I was recently told that backpacks = bad for books as it damages the spine. With that in mind I was wondering how do you guys carry books to and from games. Also how do you store them.
I usually host our game, so I keep my hardcover books on the bookshelf.
When I go elsewhere to play, I bring a laptop or tablet with the PDFs I need and/or just use the PRD for rules.
It's also a whole lot less heavy to tote one PC or tablet than a small library of books.
Actually, I pretty much only buy the PDFs now. If I want a hardcopy to read at my leisure, I will print it out.
Good luck!
You are right on the backpacks but there is no other way to carry the books, when i do carry mine i use a backpack when i take my bike or just put them in a bag when i take my car.
I keep all my stuff in a rubber maid tub, 16 gallon size I think...
So I should keep my $50 Core Rulebook on the shelf but subject my $400 iPad to the horrors of random gaming tables so that I can keep my CRB looking super fine and pristine forever, got it
I mean I'm totally fine with this strategy since I fly around in a diamond-encrusted time machine that runs on burning $100 bills, throwing new iPads at people that get in my way
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So I should keep my $50 Core Rulebook on the shelf but subject my $400 iPad to the horrors of random gaming tables so that I can keep my CRB looking super fine and pristine forever, got it
Not quite. You should keep your set of 8 $50 books on the shelf (for those of us with all the Ultimate and Advanced books and such) on the shelf, and subject your bought-used-for-two-or-three-hundred iPad to the horrors of gaming tables. A couple of years later that iPad is obsolete, but your books aren't.
16 gallon tote and craft totes? Guess its time for google.com/images to see what these are.
And this
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I use to have this same issue; I collect the hardback books for a few RPGs and keep them on the shelf or in a rubbermade tub. Until recently I use to lug my books around from game to game. Not only were they heavy, but because other players knew I had the books they would never bother to buy their own, instead they used mine. Now I buy the hardback book because I still love reading and owning the hardbacks, but I also spend $10 on the PDFs and keep them on a thumb drive or laptop. And if I ever lose the drive all I have to do is come to the website and download them again. It's a no-brainer in my opinion, and puts Paizo almost ahead of the game when it comes to digital content. Now if they would just make a digital character generator I would be a very happy druid (this is what seperates 4e and Pathfinder)!
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I handle my books carefully and carry them around in what I call my Bag of the Dúnedain. They're all still in excellent shape.
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I use individually sized, hand crafted cases of leather and oak, cedar-lined and felted on the inside. Each is hermetically sealed and generally stored at a comfortable 42 degrees at a mere 6% humidity. They are removed only by my man, Timbles, who must wear gloves and a mask to handle them or else he spends a night with the dogs. In transport these cases are further sealed in plexiglass. I employ a fleet of temperature-controlled vans which are loaded and unloaded by robots.
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Or rather, I use a backpack. All my spines are ruined. It's not an investment - it's a lifestyle.
I use individually sized, hand crafted cases of leather and oak, cedar-lined and felted on the inside. Each is hermetically sealed and generally stored at a comfortable 42 degrees at a mere 6% humidity. They are removed only by my man, Timbles, who must wear gloves and a mask to handle them or else he spends a night with the dogs. In transport these cases are further sealed in plexiglass. I employ a fleet of temperature-controlled vans which are loaded and unloaded by robots.
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Or rather, I use a backpack. All my spines are ruined. It's not an investment - it's a lifestyle.
APPLAUD
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I use individually sized, hand crafted cases of leather and oak, cedar-lined and felted on the inside. Each is hermetically sealed and generally stored at a comfortable 42 degrees at a mere 6% humidity. They are removed only by my man, Timbles, who must wear gloves and a mask to handle them or else he spends a night with the dogs. In transport these cases are further sealed in plexiglass. I employ a fleet of temperature-controlled vans which are loaded and unloaded by robots.
...
Or rather, I use a backpack. All my spines are ruined. It's not an investment - it's a lifestyle.
Well said, Mark Hoover
Also just a reminder that I will be flying by promptly at 2 o'clock to pick up both you and Timbles for our weekly meeting to drink six thousand dollar scotch and then spit it upon Timbles for basically no reason
I use individually sized, hand crafted cases of leather and oak, cedar-lined and felted on the inside. Each is hermetically sealed and generally stored at a comfortable 42 degrees at a mere 6% humidity. They are removed only by my man, Timbles, who must wear gloves and a mask to handle them or else he spends a night with the dogs. In transport these cases are further sealed in plexiglass. I employ a fleet of temperature-controlled vans which are loaded and unloaded by robots.
Philistine. Such treasures require silk lining or you might as well be carrying them in a pickup truck.
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But seriously, I don't even carry my books around at all anymore. An old laptop with the PDF's and Herolab is all I use these days.
And let me just mention that having Herolab on my laptop has been a game-saver on those occasions when a newbie, or someone's girlfriend, has shown up and needed to create a character.
I have to vote with the PDF users. I always have my laptop with me so bringing a thumb drive with my collection on it is not any additional effort.
Although I do want to add I find Lamontius' effort at humor to be very entertaining. Well done Sir.
Unless someone comes out with a rare edition of a book that has something in it that isn't supposed to be there (perfect text, errata...), then they are meant to be carried around and be slowly destroyed. If that 1st edition UC doesn't fall apart and the 2nd edition comes out with (some of) the errata what are you going to do?
yeah, my CRB spine is destroyed. Roll out the duct tape!
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Why are back packs so bad? What about brief cases, shoulder bags, grocery bags, gym bags?
I never bother with the Paizo books but sometimes I wised I did. I used to wrap up my 3.5 books in heavy brown paper like I did with School books. Than I would reinforce the edges and corners with at least one layer of duct tape. This kept those books in very good condition till this day.
I find the fabric book covers are often too small/tight to properly protect the books as well as the heavy brown paper(or try to use at least 2 layers of any other type of thinner paper) and duct tape. The fabric covers can even damage the books if they are tooooo damn tight.
The fabric covers make it easy to tell which book is which if you keep those colors/patterns in your mind. Though I find that none of my friends could ever remember which was which. Even when I stored different types of books in different small sections. I did not use a real book self. it was more like an organizer of small cubby holes than a real book self. The duct tape and paper could be made very different themselves if you uses different color tapes/papers. That takes extra work, that is why I began using so many fabric covers, they are easy but not as good.
These days I pretty much switched to using PDFs and an app on my iPad. If I go back to buying books, I will try to do the time consuming but much better protected paper and tape covers.
An oft used reference book should look well loved. That means setting down the bag but not dropping it, not spreading of the spine more than needed, caution with food and drink, but it also means rubs on the corners, and eventual loosening of pages from the spine. I love that so much information is on-line, and I use it, but it isn't a permanent replacement for a rule book.
I just throw mine in an old piece of luggage. Well-worn is well-loved. :)
I carried my AD&D books in a backpack a lot, back in the day. It didn't hurt the binding at all, but the pigment wore some. Some of the other kids back then, suffered a lot greater fading than I did.
With the pathfinder books, I worry about the binding, just from reading them. Especially the Core book. That thing is so thick, and the binding just seems a little cheesy.
Milk crate. Perfect size for gaming books. It has a handle on every side, can be bashed severely without damage to contents, can multipurpose as a foot stool or chair and has lots of room as far as books go. Stackable and can be flipped on it's side to make shelves.
My solution is the same as Christopher's, if less classy: Jansport messenger bag I've had since college, with expandable zipper. Holds books remarkably well as that's what it's designed for, and it's not particularly damaging to the spines since I place all the books in it spines up. You never want to rest a book on its spine except while reading.
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I use individually sized, hand crafted cases of leather and oak, cedar-lined and felted on the inside. Each is hermetically sealed and generally stored at a comfortable 42 degrees at a mere 6% humidity. They are removed only by my man, Timbles, who must wear gloves and a mask to handle them or else he spends a night with the dogs. In transport these cases are further sealed in plexiglass. I employ a fleet of temperature-controlled vans which are loaded and unloaded by robots.
...
Or rather, I use a backpack. All my spines are ruined. It's not an investment - it's a lifestyle.
Well said, Mark Hoover
Also just a reminder that I will be flying by promptly at 2 o'clock to pick up both you and Timbles for our weekly meeting to drink six thousand dollar scotch and then spit it upon Timbles for basically no reason
Excellent! I'll meet you both there. We might be a little late though because Woodhouse FORGOT TO CHANGE THE OIL IN THE CAR! So I'm making him take me by rickshaw. I'll be sure to bring the bowls full of cobwebs and we can make Timbles and Woodhouse eat them.
When my books fall apart I place each page in a page protector within a binder and never have to worry about damage to my pages again. They are bulky compared to your standard book, but I tell you I have first edition (D&D) books that I can use with no damage to the pages what so ever.
I frankly don't care that my books are a bit ragged. I can read them just fine anyway.
You never want to rest a book on its spine except while reading.
I am an archivist. My career is caring for books. This is not true.
Always store books during transit with the weight resting on the spine.When a book is too large for the shelf, and you have to store it sideways, always store it with the weight resting on the spine.
Gravity hates books. If a book is stored spine up, there is a ton of force acting on the spine from gravity. Even an extremely high quality binding will fall apart from sitting idly on a shelf spine-up for a long time. When you factor in movement, it increases the stress and multiplies the angles it attacks the spine from. The spines on the Pathfinder books are not very good in the first place. I'm considering sending my CRB and APG to the bindery.
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I stopped caring about the state of my CRB at the time, I used it to kill a mouse...
I index every chapter page of my CRB with tabs, so I can find sections of the book quickly and easily.
Not only does it speed up rules reference during play, but it would happily minimize the minor but persistent damage of fingers-on-paper with the occasional tear.
I think I have already said it, but this isn't Shakespeare. These books are not going to be worth that much in 20 years. I had a Champions book 3rd Edition. For some reason pages kept coming out of it. Others had that problem. Even though the covers were fine, I cut them up and took the book apart and put it into a binder into those plastic page holders. It was huge. My SPRUG books also started to fall apart so I had them spiral bound and they sit on the shelf to this day.
If I knew that my books had art done by some famous guy and I knew they would be worth something someday, I would be handling them like gold. Otherwise, they are just gaming book; expensive, yes. But they are still gaming books.
You never want to rest a book on its spine except while reading.I am an archivist. My career is caring for books. This is not true.
Always store books during transit with the weight resting on the spine.
When a book is too large for the shelf, and you have to store it sideways, always store it with the weight resting on the spine.
Gravity hates books. If a book is stored spine up, there is a ton of force acting on the spine from gravity. Even an extremely high quality binding will fall apart from sitting idly on a shelf spine-up for a long time. When you factor in movement, it increases the stress and multiplies the angles it attacks the spine from. The spines on the Pathfinder books are not very good in the first place. I'm considering sending my CRB and APG to the bindery.
I stand corrected.
Admittedly I tend to pack my books pretty tightly in the bag and want the spines facing up/out for ease of reference.
I stopped caring about the state of my CRB at the time, I used it to kill a mouse...
Gotta love how the adrenaline kicks in and you have to use what's on hand. Once killed a mouse at work by crushing it between a safe and a file cabinet.
And I once broke an expensive laser printer killing a locust.
As for my Pathfinder books, they all stay at home as that's the only place I play, but if I did take em anywhere, I'd probably just set em directly in the back seat of the car.
