Thursday, March 31, 2011

Hurry up and wait, Blackmarsh progress

After researching my options, I decided to go with RPGNow for the print copy of Blackmarsh. It will be 8.5 by 11, 16 pages. So the full map will be properly display within. Since I will be using color the maps will (crossing fingers) be a full gray scale. I also setup the PDF sides of things which will be free and working with Brave Halfling to coordinate our releases.

The only downside is that the I have to wait for the print files to be approved from a technical standpoint. A process that takes way longer than Lulu. Then I get to order it and see how it printed and hope that nothing went wrong. Otherwise I get to repeat the whole cycle again.

One thing I did different this time is made sure my files are PDF/X-1a:2001 compliant. This is a standard used by printing houses to ensure that the printed color is really what the color the customer wanted.

Because I did this I am going to set up a b/w versions on lulu and RPGNow to see if it succeeds in avoiding halftoning of my maps. The key element of exporting to a PDF/X-1a:2001 PDF was converting all my images to either a 1 bit b/w format for line art or 32-bit CMYK (not RGB or grayscale) for the images. I hope you find this helpful for your own projects.

We are on track for an April release. And below is the full letter size cover. Click to enlarge.

5 comments:

Gothridge Manor said...

Looks great Rob, can't wait to see it in print.

Akrasia said...

This looks gorgeous, Rob. I'm really looking forward to getting Blackmarsh, as I very much enjoy reading your 'sandbox' mini-settings.

The Bane said...

Rob, now that I have tMW, I look forward to picking this up when it is released. Not sure where I am headed with DD yet, but glad to see this released standalone as well.

Elsewhere you said, "My upcoming Scourge of the Demon Wolf is a Majestic Wilderlands, so I go full bore on using the material I develop in the Majestic Wilderlands supplement" - where can I read / hear more about this?!

Best and happy gaming,
TB

Simon Forster said...

That is quite interesting, as I am thinking of doing something like that too, as an experiment as much as anything. Thanks for sharing.

Laslo said...

Just wanted to let you know, hopefully before you submitted for "printing" you have a typo in the 3rd paragraph on the back cover, it looks like you changed from covetous eyes to covetous eye and didn't completely change the words prior to them.