homebrew expansion packs

i know we had a good many of these listed at the BI forums, but thought we could consolidate the info again here.

my own expansion: the Kingdom of Loathing pack

Adventure Cards
Character Cards

original thread with text

Just hit up Talisman Island ... More homebrew expansions than you can ever afford to print!

Malechi wrote:Just hit up Talisman Island ... More homebrew expansions than you can ever afford to print!

Speaking of printing them, What kind of paper stock should I purchase or specify when I take some of those files to Staples or Kinkos ?

I want to sound like I know what I'm talking about, and I'm sure someone has printed one out.

Specifically I want to do the Dragonlance and Adventure Card packs for 2nd edition.

There were some interesting graphics when I clicked on the link for the Kingdom of Loathing pack. Not very suitable to be looking at at work!

On the subject of homemade expansions does anyone know of any other card/board games that use the same size cards as 4ed. I was thinking of trying to convert my 2nd Ed expansions such as the dungeon & timescape to use with this version but i don't like the idea of crappy home made cards i want something of equal quality.

I agree about the poor quality printouts. I thought Talisman Island had a tutorial on his site, but I didn't find it a few weeks back.

I wasn't complaining about the quality of the print.I have printed a lot of the expansion etc.. from talisman island onto stickers and stuck them on cards from a second set of talisman 4ed :/ they are great!
I was looking to aviod printing straight onto card from the printer by hopefully butchering some sort of card game like Magic the gathering but with same size cards as talisman, hopefully with rounded corners. These would then be used as dungeon and timescape cards.
(would be great if they only had logos on the back and no text) I know its a long shot!

GameJunkieJim wrote:Speaking of printing them, What kind of paper stock should I purchase or specify when I take some of those files to Staples or Kinkos ?

I want to sound like I know what I'm talking about, and I'm sure someone has printed one out.

Specifically I want to do the Dragonlance and Adventure Card packs for 2nd edition.

I know, when I print, I always use Kinkos 100# cardstock. Do yourself a favor and be sure the cards are very good looking at 300dpi because the screen depth 72dpi cards tend to look blotchy no matter how they are printed!

When cut out you would be hard pressed to tell the difference from the official Talisman cards and the homebrew (except for the fact that the official cards have the little itty-bitty tabs that come from punching them out!) Note that I have yet to do this for 3rd or 4th Edition cards as I play/expand 2nd second edition only at this point.

So, you use Kinko's 100# paper. Then print them out?

How do you get the double sided cards just right and is there a special way to cut the cards?

vogless wrote:So, you use Kinko's 100# paper. Then print them out?

How do you get the double sided cards just right and is there a special way to cut the cards?

I'm hoping the guy at Kinkos will be able to align them right. That's what I'd be paying for. It's just that he'll ask me what kind of stock I want it on, and I'd like to have an answer for him.

GameJunkieJim wrote:

vogless wrote:So, you use Kinko's 100# paper. Then print them out?

How do you get the double sided cards just right and is there a special way to cut the cards?

I'm hoping the guy at Kinkos will be able to align them right. That's what I'd be paying for. It's just that he'll ask me what kind of stock I want it on, and I'd like to have an answer for him.

I'm guessing Kinko's is a American thing?

Are there any Aussie's here, that know where we could go to get the cards printed?

Also, is Kinko's #100 equal to 100g paper?

akuma508 wrote:Also, is Kinko's #100 equal to 100g paper?

I believe #100 is the same as 100gsm paper.

I think when I made some 2nd Edition cards some time ago I had them printed on 120gsm glossy and they came up rather well.

Home made expansion.

I have made my first run of a expansion. some cards based on my creation, others from past boards, or expansions, or other ideas kicked around on the board.

1 lucky winner will receive this expanions.

What I do.

Print out the Fronts of the cards (slightly larger than needed. 101% 102%) on avery full Label sheets.
(best quality print)
Now stick the full sheet to a heavy 100 stock paper.
Trim all cards down to their individual size.
Now print the backs on avery full label sheets to EXACT size needed.
Trim them down to size.
Now attach them to the back of heavy stock paper, that you put the fronts on.
Trim off any access, using the BACK as your reference. not the front.
Using a little slide cutter works great.

Tadah! YOu have your cards.

It is impossible to print exact matches to the original cards. However having them close to the same thickness and size, makes them easy to shuffle in.

Also, for you own expansions, I would highly recomend having a varriety of stuff in it. An equal amout of good cards/bad cards. This way, knowing if its your expasion card, or a original card, realy wont make any difference to try and "dodge" or "get" the card.

(So Rett. Dont make a expasion with ALL CURSED ITEMS, and KILLER FOLLOWERS)

HallowKnight wrote:What I do.

Hallow has made a nice little "how to" article for Talisman Island which will be going up quite soon (when I've sorted some other content). Stay tuned

Thank you.

GameJunkieJim wrote:

vogless wrote:So, you use Kinko's 100# paper. Then print them out?

How do you get the double sided cards just right and is there a special way to cut the cards?

I'm hoping the guy at Kinkos will be able to align them right. That's what I'd be paying for. It's just that he'll ask me what kind of stock I want it on, and I'd like to have an answer for him.

I know the Kinkos I use has a machine that can print to 1/8 of an inch to the border of the paper*. When I create the image for the card page I place crop marks at 3/16" from each corner, it forces the machine to align the paper within 1/16th of an inch ...

* Only about 25% of Kinkos utilize the specific printer that can do this.

My friend just uploaded quite a few of his homemade cards at Talisman Island. i think we have over double the deck size in adventure cards and others now.

The solution he came up with in terms of printing and backing the cards was just to be card holders. Lots of them. he then put all of the original cards as well as the new ones in the little plastic wallets... it backs them all so yo cannot tell the differnce between the new cards and the old ones until you draw them etc.

Jeeves wrote:My friend just uploaded quite a few of his homemade cards at Talisman Island. i think we have over double the deck size in adventure cards and others now.

The solution he came up with in terms of printing and backing the cards was just to be card holders. Lots of them. he then put all of the original cards as well as the new ones in the little plastic wallets... it backs them all so yo cannot tell the differnce between the new cards and the old ones until you draw them etc.

FYI, I use the "Max Pro" China Dragon card protectors. They do Green and Blue (Adventure Cards and Spells!) along with some other colours for any other cards you may wish to add.

talismanisland wrote:Hallow has made a nice little "how to" article for Talisman Island which will be going up quite soon (when I've sorted some other content). Stay tuned

...and here it is - http://www.talismanisland.com/hallowcards.htm

Sorry I never got round to doing my version of a printing guide. Hallows seems a lot clearer than my effort would have been.

Printed the Cards and Guardians set yesterday and looking forward to giving them a bash tonight!

Being the busybody I am, I may get round to suggesting an FAQ for the homemade sets

Cheers

Geoff

There is still time Geoff

If you could still manage to do one as it would be useful for people to see how others manage double-sided printing.

I print them double sided. From the expansions on talisman island they are set up with fronts and backs. I use 260gms double sided glossy paper.

Print the fronts and then turn the page over (so that printing of the backs is aligned with the fronts. This will vary depending on the type of printer you have.

Once printed they have a excellent gloss finish so just cut them out and off you go !!!!!!!!!!

Since there is a bit of talk about home expansions, especialy the printing of the cards.. But now the question is what do you print? and how much?

Here is my list of a good breakdown of what and how many cards you want in your own creation (or collection) of ideas to make a expansion pack that is not lopsided, or easy to figure out what card comes next (because you can always tell what cards are the originals, and what are not)..Shuffle will never be perfect. I suggest "washing" the cards at the start of the game.

Qty Type Notes
4 EVENTS: Some events affect the drawer, and some affect everyone.
5 MONSTERS: Keep a mix of levels, and remember some are Dragons, some are animals.
2 SPIRITS:
2 STRANGERS: some are temporary, some hang around all game.
2 PLACES: Same as strangers.
5 OBJECTS: Mix a few objects (2), and Magic Objects(3) (talismans not included in total)
3 FOLLOWERS:
2 GOLD: a couple of gold cards..Not nessisarly "bags" but sources. Mabey a Relic worth 4 gold when traded at the city, or something.
.5 TALISMANS: If some other card you created has the potential to give a player a talisman, then I would suggest not putting in a extra talisman card. Do it on your second expansion.

This will give you a pack of 25 to add to your game. You could then theam the whole pack on mabey generaly good stuff to get, for a richer game, or bad stuff for a harder game. Mabey center alot of it around alignment or race..

happy expanding!

My current deck is 205 cards

90 Creatures

38 Craft
50 Strength
2 "Other"

You've got to keep AT LEAST 1 third of your deck as monsters IMO.

Do you think that they will give in additions blank cards a bit, if there will be any
-_+?
Thanks to blanks there won't be a problem with "home expansions"

PS
Sorry for my English ;p