So while reaching to my shelf to grab whatever booklette I need last session I thought again about slicing the spine of the collected rule books, drilling holes in them and put them in one easy to use binder.

I'm not sure why I'm holding back, other than the fear that if it goes wrong it will be unfixable. But the texts are so thin it just seems so much easier to bind them all together.

What do you think? Anyone want to talk me out of it or goad me on?

Yes destroy them!!! Mwahahahaha!

I had that thought too on my last gaming night. Maybe not one book though…

Books no good. Make holes in all of them. You know you have to…. DO IT!

I still have my AD&D monstrous compendium binders…and the individual pages have held up really well. You could even go five-ring binder style.

Then you could save the covers and do a little collage action. Combining arts and crafts with grim and perilous!

I would be weary of that, just a bit of experiance for you to go on.

I know what you mean about the old D&D books, I to have those in binders but its worth noting that the thickness and quality of paper on which those books where printed even though not as glossy and fancy looking was actually better. The page thickness of this new glossy paper is as thin as you can go without actually seing through it. It tears easiely and hole punched holes will wear out very quickly on paper like this. I did this with one of my Legends of the Five Rings book that uses the same qualify of pages and it was a complete mess.

So I would say.. dont mess with it., they dont make them like they used to.

If you want a binder however, I would scan the books and use stirdy paper. this is ultimatly what I did to create my own desk (GM reference) for games. Roughly 30 of the most commonly search pages across all books I tend to reference. It worked out great.

Buy the pdf versions. You may try to google.

Make your own compendium book and print it if needed, or put it into your tablet, e-reader, laptop etc… where you would be able to search by word

Yepesnopes said:

Yup thats a good idea to, but personally I found that I rarely actually need a desk reference for this game. It occurred to me a session or two ago that I don't even open the books during the game except for the phsyical campaign/story im working.

i thought about that too. mostly since the books like to fall apart after reading them anyways. i brought them on my holiday and i even had to catch some of the pages of the book of grudges out of the sea since the wind took em away…

i think once one of the books falls apart totally i will start putting them into one giant folder for easier reference

nephtys said:

Might consider putting them in plastic binded pages to protect them. I honestly don't use my original core books for anyting anymore since I have all the guides and the hardcover guides are extremly sturdy and well put together so I think they will last a long time. My core softcovers are usually the once I lone to players as Im not that attached to them.

I frequently dismantle scenario books (like Edge of Night) as I rewrite swathes of them, so I have my pages and then the ones from book etc. I try to re-assemble after use to store for later reference.

I do not dismantle rule books.

I do use PDF's or scans to get handouts, maps and other custom content "for table top" and to manipulate it in size etc. (eg. x4, print in sections and tape together to lay out on table).

I write freely in all my books. I once treated them like "pristine works of art" but then got over that "they're mine to be marked up to remind me of the other page with important related info, errata, this is great, that is just goofy" etc.

I've considered doing something similar, but less destructive. Have you considered scanning the pages that you need and compiling them into one massive pdf?

GoblynKing said:

nice idea! if you ever do that, please be sure to share the work!

Picture is worth a thousand words (and no, I wouldn't tear apart the books). I use the vertical magazine holders:

nice, but not really transportable…i fould prefer a folder i think, hard cover or so, maybe i'll order one of these skins online to make it look warhammerish

I actually started by thinking of getting PDFs and printing them, but it seems the core rules aren't available. (Or am I wrong?)

RARodger said:

They are available, I have them. Even the Player's and the Game Master's Guides

Yepesnopes said:

Yup everything is available at RPGdriveThru… every GM's best friend. Just want to say that I don't support piracy of books available on PDF legally, so please be kind and don't download them. Its the curtiousy thing to do if you love a game and want to support it, in particular one that is currently imprint (I generally make exceptions myself for out of print material).

Yeah, I fully support creator rights (even for corporations and such). The down side to printing material is the cost… between re-buying the material as PDF (which isn't terribly expensive, but still prohibitiive) and then printing costs it's not terribly practical.