I'm in.  Mmmm, maps

Robert - I have a couple of questions.

1) Are the updated PDFs (I.E. Thracia) searchable text and can the text be cut and pasted?

2) The mountains shown in the sample map are rendered in two different styles.  Is this intentional or are part of the mountains complete and the rest is a work in progress?

Okay, the heavy black lines at the bottom of the page of text really kill it. I know we all wrote in felt tipped pens in the 80's, but if you're going to re-release a cleaned up version of the original CSIO, you need to visit the typesetting and here. Especially if the book is full of such 'notes' areas. How about a much finer line for those who can't write in a straight line unaided, or a blank box with a fine line around it. I can only imagine in the 80's we needed thick black lines to know where to write because the how bad the glass was in our glasses.

It'll certainly be interesting to compare this edition to Necromancer's CSIO which included the additional CSIO supplement. Necromancer were always good at presenting their cartography, and typesetting, and at $75 it was a gift. After a good bit of reading it supplanted my Revised CSIO as my preferred gaming copy. It'll be interesting to see how this version compares.

mbassoc2003 wrote in CSIO Kickstarter & Original Caverns of Thracia (cleaned up):Okay, the heavy black lines at the bottom of the page of text really kill it. I know we all wrote in felt tipped pens in the 80's, but if you're going to re-release a cleaned up version of the original CSIO, you need to visit the typesetting and here. Especially if the book is full of such 'notes' areas. How about a much finer line for those who can't write in a straight line unaided, or a blank box with a fine line around it. I can only imagine in the 80's we needed thick black lines to know where to write because the how bad the glass was in our glasses.

It'll certainly be interesting to compare this edition to Necromancer's CSIO which included the additional CSIO supplement. Necromancer were always good at presenting their cartography, and typesetting, and at $75 it was a gift. After a good bit of reading it supplanted my Revised CSIO as my preferred gaming copy. It'll be interesting to see how this version compares.

Regarding the lines; it is what is it man haha.   I am making a note to revisit those parts if we get this in print again. I don't recall them being prominent in any of the CSIO versions and those were purely typeset as I remember.

aia wrote in CSIO Kickstarter & Original Caverns of Thracia (cleaned up):Great piece of news!
I am in... has the KS already started? If not, by when it will be online?
Ciaooo

We've been wanting to launch since early February, but the company who engaged us to do minis for the project has been dragging their heels on getting a contract to us for a month and a half. I sent a final notice to the guy, so we'll be launching this Saturday (March 22nd) at 12:00 PM (CST) with or without them.

I'll still be ready to go when you are.  The delay doesn't change that at all.

Here's the link!!!

http://kck.st/1eG0Nyp

I launched this from work, and unfortunately this Forum is blocked by the webfilter. So sorry for the delay.

mbassoc2003 wrote in CSIO Kickstarter & Original Caverns of Thracia (cleaned up):The prominent lines were a feature of the original paste ups and the printing on newsprint. The error would be to try to reprint that 'stylee' just to try to mimic the newsprint feel using a laserjet printer on today's smooth printer. You'll find the crisp edges to modern typefaces make the whole package want to look professional, and if you keep to 1980's newsprint graphics and typesetting without moving forward with the times, you'll end up with a product that feels as though it was done at minimal effort and feels cheap.

Just my 2c. I can see you don't want to go all out like Necromancer did, and you're presumably not trying to sell it at $80 a pop. I'm just offering a graphical perspective on how to avoid the newbee/amateur errors many small press outfits step into.

The map is good. I'd be up for buying a stack of those without the book, but again, the cover of the book looks like a scanned copy of the original filtered through Paintshop Pro. I assume it's a mockup for promo purposes and look forward to seeing this project develop.

Totally understand where you are coming from. This wasn't intended to be a full scale project as of now. It was more of a thing where Clovis Kell hit me up for it and I whipped this out in a little under a week. I spent maybe 25 hours total on it.

Wow! I am impressed by the Kickstarter's progress and very pleased for the Bobs that support has come from so many JG fans. Y'all are doing a great job of fulfilling a dream that Bob wanted to see done--the campaign maps republished. He said people kept wanting the exact same look to fill in gaps.

Not sure if I told the story in my Q&A section (if I did you can see if the story is grossly different here!) but Bob came to me about 12 years ago when I was deep in mapping Normandy for miniature games (similar in size, the series was the equivalent of 20 JG maps in full color and 4 different hex-width sizes!) He wanted to see if we could humanly redraw the wilderlands digitally and just 1 ink color. (Since we had given up on the printers finding the negatives or plates).

I remember how that Saturday that we went to the travel agency where the Mac was and I showed him how we could mimic much of the original maps' look and feel in Illustrator. Then I said how about we take turns drawing (tracing really) for like 2-4 hours at a stint and just go all weekend--day and night! It was a wild gesture on my part and one which I would have completed in my obsessive way once started. It's a testimony for our unique chemistry that I would do that with so little regard for the mind-numbingness of the project.

He demurred and at the time I guessed that maybe he just didn't want to go to the trouble. But with a little distance and a bit more awareness of his empathetic nature, I am now guessing that he didn't want me to invest so much in something that was really his burden. Actually it would have been fine because I would have been pleased to help carry that and see it through. After all I had had a feeling of "ownership" that was not really released by selling my half of JG.

Now though, I can see that it may have been for the best because this newly re-imagined full-color world might not have to come to be! So a misty bittersweet miss blooms into a sunlit upland garden!

Thanks to all of you who are pledging and investing!

It's nice of you to think of me w/r/t signing the books. The chance that I would be passing through the time that the boxes arrive is indeed pretty remote. The only things I can think of are: a sticker, a certificate of authenticity or print them here in Uruguay!

Then I could sign. The sticker strikes me as objectionable to some (most) as its glue could sort of "go bad" and ruin the book or just fall out with age leaving a tan mark--happened on some my collection by the time it was sold 30-40 years later.

The certificate is something I did with the help of Bob Jr already when I had occasion to rerun a bunch of No-Name City Maps in Decatur but wasn't going to back for signing (and there was no reasonable place to print blueprints in Belize).

Now, here in Uruguay they do really nice printing work and if we could get them printed before everyone leaves for the summer then the savings might allow me to pack them up as additional luggage and fly them up! Or it could horribly wrong or with a 4 month delay when people get back from the beach. Or if we want quality, timeliness and savings, maybe Bob should fly me to Singapore to pick them up.

PS Being in the travel business, I have done some bizarre things besides picking up most of the JG materials in a limousine... like flying to California where a specialty item was printed, pick them up in my aunt's cadillac convertible and head to LAX and checked'em in ...all to save a few days! My body may be older but I still think this way.