And I wouldn't loan my books to any of them. Look Poe, if you want to make a character at home for Tuesday's campaign you'll have to buy your own rulebook. You clearly haven't demonstrated your capability to take adequate care of them.

Quote from: vytzka;612909And I wouldn't loan my books to any of them. Look Poe, if you want to make a character at home for Tuesday's campaign you'll have to buy your own rulebook.

I wouldn't let Poe in my game at all. He'd probably write up elaborate Character back stories, complete with poetry. Urg.

I was a first born and my OCD gets the best of me sometimes, I admit. I'm the same way with all types of books, even comics. I was even that way with my toys when I was younger. If I see people "cracking" the pages when they read, it's almost as bad as hearing nails on a chalkboard. When I buy books in stores, I will usually put a book back if I see the creases, unless I can overcome my OCD and I want it bad enough.

I'm like this with my books and boxed sets, but with recently trying to get my daughter into gaming, I've tried not to be such a bull about this. I let her thumb through my pristine D&D red box and she was thumbing through the pages like an average person. I was thinking "oh, no, you can't do that." It's really not healthy. I can't take your books with you when you die, so my logic dictates that I should use these books instead of treating them like they are holy texts. OCD is not logical by any means though and it's a constant battle.

My mother instilled in me a deep respect for books, particularly school text books that we needed to sell in order to pay for the next year's books   We had to cover them in clear Contact Paper and  erase any doodles.  Highlighting was OK, though.

I continue this tradition with my RPG books.  The Contact Paper really helps against accidental spills at the table, and books that I've owned and used since the early 90's are still in great condition.

I use my books, but I never write in them.  Writing in books was impressed upon me as a big no-no when I was very young.  

But they do end up dog-eared and the bindings can break.

I'm a collector in the sense that I want a complete library for my perusal - not because I try to keep everything in immaculate condition.  That said, I try to be gentle.

Books are jewels. Like jewels, there's no point in storing them without using them. And like jewels, a modicum of care is necessary if you want them to last.

I take pretty good care of my books but can't honestly say they're unblemished. Some wear-and-tear is inevitable, not to mention aging. Still, a well-preserved book ages graciously, with the yellowingt pages and the musky, moldy odor of bygone sensibilities that I've come to cherish.

I'm OK with written stuff on books -- I get a kick out of reading marginal handwriting on used books -- but I don't do it.

I 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 treat my RPG books like I treat all my books of every kind. I treat them with respect and try to take care of them. However, I still use them. I don't seal them away or treat them as museum objects. They are useless unless read and enjoyed, IMO.

Quote from: The Butcher;612930Books are jewels. Like jewels, there's no point in storing them without using them. And like jewels, a modicum of care is necessary if you want them to last.

I take pretty good care of my books but can't honestly say they're unblemished. Some wear-and-tear is inevitable, not to mention aging. Still, a well-preserved book ages graciously, with the yellowingt pages and the musky, moldy odor of bygone sensibilities that I've come to cherish.

I'm OK with written stuff on books -- I get a kick out of reading marginal handwriting on used books -- but I don't do it.

Exactly how I see it as well.

Quote from: Phantom Black;612861I use them regularly but try to treat them well, and i don't write in them.
They're not study books and if i have to write house rules down etc. i do so in a small notebook i keep with my gaming materials.

Same here.

Quote from: Piestrio;612907Isaac Newton, Thomas Jefferson, Edger Allan Poe, Mark Twain, and just about everyone who was anyone in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Meh, they're still human beings. I don't put them on pedestals any more than I do my books. Sure they are great fellers all and I appreciate their contributions, but if they marked up their books then I choose, in that respect, to be very unlike them. I'd like to think they'd respect that.

Quote from: vytzka;612909And I wouldn't loan my books to any of them. Look Poe, if you want to make a character at home for Tuesday's campaign you'll have to buy your own rulebook. You clearly haven't demonstrated your capability to take adequate care of them.

I resemble this remark.

Quote from: deadDMwalking;612927Writing in books was impressed upon me as a big no-no when I was very young.

Me too.

But I grew up.

Quote from: Sigmund;612951Meh, they're still human beings. I don't put them on pedestals any more than I do my books. Sure they are great fellers all and I appreciate their contributions, but if they marked up their books then I choose, in that respect, to be very unlike them. I'd like to think they'd respect that.

I was just responding to the biblio-fetishism that says writing in books is somehow wrong.

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.

Yep, this. I take care of all my books. RPG, fiction, whatever. It has nothing to do with being "collectible" or having resale value, it's just the way I am.

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 have multiple sets of various gaming books.  On the one hand, I've got my DMG, Monster Manual and a dozen or so copies of the Players Handbook (as well as Fiend Folio and Monster Manual II, and two or three Unearthed Arcana).  I've got a really ragged out copy of Deities & Demigods for the rare occasion I need it.  Other than the DMG having Gary's autograph and the Monster Manual being a 4th print with red flyleaves there's nothing exceptional about any of it.

I've got another set of the three core rulebooks that are all true first prints.  The DMG stops at appendix M, has the goldenrod endpapers, etc., the Monster Manual has the true 1st art by DCS in it, etc. etc.  Those I found in a local used bookstore for $5 each (!).  There's also a pretty damn nice (unexpurgated) Deities & Demigods (I had six copies until recently when I needed some cash and sold them off, leaving me with the ragged copy and one good condition copy).  Those books, I don't game with.

Similarly I've got two sets of OD&D books; one is loose and is autographed by Gary & Dave.  Likewise a Chainmail autographed by Gary, a Supplement I Greyhawk autographed by Kuntz & Gygax, and so on and so on, then I have an OCE in box with the ref sheets, a plain-Jane Greyhawk, and a couple of copies of Chainmail (well...three, two in shrinkwrap still) that, if I wanted to play OD&D, would be the ones I used.

All of the other gaming books I have get the full "hobbyist" treatment - margins written in, pages dog-eared, etc. etc.