24 Hour Game

[iago]

Talysman, I just downloaded The Troubadours of Verticaille, and (like with Mutant Space Cowboys) I can see nothing but the punctuation, tables, and graphics. Maybe it's that I'm using Preview, not Acrobat?

Could be.  I haven't tried opening those with Preview.  Giving it a try...  Nope, I'm opening them fine with Preview as well.

My original suspicions still stand -- some sort of font conflict, or other bit of installed software, or some kind of memory issue (in descending order of strength of suspicion).  

I would recommend you try downloading and installing Acrobat Reader 5 -- it's a pretty harmless piece of software on my Mac, at least (500 MHz single proc G4 w/ 1 GB RAM), and has not had a problem viewing any of the "problem files" we've had to date.

Edit: My Mac's running Jaguar, 10.2.5, as well, in case that's a significant difference.  Preview's definitely been updated between 10.1 and 10.2...

[philreed]

Can someone compile a list of the links and post it in one message?

I have less than 5 hours to go and 15 pages done. I don't think I'll make it to 24 but I just might be able to finish the game. Even if I don't finish I'll post what I do have at the 24 hour mark.

[Jeph]

I'm running on OSX 1.1, so that could be it. But my comp definitely has problems with certain fonts (won't print or make a .pdf of documents with a bunch of neat stuff, I've never taken the time to figure out how to fix it), so that also could be it. I've got Acrobat (I just don't use it since Preview looks cleaner), so I'll try opening the files in that . . .

If the writers of the games would give permission, someone could post them to the Yahoo group so that we've got them all in one place.

[iago]

If the writers of the games would give permission, someone could post them to the Yahoo group so that we've got them all in one place.

The Yahoo group also has a 'links' area, URLs could be posted there.

[Simon W]

Ok I've done mine.
I wanted to put an opening scenario in, more weapons and a bit of extra info, but I'm done in now, even though I finished a copule of hours early.

Its called 1940 - England Invaded and its a traditional style of game of the German occupation of England in WW2, inspired by what is going on in Iraq, The Eagle has Landed, The old RPG The Price of Freedom (West End Games) and to a degree Dad's Army (an ancient English TV sit-com for anyone out there who isn't British!) - although it is not realy designed to be humerous - more a game of deception, dilemmas and some gung - ho action.

Here it is

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/24HourGames/files/

[iago]

Can someone compile a list of the links and post it in one message?

I've located 8 24-hour RPGs done or abandoned so far, and linked to them from here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/24HourGames/links/ -- I will happily continue to update this area if desired, but note that others who become members of the group should be able to add their own links as well.  

If you post a file to the file area of the group, please try to put a link in this area, too -- the links area can be considered the central link repository for this project (all willing).

[philreed]

http://www.philipjreed.com/images/vsmonsterslow.pdf

vs. Monsters is a 20 page PDF. I consider this is a failed attempt but I think the work I did wasn't a total waste. Maybe I'll come back to this in the future and attempt to complete it (probably expanded it a bit) but for now I'm finished with it.

The file is 1 meg. I had created a print version first but it turned out to be 5 meg.

[iago]

http://www.philipjreed.com/images/vsmonsterslow.pdf

vs. Monsters is a 20 page PDF. I consider this is a failed attempt but I think the work I did wasn't a total waste. Maybe I'll come back to this in the future and attempt to complete it (probably expanded it a bit) but for now I'm finished with it.

I think you were a little ambitious with the notion of including an adventure at the end of the thing.  But it's a very attractive failure, if you're going to call it that!

I've added it to the links page.

[MPOSullivan]

wow, things are moving along so damned beautifuly it hurts.  this is some outpour of work here, eh?

well, anyway, to answer the question from earlier, i created the 24HourRPG logo on photoshop and can put it into pretty much whatever format you need plus, if people want color tweeks to it or whatever i would be more than happy to do that.

i've posted the newest version of Criminal Element on the yahoogroup as well, but have marked it as the updated, more complete version.  i have a hard time calling the game a failure becuase it is playable in the 24 hour edition.  it needs a spelllcheck and i will be taking more photos for the book over the next couple of days but the more i work on it the more i actually want to go forward with this as something bigger, y'know?  i really want to write a suplement setting the game in the mod era in london.  a better version of the game will find its way to my new website www.fullmotor.com soon enough.  the website isn't running yet but will be soon.  keep an eye out!

i would also be completely willing to both playtest others games and have mine played by anyone and critiqued.  

this remeinds me: anyone in the philadelphia area?  maybe we can get together and try some of these bad boys out as a group.  could be fun!

laters!

 -michael

[talysman]

Talysman, I just downloaded The Troubadours of Verticaille, and (like with Mutant Space Cowboys) I can see nothing but the punctuation, tables, and graphics. Maybe it's that I'm using Preview, not Acrobat?

I think Iago's suspicions have something to do with this... I dunno what the other people are using, but I figured most of the pdfs were made with InDesign, Adobe's online pdf maker, or the Mac pdf utility. I'm probably the only person using ghostscript to make pdfs, so it seems odd that you'd experience the same problem with multiple pdfs made with different applications.

for what it's worth, I can open the pdf in Acrobat 4/WinMe and Acrobat 5/WinXP.

Sorry, I'm just too old and cranky for this kind of "pushing to the limits".

You're selling yourself short.  Good job.  And for what it's worth, with more pics added in, you'd probably bulk out to 24 pages nice and quick.  I'll refrain from deeper commentary on the work, though, 'cause I'm still fuzzy on when and where the appropriate time & place is for that.

I actually had more pics and could have added a cheatsheet, charsheet, and table of contents, if I had pushed myself past the point of mental fuzziness and used my last three hours. but it wasn't really the length/look I was talking about. I was wiped out physically (still am) from not getting enough sleep. it b0rk my brane.

anyways, the main problem with the game, from my viewpoint, is that I just didn't write enough background for it.

[MPOSullivan]

okay, i lied, the PDf is too big to put on the yahoo group.  it'll be on fullmotor.com in like a week probably.  still have to get the site up and running.  if anyone wants a copy, email me at Zathreyel@aol.com and i will be more than happy to emial it back to you.  it's really pretty with nice layouts and photos and stuff!  and a character sheet!

laters!

   -m

[Jonathan Walton]

I'm probably the only person using ghostscript to make pdfs, so it seems odd that you'd experience the same problem with multiple pdfs made with different applications.

Nope.  I used pdf995 to compile my original file (and that uses something like ghostscript), which is probably why it was causing all sorts of problems for people trying to open it.

In the playtesting category, I'm going to try to make it to the upcoming RPGnet Gameday in Cleveland and maybe even playtest Vespertine with Jason Blair, who's planning to be there.  What fun!

[philreed]

As I read over posts from last night I'm seeing just how messed up I was. And a glance at the PDF this morning didn't bother me too much. I just wish I could have finished it in the time allowed. The sad thing is it would probably only take two hours to go through and make it something I could be proud of. I guess it's when that two hours comes right after 22 others that the time seems like a major challenge.

Wow. Maybe I'm still tired. I'm rambling again.

[Andy Kitkowski]

Sorry I'm jumping in late, I had very little to contriute.

I just downloaded the final PDF.

Creating the game, I figured, would take all the time available. I imagined little more than long strings of text. The layout of this document is amazing. Truly amazing, given the amount of time you spent on it.

JESUS H. CHRIST, Philip, you really EDIT: NEVER cease to amaze me.

[iago]

well, anyway, to answer the question from earlier, i created the 24HourRPG logo on photoshop and can put it into pretty much whatever format you need plus, if people want color tweeks to it or whatever i would be more than happy to do that.

Aha.  Nah, that means it's a rastered image, rather than a vector-based one (I'm talking like, Illustrator style).  I wanted to be able to resize the image without loss of quality.  Is cool as is, though.