Sunday, February 20, 2011

Some DIY OSR Books

Just the other day I discovered the wonders of spiral binding. I just printed these out at home on my laser printer (a worthwhile investment for any gaming material junky like myself), printed out the covers on cardstock (two of them in color), and brought them in to the print shop. They charged me $4.37 for each book, which included the transparent protective cover, the plastic spiral binding, and the sturdy plastic-ish backing.


The books pictured are, from left to right

  • Labyrinth Lord Revised Edition (I finally broke down and paid the 6 bucks for the PDF with art)
  • Swords & Wizardry Core Rules (text is from the current 3rd printing, but I used the cover from the second printing, since the image from the third printing is cut up into a bunch of pieces)
  • Original Moldvay/Cook/Marsh Basic and Expert rulebooks combined into a single volume, complete with custom cover utilizing more of the artwork of Kevin Mayle (can you tell I love his work?)

These books are awesome because they open and and lie flat on the gaming table. You don't have to worry about them getting bastardized by one of your friend's cheeto hands or spilled drink, and they fold all the way back around on themselves, so they are less cumbersome to read.

Note: If all you have is an inkjet printer, don't bother. Just get the whole thing printed up at the printer. It'll be cheaper that way.

5 comments:

  1. This is why I love my laser printer. :)

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  2. Indeed. I got a little workhorse Brother for $70, and it was worth every penny!

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  3. I've rebound a few old books where the original perfect binding exploded (Paranoia 2/e, WH40K) with spiral binding.

    I totally agree with you: it's a superior binding for gaming materials.

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  4. Did you actually re-compiled the B/X in a single volume or just merged the two PDFs together? Just curious, for it looks very cool!

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  5. It's just the two original books, bound together and separated by a piece of cardstock. Basic in front, Expert in back. Nothing fancy.

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