Get my "Pulp City" templates for Magic Set Editor on Github, or on the presentation post.
Une version française de ce guide est également disponible.
Foreword
The goal of this guide is to help you in the making of your cards for the Pulp City game, using my templates for Magic Set Editor (MSE). It can also be helpful to understand MSE.
This guide will be updated alongside the evolution of the templates and the feedbacks of users. English is not my mother tongue, so feel free to help me enhance this guide if I mistreated the language of Neil Gaiman.
Last update : 20/03/2015
Installing Magic Set Editor and the Template
First step is to install MSE. Go to the Downloads page for the software, and download the Small Version (get the Full if you want all the Magic templates in addition).
Install the program.
Second step is to install my template. On the releases page, you can download the most up-to-date version of the template. The file gulix.x.y.z.mse-installer installs all my templates (not only Pulp City, but also Blood Bowl, SBH, ...). The file pulpcity.x.y.z.mse-installer installs only my Pulp City templates. Download the one which suits you best.
Double-click on the mse-installer file you just download. You should get this kind of window opened up :
In this list, you see all the required packages of the template with the type "install". Validate the screen with "OK". Packages are installed. For more informations on the install process, you can read my tutorial about it (in french only).
My templates use police fonts that are not installed by default on Windows computers. You need to download and install them. The Readme files you can find in each style directory list the fonts required.
For Pulp City, you'll need Komika Text, Komika Display and Impact (usually found on Windows). Download, then install them (all Komika Text & Display variants).
Install phase is now complete !
Configuring the "Supremes" Deck
The first cards we are gonna make are the Supremes cards.
Launch MSE, and create a new Set. Choose the Supreme template for Pulp City.
The next screen should look like this :
Depending on your screen display configuration, the card on the left part may not be entirely displayed. By default, MSE displays images in a 100% scale, and the Pulp City cards are nearly 1000 pixels high. To get all the card displayed, go to the menu Edit, then Preferences .... In the Display tab, choose the zoom that fits your configuration.
The next step will be the configuration of the general look of your Set. Open up the Style tab on the general window. Several fields allow you to define the overall style . Here they are :
The checkbox "Options specific to this card" (1) needs, for now, to remain unchecked.
The option "Card language" (2) allows you to choose the language on the card. The background will change, and some values are updated (HP, Level, Action points, ...) depending on the language (french & english for the moment).
The option "Name font size" (3) is predefined at 44, which will be good for several cards. Changing it will modify the font size for the Supreme Name, in the yellow part. In the same way, the options "Actions font size" and "Powers font size" (4) are used to set the font size for the Supreme Actions and Powers. Finally, "Actions symbols size" and "Powers symbols size" (5) set the Symbols size for the Actions and Powers fields. The default value of these fields is set so it will render okay in most of the occasions. Below is explained how to set these values for each card individually.
The next option is "Hp with numbers" (6). You can indicate if you want to have the numbers of the HP in the boxes, lightly transparent. I set this option to yes by default, because it makes the card more readable. Official cards don't display this option, so "no" matches them more.
We can end with the "Minions Displayed" (7) options. On the official cards, the "Minions+" information is on the Recruitment side. I included it on the Game side for these cards. By default, the field is hidden. By setting this option to "Yes", the field will appear in the bottom of the card. Please note that, according to your preferences, this option can be set for all the cards, or only those who actually have Minions. In this case, it is explained later in this guide how to set an option for only some cards.
Configuration is complete, you can save your Set in a .mse-set file, in order to save it, before starting to create your profiles.
Using the "Supremes" deck
Let's go back to the Cards tab, and start creating our first Supreme card. Our winner is Ace of Wraiths. For your test, you can take any Supreme you want. First, we are going to edit all the numeric fields, and the choice fields.
AP (1) and AP+ (2) fields are numeric. Enter the corresponding values for the Supreme. Note that particular values (such as Supreme Zed with AP 4/2) aren't taken care of yet. The information can only be a number. In case of a special value, you'll need to precise it in the Actions / Powers section. Another simple field to set is the Supreme Level (3). To set a value, click in the field rectangle, enter value via your keyboad, and that's all. Pretty simple !
The Movement value (5) is, like the precedent ones, a numeric field. The Movement type (4), however, is a list of choice. Choose the correct type, and the icon will change.
The Supreme Traits(7) are also numeric fields. Some of them are Trumps (red ones). Click on the Trait icon (6), and choose between Normal and Trump. If you choose Trump, the icon and the value change color.
The HP field (8) hides a list of choices. Choose the correct number of Hit Points the Supreme possesses, and the correct number of boxes will appear. If you set the style option "Hp with numbers" to yes, numbers will appear inside the boxes.
Supreme Elements (9) is again a list of choices field, but you can set multiple choice in this one. Check the differents Elements (Air, Earth, Water, Fire, Light and Darkness) to display the corresponding symbols onto the card.
Finally, let's get to other "choices" fields. The Supreme Alignment(10) (Hero, Villain or both) allows you to render slightly transparent the symbol if you choose "no" as a value. The Surpeme Origin (11) is a choice between Mystery (red), Science (yellow) ou Nature (blue).
Two fields that are not used by many Supremes come next. First one is the Freelancer field (1). Activate the choice selection by clicking in the top of the area (low part is "below" another field). Choose "Yes" to display the F of Freelancer. The other field is a text one, under the movement type (2). That's where you can set that a Supreme has the Stealth power.
The field for the Supreme Name (3) is prettoy obvious. Below there iare two other text fields. The Supreme's factions(7) are on the same line that the Freelancer option, and the Supreme Type (8) (Mechanical, Living, Outsider, ...) is just below. Those three fields don't allow multi-line texts.
In the top right corner, the circle is meant to be filled with the Supreme image (4). Miniature's photo, artwork, or anything you want. It's up to you ! Double-click in the empty area, and a windows to select your image will open. Choose your image file, and the next window will be this one :
On the left ("Original"), you get your image. A rectangle appears on it, showing the selected part of the image you want to use. A preview is shown on the right. Remember that the image will be displayed inside a circle, and thus masked in part (in the corners). Try and find the best selection. And remember that higher the resolution of the original is, better the result will be.
What is left ? It looks like the heavy part has not been handled : powers and actions. Let's start by the actions (5). The font used in the template displays the text with Uppercase letters, small and big, wether you write in upper or lower case. Test it by writing various chunks of text.
Then, test the Bold effect. Two ways to achieve this. Select the text to be put in bold, and use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+B, or click on the icon B in the icon bar. For my own cards, I use the bold for the name of actions and for the Supreme special FX/EFX.
Try to insert some numbers inside your text. Personally, I find those numbers difficult to read. It's the font that is designed this way. How to make the numbers more readable ? We'll switch the numbers to the italic style. In these fields, the italic style has been linked to another font, with more readable numbers. To get to the italic style, select the text, then use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+I, or the icon I . You can also use the italic style to get a text with real lowercase letters.
What about the symbols ? Some shortcuts exist to help you insert them inside your text. MSE, in addition of italic and bold style, allows a text to be of style "Symbols". With this style, all the text is replaced by matching symbols, or nothing if no match is found. Enter the following text : /MN/SP/st. Select it, and activate the symbols style with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+M or the Star icon just after the italic one.
You should get this in your text field. The complete list of symbols is available by the menu Format, then Insert symbol. This shows a list of all symbols, with a preview and the matching text. The menu allows you to directly insert a symbol, also.
With these tips, you should get something like that :
The Powers field (6) works the same, but is aligned by the bottom. The fields areas are overlapping, so consider that the Actions are above the Powers, so you need to click on the bottom part of the Powers field to access it.
New function from the 1.2.0 version, the possibility to display the Minions of a Supreme is on the bottom of the card, and requires that the style option "Minions displayed" is set to "Yes".
If that's the case, the field "Minions+" (1) is displayed. It's a choice field, and you can select the number of Minions added by the Supreme. On the right, the field "Exclusive minion" (2) will display a new frame indicating that the Supreme has an Exclusvie Minion. Inside the frame lies a text field in which you can enter the Exclusive Minion Name (3).
The card is almost over, we just need to get back to the style tab.
First thing to do : check the "Options specific to this card". It means that the modifications you're going to do will only impact the selected card. Try out the different "font size" et "symbol size" options, to find out which combination will render the best.
The card is over ? Let's get back to the Card tab and add a new card (icon with a green +). You know how to make a card, so you know how to make a hundred of them !
In the end of this tutorial, I explain how to export cards to use them outside of MSE.
Configuring & Using the "Minions" deck
The Minions cards and the Supremes cards look very alike. So I won't get back to the elements that don't change, but only focus on the differences. First, let's create a new Deck, that will use the Minions template.Then, we need to set the overall style of the deck. The options are almost the same as in the Supremes deck :
The last one ("HP by models") is specific to the Minions cards. You can choose how to display the HP bars. It can be a single bar ("Card"), no matter how models you got. Or you can have a bar by models. In this case, you have to chose if you want a bar by starting model ("Starting_models"), or a bar by models you can possibly have, with the additional models ("Total_modals").
Note that some configurations will display a unique bar, because there isn't enough space to display multiple bars (for example, 5 bars of 10 HP).
Let's go back to the "Card" tab. You can edit the card the same way you did for the Supremes one, with some elements missing, and other new.
Set the Starting Minions number (1). It displays as many black pawns as models granted by the card at the start of the encounter. Some Minions can have models that come into play later in the game. The Addiitional Minions number (2) is represented by gray pawns. It's the number of additional Minions, and not the total number, be careful.
Some cards can only be taken in a single copy. Set the Unique (3) property to "Yes" to reflects that. Many of the Unique Minions are also Exclusive (4) to a Supreme. Set the property to "Yes", and a frame will appear. In this frame, you can set the Supreme Name (5)
You still have to define the style to suit the card (as in a Supreme Card), but right now, you have your Minions card ready !
Configuring & using the "Plots" decks
Among the available templates, there is the Plots one. Those cards will display the informations related to the Plot chosen for the game. The design of the cards in the book has been copied. Like the Supremes cards, we can choose the card language :
It changes the text displayed on the top bar (english & french for the moment, ask me for other languages). The rest of the card is easy to complete :
We can edit the title (1). For the Plot description (2), I refer you to the Actions & Powers fields for the Supreme card. The specific styles (italic and symbols) are the same. The explanation field (3) will contain some regular information, and the top field (4) will contain an image.
French version of these cards are available.
Configuring & using the "Agendas" deck
Similar to the Plots deck, the Agendas deck is based on the cards found in the rulebook. Here's how to use it :
The type of agendas goes in the title field (1), to which we can add a subtitle (2). Then, we have three identical fields to describe the agendas : an Agenda name (3) and a Description (4), which works like the text fields for the other cards (with symbols & italics).
The top part will contain an image of your choice.
French version of these cards are also available.
Exporting cards
So we have make our cards with Magic Set Editor. But how can we use them ? Well, MSE has the capability to generate a Jpeg version for all of our cards. It's easy : go to the menu "File / Export / All card images ..." and this window will open :
For the name format, use card.name for the Plots & Agendas cards. For the Supremes cards, use card.supreme_name.
Then select either the (Entire Set) or a (Custom selection). After validating, select the directory into which the cards will be generated, and that's all.
It's up to you to print those cards, with softwares like Scribus, Word or Writer, or a printer service.