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Old 03-03-2018, 09:46 PM   #1
Jim Kane
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Join Date: Mar 2018
Default Interior Copy FONT TYPE used by Metagaming for TFT?

Does anyone know definitively the specific Font Type used by Metagaming in the TFT publications for the interior text block written copy?

I can't seem to find a the exact match on my own. Knowledgeable persons please respond.

Thanks.
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Old 03-04-2018, 02:58 AM   #2
Chris Rice
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: London Uk, but originally from Scotland
Default Re: Interior Copy FONT TYPE used by Metagaming for TFT?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Kane View Post
Does anyone know definitively the specific Font Type used by Metagaming in the TFT publications for the interior text block written copy?

I can't seem to find a the exact match on my own. Knowledgeable persons please respond.

Thanks.
This is something I also wondered when I was putting together my own rules summary. Hopefully someone will know.
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Old 03-05-2018, 10:32 AM   #3
tbeard1999
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Tyler, Texas
Default Re: Interior Copy FONT TYPE used by Metagaming for TFT?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Kane View Post
Does anyone know definitively the specific Font Type used by Metagaming in the TFT publications for the interior text block written copy?

I can't seem to find a the exact match on my own. Knowledgeable persons please respond.

Thanks.
The TFT:ITL books appear to be set in some version of the ubiquitous Times Roman face that EVERY typesetter in the late 1970s had. The capital G, M, R, L and T in the text match Times. One thing to note is that text in scanned copies of the ITL books will look heavier - almost semibold. This is an artifact of scanning, which tends to "thicken" typefaces.

Melee appears to be set in Times Roman, but it looks very slightly compressed (this may be a scanning artifact).

Note that kerning and tracking defaults in modern software won't match the kerning and tracking used in the TFT books. Those were likely customized by the particular typesetter and further refined by hand. My guess is that the typesetting company that Metagaming used had a lower end phototypesetter that couldn't easily change typefaces or font sizes. Hence the use of a single typeface and size. Or heck, it might've even been a hot lead typesetting machine.

Later Metagaming produces (Orb Quest for instance) used a monospaced font. My guess is that Metagaming bought a word processing system with a primitive daisy wheel printer. I'm pretty sure it was a word processing system because the text is justified; something that was very hard to do manually with typewritten text.

Traditional typesetting was *expensive*.

If I recall correctly, the typesetting shop I worked at in the mid-1980s charged $75 per hour to set type in galleys. $175 per hour in 2018 dollars. And you still had to manually paste everything up. I dunno, but I suspect that the 32 page Advanced Melee cost around $1000-2000 to typeset in 1980 ($3150-6300 in today's dollars). (32 pages; assuming $40-60 per page).

I suspect that THIS was a major reason game rules were much shorter in the pre-Desktop Publishing era.

So a word processing system costing (say) $4000 with daisy wheel printer could have easily paid for itself. Particularly since such systems could be leased on a monthly basis for (say) $150 per month.

Here's a pretty interesting site showing how it was done pre-desktop publishing: http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/woverbeck/dtr5.htm

EDIT - Yep, the July-August 1981 issue of Interplay mentions Metagaming’s “new computerized typesetting system” and uses the awful mono spaced font.

Last edited by tbeard1999; 03-06-2018 at 06:35 PM. Reason: Added information
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Old 03-07-2018, 07:54 PM   #4
Steve Jackson
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Default Re: Interior Copy FONT TYPE used by Metagaming for TFT?

I can answer this with some authority because I did the typesetting for the early books. Typesetting was my night job at the time, day being taken up by school.

IBM Magnetic Tape/Card Selectric Composer. Only the storage medium was different, and I worked on both from time to time. The MTSC/MCSC was a remarkable machine for its time, giving a very clear impression, not requiring special paper (though it liked the clay paper if you were willing to spring for it) and not emitting hot lead fumes. No, I never used a Linotype, but I worked with a shop that did.

That's why extensive use is made of ALL CAPS where italics might seem advisable. Every font change required replacement of the type ball. Change to italic and back . . . change the ball twice. If you go italic several times in a page, output stretches from hours to . . . lots of hours.
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Old 03-07-2018, 08:06 PM   #5
wolf90
 
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Default Re: Interior Copy FONT TYPE used by Metagaming for TFT?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jackson View Post
That's why extensive use is made of ALL CAPS where italics might seem advisable. Every font change required replacement of the type ball. Change to italic and back . . . change the ball twice. If you go italic several times in a page, output stretches from hours to . . . lots of hours.
It is a description such as this that reminds me exactly how far we've come in 40 years of gaming. We can be so caught up with the now, that we lose sight of the path that got us here.

Thank you for your window into the past.

D.
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Last edited by wolf90; 03-07-2018 at 08:14 PM.
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Old 03-07-2018, 08:30 PM   #6
Jim Kane
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Default Re: Interior Copy FONT TYPE used by Metagaming for TFT?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jackson View Post
I can answer this with some authority because I did the typesetting for the early books. Typesetting was my night job at the time, day being taken up by school.

IBM Magnetic Tape/Card Selectric Composer. Only the storage medium was different, and I worked on both from time to time. The MTSC/MCSC was a remarkable machine for its time, giving a very clear impression, not requiring special paper (though it liked the clay paper if you were willing to spring for it) and not emitting hot lead fumes. No, I never used a Linotype, but I worked with a shop that did.

That's why extensive use is made of ALL CAPS where italics might seem advisable. Every font change required replacement of the type ball. Change to italic and back . . . change the ball twice. If you go italic several times in a page, output stretches from hours to . . . lots of hours.
"Ofrin the Unkempt, as credited in Death Test !?!", is that you?

Last edited by Jim Kane; 03-07-2018 at 11:18 PM.
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Old 03-08-2018, 08:11 PM   #7
tbeard1999
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Tyler, Texas
Default Re: Interior Copy FONT TYPE used by Metagaming for TFT?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jackson View Post
I can answer this with some authority because I did the typesetting for the early books. Typesetting was my night job at the time, day being taken up by school.

IBM Magnetic Tape/Card Selectric Composer. Only the storage medium was different, and I worked on both from time to time. The MTSC/MCSC was a remarkable machine for its time, giving a very clear impression, not requiring special paper (though it liked the clay paper if you were willing to spring for it) and not emitting hot lead fumes. No, I never used a Linotype, but I worked with a shop that did.

That's why extensive use is made of ALL CAPS where italics might seem advisable. Every font change required replacement of the type ball. Change to italic and back . . . change the ball twice. If you go italic several times in a page, output stretches from hours to . . . lots of hours.
From https://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/e...b_office2.html

“Electronic "Selectric" composer
In January, 1975, the division announced the IBM Electronic "Selectric" Composer, an automated, direct impression composition unit. This desktop unit has a built-in memory that retains and replays automatically up to 8,000 characters of keyboard material. Other features include automatic justification with one keyboarding, automatic print out of columns in one playout and reformatting ease with capability of justified, "rag" right, flush left or virtually any configuration specified. The Electronic "Selectric" Composer utilizes over 125 interchangeable printing fonts in sizes from 3 to 12 point.”

“Family of Magnetic Card typewriters expands
The IBM Mag Card/A Typewriter introduced in September 1975 combines the advantages of magnetic card typing and the power of a 6,000 character electronic memory. The memory, which holds over a page of typing, makes possible efficient revision of typewritten material. Once in memory, information can be transferred to magnetic cards at a rate of 200 characters per second. Information stored on cards can be read back into memory later on for further revision or playout.”
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Old 03-11-2018, 08:15 PM   #8
DarkPumpkin
 
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Default Re: Interior Copy FONT TYPE used by Metagaming for TFT?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jackson View Post

That's why extensive use is made of ALL CAPS where italics might seem advisable. Every font change required replacement of the type ball. Change to italic and back . . . change the ball twice. If you go italic several times in a page, output stretches from hours to . . . lots of hours.
A mystery solved! I always thought the overuse of ALL CAPS in TFT was an artifact of a young, excitable game designer :-)
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Old 03-12-2018, 04:27 AM   #9
Jim Kane
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Join Date: Mar 2018
Default Re: Interior Copy FONT TYPE used by Metagaming for TFT?

Perhaps I am alone in this, but I really appreciated the use of the CAPS in The Fantasy Trip texts for 3 reasons:

1) I felt the CAPS, better DIRECTED my FOCUS to the IMPORTANCE and GRAVITY of a critical qualifying operational DETAIL to a RULE; more so than when italics had been employed.

As we have been informed straight from the source, special-design WAS NOT the case - nonetheless, the combined effect on me ended up feeling like SJ was right there teaching you the game himself; as if he was a CONDUCTOR using a baton to direct the focus of his orchestra, especially during KEY POINTS, and softer sections, So, it seemed to me anyway, that SJ was using the combination of these elements to get you into his head fast and correct, so we all could play.

Either way, it worked-out very well - INDEED!

2) The use of the caps, the wonderful type-face - which we can't seem to identify a modern digital-font analog for - and the Robert Phillips' interior illustrations, for me, in total, define the unique aesthetic and special atmosphere that was infused into and permeates throughout these books.

And the third reason is purely selfish, but I am sure there are MANY OTHERS with THIS SAME ISSUE:

3) No longer being age 13, MY EYES appreciate the caps and the slightly larger pica size used in the original printing of the books; which still today, read so comfortably and easily.

However, I fully believe that: "restraint OVER zeal", is already the watch-word in place.
.

Last edited by Jim Kane; 03-12-2018 at 04:51 AM.
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Old 03-12-2018, 01:29 PM   #10
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: Interior Copy FONT TYPE used by Metagaming for TFT?

Yeah, I don't know how much is just familiarity and the nostalgia of it being my first RPG system, and how much is just that I really like the way SJ writes and how much I agree & appreciate the logic of his thinking, but the appearance of the pages in ITL, AM and AW looks and feels really great to me.

At least with the way it came out, I agree the CAPS actually seem quite effective at communicating emphasis and mostly seem like good choices compares to how the bold and italics don't stand out (and those are both used pretty frequently too for something that was a pain to do). The CAPS are pretty large/wide though - maybe retain the caps but slightly smaller.

I do wish I had that font and kerning on computer. Hmm I have cousin who makes vintage fonts...
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