Taking Care of RPG Books

[Jehosephat]

I'm looking for some opinions here. I am wondering is it possible to keep RPG books in pristine condition or will they inevitably show wear and tear after a time? What do you do to preserve the quality?

 

[Crothian]

as things age they will show some wear but you can keep them in really good shape with a few percautions. The easiest way is to never use it, but barring that just be careful when you do. Don't crack the spine and just be easy on it.

 

[morbiczer]

I wrap mine into paper, and then plastic (sort of, don't know the exact English name). This way the books stay in perfect condition, but you can't see the original covers.

 

[Ron]

Keep them in a dry place, as humidity will destroy your pages, and far from sunlight, which may destroy the pigments in some printing processes.

 

[Turanil]

If you are the only one to manipulate your books, and do it with care, they should be in good condition next 20 years. After all, all my 1e and 2e book are still in good condition (maybe not pristine...), just because of that. Only the 2e PHB first printing was almost destroyed. I sold it on ebay for 2 euros (2.5 $), and bought another on ebay that was in much better condition. I still love that book, even if I don't want to play 2e again, ever.

My advice: don't let players who don't have their own books to touch yours. Get the SRD online; there are people who have made nice PDF of them. Give that to players. Maybe print them once for the gaming table and that's it.

In fact, recently one players let some coca-cola on the pages of my PHB. I was really upset, he just answered it wasn't so terrible. Sure! It's not his book! Fortunately I have 2 PHB (3.0; only one 3.5) for that reason. The other is pristine and will remain like that forever! Anyway, my next Grim Tales campaign, nobody touches that book. Either they buy one, or they use the PDF I took time to create for them so they don't need the book to create their characters...

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

There's lots of good advice already. The only thing I would add, is to keep the books upright on a shelf (just like libraries and bookstores do).

I used to try and keep all my RPG books in a pristine condition.

Then, I went to the first Chicago Gameday (way back in January of 2002) and played in cdsaint's Weird Wars game. My copy of the book was nearly flawless. His copy looked pretty beat up (the game had only been out for five months).

And in that moment, I realized that I didn't care what my books look like. I want to use them. And cdsaint's book said (to me) that he loves that game and has gotten countless hours of enjoyment out of playing it.

I try to keep them in good shape, but if that doesn't happen, so be it.

I love my (mostly) pristine books. They look very nice on the shelf. But if the books I use a lot show some wear and tear, well, great! That means I'm using them and really getting my money's worth.

Now, the coke spilling--that is UNFORGIVEABLE! If I ever did that, I would offer to swap my (better) copy or buy the victim a new one. I recently bought the "Serpent Kingdoms" book. While carrying the book from the car to our house, my son spilled his hot chocolate all over it. I was upset for about a minute, and then realized that it's just a book and there are more important things in life--like creating Serpent Kingdoms NPCs to torture and kill my son's PC.

And, to get this back on topic, I you use the book a lot, it will have some wear and tear. You can't avoid it, except by not using the book. But I think if you follow everyone's suggestions, you can still use your books but also keep them in really good shape. I think the spine a big issue. Once the binding goes, the book will fall apart, so don't crack the spine (the Crothian rule). Cover it to protect from spills (the morbiczer rule). And keep it out of high humidity & sunlight (the Ron rule). Don't let others borrow them (the Turanil rule). And keep them upright on the shelf when you're not using/reading them (the Barendd Nobeard rule).

Hopefully, some of our resident librarians (Eric Noah, Buttercup, Cthulhu's Librarian) can offer some tips.

 

[Faraer]

These plastic jackets work really well for softbacks.

 

[Treebore]

When I buy my books, soft or hardcover, I take packing tape and tape all edges and the spines. Plus I keep them upright on my shelves and I am careful when I handle them, such as not closing the book with pens/pencils and other books inside of them. My 1e books still look darn good and I used them a lot, as well as my 2e, and now my 3e. Even my modules hold up very well with the application of the packing tape.

Protected my DM screens very well too.

Even helped minimize spill damage. For example my books were lying on the table when some bonehead spilled their soda all over the place. Despite my books being mostly surrounded by the spill the tape, and the weight of the books, kept the spill from getting to the paper part of the book before I picked it up and wiped it off. It saved a boneheads life that day since the bottom book was my Book of the Righteous, which is far more expensive than a core book.

 

[Turanil]

Now, the coke spilling--that is UNFORGIVEABLE! If I ever did that, I would offer to swap my (better) copy or buy the victim a new one. I recently bought the "Serpent Kingdoms" book. While carrying the book from the car to our house, my son spilled his hot chocolate all over it. I was upset for about a minute, and then realized that it's just a book and there are more important things in life--like creating Serpent Kingdoms NPCs to torture and kill my son's PC.

I want to point out this: the paper used to print D&D books is in fact of excellent quality (sort of glossy), as I was able to immediately mop them up. Then, I suspended the book to have the page dry the best they could. As such, thanks to WotC good material for printing books, the pages are just somewhat curled. However, had it been a book by a third party publisher with mundane paper (like Grim tales or many Green Ronin books), it would have been deteriorated.

So, next campaign, players don't read Grim Tales unless they buy it. Ditto for 3.5; they go on with their 3.0 books, and everything 3.5 is like houserules.

 

[Jakar]

Books are meant to be used. If they get something spilled on it, well, that just gives them an...aged look I suppose. I do not mind people using my books, just as long as they do not crack the spine.