Printing one copy of your own rules

[Norm]

I like home grown rules and mine get regular tweaks and then reprinting on a home printer, to slide the sheets into one of those presentation files.

Anyway, I thought it would be nice to have a properly printed set for gaming with, though they would still be a work in progress, so I explored Print on Demand.

I have put up a blog post about the experience of the process with a UK Print on Demand Company.

Here is a link for anyone wanting to spend some game budget this way. LINK.

https://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2024/03/self-printing-home-brew-rules.html

[Easy E]

Interesting.  I keep all of mine electronic as I find that easier for me.

POD is an area I need to learn a lot more about, so this was great.  Thanks!

[has.been]

Interesting, & thanks for posting.

[Dice Roller]

Wouldn't it be easier, and a lot cheaper, to just print out a copy on the work's toner printer and then take it to Ryman's for binding?

That's what I do with PDF rules. Actually, it gets even cheaper because we have a ring binder at work as well.

[Norm]

It depends - if you have access to that, then yes. Though paper quality might be an issue, I have seen colour bleed through to the other side of the paper on some 80gm and there are various types of paper quality even at just 80gm, most work places if printing for internal use are probably going for the cheapest.

Next, I am going to explore saddle binding and heavier paper, for the sake of a few quid and longevity of use, this might transform the outcome, I can see me deriving more pleasure from a higher spec output.

Horses for courses, but I think PoD just adds an extra aspect to the array of choice and Ryman charge £7 just for the wire bind, so I think my £10.64, which includes printing and free dellivery is not a million miles off.

[bluewillow]

Thanks Norm, I am thinking about printing my scenario books we use at French Wargame holidays as a memento of the stay with us.

Cheers
Matt

[Norm]

Hi Matt, that would be a superb idea. One of the things that I did consider before finding the PoD outfit was to use one of those photo album compilers (Cewe?).

Their production is beautiful, my wife is a huge gardening fan and a few years ago, I photographed every every plant / flower through the season and then had it done as as one of these photo albums as a sort of ‘gardening moment in time’ and it really was a good job.

I would think adding text as a full page to be quite easy, just type up the page, ‘screen shot’ it, which turns it into a jpeg and so it can just be imported into the album as a photo. 

[vodkafan]

Thanks Norm, I am thinking about printing my scenario books we use at French Wargame holidays as a memento of the stay with us.

Cheers
Matt

I like to think of a future gamer finding one of those printed scenario copies in a charity shop in 80 years time and being captivated by it and wanting to give it a go....

[Daeothar]

I've always wanted to print my own 3rd ed 40K codex for my DIY chapter of Space Marines. But it should be indistinguishable from other small codices of the time!

We're talking artwork, print and paper quality, glossy card cover etc. Obviously nobody but me would be interested in owning a copy, so it'd most likely be a one-off (or two-off; if I go through the motions, I might as well arrange for a back-up).

The writing is about 2/3 finished (it's basically a reskinning of the Space Wolf codex of the time, so I would still have been playing an official army) and have collected and created enough artwork to fill it out.

Just the all important artwork for the cover and the action pictures of the miniatures need doing. I used to have a distinct lack of terrain to the latter, but I do now, and I have some very talented artist friends who I might be able to commission to do the cover art.

This project has been lying dormant for almost 15 years, but in my case these things are never abandoned or forgotten and I might well finish it some day.

Even back then I had been looking at a print on demand service, but maybe a local print shop, where I can negotiate, discuss and easily solve stuff might be the better option. I don't know, but maybe I'll find out eventually...

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

Thanks for the post Norm, there are quite a few PDF-only rulesets that I've been wanting to print out for personal use.

Daeothar, that sounds like a really cool project and personally I'd love to see the end result! How did you go about making it look just like the real thing? There have been more than one occasions where I wanted to copy the formatting, layout etc of a set of rules (for, say, a QRS that matched the look of the rulebook and satisfied my compulsion, let's say), but I don't really know how to go about it.

[manchesterreg]

I send all my PDF rules to Doxdirect for printing, great service and never a problem. Though the added sweet in return is also a bonus. I do wonder what they think I am like, seeing some of the titles I have sent them

[macsen wledig]

superb idea

[Norm]

I have upgraded a little.

I wanted a front / back card cover. Your document has to be divisible by 4, so I moved from 40 to 44 pages.

this basically allowed me to add a titled front page with a game photo on. And use the two back pages to provide examples of play.

I moved up from 80gm paper to 120gm and the document in total now feels more substantial.

I changed from wire bound to saddle stitch (stapled)  -  I like the booklet feel that this gives but …. 44 pages at 120gm is a little bulky for the seam to cope and so the booklet slightly opens / parts on the middle pages. I imagine that Perfect Binding is what is needed at this thickness, but this is not an option provided by this company and so the solution would be to go back to wire binding.

I like the upgrade, the postage remains both fast and free. The rule booklet is costing a few pounds more, but as I see it, over the course of the life and use of the rules, it is likely worth it.

[Muddlingthrough]

Coincidentally, I just bought a PDF set of the Victory Decision - Future Combat rules and had them printed at our local big-box office-chain here in Canada. The rules came to $17Cad and I opted for some fancy printing options like spiral binding, colour first page, clear plastic front and back cover, and heavyweight paper. With tax, it was about $37Cad, about 21.50Gbp. If I do it again, I'll shop around and try to get the cost down.

I have to say, spiral is the functionally-superior bindingfor wargame rules as the book lays flat when open. Much easier when consulting the mid-tech infantry platoon combat element to build a Colonial Marine Expeditionary Unit.

I had a first-edition 40k Rogue Trader hardcover back in the day and the binding just seemed to evaporate. I eventually had to put it in a three-hole binder.

Your metal spiral binding looks better than the plastic spiral I got. I'd like to see more games companies selling rulesbooks with "professional" spiral bindings with fancy hardcovers.

Sidenote: Despite officially switching to Metric in the 1970s, Canada remains caught between Europe and the United States. So speed-limits are measured in km, but everyone measures height and weight in feet and pounds. For some reason our paper system follows the US and we use American paper sizes and weights. I ordered the one-up paperweight from 20 pounds (per sheaf?) to 28 pounds and if feels great.

[dickiegranthum]

Coincidentally, I just bought a PDF set of the Victory Decision - Future Combat rules and had them printed at our local big-box office-chain here in Canada. The rules came to $17Cad and I opted for some fancy printing options like spiral binding, colour first page, clear plastic front and back cover, and heavyweight paper. With tax, it was about $37Cad, about 21.50Gbp. If I do it again, I'll shop around and try to get the cost down.

I have to say, spiral is the functionally-superior bindingfor wargame rules as the book lays flat when open. Much easier when consulting the mid-tech infantry platoon combat element to build a Colonial Marine Expeditionary Unit.

I had a first-edition 40k Rogue Trader hardcover back in the day and the binding just seemed to evaporate. I eventually had to put it in a three-hole binder.

Your metal spiral binding looks better than the plastic spiral I got. I'd like to see more games companies selling rulesbooks with "professional" spiral bindings with fancy hardcovers.

Sidenote: Despite officially switching to Metric in the 1970s, Canada remains caught between Europe and the United States. So speed-limits are measured in km, but everyone measures height and weight in feet and pounds. For some reason our paper system follows the US and we use American paper sizes and weights. I ordered the one-up paperweight from 20 pounds (per sheaf?) to 28 pounds and if feels great.

Only people educated AFTER 1978 measure in Imperial! I was educated in both. I  can comfortably work with both cm and inches. But …

Paper size and weight? Yeah. That’s still in Imperial. Ish.

Staples is the go-to for POD as far as I know. They do decent, inexpensive work for spiral type bound work. Nothing like perfect-edge finished “books” but they’re ok.