Wandering books and sticky fingers

[Arrgh! Mark!]

My condolences to your loss - of trust of your friends.

I've had books go wandering before, but they always appear back again eventually. I haven't seen my Revised Star Wars in about a year now, but thats because I haven't needed it - it's just sitting in my friends car. As it is, I once ended up with several players handbooks of which none I've bought - which are soon picked up by forgetful players and whatnot. If a books started dissapearing permanently most likely the group would start to fracture and disband. Theft isn't appreciated by anyone.

Be open and honest and request the books back or the thief to vanish. Say that if two more books mysteriously vanish, so will the gaming group. It'd be for the best to be honest. You can't have fun if you don't trust your players as people.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Bag checks

I had a friend do these because he had the same experince with his books and dice. No one objected to it. If someone does object to it, then they probably have something to hide...

 

[tarchon]

Write your name on the inside cover. It seems to me like people do that all the time anyway just so they don't get their RPG books mixed up.

 

[Ravellion]

Yeah, explain publicly (before/after a gaming session) that your books are being stolen and explain that, due to the immaturity of one of the players, they'll all have to buy their own darn books. Be a hard-a$$. Non-thieves will understand, they really will. Don't underestimate the empathy that the non-thieves will feel for you, and how cool they'll be if you have to be "strict". It's a sad situation, that someone is taking advantage of you after you put your hospitality out there and someone walks all over it, but there you go...

I think this is one of those threads where a simple "I concur" can be a useful answeer. At least I hope so.

Rav

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I am pretty diplomatic (or a wuss, take your pick). I would have a hard time accusing people especially when there have been times where I have lost something only to find it in a weird place in my apartment (that I later figured out how I accidentally put it there). I would feel so horrible accusing my entire group of something when it was only one of them.

Then again, the group I play with is the closest group of friends I have and some darn honest people. If, however, I was playing with a group I didn't know (and maybe didn't trust) I would try a variety of solutions.

1) If you play in the room with all the gaming stuff, play in a different room or move the gaming stuff.

2) Begin playing elsewhere and only bring the few books you need and make sure you leave with those books.

3) Honestly, you have to have a suspect, right? I mean for one reason one the players stands out more for one reason or another, yes? Talk to that person and see if they will 'help' you keep an eye out on other players, making that person think you trust them and maybe they will be more honest or at least stop.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

As KoS suggested, I'd remove the temptation. Only bring to the table those books you need for the session, and keep the others somewhere away and secure. Keey those books you're using in one spot close at hand, and make sure you do an inventory before everyone packs up to leave.

If they ask to use your other books, you can politely say "no".

Simply remove the temptation if you aren't in a position to actually catch and evict someone stealing from you. In all my years of gaming -- mostly DMing -- I've never had something stolen, mostly because I only bring what I need to the game and I'm rather possessive about keeping track of where things are.

It helps to game with honest people, though. If someone is stealing your books, I'm sure they're cheating on their dice rolls, too.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Always, always, always put your name in the book, both in the front and somewhere inside on a specific page.

Books can even be stolen by accident, I have come home from the game and found not only my copy of the PHB but two others as well, someone had helped me pack my bookbag, and seems to have assumed that all the books at the table were mine... I called the players and let them know that I had their books, and if they brought a pizza with unmarked pepperoni to a certain address...

Figure thieves are another problem. I have had both figures and terrain stolen when running demonstration games at our LGS, as a result I no longer run the demos. The sad thing is that the terrain (built with World Works Games PDFs) was intended as a prize when the demos were finished. Grrrrr...

Books bother me less, I put a bit of myself into the figures and terrain.

The Auld Grump

 

[Kanegrundar]

Man, that's a bad situation. I've never personally had anything stolen, but a DM in a game I played in during college did. He flat out told us that someone was stealing from him and there will be no borrowing of books or looking into his books without him being in the room from here on out. He let us know that he had marked his books and would watch each of us carefully.

The stealing pissed off the group. We totally understood why he was so upset and why he was going to great lengths to keep his collection safe. Ironically, we found out who it was that night as he tried to take someone else's book instead. Our DM punched him in the mouth, and then promptly took him to his dorm room and found the 2 or 3 (I don't remember exactly now) books that he stole. That guy was then banned from the game and he got a horrible reputation in the local gaming community.

Aside from the punch in the mouth, I agreed with everything he did. Be tough, be strict, and be even harder on the jerk when/if you find out who it is. If not, I think Biggusgeekus got it right, you'll become a target for all the lying pilfering players out there.

Kane

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Unscrupulous people take advantage of people who allow themselves to be taken advantage of. You have a thief in your group. You know it, they know it, but you just don't want to come out and admit it. If you want to continue gaming with them, be aware that you've made a conscious choice that can come back to haunt you.

If I didn't disband the group immediately, I'd tell everyone up front that I'm sick and tired of losing my books and if anything else goes missing it's "get the hell out of my house" time. I would also revoke priviliges to go through my bookcase.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Design an adventure in which the characters must help a dinner host that has his precious belongings stolen. At the first sign of sweat or smile from a player, unleash your righteous might and furious anger.

AR, semi-kidding.