Do you mark your books?

[Oryan77]

I also just remembered, not only do I not mark in my books, but when I want to run one of my published adventures, I print off my pdf version of it so I can highlight it and take notes on the pages.

 

[Lwaxy]

Post it notes and such, yes. Less confusing as they are removable.

Collectors value of my books? Ahahaha... I just showered the Dragonlance campaign setting with a mix of champagne, strawberry syrup and potato chips. Took a bit to clean up.

They are tools and thus can take quite some damage. I'm trying to keep them alive of course, and the hard to get ones often get some pages photocopied.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Nope, no marks at all in my books. Not even a name on the inside front cover (although I am considering putting my name on the inside of my 3.5E PHB to avoid confusion).

I have put sticky notes or sticky flags in books before, and was disappointed to find that the ones I put in my PHB left the page slightly tacky when I removed them.

I try to treat my roleplaying books (and all my books in general, but the RPG ones in particular) with the utmost care. I remember lending my Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting hardcover to one of my friends. He only had it for 2weeks, but when I got it back the hardcover had come away along the spine. It still looks normal-ish, but the spine now feels all soft and I imagine it would damage a lot easier.

I'm still annoyed about that book to this day, even though I almost never use it. As a result, I am really reluctant to lend any of my RPG books out to people, even friends.

The one exception to this has been my Shackled City AP Hardcover. Over the 3+ years of running the campaign it spent so much time in my backpack (I would read it on the train to and from work) that all the corners are tatty and even some of the cover along the spine has started to tear.

While I hate seeing my books damaged, I sort of see that as a badge of honour for that book. The reason why it is so damaged is due to the amount of use I got out of it. Now that the campaign has finished it has served its time and can enjoy a nice "retirement".

Unsurprisingly, I also never wrote in my university textbooks. I bought them all brand new and after I was finished using them they looked as good as new (and I did actually use them!).

I guess it's just not in my to mark up my books.

Olaf the Stout

 

[jasper]

anyone who thinks their rpg books have a serious collector value needs to quit melting down their d12s and freebaseing them.
Unless you get a crazy rich geek, read the new character for 2 1/2 men, you be won't getting major dollars. Even if you have a signed first printing with all the names in industry autograph.
As to not writing in books, I use to not write in books until some pt out that I paid for it.
And what is the pdf poster be talking about.
hmm pdf Planar Devil forces book?
Players Defense Fencing?
Photocopys a Dime For 1 sheet?
for the ones who missed their roll.

 

[Celebrim]

anyone who thinks their rpg books have a serious collector value needs to quit melting down their d12s and freebaseing them.

As usual with collecting, this depends on how rare the item is, how esteemed it is within the community, and how much money is within the community.

I think that there will definately be items from D&D's early days and from the early days of modern gaming in general that will be worth a considerable amount in the future.

If you have a first printing mint copy of the original the volumn D&D signed by Gygax and Arneson, then you have a national treasure and I think it would be evaluated as such by 'Antiques Roadshow'. I'd be surprised if the Smithsonian didn't look you up one day. If you have a mint poster from Origins 1, or a mint GenCon 1 poster, then you've got something worth several thousand dollars. If you have a signed copy of a first printing of H.G. Wells 'Little Wars' in mint condition, you probably can pay for your kids college tuition with it. I don't know how many of these exist in the world, but it can't be many (if any), and it would be like the Guttenberg bible of gaming.

And if you think that these things are only really worth money if someone is willing to buy them, consider how many .com millionairs are probably also gamers.

 

[Oryan77]

And what is the pdf poster be talking about.
hmm pdf Planar Devil forces book?
Players Defense Fencing?
Photocopys a Dime For 1 sheet?

PDF = Portable Document Format - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Welcome to the year 2012!

 

[Nytmare]

As usual with collecting, this depends on how rare the item is, how esteemed it is within the community, and how much money is within the community.

I think that there will definately be items from D&D's early days and from the early days of modern gaming in general that will be worth a considerable amount in the future.

This idea is what the collectibles market is built on, and why absolutely nothing made that is termed a "collectible" by the comic book/card game/pocket monster companies is going to be worth anything in the long run.

The majority of what those markets are built on is the false frenzy the companies have been able to engineer within the confines of that market.

If you have a first printing mint copy of the original the volumn D&D signed by Gygax and Arneson, you are the one person in a million who won the lottery.

If you have a complete set of pristine 4th Ed D&D books that you only handle with white cotton gloves, and only read behind 3 inches of bullet proof glass, you're yet another person who was conned into believing that they're going to be a millionaire because somebody else won the lottery once.

 

[aj3ai]

I'm a collector at heart, the thought of marking or tarnishing my books in any way makes my throat knot up.

 

[Celebrim]

This idea is what the collectibles market is built on, and why absolutely nothing made that is termed a "collectible" by the comic book/card game/pocket monster companies is going to be worth anything in the long run.

This is true of the collectibles market in general and not just of gaming/nerd collectibles.

Generally real collectibles must be:

a) Rare or even unique. There must never have been very many of them.
b) Not recognized as being valuable at the time that they are first created thereby reducing even further the availability of the item.
c) Have significant cultural or historical value.

If you look at for example, base ball cards, the ones that have any value at all meet all these qualifications. The were printed in small print runs and included as rewards in packs of cigerettes or chewing gum. Most people considered them disposable at the time they were printed, and the valuable ones are of players which went on to have a monumental legacy in what was then 'America's Favorite Pasttime' before it was understood just how big professional sports and sports stars would become.

No modern baseball card meets any of those qualifications.

The other thing to watch out for in gaming collectibles in particular is confusing the collectible value of the item with the items utility. Game peices with a large impact on a game can achieve high demand for players of that game. But that's not the same as having value as a collectible. The true mark of a collectible is that you could make a four million copies without effecting the value of the 'real' one in any way. Reprinting the OD&D 3 volumn set with a digital signature of Gygax and Arneson wouldn't effect the value of a real one. Giving away PDF copies of the 1e Tomb of Horrors wouldn't in the slightest effect the value of, for example, Gygax's original hand written or type written notes for the Dungeon or hand drawn map. On the other hand, printing 10 or 12 million Black Lotuses would by my estimation drive down the value of the originals by about 80%. An Alpha Block Lotus would still retain signficant value as a collectible, but without the artificial constaint on their availablity as game peices, they'd be much less valueable. I base this estimate on the overall price trends of MtG cards over the last two decades or so.

Many GW's minatures have done a rather good job of retaining their value, but they do so primarily as useful playing peices that are often hard to come by. Little if any of the value is their value as collectibles because they don't meet any of the three qualifications. The same is true of many other 'rare' game peices - from Ogre minatures to rare 80's RPG books. They may be expensive to obtain, but don't necessarily assume they are collectible and investments. That's why I laugh when people try to add value to a miniature because it is 'rare'. And 3D printing may ultimately crash even that value.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

anyone who thinks their rpg books have a serious collector value needs to quit melting down their d12s and freebaseing them.
Unless you get a crazy rich geek, read the new character for 2 1/2 men, you be won't getting major dollars. Even if you have a signed first printing with all the names in industry autograph.
As to not writing in books, I use to not write in books until some pt out that I paid for it.

Oh, I'm fully aware that my RPG books have small to no collector value. My decision to not mark my RPG books isn't because I want to try and sell them at some point down the line. I have no plans to sell the vast majority (at least until it becomes an issue of space). I just like to keep my books in as pristine condition as possible. I'm sure many others are the same way.

Olaf the Stout