Fan Publications?

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

I don't think anything will be set in stone, so don't worry about the initial decisions precluding other possibilities farther down the line.

 

Also, updated/refamiliarized myself with my personal favorities in pdf editing, so I'm good to go with slapping issues together.

[Dolchiate Remembrancer]

So, where are we at? Any developments?

[maverike_prime]

So, where are we at? Any developments?

 

it's on hold for the moment. I don't want to go into details, but there is something regarding the publication that I wanted to sort out with Brother Tyler before I went any further with development. So just keep your eyes open and ears to the ground, and keep talking about it.

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

Worth mentioning; checked in with BT on some details of .pdf resources. The preexisting assets (backdrops, page number icons, headers etc) used in Legio Imprints 1 and 2 are open for us to use. I've matched up the fonts present in them etc., so we're good to go on the .pdf creation front.

[Wulf Vengis]

Bolter Clip

[HenricusTyranicus]

Hey, I'm going to be out of town until the 8th. I'm totally on board to help with this, but I cannot respond to anything til then. Peace.

[Doctor Perils]

This idea is brilliant. All hail the Legio Imprint !

 

For info, I'd definitely like to pitch in. I'm sorry to say though that it wouldn't be for much more than fluff blurbs ( I have already got enough projects on as it is). I would also be happy giving articles a quick grammar check and stuff, and once in a while I can give a hand on IA articles and stuff.

 

It seems like it's already been decided, but I also agree with it being pdfs rather than on a website: there are already enough 40k blogs out there, I think you're more looking for something ala Ye Olde White Dwarf. It's also more practical should you want to read it on an e-reader, or should people want to print it. In that thought, it might be a good idea to have two versions of each Legio Imprint: one 'nice' presentation for reading on the computer, and one 'sober' presentation for printing. Each time it would be the same content going in, one would just have a colourful background and the other a plain white one.

 

Could I also mention that I think it would be fun to come up with some sort of mascot, as a mirror to Grombrindal ? I was thinking he could be a Librarian of the Legio Bolter and Chainsword, or something of the sort. I always liked the concept of Grombrindal, and he not only represented White Dwarf, he WAS White Dwarf.

[Sugarlessllama]

I'm super excited to see this happen.

 

Have you thought about looking to other gaming magazines for ideas? I know No Quarter which is put out by Privateer Press is pretty awesome. I have a sub and I have to say, I have not been disappointed. Although they only put their out quarterly. But each issue has been well worth the wait. :D 

[Dosjetka]

I very much like the idea and would be willing to help out where I can.

 

However, I find the deadlines too ambitious. Starting with an issue every three months sounds like a good start, with the possibility of ramping up production to a bi-monthly or a monthly release once things are rolling.

[Brother Tyler]

We sort of have two parallel and inter-related issues being discussed.

 

The first is maverick_prime's idea for a fan publication covering the full range of WH40K material and presented via another site.

 

The second is the B&C fan publication, the Legio Imprint.

 

The B&C has no control over maverick_prime's external fan publication (though we encourage it and would definitely allow advertising of such a publication here at the B&C using our normal methodologies). If maverick_prime wants to roll his idea into the Legio Imprint, that's perfectly fine. Alternately, maverick_prime and others are free to develop and present their own fan publication external to the B&C. While there is probably wiggle room to fit xenos into a B&C fan publication, this doesn't mean that anything goes. Similarly, presentation via the format structure isn't as sexy as maverick_prime has considered. So if these (and other) considerations mean that taking a fan publication beyond the B&C is what maverick_prime desires, that's entirely his call.

 

Regardless of what maverick_prime decides on his fan publication idea, the Legio Imprint will continue to be our option here, and we highly encourage members that want to see issues developed to contact us. We'll provide as much support as we can (though content will have to be member-driven).

 

As far as the Legio Imprint goes, we're probably only likely to be able to sustain a quarterly release cycle at the fastest. More likely, we'll publish issues as they're ready. I see two different styles of Legio Imprint issues. The first is what we've seen in the past - heavily themed. The second is a more generic type of periodical. If we sustain the Legio Imprint, the themed issues will probably continue with the numbers while the generic issues will probably be identified by season and year. The problem with both types, especially the generic issues, is that deadlines impose a level of stress and real life often beats us with a stick, which is why we haven't pressed this issue. This is part of the reason I see this as a community effort, perhaps with a very small core of individuals providing some technical support, rather than having a dedicated team for this endeavor (though we have absolutely no problem with members supporting multiple issues).

 

As far as the generic issues go, we have a wealth of material here at the B&C, so using the Legio Imprint as a way to showcase the broad range of the hobby can be sustained. New material created expressly for the Legio Imprint is also good, but we can just as easily take a member's topic and spice it up (with the member's permission, of course).

 

While there won't be a maximum size (other than the practicalities of file size for ease of download), we'll keep the issue minimum size reasonable - perhaps 36 pages or so (no, that's not necessarily the minimum and serves only as an example). That includes four pages for the cover, as well as four pages for table of contents, B&C site news, etc. Really short articles will be only a page or two, though I see most articles coming in at between four and eight pages. Practically speaking, it will be fairly easy to exceed 36 pages on a regular basis, even in the generic issues (themed issues tend to be far longer).

 

I'm going to create the Legio Imprint forum in the Special Projects forums. This will provide the basic guidance for issues and will also serve as an index of issues. Members interested in developing/contributing to issues should contact me via that forum. Once we hammer things out, I'll develop sub-forums for issues. Only contributing members will be able to see the sub-forums while the issues are still in development. Once an issue is published, we'll clean up the sub-forum and then make it visible to everyone, including forum-based versions of articles. So members will be able to download the electronic versions (definitely pdfs, maybe epubs too) and/or view the articles in the forum construct. We might even be able to have individual articles available for download so that members only have to download the articles that interest them. All stock images and templates will be available via the forum (though members will be allowed to deviate to a degree in issues, especially when such deviation contributes to the theme - as long as the end result remains recognizable as a component of the Legio Imprint and the Bolter & Chainsword).

[Dolchiate Remembrancer]

Thanks for the update Brother Tyler and best of luck to Maverick!

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

Glad to hear it! I've prepped the text for an article, but prepping the artwork's taking a bit longer than I anticipated - I'm pretty rusty when it comes to 2-dimensional painting!

 

Personally, I'm still very enthusiastic about the idea of the Imprint, and will do what I can to get an issue going.

 

Will put together a general content-drive thread in the subforum if no one else beats me to it.

[Dosjetka]

Cheers Brother Tyler :)

[maverike_prime]

Thanks for the update Brother Tyler and best of luck to Maverick!

 

 

We sort of have two parallel and inter-related issues being discussed.

 

The first is maverick_prime's idea for a fan publication covering the full range of WH40K material and presented via another site.

 

The second is the B&C fan publication, the Legio Imprint.

 

The B&C has no control over maverick_prime's external fan publication (though we encourage it and would definitely allow advertising of such a publication here at the B&C using our normal methodologies). If maverick_prime wants to roll his idea into the Legio Imprint, that's perfectly fine. Alternately, maverick_prime and others are free to develop and present their own fan publication external to the B&C. While there is probably wiggle room to fit xenos into a B&C fan publication, this doesn't mean that anything goes. Similarly, presentation via the format structure isn't as sexy as maverick_prime has considered. So if these (and other) considerations mean that taking a fan publication beyond the B&C is what maverick_prime desires, that's entirely his call.

 

Regardless of what maverick_prime decides on his fan publication idea, the Legio Imprint will continue to be our option here, and we highly encourage members that want to see issues developed to contact us. We'll provide as much support as we can (though content will have to be member-driven).

 

As far as the Legio Imprint goes, we're probably only likely to be able to sustain a quarterly release cycle at the fastest. More likely, we'll publish issues as they're ready. I see two different styles of Legio Imprint issues. The first is what we've seen in the past - heavily themed. The second is a more generic type of periodical. If we sustain the Legio Imprint, the themed issues will probably continue with the numbers while the generic issues will probably be identified by season and year. The problem with both types, especially the generic issues, is that deadlines impose a level of stress and real life often beats us with a stick, which is why we haven't pressed this issue. This is part of the reason I see this as a community effort, perhaps with a very small core of individuals providing some technical support, rather than having a dedicated team for this endeavor (though we have absolutely no problem with members supporting multiple issues).

 

As far as the generic issues go, we have a wealth of material here at the B&C, so using the Legio Imprint as a way to showcase the broad range of the hobby can be sustained. New material created expressly for the Legio Imprint is also good, but we can just as easily take a member's topic and spice it up (with the member's permission, of course).

 

While there won't be a maximum size (other than the practicalities of file size for ease of download), we'll keep the issue minimum size reasonable - perhaps 36 pages or so (no, that's not necessarily the minimum and serves only as an example). That includes four pages for the cover, as well as four pages for table of contents, B&C site news, etc. Really short articles will be only a page or two, though I see most articles coming in at between four and eight pages. Practically speaking, it will be fairly easy to exceed 36 pages on a regular basis, even in the generic issues (themed issues tend to be far longer).

 

I'm going to create the Legio Imprint forum in the Special Projects forums. This will provide the basic guidance for issues and will also serve as an index of issues. Members interested in developing/contributing to issues should contact me via that forum. Once we hammer things out, I'll develop sub-forums for issues. Only contributing members will be able to see the sub-forums while the issues are still in development. Once an issue is published, we'll clean up the sub-forum and then make it visible to everyone, including forum-based versions of articles. So members will be able to download the electronic versions (definitely pdfs, maybe epubs too) and/or view the articles in the forum construct. We might even be able to have individual articles available for download so that members only have to download the articles that interest them. All stock images and templates will be available via the forum (though members will be allowed to deviate to a degree in issues, especially when such deviation contributes to the theme - as long as the end result remains recognizable as a component of the Legio Imprint and the Bolter & Chainsword).

 

Hey BT. I know I kind of semi-disappeared basically immediately following our conversation and sad disappearance probably gave the impression that I was pissed off at you. Such is not the case. I'm guessing that's what prompted to you to talk about my intentions, and the Legio Imprint as if they were going to be 2 separate projects. That is not, and has never been my intention. If B&C wants it's name Legio Imprint, okay cool. I can roll with that. I'm arrogant enough to get stuff done, but not so arrogant I will hold up an argument over something stupid. It was really just you had something, and I wasn't really sure what you were actually saying as I explained. You explained in your response to me, and then I had some real life issues and kind of disappeared for a few weeks which most likely looked like I was pissed off at your response or something. I'm not.

 

So yeah, I'm still around. Haven't completely dropped off the face of the map just yet. Just got by a nice series of life issues including a major car repair, a school situation, a major situation at work, being handed the keys to the responsibility for another situation at work and the assorted day to day stuff that just comes with working in a retail environment to begin with. Oh, and then to boot my depression kicked in. So yeah, for a while there it was a bit of an apoc-level struggle just to drag my butt out of bed each day. But I am still here and doing some what better now. The situations I was dealing with haven't been resolved, but I have a better handle on them, and I've got some more direction in my personal life again so my depression is under control.

 

So, back to this.

 

One of the advantages I have when doing into my depressive states is I can physically stop working, but mentally put my brain into a kind of hyper-focus to look at problems and challenges in an abstract fashion. So being depressed for a couple weeks my mind tended to wonder a bit and I came back to this. I probably came and re-read the thread 6 or 7 times from start to finish. That helped fuel my brain and provide information for me to process through. End result: I think I have a better handle on what needs to happen to make this a regular thing.

 

1- Like Dosjetka said, the deadlines I previously proposed are too ambitious at this stage. But like Brother_Tyler said, it's difficult to be able to commit to a regular publication like this because, as I recently demonstrated, real life tends to beat us in the face. So I would suggest we shoot for 3-4 issues over the next 24 months, this is will give us the chance to get out feet wet and start figuring out the problems that need to be addressed and how we can address them.

 

2- At this stage, creating a multi-platform publication is simply going to be too resource and labor intensive. So going forward we are going to focus on making this publication strictly a downloadable PDF file. 1 file per issue.

Question - Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer, you had implied previously that you would be able to serve as the publisher in terms of putting everything into the finished PDF. is that the case or did I misunderstand?

 

3- In order to spread the work load a bit, I think it will be a good idea to set our sights on producing a couple generic issues to start with, and in that vein have a single person nominally 'take charge' of the respective issue, functioning effectively as the editor and chief for that issue. So it would be that persons responsibility to collect the needed materials and personnel to put together the issue that are doing. This is why I think it'll be best to stick to generic issues right now, so that rather then having 3 or 4 different publications all named the same thing, we'll have 3-4 issues of the same publication. We can still assemble a core team of... administrators? I guess would be the word. The people who perform proof reading and issue creation of the respective issues, but it would be the respective issue chief's (Team leader?) job to assemble the material for the issue.

 

4- I would recommend we shoot for a 30/30/30/10 mix of articles with 30% of the issue being gaming related that would include battle reports, unit reviews, Tournament reporting and tactics articles, 30% being Fluff and background discussion, 30% being model/painting related including project updates and conversion articles, and the remaining 10% be devoted to community notices and interactions such announcements for events on the B&C, local gaming events ect. For volume sake, I would recommend we try to do between 4 and 6 articles of each category per issue. So each issue would have a total of  between 13-19 articles. Figuring between 3 and 9 pages per articles, that gives up an estimated minimum size of 39 pages of content, not counting any additional pages such as front cover, table of contents, back cover, or anything we might include that isn't and article or announcement.

 

5- Question - Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer, you said you were going to create a content thread on the special projects forum. Has that happened? If so, can you provide a link?

6-Question - Brother_Tyler, you said you were going to create a sub-forum for the Legio Imprint. Has that happened? I can not see any such area in the forums. Is it hidden?

 

 

Could I also mention that I think it would be fun to come up with some sort of mascot, as a mirror to Grombrindal ? I was thinking he could be a Librarian of the Legio Bolter and Chainsword, or something of the sort. I always liked the concept of Grombrindal, and he not only represented White Dwarf, he WAS White Dwarf.

 

Since we're talking about something connected to BolterAndChainsword.com all I can think of in response to that is this:

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/americandad/images/1/1e/Bobby_Bullit.jpg

 

And I don't think that's what we're looking for.

[Grotsmasha]

I like the idea of a Grombrindal-type Q&A each issue, I'll think on a title. One of the fluff pieces could be a review of a newer Black Library title, or perhaps the entries of the Liber Challenges could be used. 

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

2- At this stage, creating a multi-platform publication is simply going to be too resource and labor intensive. So going forward we are going to focus on making this publication strictly a downloadable PDF file. 1 file per issue.

Question - Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer, you had implied previously that you would be able to serve as the publisher in terms of putting everything into the finished PDF. is that the case or did I misunderstand?

Yup, I'm quite happy to assemble all content into .pdfs for the project. Since I have access to all pre-existing Legio Imprint assets, and matched the fonts used in those documents, it would be a simple matter to slot new text and images into that template. (I'd hopefully be a bit more creative, but I like to put a barebones option on the table and work from there.)

5- Question - Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer, you said you were going to create a content thread on the special projects forum. Has that happened? If so, can you provide a link?

6-Question - Brother_Tyler, you said you were going to create a sub-forum for the Legio Imprint. Has that happened? I can not see any such area in the forums. Is it hidden?

I'm waiting on the sub-forum before I make the content thread - personally, I'd lean away from splitting the discussion until then. (Although a point could be made that more blatantly advertising the need for content would be beneficial - maybe adding a note to this thread's title could serve in the interim? I suppose making the thread in Special Projects and then later requesting it be moved is also an option, but I'm not sure how much trouble/effort that is from the mods' perspective.)

One of the fluff pieces could be a review of a newer Black Library title,

I like this one in particular - it can be tricky to figure out what stuff I need to read to help flesh out my modeling projects, especially for minor factions, especially with the wikis being occasionally unreliable.

[Grotsmasha]

 

One of the fluff pieces could be a review of a newer Black Library title,

I like this one in particular - it can be tricky to figure out what stuff I need to read to help flesh out my modeling projects, especially for minor factions, especially with the wikis being occasionally unreliable.

 

 

I buy almost every book/novella and would be happy to contribute in this manner. I've not done book reviews (excluding High school) but would love to give it a go.

[Brother Tyler]

I am in the process of building the forum/sub-forum structure, including creating the core posts. These (sub-)forums are invisible for now, so only the administrators can see them. Once I get them to an IOC, I'll make them visible to the masses. We'll refine further from there, so whatever "guidance" you see when they first become visible is merely a starting point and some of that will change based on feedback.

 

+EDIT+

 

Interesting note: I'm dusting off a forum that has been around for quite some time, with discussions going back to 2007. And I know that the admins/mods had discussions way before that (going back to at least as early as 2005. Y'all are going to find our old discussions to be pretty interesting, going over much of the same ground that we've covered here. And while some of the things we discussed may be outdated now, it's interesting to see that some of the things we discussed have been addressed by Games Workshop, Forge World, etc. I'm having a great time just re-reading some of these older discussions (which is slowing me down, I know, but I need to assess if any of these discussions need to be moved to other forums before going live with this thing).

 

At the latest, the Legio Imprint forum will go live some time this weekend (depending upon what real life allows me to do).

[maverike_prime]

I am in the process of building the forum/sub-forum structure, including creating the core posts. These (sub-)forums are invisible for now, so only the administrators can see them. Once I get them to an IOC, I'll make them visible to the masses. We'll refine further from there, so whatever "guidance" you see when they first become visible is merely a starting point and some of that will change based on feedback.

 

+EDIT+

 

Interesting note: I'm dusting off a forum that has been around for quite some time, with discussions going back to 2007. And I know that the admins/mods had discussions way before that (going back to at least as early as 2005. Y'all are going to find our old discussions to be pretty interesting, going over much of the same ground that we've covered here. And while some of the things we discussed may be outdated now, it's interesting to see that some of the things we discussed have been addressed by Games Workshop, Forge World, etc. I'm having a great time just re-reading some of these older discussions (which is slowing me down, I know, but I need to assess if any of these discussions need to be moved to other forums before going live with this thing).

 

At the latest, the Legio Imprint forum will go live some time this weekend (depending upon what real life allows me to do).

 

Awesome. And hey, looking over discussions that were had then is still a different perspective. Who knows, maybe you guys discussed something that you've forgotten, and we've over looked but is actually a great idea.

 

So once you get the forum set up, if you'd be so kind as to invite myself, and the others to the forums. I think our first assignment will to read through the forums and the posts that are presently there.

[Brother Tyler]

Here you go.

 

I only made a few changes, even though some of the older material doesn't quite match up to what we've discussed here. I figure we can revise through discussion.

 

Note that some of the links don't work (Dornian Heresy, Shall They Know Fear) and I'm working on that.

 

I also intend to add an issue resource topic that will identify types of articles, formats, and branding/formatting elements.

 

The LIP topics you see are still hanging out there, ready for eager hobbyists to jump upon for development. Our discussion here has been about generalist issues, so I think we'll move forward with the first of those soon (and I'll have to create the sub-forum for that and assign relevant permissions to interested parties).

[Llagos_Tyrant]

I'm still reading through this topic but I'd love to help out with fluff writing. I'm away from my models almost the whole year but I can write (and do write) all the time. We can pm about details or if you'd like to see some of what I've done here and elsewhere?

[Doctor Perils]

Weee, the project's still moving forwards, brilliant!

 

I noticed this idea of a special Legio issue, and I'm eagerly looking forward to any developments in the Legio Bolter and Chainsword department. In fact, seeing this sparked my inspiration, so I just wrote a short blurb about an old battle-brother of Legio from the Shadow Wolves, and I'll probably do his Death Shield tonight. He's not my mini-me but I found him fun to write. However, I'll wait for the revised Legio to come out before posting him up I think.

[Dolchiate Remembrancer]

As this isn't two seperate projects, I am def still on board. Let me know how I can help, if it can be through article writing, reporting or even just ye olde ra-ra-ing!

[maverike_prime]

Here you go.

 

I only made a few changes, even though some of the older material doesn't quite match up to what we've discussed here. I figure we can revise through discussion.

 

Note that some of the links don't work (Dornian Heresy, Shall They Know Fear) and I'm working on that.

 

I also intend to add an issue resource topic that will identify types of articles, formats, and branding/formatting elements.

 

The LIP topics you see are still hanging out there, ready for eager hobbyists to jump upon for development. Our discussion here has been about generalist issues, so I think we'll move forward with the first of those soon (and I'll have to create the sub-forum for that and assign relevant permissions to interested parties).

 

Awsome Bt. Thanks. Moving the discussion over to the sub forums.

[Brother Tyler]

I'll do one better for you and just move this one.