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Graphic Design and the Aesthetics of Tabletop RPGs
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<blockquote data-quote="aramis erak" data-source="post: 9196475" data-attributes="member: 6779310"><p>You clearly haven't seen enough mimeos...</p><p></p><p>The early games were, for the most part, optically typeset from typewritten manuscripts or, for AH, TSR, GDW, SPI, were done on "hot lead" typecasters, then typeset. GDW explicitly used a Linotype machine, then created masters for optical mastering of the offset foil plates. Early TSR appears to be using a tri-width typewriter or a typecaster, it's hard to say which, but I've never seen pre-'76 versions, so those might have been mimeos. </p><p></p><p>Only the cheapest were mimeography. I've literally only encountered two in my hundreds of games. One was "Dreams" -which wasn't even bound, being mimeographed, three hole drilled, and then shrink wrapped. The other was a small print in 3.25×4.25 inch format. (TWERPS, and many microgames, also used this size. It's obtained by quartering US Legal Paper, then folding.) </p><p></p><p>Optical typeset: A "plate" for offset lithographic printing was generated by scanning a layout board with the content on it. The scanner head was generally incapable of reading light blue to cyan... and where the read was dark, the cutting head drilled, carved, or deformed the plate. At print time, the plate is either on a lifting press, or is (for most modern ones) a foil plate, affixed to a drum; ink is laid into the voids, the excess squeegeed off, then the remainder pressed to the paper, which pulls it from the plate. Very low "character bleed". Note that older methods, such as late 18th to early 19th C used chemical baths to </p><p></p><p>Mimeograph: a "plate," typically thin plastic, was typically drilled by an optical reader to perforate the plate all the way through. The duplicator, when the plate is affixed, forces ink from behind the plate into the paper as it passes through. Letters are almost always slightly fuzzy. As with optical, the sensor head tended to be low response to blue... The characters are almost always fuzzy edged. The older the plate, </p><p></p><p>Hot lead - as you type, a die with negative of the character was slid into a rail. At end of line, the rail was filled with lead, and allowed to cool/harden. The letter dies were then removed and returned to their bins. the lead bar was one line of lead text, which would then be placed into a frame with the rest of the page's lines, and lead strips between lines to set the vertical pitch, the whole frame would then have the raised type inked, and pressed down onto the sheet. </p><p>When used for offset work, the pressed sheets wereusually used as the masters for the later optical mastering of the lithographic plates. Certain small runs might have used the actual framed up lead for pressed ink. Certain things appear to have been so done by GDW and Avalon Hill - mostly errata.</p><p></p><p>Also worth noting - direct typed mimeography does exist - but requires special typewriters or type impactor media - Dad had a mimeographic type ball for his selectric - which has a multi-needle type face, which perforates the plastic sheet.</p><p></p><p>Oh, and Dittos were yet another whole mess - ditto machines you used a mastering sheet which imprinted really heavily died type onto the master sheet... which the ditto machine applied a solvent to, and then ran it across the target sheet. They were good, usually, for 2-3 dozen copies... you could squeak out about 6 dozen with ever decreasing quality. But at least you could do multiple colors with dittos...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="aramis erak, post: 9196475, member: 6779310"] You clearly haven't seen enough mimeos... The early games were, for the most part, optically typeset from typewritten manuscripts or, for AH, TSR, GDW, SPI, were done on "hot lead" typecasters, then typeset. GDW explicitly used a Linotype machine, then created masters for optical mastering of the offset foil plates. Early TSR appears to be using a tri-width typewriter or a typecaster, it's hard to say which, but I've never seen pre-'76 versions, so those might have been mimeos. Only the cheapest were mimeography. I've literally only encountered two in my hundreds of games. One was "Dreams" -which wasn't even bound, being mimeographed, three hole drilled, and then shrink wrapped. The other was a small print in 3.25×4.25 inch format. (TWERPS, and many microgames, also used this size. It's obtained by quartering US Legal Paper, then folding.) Optical typeset: A "plate" for offset lithographic printing was generated by scanning a layout board with the content on it. The scanner head was generally incapable of reading light blue to cyan... and where the read was dark, the cutting head drilled, carved, or deformed the plate. At print time, the plate is either on a lifting press, or is (for most modern ones) a foil plate, affixed to a drum; ink is laid into the voids, the excess squeegeed off, then the remainder pressed to the paper, which pulls it from the plate. Very low "character bleed". Note that older methods, such as late 18th to early 19th C used chemical baths to Mimeograph: a "plate," typically thin plastic, was typically drilled by an optical reader to perforate the plate all the way through. The duplicator, when the plate is affixed, forces ink from behind the plate into the paper as it passes through. Letters are almost always slightly fuzzy. As with optical, the sensor head tended to be low response to blue... The characters are almost always fuzzy edged. The older the plate, Hot lead - as you type, a die with negative of the character was slid into a rail. At end of line, the rail was filled with lead, and allowed to cool/harden. The letter dies were then removed and returned to their bins. the lead bar was one line of lead text, which would then be placed into a frame with the rest of the page's lines, and lead strips between lines to set the vertical pitch, the whole frame would then have the raised type inked, and pressed down onto the sheet. When used for offset work, the pressed sheets wereusually used as the masters for the later optical mastering of the lithographic plates. Certain small runs might have used the actual framed up lead for pressed ink. Certain things appear to have been so done by GDW and Avalon Hill - mostly errata. Also worth noting - direct typed mimeography does exist - but requires special typewriters or type impactor media - Dad had a mimeographic type ball for his selectric - which has a multi-needle type face, which perforates the plastic sheet. Oh, and Dittos were yet another whole mess - ditto machines you used a mastering sheet which imprinted really heavily died type onto the master sheet... which the ditto machine applied a solvent to, and then ran it across the target sheet. They were good, usually, for 2-3 dozen copies... you could squeak out about 6 dozen with ever decreasing quality. But at least you could do multiple colors with dittos... [/QUOTE]
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