I have spent a lot of time and money printing out fan-made maps of both Railroad Tycoon and Age of Steam and have learned some things along the way so I am putting up this post of hints and tips for people who are interesting in pursuing this endeavor.

First of all thanks to all the wonderful folks who provide this wonderful service for the BoardGame community!

Step 1 - Materials - all you need for this project to get started is a computer, a flash drive and a some cash, expect to put out 10-15 about dollars per map. Access to a laminator and some sort of cutting device other than a scissors is a plus.

Step 2 - Save all files to a flash drive, including rules, cards and map, including both full size and letter tiled to give your copier options. (Unless you have access to a commercial printer I heartily recommend saving your work and having it printed by a copy service place. It is easier, cheaper and your work will be higher quality) Because of the price of ink cartridges and the reduction in the price of color copies (49-99 cents), you will save money and the maps will look better from a high quality printer.

Step 3 - Find yourself a good copyman. This is the most important step. Go visit an officemax, staples kinkos etc. Go during the day shift Monday-Friday, 9-5. Reason: You want the guy who knows what hes doing If the "manager" of the copy center is available get in touch with him or ask when he or she will be around. Establish a relationship, explain what it is you are trying to do and ask if they are willing to help. Ask some questions about what it would cost etc. Hopefully they will be thrilled to have interesting project to work on rather than the monotony of their typical projects. If your dont get a good response or don't get a good vibe try someone or somewhere else.

Step 4 - Work with your copyman to get the results you are looking for. As much as you can you wanted it printed on White Cardstock, ask for them to use their heaviest usually ask for "110 pound cardstock", they might open up a package for you if you ask nice Make sure to find out how much it will cost before they do anything. For example large format printing apparently can cost 7$ per square foot. You probably are looking to have your map on tiled letter or at biggest 11 x 17, this is probably the most affordable route. Also do a test run of 1 copy and bring pieces from the game to verify that they are sized right also verify there will not be any missing bits in the gaps between the different sheets after you trim it. (For example in the Railroad Tycoon Australia map, I had to work with the full sized map and break it into 11x17's to get it to not shrink the map) BTW if you are going to all this trouble you may want to go ahead and make two copies, nothing says gamer love than giving a friend a copy of a unpurchasable gamer product! Be aware that they may ask you to sign a copyright release, make sure to communicate to them that the items are not for sale and are available by free distribution through the internet. And please do not try to use these steps for Published official or nonofficial maps. This instruction is only for variants clearly labeled as free downloads.

Step 5 - The finishing touches. They may ask if they can cut it and laminate for you, if cost is not an issue well then go for it but they will probably want 1 dollar per sheet for cutting and about 3 bucks per sheet for laminating. If you do choose to cut it yourself be VERY careful nothing is worse than going to the time and effort, and then chopping it badly. The easiest I find is a large paper chopper or scissors, I have not had great luck using the sliding cutter. It can be too hard to judge where you are cutting If you have access to a laminator, you will want to do that part yourself, OR skip lamination and...

Step 6 - get yourself some useful print and play equipment. I highly reccomend a poster size plastic toploader (24x36), these are cheap but hard to find they are available at some hobby supply stores ask around. It is only about 8 bucks. I had to get mine from a hobby supply store online (cardsnetwork.com) and paid more for the shipping than i did for the item. (8.50) but I am still happy with my 20 dollar investment. It is very light and cheaper than plexiglass (though thats another option, I have one of those too This is useful for not only print and play but also alternate laminated maps for Age of Steam, crayon rails games and more...

Step 7 - Thank the creators - Give feedback to the people who generously spent time creating the map for you and giving it to you for free. At the very least a thumbs up, and please consider leaving a detailed forum response or a decent geekgold tip. These people did not have to share their work with you for free!

That is about it if anyone has more advice, please add it here. I hope this was useful to someone.

Ryan