Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 6 Jan 2003 to 7 Jan 2003 (#2003-8) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 08/01/2003, 19:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 15 messages totalling 556 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. War-Journal of Bue Geirsteinson - Part XVII (2) 2. Almanac 1018 fonts (3) 3. Almanac 1019 fonts (2) 4. Almanac files at Herve's 5. War-Journal of Bue Geirsteinson - Epilogue (2) 6. Countess Ambrevill in Freeport! 7. A very obvious question (4) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 20:59:40 +1300 From: Chris Furneaux Subject: Re: War-Journal of Bue Geirsteinson - Part XVII > The end of the War-Journal, penned by Bue Geirsteinson, jarl of Clan > Noslosford in the year 1000 After Crowning of the First Emperor of the > Thyatian Empire Nice work, I eagarly awaited (and waited for ;D) every installment. The last installment was a bit soppy in the middle, but got better in the end, and I really liked how you tied it all up. Fantastic story. Hope you can be inspired by some of your other projects now ;P Chris. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 01:26:05 -0800 From: Herve Musseau Subject: Re: Almanac 1018 fonts From: Giampaolo Agosta > > So, if I understand correctly you like the gothic font, but you'd like it > to be > > restricted to the titles? > > Yes. That would strike a balance between readability and fancy fonts ;) okay, but what font should I use for body text, then, in your opinion? > > I understand, and I hesitated to use the gothic font everywhere, but as I > said > > when printed it works. > > I do not doubt this, but I'm also quite certain I'm not going to print the > whole almanac, since it would take a lot of paper--actually, I seldom print > anything for reading at all. I understand, since I rarely do either. In fact, I haven't printed any almanacs (only a draft of the 1014 one, for proofreading). But I have to maintain a printable pdf version, because some people prefer to print it, and I think it is a good thing to have something equivalent to industry standards. From: Chris Furneaux > > > So, if I understand correctly you like the gothic font, but you'd like > > it to be restricted to the titles? > > That has my vote. Ok. > > I don't have the pdf tools to make bookmarks (or I don't know how). If > > you know which software i should be hunting for to do this, please tell me. > > Acrobat 5, cause I use it occationally at uni. Thanks. > > IIRC you used a different font (though quite similar) in the art. Do you > > think we should use it instead? Do you have any ideas for another font we > > might use, for example if we use different fonts for titles and body? > > The font I used was 'VI University' but I only used it because it is a > similar > style to that used on the PWA's. I think the gothic is far too hard to read > tho. Too complex. The beauty of "Times New Roman" is that it can be read at a > very small size (because it was created with that goal for 'The Times' > newspaper so that they could maximise the infomation on a page as I > understand it.) I heard your requests for a shorter almanac, which aren't news to me. The 1019 almanac should not have so much text. If we use a different font too, the page total should be down by a significant amount (but don't expect a 10-page almanac either...) > More complicated fonts need to be larger to be read as effectively as times > and > therefore require more pages when printing. I tend to print anything D&D > related at the smallest practical font which I find is about 8 or 10. At that > size you need three columns to a page and it comes out at about the same size > print as in the old modules ot the PWA's. Sure, Times New Roman is very practical and easy to read, but it is also so standard and modern. I would like to preserve a certain flavor, even in the body text, though I agree that using a gothic font throughout is going too far the other way. Thus I'd like to find a font that has some character to it, yet is quite readable at size 12 and size 10 for those who prefer to use smaller fonts, even though we may not be able to have enough readibility in size 8 as with TimesNR. > The title font could be changed but it is the text that needs to be simple > because titles are usually bigger. As you say the PDF is to print, so > therefore > it should be designed for this. At the moment 1018 is very unwieldy when > printed (800 pages for the atlas!!!) but with a different font it sould be > readable at two pages per A4 side. > > If you send me the to be PDF'ed doc file I would be happy to re-PDF it in > Times new roman. The problem with that is that the rtf files that are used to generate the pdf files are very big, 35 mb for the atlas, 50 mb for the events, and 5 mb for the (unfinished) adventures files (unzipped, but...). I haven't yet transfered them outside, so that the only copy I have is here at work, which would cause me great worries in case of a hd crash. Although I probably won't release a new version of it anyway, since the only reported bugs are a few fautly crossreferences in the events, so I'll only release an erratum file someday. > As Giampaolo said: "I'm also quite certain I'm not going to print the whole > almanac, since it would take a lot of paper--actually" > > But I seldom read anything without printing it so I would like to print it. I understand. If you want a printed version but don't want to print the current pdf one, I suggest you print the rtf version. It is already in TNR, without blank spaces and pictures, so it can easy be put in two or three columns, changed to size font 8, and printed two pages in one, if you're trying to optimize paper output. It should even look nice enough that way, except for the lack of pictures. ===== ___________________________________________________________ Herve Musseau http://www.geocities.com/hmusseau/ __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 11:27:21 +0100 From: Thibault Sarlat Subject: Almanac 1019 fonts what about Garamond??? i used it for my maps... Thibault Sarlat. Techniques de l'Ingénieur Port: 06 84 92 32 55 Fax: 05 56 96 85 24 www.techniques-ingenieur.fr ICQ 16622177. Personal homepage http://www.mystara.fr.st thibault.sarlat@wanadoo.fr ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 11:32:44 +0100 From: Thibault Sarlat Subject: Almanac files at Herve's hello due to recent Hard drive problems and lost of precious work (Yes. Preciousssssssss...........) i encourage you Herve to send me (and to some other fast access members) the big files through ICQ for us to back-up somewhere... there is nothing more frustrating than losing one's hard work because of technology... I am at your disposal today and thursday. i'll burn the files for you just in case... THIB the over precautious Thibault Sarlat. Techniques de l'Ingénieur Port: 06 84 92 32 55 Fax: 05 56 96 85 24 www.techniques-ingenieur.fr ICQ 16622177. Personal homepage http://www.mystara.fr.st thibault.sarlat@wanadoo.fr ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 11:42:36 +0100 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Almanac 1018 fonts Herve Musseau wrote: > >>> So, if I understand correctly you like the gothic font, but you'd like it >>> to be >>> restricted to the titles? >> >> Yes. That would strike a balance between readability and fancy fonts ;) > > okay, but what font should I use for body text, then, in your opinion? IMO, if you really won't go for Times New Roman--which is possibly the best for readability, you could try something like Bookman Old Style or Book Antiqua, which are slightly fancier, but still not too weird-looking. BTW, as far as published works go, I've never seen a *D&D book with non-standard fonts in the body text, especially in very long texts. -- Giampaolo Agosta http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 03:48:00 -0800 From: hammer_of_ulric Subject: Re: Almanac 1019 fonts What about Palatino, which was used for the electronic Savage Coast releases? There's not a lot of difference between Times New Roman, Garamond or Palatino though. Any of these would be fine. Hammer of Ulric ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 13:44:35 +0100 From: Jacob Skytte Subject: Re: War-Journal of Bue Geirsteinson - Part XVII Chris Furneaux wrote: > Nice work, I eagarly awaited (and waited for ;D) every installment. Thanks a lot! Nice to know that somebody was reading...and waiting! ;) = Be sure to read the epilogue! > The last > installment was a bit soppy in the middle, but got better in the end, = and I > really liked how you tied it all up. Fantastic story. Ah, I personally liked it soppy, my soft spot I guess. But I'm glad you = liked it in spite of that. :) > Hope you can be inspired by some of your other projects now ;P Well, I've managed to do OD&D character write-ups of most of the cast, = so that'll get posted at least. Not so hard since several of them were = already more or less written in some of my other work. After that we'll = see; I have a lot of work to do for the Almanac. Jacob Skytte scythe@wanadoo.dk ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 13:46:59 +0100 From: Jacob Skytte Subject: War-Journal of Bue Geirsteinson - Epilogue There's always room for an epilogue! Tomorrow I'll start posting = character write-ups. Jacob Skytte scythe@wanadoo.dk *** The War-Journal of Bue Geirsteinson Epilogue, by Ralf Silk-Tongue, added Sviftmont 23rd, the year 1010 After = Crowning of the First Emperor of the Thyatian Empire Nations rise and crumble, as do their leaders. Men find that those who = rule over others are like an entirely different species, creatures that = do not have the same needs or feelings that ordinary men do. But in = their hearts, great men are just as human, if not more. Bue Geirsteinson = has graciously gifted me with the journal he kept during those days = where he became jarl. He has allowed me to do with its contents what I = wish, letting me into his heart and partaking of his feelings during = that turbulent time. This is a great responsibility, and even as I pondered what to do with = it, I realized that I could never do it justice. A saga could have been = written of his tale, but first of all, Bue's saga is far from ended yet, = he still holds strong as jarl of Noslosford. Second, his tale will not = gain anything from being turned into heroic saga; it is its very = humanity that is its strength. My decision is to include his journal, = unedited, among my own works until such a time comes that Bue may indeed = enter the sagas. At that time I will be long gone, I'm sure, and those = who take up my trade after me will be the ones to decide what to do with = it. The further stories of Bue and his family have yet to be completely = chronicled, though I have followed them with great interest. Asta = Katlasdottir's quest to regain her honour, Oda Elsasdottir's betrayal = and seizing of Ragnar's domain, Hjort Geirsteinson's tragic life... = These are all stories one should know, stories of real people and their = lives and feelings. And all these stories are part of a greater whole. = The people they met, befriended or made enemies of have their own = stories to tell. Ingibjorg Siglindesdottir's own fall from grace, Stein Anlafson's = matricide, Sven Svenson's descent into madness, and the king's death = during the Great War. All tales of Ostland, tales that may or may not = have been influenced by the tale you have just read. All parts of life = as it unfolds before the Gods, for their amusement or grief. They sit = above and watch and judge. Like us, they have their favourite stories. = Well, one of my favourites is the story of young Bue Geirsteinson who = rose against his father, for the good of his clan, and found love in the = process. And there you have it. Ralf Silk-Tongue, Sviftmont 23rd, the year 1010 After Crowning of the = First Emperor of the Thyatian Empire ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 15:09:29 +0100 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Havard=20Faanes?= Subject: Countess Ambrevill in Freeport! Hello! I just downloaded the Focus on Freeport issues 1-15 from www.greenronin.com I havent read through them all yet, but couldnt help notice a certain Countess Ambreville in #15. It was even mentioned that her reason for being freeport was to escape the madness in her family! If Freeport wasn't meant to be in Mystara then I don't know what was... Håvard ______________________________________________________ Få den nye Yahoo! Messenger på http://no.messenger.yahoo.com/ Nye ikoner og bakgrunner, webkamera med superkvalitet og dobbelt så morsom ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 09:16:27 -0500 From: Geoff Gander Subject: Re: War-Journal of Bue Geirsteinson - Epilogue > > There's always room for an epilogue! Tomorrow I'll start posting character write-ups. Jacob, you've got a great story here! I enjoyed reading every installment, and look forward to more! :-) Geoff -- Geoff Gander, BA 97, MPA 02 Carnifex Loremaster/Mad Roleplayer Master of the Elemental Plane of Bureaucracy au998@freenet.carleton.ca : www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/2091 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 12:59:15 -0800 From: Joe Kelly Subject: A very obvious question What does CR mean in Monster stats. And what is a Simuclarum? I need it = for "Headless Ghosts" an adventure from Dungeon Magazine. Thanks for the = help.=20 JK Wolf ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 23:27:45 +0100 From: Thibault Sarlat Subject: Re: A very obvious question isn't it a simulacrum with a typo? a simulacrum is a "clone" i think it was a 8th or 9th level spell in the D&D boxed master set..p7 player book it said pretty much this: a simulacrum is clone of a creature which is neither human nor demi human. Thibault Sarlat. Techniques de l'Ingénieur Port: 06 84 92 32 55 Fax: 05 56 96 85 24 www.techniques-ingenieur.fr ICQ 16622177. Personal homepage http://www.mystara.fr.st thibault.sarlat@wanadoo.fr ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joe Kelly" To: Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 9:59 PM Subject: [MYSTARA] A very obvious question What does CR mean in Monster stats. And what is a Simuclarum? I need it for "Headless Ghosts" an adventure from Dungeon Magazine. Thanks for the help. JK Wolf ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 14:55:01 -0800 From: Joe Kelly Subject: Re: A very obvious question LOL! In that case, my players are in trouble, I am scrapping the clone = idea for the real thing which means 15 Frost Giants, and 2 Young Adult = Twin White Dragons, on top of A Derro 15 lvele priest and 4 mounted = wraiths all with life stealing Sickles. Oh well, One party down... Oh and never mind about the CR (Challenge Rating) doesn't mean much for my = campaign. Thanks! JK Wolf >>> thibault.sarlat@WANADOO.FR 01/07/03 02:27PM >>> isn't it a simulacrum with a typo? a simulacrum is a "clone" i think it was a 8th or 9th level spell in the D&D boxed master set..p7 player book it said pretty much this: a simulacrum is clone of a creature which is neither human nor demi human. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2003 01:52:25 +0100 From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Andr=E9s_Piquer_Otero?= Subject: Re: A very obvious question IIRC, the Simulacrum features in AD&D 1st edition. It's similar to a Clone, inasmuch it's a double of a person, but with some big differences: 1) a Clone is an IDENTICAL copy of the cloned individual, spawned from some tissue of the original being. So, if you clone a 15th lvl fighter, you'll have a 15th level fighter, with all memories, knowledge and power of the original. A Simulacrum knows only a percentage of the original's memories and skill (IIRC it varies with the spellcaster's level, but never goes beyond 75%, I think). 2) the Insanity rule: clone and original cannot safely co-exist in the same plane of existence. If a clone is created with the original still alive, one (or both) will go raving mad and try to kill its nemesis by all means possible. Furthermore, they'll have a telepathic link so they always know where the "copy" is. On the other hand, an individual can have any numbre of simulacra with no risk. 3) Creation: IIRC, you really have to *grow* a clone, something which takes like some long period of time and needs bodily tissue from the original. A simulacrum is speedier, and is made out of snow or some other perishable. 4) Simulacrum is a 7th lvl AD&D 1st ed. sell (M-U). Clone is an 8th lvl AD&D (and D&D) spell. Andrés ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2003 15:44:33 +1300 From: Chris Furneaux Subject: Re: Almanac 1018 fonts > and I think it is a good thing to have something equivalent > to industry standards. quoting Giampaolo again: "as far as published works go, I've never seen a *D&D book with non-standard fonts in the body text, especially in very long texts." But having said that it is rarely (if ever) completly standard. There are suttle differences that make it a little different. Perhaps we could have a font made up for the MA if someone knows how. Otherwise I will see what I can find to satisfy both sides, there are a ton of free font sites theres bound to be something we can all agree on. > I heard your requests for a shorter almanac, which aren't news to me. > The 1019 almanac should not have so much text. I don't mind, even if my mind is boggled :D The only problem with a long almanac is that it takes a long time to read which isn't neccesarally bad abecause it means that there is plenty of info. I'm not so much fussed about the amount of text, just the space it occupies in my bookshelf :P > Sure, Times New Roman is very practical and easy to read, but it is also > so standard and modern. I would like to preserve a certain flavor, I can completly understand. We'll (I'll) just have to find something that does both jobs then as actions speak louder then words. I'll do up some demos and put them up on my web site for you. It needs to be done for the "Newbie guide" anyway so it gives me a good excuse. The only problem is finding nice fonts with the right conditions of use. Chris. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 6 Jan 2003 to 7 Jan 2003 (#2003-8) ************************************************************