Quote from: RPGPundit;612858I was surprised to hear someone recently talking about how gamers now treat their RPG books as "collectibles", and take care not to smudge them, bend pages, or especially (god forbid) write on them! And how this is different from the old days and the way "we" used to treat them "when we were kids".

So what's the story? Are gamers putting their books in plastic vacuum-seal?
Or do you still write notes in your RPG books?

Not at all. My books show the wear of constant love, reading and use. I can only assume the people collecting RPG books aren't actually playing them (unless they buy the book as a collectible and use the pdf I guess).

Quote from: vytzka;612904People who write in their books are nothing more than uncouth savages.

Then I am an uncouth savage to the bone. virtually all my books (save my RPG books) have my chicken scrawl on every page. I was told from a young age to write in books. If I have a question, find something that seems innacurate, or get an idea, I happily write it in the margin or underline passages. The books themselves are not what is important, it's the ideas in them that matter, and I think it is healthy to use note taking in the book itself to help read more critically.

Now when it comes to rpg books, I am more reluctant to write in them because they are largely used for reference and I worry about accidentally obscuring important information. Usually will do it in modules though to help meremember important parts or to make modifications (for rulebooks I usually just place stcky tabs on key pages).

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;612986Then I am an uncouth savage to the bone. virtually all my books (save my RPG books) have my chicken scrawl on every page. I was told from a young age to write in books. If I have a question, find something that seems innacurate, or get an idea, I happily write it in the margin or underline passages. The books themselves are not what is important, it's the ideas in them that matter, and I think it is healthy to use note taking in the book itself to help read more critically.

Its difficult to really dig into a book without a pen/pencil in hand.

Quote from: Piestrio;612988Its difficult to really dig into a book without a pen/pencil in hand.

I tend to agree. Mostly I read history books and I find pausing to note details is an impportant memory aid for me. It also helps me put some of the pieces together. Writing to me feels like a natural extension of reading.

Quote from: RPGPundit;612858I was surprised to hear someone recently talking about how gamers now treat their RPG books as "collectibles", and take care not to smudge them, bend pages, or especially (god forbid) write on them! And how this is different from the old days and the way "we" used to treat them "when we were kids".

So what's the story? Are gamers putting their books in plastic vacuum-seal?
Or do you still write notes in your RPG books?

RPGPundit

I still have game books in good condition from 1983 because I don't fold, bend, spindle, or mutilate them. You don't have to vacuum-seal a book in plastic to treat it in such a manner that it lasts for decades of use.

And no, I do not write in my books. Ever. That is sinful.

Amazingly, older books in good condition make you more money should you decide to sell them.

Obviously I don't believe in gratuitously damaging books; but as I am not a collector of any kind (at least not in the sense of owning something just to have it in a pristine condition to show off), I do believe in actually USING the books and anything that comes as a result of that use only adds to my affection for it.

And anyone who looks at my RPG books would immediately be able to tell the difference between those books I never or very rarely used in actual play and those that I used in campaigns.  The latter will be full of scribbled additions or changes based on my houserules in play.

RPGPundit

Oddly, my books with quotations, historical books, and religious texts have numerous notes or highlights within them (though I've gotten in the habit of using Sticky notes), none of my RPG books have such anecdotes (unless signed).

My college textbooks (I still own better than 90% of them) also have minimal note-taking in them (and most of that, is girl's phone numbers... ).

EDIT: I have recently "destroyed" a lot of my older RPG books, to make good-quality PDF's (I need to hyperlink and bookmark, to make them "high-quality PDF's"). I've found the quality on a lot of old WEG Star Wars PDF's on the web iffy at best, so I decided to make my own.

Quote from: soltakss;612945I used to lend them out, until one came back with obscene graffiti throughout.

I used to write notes in them in pencil and write hit point losses on monsters, but don't do that now.

Having had a couple of books fall apart through overuse, I now tend to use PDFs instead and leave the originals on the bookshelf.

The reason I have backed the Glorantha Kickstarter at PDF level is mainly because I would be terrified of opening the things and cracking the spines or spilling something on the pages or bending e corner down.

It's hard to crease a PDF ...

I lent out my new Traveller LBB's in (get) High school it came back useless due to a permanent marker Rembrandt. I hunted him down and "extracted" financial recompense.  It seems his daddy told him to "take peoples rpg books and deface them to upset us satanists"

I treat my books as gentle as I can, I used to work at a bookstore, and could read novels without bending the spine or covers in a noticeable way.

Admittedly though game books get used by far more than me, and they get worn as time goes on. They aren't collectables to me, they're tools, and a good tool may have a little wear. Mind you I'm still careful with them, and sometimes replace ones that are too badly damaged. Most often this is because of bad book design, I'm looking at you Hellas. I love the game but the books landscape format was NOT thought out well.

I left a banana (dinner) in the same bag as my RC (back in the days before ebay) and when I finally found my RC I was distraught - blackened, looked soggy, like it'd been in a fire, pages stuck together and generally all fcuked. It was years before I bought another. Before then I'd been kind to my books (as much as could be) though some were notoriously fragile - I think the Stormbringer book only had to be opened to loosen some of the pages, and after a couple of weeks, fell to bits. My MERP (1e) book from 1984 or whenever it came out is in bits somewhere.

Everything else is kept reasonably intact with no notes or scribble inside. I still feel shame for the banana incident. :idunno:

i don't vacuum seal anything but i do take care to not bend pages or handle my books with greasy fingers. i have books that are 30+ years old but look as if they were purchased yesterday.

I read and use my books, but I have a lot of books that are ten years old that look almost new. I also treat novels this way. I want my books to last.

I don't buy game books that I don't plan on using. Bare hands, pass them around the table, thumb through them, lay them down with the spine facing up... it's all expected wear and tear and I figure I'll have to replace books occasionally.

If you write in my books, though, I will open one of my six mouths and sing the song that ends the Earth.

Quote from: RandallS;612860I'm pretty careful with mine, not because they might turn out to be (or are) "collectible" but because I am pretty careful with all books. For example, I have paperback novels I bought in the 1960s when I was a kid that have been read many times and still look almost new.

People can handle their own books any way they want without comment from me. However, if you handle my books you had better handle them gently and with clean hands -- or you will not be handling them again.

My thoughts exactly. I treat my books nicely because I like to treat my books nicely. I'm not much of a "paperback in the bathtub" type.

Quote from: K Peterson;612867In your terms, I'd be classified as a "collector". I don't keep them in a hermetically-sealed chamber, or use white gloves to handle them and forceps to turn the pages. But, I do make an effort to keep them in good condition - I don't write in them, bend or fold pages, trash the spines. I treat textbooks like that, not RPGs.

Yeah. I'm careful with my books, and I would be pretty pissed off if someone else was careless with my books, but that's just because I'm careful with all my stuff. I found it hard enough to justify writing in study books...

On the other hand, RPG books are designed to be used at the table. And I have no problem with doing that. Ain't no point in owning them otherwise, and if they suffer wear and tear, well, that's just what happens.

I actually got in a fist fight at school when someone ripped the back cover off my copy of Dungeoneer.