Topic: Differences between Shadow World Master Atlases 2nd and 4th edition, and 3rd too

[MadEmperorYuri]

I recently picked up the 2nd and 4th edition Master Atlases second hand (I like to collect the different editions of source and world books). Can any of the experienced players (or the author himself) explain the differences between the 2nd and 4th editions of the Master Atlas? And why the 3rd too, since I'll probably acquire it at some point as well?

I ask because I'm interested in the history of the Shadow World's development, but also because I plan to use Kulthea for a campaign, and I want to take advantage of everything that the editions I have have to offer, and it would be easier to load things into to my mind if I knew what differences there were.

Thanks very much!

[Terry K. Amthor]

Hi Terry Here. This is what I remember.

Well, the 2nd Edition was done back in the 1992 when I was still at ICE full time. It was the update from the old boxed set of 2 books, Emer, and Atlas Addendum.

The 3rd Edition was produced in the 1990's when I was starting as Eidolon Studio, using SW and RM under license from ICE. It greatly expanded the geographical and racial information from Atlas 2. It is spiral-bound in gold, and I think available as a PDF.

Atlas 4 was basically a reprint of Atlas 3, except for a new section on part of western Emer, with a detailed map, and descriptions of places around the Bay of Izar. These were not written by me, but based on my text from my Eidolon Studio book "Emer I"

I will be including this map in the new edition of Emer I. My new editions of Emer I and II will contain a lot of new material.

[egdcltd]

Also, SWMA 4 has a really heavy and ink expensive border to the pages.

[Terry K. Amthor]

Also, SWMA 4 has a really heavy and ink expensive border to the pages.

Oh yeah, it would be awful to print yourself!

[craggles]

Fortunately you can create layered pdfs nowadays which would let the end user hide elements like the borders. 

[egdcltd]

Also, SWMA 4 has a really heavy and ink expensive border to the pages.

Oh yeah, it would be awful to print yourself!

It was!

Layered PDFs are fantastic. You can put backgrounds, borders, images, text etc., all on different layers. A print friendly and a fully illustrated version in the same PDF.

[Terry K. Amthor]

But

Fortunately you can create layered pdfs nowadays which would let the end user hide elements like the borders. 

But nothing can be done about the old 4th Edition PDF, I assume. I don't have easy access to the old native files, and would just as soon do a new 5th edition anyway in full color with lots of updates and no pointless borders. But my understanding is that it will wait for RMU.

[egdcltd]

I have a feeling that even with the original files it would be a lot of work to convert it to a layered PDF, removing images from one layer and adding them to a new layer. Unless a script could be created to automate the process, I could easily see it taking many hours of labour.

[craggles]

Oh yeah, forget the 4th edition - I was commenting on future products.

It's something that needs to be set up when creating the document to be most efficient.

You can put page backgrounds and borders on a separate layer so the end user can turn those off when printing but still have them on when looking on screen - but this isn't an issue with your clean layouts.

Another thing they can be used for is for maps/layouts so you can have secrets on a layer and the GM can print out a player 'safe' copy but still have the secrets for themselves. 0one Games have been doing some nice examples of this for many years.