The Bookbinding

And so the books were bound, with scratchy old burlap


A stack of paper, bound in burlap string. The binding of a book strung together with burlap string.


Lol apologies for the title, you really can't talking about binding of books without it sounding... powerful and deep or something. Says something about books tho.

Much like this burlap says something about me, plain and prairies, potatoes and pumpkins, brown as dirt and twice as scratchy. Ahhh, I can't even tell you how many fond memories I have of large sacks of potatoes, picking them, filling them... I get off-topic. Anyways, me and burlap go back, thus why the beautiful binding. OOOhhhh, I love how it looks all... different thickness in different places, very homemade feel. I like it. That said, I also put a blessing of kindness and storytelling in the binding of the DMG, so that covers any scratchyness in that one lol. Also burlap feels awesome anyway, thank you Greyhawk. But anyways, for the modules I've printed, those needed just plain old string.

And speaking of, MAN, the wonders I've had with string. Oohhhhh, it was a rare commodity, maybe once did I find it at my parent's place. My Grandma's place, that's where there was a large spool of string. We used it sparingly, making little bows or crafts. It was hard to come across back then, so it really only came out once or twice, but I have fond memories. And it would also look better on the modules, avoid the everything-is-made-of-burlap direction that that could have gone. Also string is now readily available.

The first edition Dungeon Master's Guide, with the first strand of binding tied in The binding about a third of the way done, held upright to see the binding face-on. It kinda resembles a sword, which fits the DM thing. The front of the DMG again, with the binding entirely done. The binding as seen directly on, the burlap all crisscrossing up the back from top to bottom. The word 'kind' is written in fuzzy brown wire at the top right of the picture Holding the book at an angle, to show the face and the binding. The Greyhawk book, also bound in burlap string. The Unearthed Arcana 2022, OneDND Character Origins, bound in cotton string. Temple of the Frog, also bound in string. This one's cool, it's in colour, the adventurers are on some raft in a swampy looking bog in the dark with a single torch, surrounded by creatures. It's pretty cool. The module for Stone Dead, with string. Just a simple black and white cover on this one. The cover page just lists the title, credits, and then goes directly into the game text. Some of these were released that way, so black and white is fine, with the plastic cover. The module for the Tomb of Horrors, bound in red ribbon. Also just a title text cover on this one.
I had to put the Tomb of Horrors in red, I had to, it was there, I couldn't not do that*. It's *so* classic and well-known, I had to give it that extra. So I am pleased. I've bound all of these modules (thank you DriveThruRPG), with a clear cover sheet no less, in nice rustic twine and string and ribbon. Added plus side, that ribbon opportunity opened the door to future bindings possibly being in other colours, blue, grey, green. On that note, see below for the grass-greened binding on Temple of the Frog, because of course.
Furthermore, this little pile of literature, when combined with the D&D books that I came across by chance recently, now give me one book for every major version of D&D, from 0e Greyhawk to OneDND Unearthed Arcana!
* Also I blessed this one with fun and storytelling.

All of the books with binding on them, lined up in a curve, kinda like a slight smiley face. All fairly neat looking. Most of those bound books, along with Tome of Magic and Epic Levels, showing a book from version 0, 1, 2, 3, 3.5, 4, 5, and OneDND. Also lined up in a smile shape

ALSO MOAR BOOKS! And also preparation of the string.

And also also, with the appearance of Volo's Guide to Waterdeep, we have obtained our own paper cutter and spiral hole punch to be able to punch the holes for these and resize pages (European A4 is different from North American/D&D book A4) ourselves! Videos of the two in use here and here.


Details about this module mentioned in my song a day, linked hereWrath of the Banshee Queen, done in string. It's a dark cover with a woman with glowing white eyes, wearing an elaborate golden headpiece, staring out at you. Lord of the Iron Fortress, our level 15 module, string. A giant iron robot stands before three adventuers, an alien-looking creature behind them as well, although given the alien is relaxing right next to one of the adventurers, I suspect that it's one of the allies. The giant robot has a big giant axe for one hand, and he's chasing the two adventurers out of a giant fortress door. Lord of the Iron Fortress, our level 15 module, string. A giant iron robot stands before three adventuers, an alien-looking creature behind them as well, although given the alien is relaxing right next to one of the adventurers, I suspect that it's one of the allies. The giant robot has a big giant axe for one hand, and he's chasing the two adventurers out of a giant fortress door. The vampire translation guide, to give nod to an old Masquerade character I larped as, see Long Lost Characters in AD&D. It's bound in alternating red and green strings, to match the cover, which is green with red, and also I played a Gangrel. I did the green first, alternating holes, then the red after to go over the other string. The book for Deities and Demigods, the first edition book, with a purple cover showing a golden God holding a giant Serpent, and a lower scene of a warrior approaching a giant stone throne with another figure on it, though I mainly just got this book to be able to talk to Deities from many different Religions. Volo's guide to waterdeep seen from an angle looking at the binding, a grey string to match the city vibe of the manual.Volo's guide to Waterdeep, the advanced dungeons and dragons forgotten realms second edition sourcebook, showing Volo, an adventurous looking bearded man in a white tunic, as seen through a gate with an open passage to the outside behind them. The pdf printout of this is bound in grey string. Lost Universe viewed from an angle to better show the blue colour that the sourcebook was bound with, since it looks kinda darker in the full cover image.The Lost Universe, NASA's tabletop roleplaying game adventure. A lost space telescope, missing researchers, and a rogue planet. Are you up for the challenge? As well as that text, the cover shows a depiction of the planet surrounded by a giant dragon wrapping itself mostway around the planet My latest purchases from Drive Thru RPG, Dungeon magasine 177 and Madness at Gardmore Abbey, which contain the fourth edition Decks of Many Things, Paragon level and Heroic level versions respectively, finally in my collection.


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