Do you like your gaming books signed?

[Ghostwind]

In my opinion, a surefire sign of being a consumate gaming geek is having your gaming books signed by the folks who helped create it, authors and artists alike. There's something about having a personalized message in your book. I admit that even after being in the creative side of the industry for years, I am still a sucker for signatures. Whenever I see Ed Greenwood, I almost always have a book for him to sign. I just think it's cool. The same goes for even less known individuals like Steve Kenson, Andy Collins, Bret Boyd, and the like. Despite knowing these guys on a first name basis, I still enjoy having them sign a book that they worked on.

So with Gen Con around the corner and authors galore attending, do you have your books signed and do you plan to have anything in particular signed at this year's convention?

 

[Crothian]

I like having my books signed, but I never go out of my way or try to bother people to get them signed. Well, except this year with Lynn Abbey being at the con. I'm hunting her down and getting my first edition Thieves World book signed!!

 

[mcrow]

I like autographs but I'm not going to go to a con just to get one. I would like to get some WotC autographs and Dragonlance stuff signed. I have 25+ Palladium books that are signed by all of the people who worked on them.

 

[William Ronald]

I think that autographs can be nice, but I have never showed up at an event just to get an autograph.

 

[KB9JMQ]

I like having my gaming books signed.
But I don't get autographs from anyone else other than people in gaming.

 

[francisca]

I like having my books signed, but I never go out of my way or try to bother people to get them signed. Well, except this year with Lynn Abbey being at the con. I'm hunting her down and getting my first edition Thieves World book signed!!

That is a really good idea. Yoink!

 

[philreed]

From the other side, I still feel a bit weird when people ask me to sign something. It's just something I'm still not used to.

 

[sjmiller]

For gaming books, about the only time I have ever gotten a signed book is when it was given to me for helping playtest the book. That has happened three times so far, and two were GURPS books I helped work on (Bestiary 3rd ed and Steampunk). The third book is an LE book that Phil wrote. Hmm, I wonder if I will be asked to sign books once the ones I am working on get printed?

 

[Swedish Chef]

I don't go out of my way to get books signed. I happened to meet Ed Greenwood a few years back at a local con, and asked him if he wouldn't mind signing my books if I brought them in the next day. He graciously said that he would, and even hunted me down to do so, which I thought was very nice of him.

 

[AuraSeer]

I like signed books, but I wouldn't want anyone to autograph my regular D&D rulebooks. It's not an issue of keeping them "clean," it's just that they wouldn't stay in very good condition. I use the books a lot, and I'm not overly concerned about keeping them pristine; I crack the bindings, I chuck my backpack around, I stack open books on top of each other, all that kind of stuff. If they were autographed, I'd have to pay more attention to preserving the books, which is an annoyance when you're trying to cross-reference spells and magic items in the middle of a tough combat.

If I had an extra copy of a favorite book, or maybe a leatherbound "special edition" PH, I'd get it signed at the first opportunity. But that book wouldn't come with me to games; it would stay home on the display shelf.

I do have a signed first-edition copy of Battlelords of the 23rd Century, but I didn't seek it out. At one of the first cons where they tried to sell the game, a friend introduced me to the author, who sold me a book for cheap and then autographed it for nothing.