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Third Imperium Fanzine

inexorabletash

inexorabletash

SOC-14 1K
Anyone have issues of Mike Jackson's fanzine "Third Imperium" sitting around?

I was recently in touch with him, and he's possibly amenable (details TBD) with making the issues available online, but the effort to scan and post them (etc) is daunting.

I have but a single issue (#5). Anyone else have others?
 
I have issues 7,8,10, and 11.
Would love to see the other issues if they became available. Mike did some very nice articles and adventures.
Question is, what kind of scans are you looking for? There are a lot of drawings in these 'zines, so if you are looking for mixed text (OCR) and graphics it will be quite a job. But if you are content with just an image in say, gif format, it should be quite do-able. There are around 20 pages per issue.
Anyhow, if Mike is OK with it, I would be happy to contribute.
 
I'm back, with more details. I did preliminary work with the sole issue I have at my disposal (#5), and ran the plan past Mike. Here's what he had to say:

You have my complete permission to post and distribute all issues of Third Imperium and their contents online. I also grant you permission to incorporate any of the contents (like maps and sector data) into related collections of data (such as map collections), online, on CD / DVD, or in print, as long as such items are available for free.
Click to expand...
Given that, I've gone ahead and created a page:

Third Imperium fanzine

Issue #5 is up for download as a PDF! (I didn't do any cleanup of the OCR.)

So now I just need the other issues!

If you'd like to contribute, you could:

</font>
  • Scan the pages and send me images. I used 300 DPI color for the covers, and 600 DPI black & white for the contents. Save them as 100% Quality and email them. I will assemble into a PDF.</font>
  • Photocopy your issue and send it to me. I'll scan and create the PDF. Given current copier technology, I think this will do fine.</font>
  • Send me your originals, with appropriate shipping insurance. I'll send 'em back with the insurance matched. I do have to remove staples to scan them, but I'm very paranoid.</font>
Contact me via email at inexorabletash@hotmail.com if you're interested in participating. Suggestions for improving the process and/or the site and/or the PDFs are greatly appreciated.

(FYI, Mike does have his original copies in storage somewhere, but I don't want to consume his time or put them at risk!)
 
This seems like a worthy project. There was a lot of good stuff out there in the days before the internet, most of which is saadly lost forever. I don't have anything to contribute, but I wish you the best of luck in your endeavour!
 
I have copies of 1 through 5 on PDF. Who do I need to send them to?

This Is Good News,
Flynn
 
Joshua, I really like that! One thing you might consider (though it may not be as big a deal with that font) is dialing down the resolution for the OCR. I have found more errors when I scan at higher resolution because it picks up all the little bits of ink/imperfections in the paper/stray marks/etc. as if they were part of the text - with some really wierd results.

I am definitely looking forward to the rest of these! (Sadly :( , I don't have any to contribute.)
 
Great news Joshua! Thanks for doing this.

I'll scan my copies (that's issues 7,8,10, and 11)and send them to you as soon as I can. Might take a day or so though.
 
Wow. This is Traveller grognardism at it's finest! Idea to website to having most of the issues available in two days.

Great job!!

As an aside, have you thought about trying to get some of the other Trav Fanzines on your site as well? I'm sure there would be legalese hassles with Travellers Digest and MegaTraveller Journal, but High Passage, Traveller Chronicle and so forth would be great to see. I personally have several issues of various fanzines, and while I don't have a scanner, I'm sure that I can find a friend with one.
 
Check out the review of 2300 in issue #4. Mike is trashing LKW...

"On the whole, Traveller: 2300 has great potential, but that may be all it has. As in other recent games by GDW and (specifically) Loren K. Wiseman, the rules are confusing and difficult to understand on the first read."

Doesn't sound like Mike respects Loren's work much.
 
Travellers' Digest and MegaTraveller Journal are DGP, hence in limbo of course. That said, the instant the limbo is resolved I'm all for assisting in a project to scan the lot and get 'em out there, e.g. on CD-ROM.

High Passage is FASA... so check out http://www.farfuture.net/cdrom/ where it has a "FASA and GameLords" link. I have my fingers crossed.

Traveller Chronicle - would be good stuff. I've managed to gather a bunch of them for details on the Far Frontiers sector. Much more recently published so it may be easier (folks are more easily contactable) or harder (folks might be more conservative about letting it go). If someone else does the legwork I'm happy to contribute.
 
Originally posted by Joshua Bell:

... I've gone ahead and created a page:

Third Imperium fanzine

Issue #5 is up for download as a PDF! (I didn't do any cleanup of the OCR.)

So now I just need the other issues!

If you'd like to contribute, you could:

</font>
  • Scan the pages and send me images. I used 300 DPI color for the covers, and 600 DPI black & white for the contents. Save them as 100% Quality and email them. I will assemble into a PDF.</font>
  • Photocopy your issue and send it to me. I'll scan and create the PDF. Given current copier technology, I think this will do fine.</font>
  • Send me your originals, with appropriate shipping insurance. I'll send 'em back with the insurance matched. I do have to remove staples to scan them, but I'm very paranoid.</font>

Contact me via email at inexorabletash@hotmail.com if you're interested in participating. Suggestions for improving the process and/or the site and/or the PDFs are greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
paragraph.gif
Well done, Joshua! This will be very much appreciated by die-hard Travellers in every sector, I am quite confident.
omega.gif
 
Re: Starship Counters

If anyone has those available for scan I'll ping Mike again (hopefully he's not getting sick of me) and get permission to plunk them on the site.
 
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