Which RPGs come formatted as a box of booklets, rather than, say, a single hardbound volume?

And what are your thoughts on this format?

Me, I've always found saddle-stitched booklets easy to hold, use at the table, and digest information from. Bound books with spines, not so much.

Well...

The big one that everyone knows (other than OD&D) is Traveller.  There's a couple I think should absolutely do it, Black Star being the #1.

I personally love the format. 

Depends...  Is it a full RPG or an intro starter set?  If a full RPG, is it rules light enough to justify the booklet format or are there just a ton of booklets (like one for every chapter or two)?  How many pages are you expecting in each booklet?

I'm not opposed to them and even hope to release my own heartbreaker fantasy RPG someday (maybe!) using the multiple booklet format.  I think it's a good enough to start with for a rules light/minimalist RPG or a starter set though but I wouldn't want to read a crunchy RPG of more than 200 pages though personally.

Quote from: RNGm on April 11, 2025, 04:03:29 PMHow many pages are you expecting in each booklet?

This is a great question. I guess I expect about 120 pages in total. How to divide that into separate booklets balancing continuity and page count is ... interesting.

My understanding is that more than 30 sheets gets wonky to staple, so max 60 pages per booklet. My gut tells me more like 20-30 pages per booklet is about right.

Quote from: Zalman on April 11, 2025, 04:15:06 PM

Quote from: RNGm on April 11, 2025, 04:03:29 PMHow many pages are you expecting in each booklet?

This is a great question. I guess I expect about 120 pages in total. How to divide that into separate booklets balancing continuity and page count is ... interesting.

My understanding is that more than 30 sheets gets wonky to staple, so max 60 pages per booklet. My gut tells me more like 20-30 pages per booklet is about right.

That's what I came up with in my very amateurish research.   I looked at some online catalogs of office printers that have saddle stapling add ons and it looks like they handle 20 sheets max (so 40 pages) which corresponds to what you're saying.  The reason is that I'd probably want to print them locally at an office store so I'm bound (pun intended) by what they can accomplish on top of everything else.

While I'm only at the napkin collection/messy word file stage, my hope is that I'll eventually put together three booklets at roughly 30 pages each that correspond generally to one each of the D&D core books (PHB, DMG, MM).   I'm trying to design the rules from the get-go to fit in those parameters though.  It sounds like you may be in a similar boat if you're at 120ish pages so it's a realistic possibility for you as well to use booklets instead.

There is no denying though that booklets unfortunately feel cheap... like they should be free instead of paid for and given away willy nilly at cons.  The format will turn some folks off for that reason and I understand why if they're expecting a more premium format.   That's why I hope that a sort of combo starter set with all them together might counteract that as the expectations for those are a bit different.

Quote from: Zalman on April 11, 2025, 04:15:06 PM

Quote from: RNGm on April 11, 2025, 04:03:29 PMHow many pages are you expecting in each booklet?

This is a great question. I guess I expect about 120 pages in total. How to divide that into separate booklets balancing continuity and page count is ... interesting.

My understanding is that more than 30 sheets gets wonky to staple, so max 60 pages per booklet. My gut tells me more like 20-30 pages per booklet is about right.

The original Traveller books were 48 pages. 

I think it's well worth noting that the end result comes down to the paper you use.  A high quality light weight linen paper is expensive but you can get a sizable booklet.

Quote from: BadApple on April 11, 2025, 04:33:24 PMThe original Traveller books were 48 pages. 

I think it's well worth noting that the end result comes down to the paper you use.  A high quality light weight linen paper is expensive but you can get a sizable booklet.

That's a good metric (and a good point about paper quality).

And a good reminder that that page count has to be divisible by 4.

Quote from: BadApple on April 11, 2025, 03:58:56 PMWell...

The big one that everyone knows (other than OD&D) is Traveller.  There's a couple I think should absolutely do it, Black Star being the #1.

I personally love the format. 

Yeah, I've got a bunch of those.  I'd prefer all of them together, every core book, supplement, aid, and adventure in one hardbound volume.

Right now, I do most of the rules in my own system in booklet.  The reason I did it was because it makes it easier to roll out changes to the play testers.  I'm working on the next major release, which will move quite a bit of the booklet content into standard letter size, now that I'm happy with it. It will still be something that I can insert/replace easily in sections (ring notebook) at first, before eventually moving to something more permanent--likely a saddle stitch.

There are a few exceptions that I plan to leave in booklet format.  Definitely the spell books, because it is easy to print one out for the player, and makes it easier for them to track / access the information during play.  Even if I also include the same material in the main books, I'll still have the booklets in PDF format.  I'm still on the fence about equipment.  Originally I had intended the booklet format also for ease of reference, but full page handouts seem to work better.

As for putting the booklets together, the main side effect is layout.  On the negative side, space is at a premium, and this makes layout tricky.  On the plus side, it forces you to be concise.

I had a decent stapler before. Now I have a better one.  The trick with thicker booklets is to use a good stapler with the correct, quality staples for the thickness of the booklet.  A good stapler will manage a 64 page (16 sheets of paper, folded) booklet--but only if you use the longer staples for that thickness.  Conversely, using those longer staples for a 8 or 16 page book will mangle them.

Quote from: Mishihari on April 11, 2025, 05:03:27 PM

Quote from: BadApple on April 11, 2025, 03:58:56 PMWell...

The big one that everyone knows (other than OD&D) is Traveller.  There's a couple I think should absolutely do it, Black Star being the #1.

I personally love the format. 

Yeah, I've got a bunch of those.  I'd prefer all of them together, every core book, supplement, aid, and adventure in one hardbound volume.

I think this is fair.  I'm a fan of games being released in more than one format.  (I'm also a big fan of properly organizing the material.  Damn you, WotC!)  I like booklets for table use so that we can just look at the relevant section rather than digging trough the whole book but it's also good to have a single book to work from when doing prep or learning a new system. 

I think there was a release like that, for Swords & Wizardry.

Runequest has some options like that. Both some early editions (2nd and 3rd editions are beloved, originally in a box, but republished as books) and the latest edition starter set (but the full rules is again a book).

Lost Eons looks interesting. I don't have it, though, so I don't know the page count.

Quote from: Steven Mitchell on April 11, 2025, 05:16:37 PMIt will still be something that I can insert/replace easily in sections (ring notebook) at first,

I mean, this is the possibly the best format of all: pages printed double-sided, in sheet protectors, in a 3-ring notebook. It lays flat. Or stands up. No margins necessary (which makes a half-letter size more accommodating), updated pages can be printed and replaced individually. New sections can be added. Tabbed dividers can be used.

The binders themselves are hardback. They have pockets. They can have pen holders, etc. Players can swap out a cheap stock binder with their own custom cover.

You can take dry erase notes on the page protectors I think?

And the actual printing/notebook/sheet-protector cost is no more than self-printing in small batches.

Obviously this doesn't apply to publishing, but it's almost hard to switch to a published format from there.

Quote from: Kravell on April 11, 2025, 08:39:56 PMLost Eons looks interesting.

Demonstrates a nice use of spreads, which no other format does very well.