LaTeX Spell Cards Project

This project is designed to create easily printable spell cards for tabletop roleplaying games using LaTeX and KOMA Script classes for a specific character.

Printing cards for all spells, even for just one class, could easily consume a whole stack of paper, so we concentrate on printing the cards your character actually knows/uses.

Project Structure

spellcards-latex
├── src
│   ├── spellcards.tex        # Main LaTeX document for compiling spell cards
│   └── spells
│       └── spell1.tex  # LaTeX file for a specific spell card
├── .vscode
│   ├── extensions.json  # Recommended extensions for VS Code
│   └── settings.json    # Workspace-specific settings for LaTeX
├── .devcontainer
│   └── devcontainer.json # Configures the development environment settings
│   ├── Dockerfile        # Defines the Docker image with necessary LaTeX packages
├── .gitignore           # Files and directories to ignore by Git
└── README.md            # Documentation for the project

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Ensure that MikTeX is installed on your system.
• Install recommended extensions in VS Code for optimal LaTeX editing.

The easiest way to do this is by using GitHub Codespaces.

Creating spell cards

Import from database

The file src/spells/spell_full.tsv is a database of existing spells, exported from a Google Doc

To create LaTeX-based spell cards from this file, run the script convert.sh.
It requires that you specify the class of the character this card is intended for, as the spell-level can differ by class and is included on the card itself.

Here are some examples:

• ./src/spells/convert.sh --class sor --source "PFRPG Core"
  to extract all spells from the core rulebook for this class
  (not encouraged as it will create hundreds of files for you to manually adjust, but you can do it)
• ./src/spells/convert.sh --class sor --source "PFRPG Core" --level 4
  to extract all spells of the specified spell-level for this class (not character level!)
• ./src/spells/convert.sh --class sor --name "Ice Storm"
  to extract a single spell by name (must be an exact match!)

Technically, the only required parameter is --class, but unless you specify additional filters, the script will have to process thousands of spells and take upwards of 10 minutes to do so.
The most common uses will probably be to either specify an exact spell name you chose for your character to use, or using at least --level to choose new spells from the generated files.
But you do you.

Include and adjust the generated result

Follow the instructions of the script and this general workflow:

1. To actually include the generated card in the PDF it needs an \input{} statement in spellcards.tex
2. Once thus included, take a look at linter violations and address them.
   If pandoc created code that needs additional packages to render the description, you will notice this here.
3. Finally, take a look at the PDF:
   1. Some parts of the pandoc-generated description, particularly tables, might not be well-formatted
   2. If the text only barely spills onto the back of the card, consider altering the description so everything is on the front
   3. Try to keep spells on a single card.
      It is better to heavily abridge the description and have to look up details when needed, than having to juggle four cards for a single spell (cf. Teleport or Permanency)
   4. Fix hyphenation and under-/overfull boxes

Re-creating spells

This might be required if either the spell_full.tsv or convert.sh have changed.
Use this command to recreate all spells for a given class:

class=sor # short-hand for the class you want to re-recreate for (sor, wiz, etc.)
while IFS= read -r spell; do src/spells/convert.sh --overwrite -c $class -n "$spell"; done < <(find src/spells/$class -name "*.tex" -exec bash -c 'filename=$(basename "{}"); echo ${filename%.*}' \;)

Recommended Extensions

• LaTeX Workshop: Provides a rich editing experience for LaTeX documents, including syntax highlighting, preview, and compilation.

Compiling the LaTeX Files

in command line:

1. Open the repository folder in a terminal.
2. Run latexmk -pdf src/spellcards.tex.
3. The output PDF will be generated in directory src/out and opened in VS Code, refreshing when .tex files change (refresh is performed by LaTeX Workshop extension on save of files).

in VS Code:

1. Open any .tex file in VS Code, e.g. the root file src/spellcards.tex.
2. Use the LaTeX Workshop extension to compile the document. This can typically be done by pressing Ctrl + Alt + B, using the command palette, or opening the extension tab ("TeX" icon).
3. The output PDF will be generated in directory src/out, open from Explorer tab or from LaTeX Workshop extension tab for additional options.

Printing and post-processing

1. In src/spellcards.tex ensure you're out of drafting mode and "cardify" is included before creating the PDF
2. Print the PDF double-sided:
   • If your printer supports double-sided printing and can deal with the card-stock you use, just use that.
   • Otherwise, print all odd pages first, then put the stack of print-outs back into the printer so the next print goes onto the backside.
     Now print the even pages in reverse order
3. Cut the DIN A4 pages into DIN A6:
   • If you have access to a paper cutter, just use that.
   • Otherwise, fold a scrap piece of paper in half along its long edge to get a crease, then place it on top of your print-outs and cut along this crease.
     You end up with DIN A5 papers, so repeat the fold-and-cut process once more.
     Tipps for better results:
     • Use a cutting-mat, straight-edge and sharp craft knife. Using scissors will shift the papers while you cut.
     • Use multiple, light cutting passes instead of a single heavy one. Heavy cuts will also move the papers.
     • Ensure your blade's tip is still sharp. Consider using a fresh blade even if it seems wasteful. Paper is harsh on metal edges and dulls them quickly.
4. Sort your cards (at least for spell-level). The cards were supposed to be re-ordered so they would line up sorted after cutting, but that does not appear to work, so you have to sort manually.
5. Each spell's front face has a marker on the right-hand edge at a specific height for that level.
   Take a highlighter/textmarker or similar and color this in to make it easy to flip through a stack of these cards.
   Maybe get three different colors and alternate between them.

You may wish to consider printing multiple copies of each card to build "decks", e.g.:
All spells that deal damage without allowing spell resistance, all spells that give an advantage in social interactions, spells that are good against physically tough enemies, or against large numbers, or fire-resistant ones.
You'll probably end up with one deck of "misc" or seldom-used spells just to keep your "main deck" handleable.

Contributing

Feel free to add more spell cards by creating new .tex files in the src/spells directory. Follow the structure used in spell1.tex for consistency.

License

This project is open-source. Contributions are welcome, but this is very much a hobby project! Do not expect PRs to be pulled in a matter of hours, or even days.
Please ensure to follow the project's coding standards and guidelines.

If you simply wish to add your own spells, or make subjective adjustments to spells, it would be better to fork this repository and keep your changes there.