Do You Write In Or Modify Your Game Manuals?

[Chainsaw]

I absorb new information better when I can highlight or mark with a pen/pencil, but I like to keep books pristine.. so I will usually print out a "learning copy" that I don't feel bad about marking up and buy a hard copy for pleaure reading and reference.

 

[Cor_Malek]

It seems that a lot of people write their names in. In case this interests you: making own ex libris is fairly easy and cheap, and it really looks better. There are two main ways to go around to it: if you want monochromatic - a stamp, and if you want colour, or just more detail - a sticker. The latter - you just make a picture you want, and print it on sticker paper. The former you can make in almost any printing centre (and I do mean "any". A lot of xerox points do this), and all you need to give them is a vector project from corel or paintshop. Costed me equivalent of like 3 or 4 bucks. The text is: "Ex Libris" on top left, and my name on the bottom.

Of course mine is rather low tier as they go, but that's more because of my own lack of talent than technical boundaries (just google it ).

 

[Ahnehnois]

Certainly not. I wouldn't write anything in my D&D books or any other books. This isn't to say that I'm concerned with their condition; I tend to drop them clumsily. I just try not to write anything at all if I have to; keep everything in my head. Practically speaking, I usually only bring books to sessions that I know no one else has, so there's not much worry of mixups.

 

[Festivus]

I do a few things to my books:

If it's a book I expect to take to public play, I will write my last name on the page edges (top, side and bottom). This makes it easy to spot if I loan this to someone at the table.

In all my books, I write my name inside the cover and on page 25. I like the stamp above, I may consider going to that method.

I use sticky notes temporarily if I am referring to things for a game, but I don't leave those in for extended periods. (e.g. I might flag a monster in the monster books)

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Back in my 1e days, when errata was, at best, hard to find, I didn't write anything in my game books. Not because they were sacrosanct; just because I knew the game so well I didn't need to. In the 3e era, or rather, the era of the internet where errata is posted almost immediately, I have taken to writing in errata or taping particularly long bits of errata directly into the book where they belong. I just don't see gamebooks as being keepsakes or heirlooms; they're to be used.

 

[Diamond Cross]

I find writing in books of all sorts very distasteful. I want to read the original print, not somebody's opinion of how they think it should be.

Also, I differentiate my books from somebody by placing a sticker on it, say like a Spider-Man sticker for a superhero RPG book.

 

[Baphomet]

Just the thought makes my stomach turn! Absolutley not.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I find writing in books of all sorts very distasteful. I want to read the original print, not somebody's opinion of how they think it should be.

When I write notes in a book, I generally plan on keeping it. The notes are for me, to help clarify something; a good example is my copy of the Book of Chuang-Tzu. I don't plan on getting rid of it.

 

[Jor-El]

I have put post it note tabs in some of my books so I can quickly flip to certain sections, but I would never write in the books themselves.

Except, I do put my own personal mark on the inside covers of all my gaming books to indicate ownership.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Just the thought makes my stomach turn! Absolutley not.

I can understand this reaction to an extent, just not for gamebooks or mass-market hardbacks. I would never write in my copy of the Berni Wrightson-illustrated Frankenstein, or my 1920s-era copy of Caesar's Gallic Wars, but I wouldn't hesitate at all to do so in a gamebook or some run-of-the-mill hardback or paperback.