this angle into consideration though, out of respect for artists like yourself who may be looking for more than the undescriptive grading of 3/5 for Art in this review and may actually be interested in more of the whys behind the score!