Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Lulu-Ready DCC RPG Reference Sheets

DISCLAIMER: This file, while perfectly usable, is still considered to be in a "draft" state by me. It is very likely I will still make a few minor tweaks before I consider it to be "final". Unless you are 100% happy with this version, or don't mind going through the trouble of making two copies of this book, don't bother with it yet!

Okay, now that we have that out of the way...

LINK: Lulu-Ready 6x9 DCC RPG Reference Sheets Interior File (DRAFT)

Here is a draft of the reference sheets that is ready to be uploaded to lulu so you can order your own copies with nice glossy paper, which I have found to be quite durable.

I am calling this a draft, because I am still entertaining the idea of potentially adding in some of the content from the appendices, such as poisons, but I haven't come to a conclusion yet. I'm also agonizing over whether or not to go through the trouble of getting a bit of art to fill in the whitespace. Part of me would like to, but most of the time it seems like more trouble than it's worth.

If you find any issues with the PDF, please let me know. I offer it up with no warranty whatsoever.

To make your lulu book, create a lulu account, start a new "paperback book" project, and choose the following options:

  • Standard paper
  • U.S. Trade 6"x9"
  • Saddle-stitched
  • Black and white

Click for bigness
From there, hit "Save & Continue" and then upload the PDF for the interior pages, and click "Make print-ready file".

After that, it's time for you to make your own cover. If you like really shitty covers, you can use the Lulu Cover Wizard. Otherwise, I suggest using the Advanced One-Piece Cover Designer. Below are the cover file specs for this particular book.


One-piece cover requirements:
  • Your file must be a PDF, JPG, GIF, or PNG
  • Spine width: 0 Postscript points wide (0.000") (0 px)
  • Spine begins 441 Postscript points (6.13") (1838 px) from the left.
  • Total cover width: 882 X 666 Postscript points (12.25" X 9.25") (3675px X 2775px)
  • If using an image, its resolution should be set to 300dpi


As an example, here is one I worked up for the booklet I made for myself. I extracted the endcap images from the DCC rulebook PDF, pasted them together, and added the title and logo. Super easy! I'd love to see what kind of awesome covers other people come up with. Post a link or shoot me an email about yours if you make one.

Here's a real crappy and blurry photograph of it. I've been using mine for nearly a year, and it's held up quite well, so I think most would be happy getting a version like this. It's a nice step up from the home-made version.

Phone camera fail
P.S. - You can totally still just print this in digest size using adobe reader's booklet function. The only thing to be aware of is that the page count is higher, so taking it to a print shop afterwards and getting it trimmed is recommended. Otherwise you may be annoyed by how much the centermost pages stick out compared to the pages closer to the covers.

2 comments:

  1. What sort of art would you like? I've been known to do some...

    appendixm.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow... this looks really useful. Thanks for making it available!

    ReplyDelete

As long as this isn't nonsense spam, I'll approve your comment.