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One other thing... I know there are issues with interactive PDFs on iPads anyway, where links or inDesign button objects won't work... I think right now the only way to really do a real interactive PDF is to build your own app that will allow all those PDF things to work. But I think just out of the box, Apple wants PDFs to be read-only. I think Adobe has some tools to help but they want ya to pay extra for em (after already charging like $2000)

Necros wrote:One other thing... I know there are issues with interactive PDFs on iPads anyway, where links or inDesign button objects won't work... I think right now the only way to really do a real interactive PDF is to build your own app that will allow all those PDF things to work. But I think just out of the box, Apple wants PDFs to be read-only. I think Adobe has some tools to help but they want ya to pay extra for em (after already charging like $2000)

Interactive PDFs are best done through HTML anyway at which point they cease to be PDFs (an interactive PDF is effectively just a slow running web page). The formats kind of a tablet gimmick that doesn't really have a niche.

I just used google docs then converted it with Nitro PDF.

Another brief check in on the pdf front;

They're most likely going to be web-optimized pdfs in the same vein that I generate here at work when we send out our fliers. Probably in Acrobat 9 to ensure that anyone can read them. While we're at it, I'll probably also generate a print-ready version for funsies and resolution nuts (like me).

Yay for resolution!

If you like I guess I could kind of do a gallery spotlight. Picking out a few subjects whether they be painted exceptionally well or have tons of character with a theme to kind of make up for it. Kind of what I was hinting to on the first page, kind of lost this when it got moved.

Basically it would be talking briefly about the subject itself with perhaps a brief interview with the painter (techniques, intention, thoughts, what they'd do next time, tips, etc) sort of keeping it to a minimum of two to three subjects (one must be absolutely stunning of course), without dragging on too long. Perhaps have the background of the section a sort of faded collage of the voted best images as well, but not if it makes it too busy. It could also occasionally focus on larger projects as well such as squads, armies or crews.

Either way I wish you all the best with this.

I probably should have mentioned this but i'd be willing to handle that dakkanaut of the month thing i suggested

I would love to write for this. Especially interested in writing a column, if you have room for that sort of thing. I consider myself a fairly good writer, and I'm part of a very active and colorful gaming group (CLAN BOOZEHAMMER!), that I think would provide very decent anecdotes and commentary on war gaming as a whole.

Haven't seen it mentioned, but a "Noob Corner" section could definitely be used.

- Explanation of the focus of all the armies (why should you pick them, what are their playstyles, brief fluff explanations).
- Cheapest ways to get into warhammer (and how to avoid getting ripped off, "pro painted" comes to mind)
- Stripping
etc. etc.

It's all general information that most people already know, but threads are popping up all the time asking those same questions. I figure having that kind of information would help people stay informed and prevent them from asking the same questions over and over again.

Edit - Another idea could be revolve around selling figures and the expected values.

Hmm, interesting ideas Necroshea. I like the idea of having a breadth of articles to cater to different experience levels. I doubt we'll ever see the questions end, but it would at least give us a place to point people.

OK, I'm going to start putting up some jobs and tasks that I could use help with. If anyone wants to take them on, just post in this thread or PM me. You won't be permanently draughted, just do as much as you are inclined to. If you are, indeed, so inclined.

Wanted - Thread Wranglers
Anyone willing to keep a track of particularly interesting or original threads? OK, anyone willing to do that and then write up brief summaries with quotes of interest from the threads? This is something that people could pick up any time a thread particularly interested them. Hobby related only, of course, no OT thanks.

Wanted - News and Rumours Tsar
If you're particularly good at keeping track of the news and rumour mill, knocking together a quick run down of what's new in a month (commentary on reliability optional ) and sending on to me would contribute to, what I hope to be, a key permanent section in the mag. Remember, we're just as interested in what the smaller game and mini companies are doing as we are in GW/PP/FOW and the like.

Most likely I'm going to think of more later. This by no means represent the extent of the input I'm looking for, and if you have a suggestion or want to submit something you feel would make for good reading, please drop me a PM or make a suggestion here. Thanks to everyone who's already got involved, even if just to provide encouragement!

I wouldn't even know where to start regarding thread summaries and rumor mills. It's so filled with subjective material, as well as outright falsehoods, I'd feel hesitant to commit any of it to something people might read and think of as truth.

This is an excellent idea. Certainly something I would read. Ive only just got back into the hobby within the last year after nearly a 10 years! Only in the last 6 months have I been part of the online community, so not sure how I could contribute. As TheMumm has already mentioned it will be difficult to get this kind of idea off the ground when using personal time as obviously people have other commitments. Myself I do a blog site with two friends and that at times has been a squeeze t oget the site updated. I would love to as this is an excellent idea, I used to do the student magazine back in university and I loved every minute of it!

To get an idea of what I would like to see in a hobby magazine.

Tutorials - painting, modelling, converting,terrain making, etc

Tip of the month - tips and tools of the trade from how to strip miniatures to homemade tolls for sculpting

Showcases - as Legoburner has mentioned painted and converted miniatures off the site

Latest news and rumours

Game tactics and in house rule suggestions

Thats my two cents

From the reactions to this thread I see that we have a unique chance here to work with a crew of professionals in their trade from all over the world on a project with our shared passion as subject.

Because of this I do think it would be a shame if we weren't to maintain certain production standards.
Yes we will be a fan-run done-on-personal-time project, but it shouldn't look like a fan-run done-on-personal-time project.
Professional writing, professional design, professional photography & illustration; I have seen reactions from people in all these fields, and it would be a shame not to tap into all this knowledge.

No cringeworthy error-ridden fanfic, no 'lol I just have my crappy phone cam' photography.
We need tough editors & a tough art-director.

htj wrote:Hmm, interesting ideas Necroshea. I like the idea of having a breadth of articles to cater to different experience levels. I doubt we'll ever see the questions end, but it would at least give us a place to point people.

OK, I'm going to start putting up some jobs and tasks that I could use help with. If anyone wants to take them on, just post in this thread or PM me. You won't be permanently draughted, just do as much as you are inclined to. If you are, indeed, so inclined.

Wanted - Thread Wranglers
Anyone willing to keep a track of particularly interesting or original threads? OK, anyone willing to do that and then write up brief summaries with quotes of interest from the threads? This is something that people could pick up any time a thread particularly interested them. Hobby related only, of course, no OT thanks.

Wanted - News and Rumours Tsar
If you're particularly good at keeping track of the news and rumour mill, knocking together a quick run down of what's new in a month (commentary on reliability optional ) and sending on to me would contribute to, what I hope to be, a key permanent section in the mag. Remember, we're just as interested in what the smaller game and mini companies are doing as we are in GW/PP/FOW and the like.

Most likely I'm going to think of more later. This by no means represent the extent of the input I'm looking for, and if you have a suggestion or want to submit something you feel would make for good reading, please drop me a PM or make a suggestion here. Thanks to everyone who's already got involved, even if just to provide encouragement!

I willingly submit myself to be considered as a part-time lurker...I mean thread wrangler. I spend so much time roaming the forums and reading threads I have no business in that this seems like a good place for me to be.

If anyone's interested, first part of my Tyranid POV story is up. Consider it to be part of my application.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/400771.page

Please post comments in the Fluff section, and keep this forum on business matters. Thanks!

Gitatorial - The Editorial Section - An introduction to the edition and other random musings about Dakka. Needs a picture of an Ork Newspaper Editor, with cigar
Shiny 'tings - A brief round up of the new releases or what's new to Dakka.
Dakka Approved - House rules that don't suck. Campaigns, new units etc
Overwatch - Thread spotting. A brief piece covering a thread or two, maybe a PM interview with the member repsonsible and links to other threads from Dakka.
They said what? - A small box with quotes of the month from Dakka members via submission (not that kind) or vote.
Game Face - Tactics, army lists (competitive/themed).
Warzone - No not the game - just another title for 'Battle Report'...
Retrospektive - A place where we can look over great games that were - basically a brief nostalgia section and where you may find the rules etc...
Confrontation! - A small section highlighting the more robust discussions that frequent Dakka (if they need highlighting?)...
Dakkafold - A pretty picture of a pretty mini (or few) submitted to Dakka, old and new - perhpaps a little piece on it/them.
Writer's Bloc - A short story section.

Great ideas, well though out, varied and interesting.
I'd suggest for the batrep section getting people to submit their batreps but laying down some criteria. Quality varies hugely from what I've seen and having a set formula for showing them off/reporting on them would help immensely I think.
Perhaps, X minimum amount of terrain, 3 color painted armies min, good and varied selection of photos showing both "action" shots and tactical overviews, editor could pm both players to do a mini interview with them asking for their pre and post battle thoughts/reactions. Something akin to the articles in WD.
Could also do a "what would you do" mini piece, where a particular turn or incident is pulled out of the batrep and setup as a stand alone. Then the editor or someone else could play it out as they think would be best. Just to give people other ideas/show good moves/bad moves.
I accept the minimum terrain/paints thing might sound a touch elitist but one must bear in mind its a once a month publication, quality needs to be maintained and theb etter things look the more interesting they will be.
Wouldnt mind looking after that aspect of things, batrep section is one of my favourites on here.

I accept the minimum terrain/paints thing might sound a touch elitist

Not at all. This is a publication, and publications have production values,simple as that. I'll even go further and say again that people will have to be required to maintain a certain standard in batrep photography. No blurry/low-res/washed out/underlit pictures. I don't want to have to squint to see whether that black blob is a Rhino or a Daemon Prince.

People can post unpainted, underterrained batreps with incomprehensible picturesw in the batreps section to their heart's content.

TiB wrote:

I accept the minimum terrain/paints thing might sound a touch elitist

Not at all. This is a publication, and publications have production values,simple as that. I'll even go further and say again that people will have to be required to maintain a certain standard in batrep photography. No blurry/low-res/washed out/underlit pictures. I don't want to have to squint to see whether that black blob is a Rhino or a Daemon Prince.

People can post unpainted, underterrained batreps with incomprehensible picturesw in the batreps section to their heart's content.

Agreed.

I submitted an example column to HTJ so. Hopefully I'll be working alongside everyone to make Dakka Digest happen.

I saw something like this done before at an old website I used to post on. The categories of magazine from what I recall (I contributed a few times) essentially boiled down to:


1. The News page. Rumours took up too much space, and the conjecture often caused controversy. There are so many smalltime companies, that news of their releases over a month or two was pretty much guaranteed to fill up the necessary space. Heck, I have a favorites list of about thirty of them that I check fairly regularly.

2. A product review with photographs. The flip side of paying attention to smaller companies is the often lack of customer service/product quality. This was a good way to advertise decent products.

3. Army/Model showcase. This works well on Dakka. Get someone to scour the gallery for the prettiest pictures. Attach the username of the person who did it, and let them bask in the adulation of their peers.


Those were the essentials that ran every issue. However, depending on what had been contributed, it also ran:-

4. Army building/Tactics workshops, usually from regular tournament goers

5. Conversion guides: anything from a clever kitbash, to using a GW kit, and one or two kits from smaller companies, and showing the results. Good photographs required.

6. Fanfiction.

7. Written articles:- Bit like Jervis's standard bearer, but usually with an actual point.

8. New model/unit rules



It's broadly similar to what's been posted already, but I would suggest following the pattern of not forcing yourself to have one of everything before you publish an issue. As long as you have the top three, and a pick and mix of the latter five, you have a good issue.

Ketara wrote:Rumors took up too much space, and the conjecture often caused controversy.

EXTREME emphasis on this

I still want to contribute to this in 40k battle report terms if thats ok please?

Necroshea wrote:

Ketara wrote:Rumors took up too much space, and the conjecture often caused controversy.

EXTREME emphasis on this

Don't worry. The section will be a news section first and foremost, rumours only being put in for slow news months. I imagine there'll normally be enough news to cover it though, and if and when a rumour is presented it will be given no weight at all.

@happygolucky
I'd welcome any submissions of batreps. They've proven to be a popular subject, so I can't promise all of them will be published. The more professionalism involved the better - painted minis, painted scenery, quality photography, and illustrative graphics are all key as to whether a report will be run or not.

Is there going to be any attempt at spotlighting games that are under the radar like bloodbowl?

Also, whenever we find a format to adhere to, just toss it on the first post. I've got a lot of time on my hands and I've got a couple ideas for articles I could write up.

OK, some more news for potential contributors.

Dakka Digest Submissions Email Address
I've set up a temporary email address for submissions. Please note that I'll only be able to check this about once a day, so any suggestions for a column or feature would be better sent to me by PM. This address is for whole pieces of work only.

Wanted - Non-40K writers
I've had a veritable deluge of offers to write 40K based stuff, which makes sense as it's probably the most popular game on the site. However, I'd like to get a bit more of a diverse representation of games, so anyone who wants to write something about another games system, please drop me a PM.

Wanted - Hobby Tutorials
If you're something of a wizard at any aspect of the hobby, or have come up with some clever little technique or trick, then let me know! This can be a one-off, a series, or a regular thing.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Necroshea wrote:Is there going to be any attempt at spotlighting games that are under the radar like bloodbowl?

Also, whenever we find a format to adhere to, just toss it on the first post. I've got a lot of time on my hands and I've got a couple ideas for articles I could write up.

Absolutely. You want to write up an article on Bloodbowl? Send me a quick PM with an idea of what you think would be good.

I'm going to collate all the kinds of input we need at some point soon, it's just a matter of getting around to it.

Wow this looks like a great idea! I'll gladly help out in any way possible. I believe I'm a pretty good writer. Only problem is I am very new to 40K.... I have only played FOW until now. But as long as somebody points me towards an article to do a write up on I think I could do it. Or if you wanted a newbies take on things. I've got some time on my hands. But if you guys are all full up that's fine too! Either way I look forward to watching this idea grow!
EDIT: PM me if you have any questions for me. I can write on pretty much anything plus my college writing teacher wants the class to do 10 writing projects outside of class. Sooooo I would definitely get the work done. If you go outside of tabletop and do movie or video games (the games based off 40K and other tabletops ) then I can also write reviews. I think my biggest hang up is lack of TT gaming experience... But if I can get past that I'd love to be a part!\

Ben

Hmmm, are you implying that something like video games would be reviewed? Might want to stray away from those, game and movie reviewing is already an over saturated market.

Regarding bloodbowl, I personally have no experience playing it. I've been invited to leagues but I have no team, or models for that matter. I've played the game (which I just bought), but I'm hardly qualified to write about it yet.

I'm trying to get a good idea of how far outside of tabletop are we trying to go. I guess I'm still wondering what is the broad scope and purpose of the project.

This is such a great idea Mumm and htj.

I would offer my input, but due to uncertain work commiments (ie i have no idea when im working or if i will have free time) and my lack of writing skill, the only thing i can offer is appreciation (and expectation, but that comes later )

Still interested in helping out... but I don't need to be a regular. Maybe use this thread or another when you're looking for "independent" submissions of one type or another.

Necroshea wrote:Hmmm, are you implying that something like video games would be reviewed? Might want to stray away from those, game and movie reviewing is already an over saturated market.

Regarding bloodbowl, I personally have no experience playing it. I've been invited to leagues but I have no team, or models for that matter. I've played the game (which I just bought), but I'm hardly qualified to write about it yet.

I'm trying to get a good idea of how far outside of tabletop are we trying to go. I guess I'm still wondering what is the broad scope and purpose of the project.

No, by other game systems I mean Warmachine, FoW, Malifaux, etc., not video games. Trying to keep this about tabletop gaming at this point, it should provide plenty of material. If we get really starved of content later we could theoretically look into related video games or roleplaying, but that's not the prefered situation.

Necroshea wrote:Hmmm, are you implying that something like video games would be reviewed? Might want to stray away from those, game and movie reviewing is already an over saturated market.

Regarding bloodbowl, I personally have no experience playing it. I've been invited to leagues but I have no team, or models for that matter. I've played the game (which I just bought), but I'm hardly qualified to write about it yet.

I'm trying to get a good idea of how far outside of tabletop are we trying to go. I guess I'm still wondering what is the broad scope and purpose of the project.

Honestly; I'd say not far. Review games related to the hobby perhaps (like Space Marine, that new upcoming Warmachine video game, the new WHFB DOTA game, etc.) and maybe some news on whats happening with those games in a little column, but thats it. Should be about Hobby gaming in general and all things dakka!

I also had an idea; why not do a player of the month column? Find a player here on Dakka that you particularly like (whether it be from personal experience, like their advice, whatever) and do a small little interview with them, like where they game, where they're from, favorite rulesets, armies, etc. ? It gets the community even more involved even if they don't submit articles and things.