Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb - Manual Inserts

[Oxley]

This would be the card's back, taken from the photo of the deck with the best quality, with minimal editions to remove some artifacts

 

[Protoss]

That's really an awesome find!
The actual cards could be to large (13cm/5,2 inch) depending on the size of your journal.
I aimed for the instruction booklet so my book is 18,5 x 12,5cm (7,3 x 5 inch) and the cards are 9,3 x 5,7cm (3,7 x 2,3 inch) - considerable smaller than the real ones.
But with that great template of yours they can be printed in any size!

Edit: Made the face side of the card. Second version, should be better now.

 

[Oxley]

I like how it is looking, however, the Polonia Deck has the divot with the card's number in only two of the corners, not in all four:

 

[Oxley]

I'm looking at the few in-lore text that is in the manual, to have an idea of how a lore accurate version of the text would be, and it seems to roughtly narrate the events before the start of the game in Ceylan, and then miscelaneous anecdotes between Indy being hired to find the Mirror of Dreams, and him reaching Prague. There seems to not be any mention of the events after that, besides random name drops of the different cities that appear in the game.

However, because the manual was made without much knowledge of the game's plot, there are a few plotholes and contradicting events between the diary and the game. These are the ones that worry me the most in order to transform the manual into the actual diary narrating the events of the game:

- In page 10, Indy talks about Marcus assigning him the task of locating an artifact in Ceylon, and how Von Beck is also after it. BUT, in the diary the artifact is called the Saravati Idol, but in the game it is specifically the Heart of Kouru Watu (and one of the few macguffins from the game that are named, so it is important in the plot) I do believe that the artifact that is mentioned in the manual is the Heart, more when in page 26 Marcus notifies that the idol is not in condition for being exhibited, which connects this plot point with the retrieval of the Chachapoyan Idol from Raiders. This fits with the plot of the game, Mei Ying smashes the Heart to get the piece of the Mirror that is inside. Maybe the Saravati Idol was an early name for the item that was shared with the graphic designer; or maybe he didnt get any info about it, and had to make up something.

Personally, I'm thinking on changing any mentions of the Saravati Idol in the manual to the Idol of Kouru Watu, so it fits the story. Also I'm thinking about making the artifact ID document from pages 2-3 about the Heart, and placing it further into the diary. I think that it would have more sense, and be more related to the main plot.

- In page 14, Indy mentions a travel stop in London (which connects with the hotel brochure in pages 16-17). He also mentions how Mei Ying arranged the hotel and taught him calligraphy in page 17, which means that this happened between Ceylan and Prague. But in the game, the cinematic showing the travel from New York to Prague completely ignores London, making this stop impossible.

I suppose that it's a detail too small to not be very worried about it, and the manual mentions London several times, so it would be ackward to not include it.

I know that this is a bit silly, but let me know what you think!

 

[Protoss]

Mishap - sorry

 

[Protoss]

I like how it is looking, however, the Polonia Deck has the divot with the card's number in only two of the corners, not in all four:

View attachment 1644380
View attachment 1644381

The manual's card has it in the upper right corner and the picture I once downloaded had one in every corner.

 

[Oxley]

You are right, the one in the manual has the seven in the right corner, hmm...
I checked, and it seems that the only cards that Piatnik (the company that makes this deck) has with numbers in the four corners are the decks made for the game of bridge, like this ones:




Which means that either the graphic designer used two different decks from the same company (which I find unlikely if this was a find in an antique store, like most of the graphics used in the manual are, according to an interview with him) or he modified the card in photoshop, and flipped it, so the number could be seen peeking from the corner, which I find more plausible.

I would suggest either keeping it with the four corners and transform the card into a bridge one, or just maintain the upper right and lower lefts ones, so it fits both the spirit of the original deck, and its look in the manual.

 

[Oxley]

I made templates for the police and luftpost envelopes. The fonts aren't fully accurate, and some of the german might be wrong, I apologize for that

EDIT: Btw, looking for references for the missing details of the zeppelin envelope, I found this posted on the german Ebay (already sold):



It looks pretty authentic, but the same envelope, the original stamps, in the same order; the same rubber stamps, with the exact same dates...
This may be from the same batch of envelopes as the one used for the manual, which is amazing.

 

[Protoss]

Looks really good!
The police envelope has two minor typing errors. I can show you if you like.

 

[Oxley]

Yeah, please, by all means! Sometimes it's difficult to guess the correct letters with those complicated fraktur fonts

 

[Protoss]

Yeah, please, by all means! Sometimes it's difficult to guess the correct letters with those complicated fraktur fonts

It's difficult for most of the Germans too. This kind of font is no longer used.

 

[Oxley]

Alright, then now it should be fixed

 

[Protoss]

Alright, then now it should be fixed

Perfekt!

 

[katmax]

This is not related to the manual itself, but the videogame, and I though it's a neat detail.


Well, this map was also identified in the old thread! Is this particular one from 1579:

View attachment 1537626

Here you have some links to digital versions of the map here and here.

Here's another version of this map which was sold at Bonhams and gives it a date of 1576. From what I see the format dates back to Ptolomy and has been updated over the years.

Bonhams : CEYLON - MAPS. MUNSTER (SEBASTIAN) Taprobana insula, hand-coloured woodcut map with elephant, 260 x 335mm., [Cologne, c.1575; 5 other maps of Sri Lanka and 3 portraits (9)

Bonhams Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers: auctioneers of art, pictures, collectables and motor cars

www.bonhams.com

here's an even earlier version.

Bonhams : CEYLON [PTOLEMAEUS (CLAUDIUS)] Tabula Asiae XII, Taprobana, [1561, or later]

Bonhams Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers: auctioneers of art, pictures, collectables and motor cars

www.bonhams.com

 

[sasoz53]

Off on a tangent from the grail diary. I was just wondering what the currency note is on page 7 of the manual. It is under the steamship ticket. Really need some help identifying this as the size of the note seems quite large.

 

[Oxley]

That is a 50 Reichsmark note from the 30s:



This is the back:

 

[sasoz53]

That is a 50 Reichsmark note from the 30s:

View attachment 1666903

This is the back:

View attachment 1666904

ahhh, I see it now. It is upside down under the steamship ticket. Thanks for that, I have already made one of those notes. I just couldn't see it.

 

[sasoz53]

Some of the assets I am having more trouble with are

-The photo from page 13. For some reason, the designer labeled it as Hong Kong, when it is actually The Bund, on Shanghai. The photo was taken from roughly the same place as this one, but it has what I assume is a truck near the kiosk looking structure. I haven't found that particular photo so far.

View attachment 1530807

- The map on pages 18 and 19. With the little amount of detail that it has I assume it is a world map.
- There is part of a banknote hidden on page 23. I dont think anyone identified it yet.
- The playing card on page 29
- The assets of the classified page of pages 34 and 35, and the bullwhipping diploma on pages 36 and 37

If anyone has any info about any of those I would be very thankful

File:Shanghai 1928 Bund Cenotaph.jpeg - Wikimedia Commons
This photo of The Bund has now run out of copyright and is free to use.

 

[Oxley]

That's a great find! However, it's not the exact same photo. Notice how the one in the manual has a truck with white boxes near the center kiosk, as well as some cars in front of it:



Ceebrupt found that particular photograph, but I havent found any hi-res copy yet:




It could be fun to also find what the coin is. I have seen similar vintage chinese coins, but none with those particular symbols, and my chinese is non existant XD

 

[sasoz53]

That's a great find! However, it's not the exact same photo. Notice how the one in the manual has a truck with white bags near the center kiosk, as well as some cars parked or stationary in front of it:

View attachment 1667529

Ceebrupt found that particular photograph, but I havent find any hi-res copy yet:

View attachment 1667530


It could be fun to also find what the coin is. I have seen multiple similar vintage chinese coins, but none with those particular symbols, and my chinese is non existant XD

Yeh, I know it's not the exact same photo, but a lot of them are copyright owned by Getty images or Almany. You can use them for personal use, at a price.