New week, new day, new #RPGaDay 2016 post! On a personal note, this is my last week at my current job – I move on to a new venture next Monday. That’s very exciting, but for this week I anticipate much boredom, as I don’t want to start any projects and I’ve been working on documentation for what I do for the last 6 months. Oh well. More time to work on the next series of modules and new #RPGaDay posts!

8) Hardcover, softcover, digital? What is your preference?

My answer I think closely hews to other people’s, which is “depends on the book and the need.” I love hardcover books for the most part, and I’ve switched to them for my fiction reading over the past few years. I like the heft and weight of a hardcover novel in my hands, makes it feel somehow more substantial.

For RPG books, I like physical versions AND digital versions. At the table I would always prefer a hard copy of the adventure or sourcebook to reference, but for every other time I’m OK reading on my iPad or a computer. For the physical copy of the RPG book, I actually prefer softcover and spiral-bound, something you don’t find in published materials! Another reason why I want to get a digital copy with my books so that I can have a spiral-bound version made and I don’t have to worry about marking up my original.

Spiral binding allows the book to be laid flat and that is invaluable at the table. I like saddlestitching for the same reason, though having looked into that personally for my own books I can attest why it’s not something you see much of anymore (I guess big printing houses aren’t set up for it cause the cost is outrageous!). On the shelf, though, give me a hardcover RPG book any day of the week. For example, I backed the Kickstarter for Lost City of Gaxmoor at the level to get a hardcover and a softcover version, and on the shelf the hardcover version just looks nicer.

Yeah, I know, it doesn’t actually matter. But still it’s nice to look at!