Well, I certainly wouldn't let someone else write in my book...

RPGPundit

I read them, but will try to get PDF versions so I can keep the books in fairly good condition. All my Pathfinder books have PDF versions on my laptop as I don't want to cart around the books and use them.

I keep my books and rpg stuff in the garage because the Mrs. doesn't want gaming stuff in the house.

Quote from: RPGPundit;614643Well, I certainly wouldn't let someone else write in my book...

Yeah, certainly not. That would be an immediate "congradulations, you've just purchased that" reaction from me.

I handle my books with reasonable care but at the end of the day they are there to be used and a bit of wear and tear is inevitable. For me the text is the thing. When I assembled my near complete collection of 1E D&D material I was never much concerned with the condition of the modules as long as they were complete.

I treat my gaming books today the same way I have always treated books, as cherished items you protect. I would never write in a book, any book. My books have suffered wear and tera over the years. But not by my hand. Even books I have loathed, I could not destroy. Most of my books look as good today as the day I bought them. I am proud of this fact.

I do have a mild case of OCD, but life taught me to overcome it. I'm a writer beside being a role-player, and taking notes and using keylighters on research materials is vital if I want to put them to good use. This usually requires taking a deep breath before plunging in - like plunging in cold waters.

Ironically a friend of my father, an engeneer with a deep love for literature, once looked at a pile of bent, marked, highligted and worn out books of mine, and sighed "This is what I missed in my life!"

I can empathize When I bought Pathfinder's Beginner Box I gave it to a friend of mine who wanted to become a DM and I told her: "Do anything you feel necessary: take notes, bend pages, highlight passages... Don't worry about the fact that it is mine". Next time I saw it, the books were almost doubled in size, with post-its, additional materials, notebook pages crammed in and highlights in three different colours. And I thought: "Sigh... Why I can't be like her?"

I must admit I do have that kind of reverence, not just for game books but books in general. Illogical and sentimental I know but I can't help it. Books are an artform after all.

Quote from: K Peterson;612867When I was a kid I colored in every picture in the Fiend Folio with crayon.

My S.O. did that to the old Monster Manual when he was in high school, but with colored pencils instead of crayon. It's probably the only book we own that's extensively marked up, and looking at it makes me laugh.

Quote from: Dana;614959My S.O. did that to the old Monster Manual when he was in high school, but with colored pencils instead of crayon. It's probably the only book we own that's extensively marked up, and looking at it makes me laugh.

I resisted that urge.  I know lots of other kids who did it; I think they were more "artistic" than me.

RPGPundit

My RPG books regularly disintegrate under the way I treat them.  Pictures of other people's gaming shelves always disturb me, because all their books seem to have complete spines.