Mythic history trivia
Added 2021-01-11 00:14:35 +0000 UTCSo this is just a bit of Mythic trivia for those interested ... Mythic was first published on Jan. 7, 2003, onto DriveThruRPG. I know this because DriveThru shows that on the Mythic page.
I'm looking back through my files to collect materials to use in Mythic Complete, so I'm trying to find the original Mythic file. For anyone out there who works in design and typesetting, you will know that a lot has changed in 17 years. It's going to be a struggle opening a 2003 document with 2020 software.
But of course, Mythic is actually older than that, so here's the trivia for you. I didn't remember this myself until looking through these old files. So these version numbers aren't confusing to people let me explain that when I started developing Mythic it went through quite a few stages. I called each stage a new edition. The oldest edition of Mythic that I still have on my computer is edition 4, and that was made in 1998. So, five years before Mythic was actually published. I don't know what happened to Mythic editions 1 through 3. Most likely those were such experimental attempts that I didn't bother to save the files. I did a lot of noodling and experimenting, and I kind of remember just tossing some of those files as the concept developed.
I see on my computer Mythic edition 4, 5, 5.5, 6, 7, 7.1, and 7.5. This last one, 7.5, appears to be the final Mythic edition and was made in 2001. It wasn't until 2003 that I actually published it. I remember that by the time I hit edition 7 I was quite happy with it. It was pretty much in the present form it is today. During that two years I played and playtested it a lot, tinkering with it as I went. I think that's why the edition numbers start slowing down, going 7.1 and 7.5. It wasn't different enough at that point to warrant an edition 8.
I hope you all don't mind my trip down memory lane. It's fun looking back at these old files, and it's going to feel strange to open that old Mythic file up, assuming I can.
Comments
Okay John, since you asked for it, I have some photos to share. These aren't screenshots but photos of a printed, early proofing copy of Mythic that I marked up. I'll make a new post about this in a moment.
Tana Pigeon
2021-01-12 20:42:26 +0000 UTCI was using a Mac, as I always have since the beginning of time (or, since 1989 when I started typesetting). I was a diehard Quark user back then, so Mythic is designed in Quark. I have since moved to InDesign. I'm using Markzware converters to convert the old Quark files to Indesign, but it doesn't work as well as I hoped. I discovered this while trying to prep a POD version of Mythic Variations, which is also a Quark file. I wasn't able to convert it without also having it saved again by Quark itself (which I got help from by the very nice people at Markzware). If I had that much trouble with Mythic Variations, I'm anticipating at least as much trouble with Mythic.
Tana Pigeon
2021-01-12 18:40:27 +0000 UTCScreenshots ... interesting. I'll see if I can crack open these ancient files and if I can I'll post some images of what Mythic looked like as a little baby.
Tana Pigeon
2021-01-12 18:37:13 +0000 UTCI love tidbits and behind the scenes, like this!
The Last Stormlord
2021-01-11 14:20:55 +0000 UTCOooh this is so much fun to read. Hope you will share some screenshots or something!
John
2021-01-11 06:44:29 +0000 UTCThanks, Tana, that was very interesting. Just out of geeky curiosity, do you remember what computer you were using when you got to Mythic 7.5, and what software you used for layout?
Patrick Bonier
2021-01-11 00:55:48 +0000 UTC
