Book transportation [Archive] - Wizards Community

Book transportation [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Gnome_Dragon_Disciple
06-22-06, 04:23 AM Ok, I used to use a wheeled duffel bag to haul my boks around, but alas, that was damaging to the books (as was the backpack that became unusable due to the increasing mass of my collection). I'm currently using a cardboard box made for storing large quantities of manilla folders, but the mass of the books is damaging to the box.

So here's the thing...

What do you use to transport your books?

Does anyone make book storage units specifically for gamers, maybe with dice trays, DM screens, pencil holders, or god kows what built in? Surely someone will have tapped into the market...
anki
06-22-06, 05:11 AM I use a old PC motherboard box a put some foam padding into it to carry my three core books,since i got my other books on my computer.
stealth_monkey
06-22-06, 05:21 AM How many books are we talking? I just use a laptop and a satchel, god bless pdfs, they're far less heavy than the real thing
Seldarin
06-22-06, 05:43 AM I use the well-know old-school leather schoolbag which you have to carry between your arms. It's made to carry books, and it don't damages the books.

Or maybe you have to buy a big suitcase if you are carrying all your books ;)...
texanhick20
06-22-06, 08:11 AM Milk crates...i've got about 1200 bucks in D&D books/magazines..i'm useing two milk crates..they're perfect..
Seeker95
06-22-06, 08:39 AM I use a backpack. And I take the core three only.
hmmmm
06-22-06, 12:10 PM I carry almost every book with me to my games. Most of them are in a portable hard drive though so it does not get heavy. If I cannot buy the book in a PDF then I carry it in a backpack.
shruggar
06-22-06, 12:46 PM Everyone I know carries their books by hand. The DM usually walks in with a stack a few miles high. Everyone else pretty much only brings what their current character requires, which is usually 2 books and a printout with some notes.
DragonDeadite
06-22-06, 01:05 PM I use (imagine this!) a book bag. It's my old one from HS so it's a good and used one. It has a couple front pockets in it for keeping all my pencils and my bag of dice, so it's perfect for me. I usualy carry the three core, plus a campaign book, the CAr, the Spell Compendium and then my character booklet as well, so it's not exactly the lightest thing in the world but it gets the job done. My bag has also been labeled the Bag of Infinite Useless Cr...ud. :cool: Whenever anyone needs anything there's a chance I have it... from tylenol to erasers and rules looked up. It's kinda fun!
MingThing
06-23-06, 01:06 PM my gaming group gather all our books, in a cheap heavy duty alumina suitcase. we have so many books in there thoug, we cant carry it by the handle, as it would break apart at the seams.
jamez
06-23-06, 07:17 PM I just have everyone come over so I don't have to move my books! My back is bad enough as it is, I don't need to be carrying that many books around. If I was going to DM elsewhere I have a mid-sized rolling suitcase I would use. It's hardsided and "waterproof" and small enough to fit in the front seat of the car still.
Gnome_Dragon_Disciple
06-23-06, 08:22 PM Well to clarify, I have the four Core books (I count the XPH in that) four of the five Complete books, the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, Underdark, the Eberron Campaign Setting, Sharn: City of Towers, Explorer's Gude to Eberron, Magic of Incarnum, Tome of Magic, Unearthed Arcana, Heroes of Horror, Heroes of Battle, Stormwrack, and Monster Manual III.

On top of that, I bring my laptop (I use the laptop for record keeping, and though I do have a couple PDFs I generally prefer to use hardbound books), pencils and character sheets, about three pounds of dice, and several pads of graph paper. I'm just glad my groups generally don't use miniatures...

Now, if I were only talking about a couple books then I'd certainly just use a backpack or keep them in my messenger bag with my laptop, but as-is, backpacks damage and are damaged by book overstuffing, duffle bags can't keep the books from shifting, so the books slide around and get damaged, and cardboard boxes get damaged by the extremely heavy weight. And as for holding the games at my place, it's incredibly small and I don't live alone. Holding the game at my place would mean two-hour sessions since I'd only be able to hold them when no one else is home.

Milk crates sound like a good plan, but isn't there something more watertight?
RisnDevil
06-28-06, 07:57 AM You said your backpack was damaging your books? Get a better backpack. I have what is called a bug-out bag, that is reinforced REALLY well. It carries my 60+ D&D books, with no problem. No ripping, no damaging the books, plenty of padding to make the carrying easier. Good backpack. (And it better be for $50.)
hmmmm
06-28-06, 08:52 AM The bag I use (For the books that are not a PDF) is a laptop backpack and is well padded. It also has a lot of pockets and spaces for any type of writing material.
cloud1052
06-28-06, 12:56 PM try looking for bags or carrying cases at office depot. I just bought a big five star binder with 10 of those colored separaters. I have all of my character sheets, graph paper, line paper, battle grids, notebooks, i even bought some card protector sheets to put the cards from my miniatures in them. and my three books (phb, dm guide, and my monster manual) along with other books fit in a pocket on the front.
MadApplejack
06-28-06, 12:57 PM I was hanging out on the street one day, and along comes this shady guy carrying a briefcase. He comes up to me and says, "hey man, you wanna buy this briefcase? Only $5." Now, I have no use for a briefcase, so I offer him $3. He was kind of disappointed, because he wanted to buy some cigarettes and a soda (or so he says...I'm pretty sure he wanted the money for something less legal), but I wouldn't budge (I only had $3). Low and behold, I now had myself a briefcase, like a lawyer or something. I found it was the perfect fit for the three core books, a pack of sticky notes, and my dice. It even has some built in folders for character sheets, and a holder for my Mirado Black Warrior pencils. Serendipity, baby!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Gnome_Dragon_Disciple 06-22-06, 04:23 AM	Ok, I used to use a wheeled duffel bag to haul my boks around, but alas, that was damaging to the books (as was the backpack that became unusable due to the increasing mass of my collection). I'm currently using a cardboard box made for storing large quantities of manilla folders, but the mass of the books is damaging to the box. So here's the thing... What do you use to transport your books? Does anyone make book storage units specifically for gamers, maybe with dice trays, DM screens, pencil holders, or god kows what built in? Surely someone will have tapped into the market...
anki 06-22-06, 05:11 AM	I use a old PC motherboard box a put some foam padding into it to carry my three core books,since i got my other books on my computer.
stealth_monkey 06-22-06, 05:21 AM	How many books are we talking? I just use a laptop and a satchel, god bless pdfs, they're far less heavy than the real thing
Seldarin 06-22-06, 05:43 AM	I use the well-know old-school leather schoolbag which you have to carry between your arms. It's made to carry books, and it don't damages the books. Or maybe you have to buy a big suitcase if you are carrying all your books ;)...
texanhick20 06-22-06, 08:11 AM	Milk crates...i've got about 1200 bucks in D&D books/magazines..i'm useing two milk crates..they're perfect..
Seeker95 06-22-06, 08:39 AM	I use a backpack. And I take the core three only.
hmmmm 06-22-06, 12:10 PM	I carry almost every book with me to my games. Most of them are in a portable hard drive though so it does not get heavy. If I cannot buy the book in a PDF then I carry it in a backpack.
shruggar 06-22-06, 12:46 PM	Everyone I know carries their books by hand. The DM usually walks in with a stack a few miles high. Everyone else pretty much only brings what their current character requires, which is usually 2 books and a printout with some notes.
DragonDeadite 06-22-06, 01:05 PM	I use (imagine this!) a book bag. It's my old one from HS so it's a good and used one. It has a couple front pockets in it for keeping all my pencils and my bag of dice, so it's perfect for me. I usualy carry the three core, plus a campaign book, the CAr, the Spell Compendium and then my character booklet as well, so it's not exactly the lightest thing in the world but it gets the job done. My bag has also been labeled the Bag of Infinite Useless Cr...ud. :cool: Whenever anyone needs anything there's a chance I have it... from tylenol to erasers and rules looked up. It's kinda fun!
MingThing 06-23-06, 01:06 PM	my gaming group gather all our books, in a cheap heavy duty alumina suitcase. we have so many books in there thoug, we cant carry it by the handle, as it would break apart at the seams.
jamez 06-23-06, 07:17 PM	I just have everyone come over so I don't have to move my books! My back is bad enough as it is, I don't need to be carrying that many books around. If I was going to DM elsewhere I have a mid-sized rolling suitcase I would use. It's hardsided and "waterproof" and small enough to fit in the front seat of the car still.
Gnome_Dragon_Disciple 06-23-06, 08:22 PM	Well to clarify, I have the four Core books (I count the XPH in that) four of the five Complete books, the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, Underdark, the Eberron Campaign Setting, Sharn: City of Towers, Explorer's Gude to Eberron, Magic of Incarnum, Tome of Magic, Unearthed Arcana, Heroes of Horror, Heroes of Battle, Stormwrack, and Monster Manual III. On top of that, I bring my laptop (I use the laptop for record keeping, and though I do have a couple PDFs I generally prefer to use hardbound books), pencils and character sheets, about three pounds of dice, and several pads of graph paper. I'm just glad my groups generally don't use miniatures... Now, if I were only talking about a couple books then I'd certainly just use a backpack or keep them in my messenger bag with my laptop, but as-is, backpacks damage and are damaged by book overstuffing, duffle bags can't keep the books from shifting, so the books slide around and get damaged, and cardboard boxes get damaged by the extremely heavy weight. And as for holding the games at my place, it's incredibly small and I don't live alone. Holding the game at my place would mean two-hour sessions since I'd only be able to hold them when no one else is home. Milk crates sound like a good plan, but isn't there something more watertight?
RisnDevil 06-28-06, 07:57 AM	You said your backpack was damaging your books? Get a better backpack. I have what is called a bug-out bag, that is reinforced REALLY well. It carries my 60+ D&D books, with no problem. No ripping, no damaging the books, plenty of padding to make the carrying easier. Good backpack. (And it better be for $50.)
hmmmm 06-28-06, 08:52 AM	The bag I use (For the books that are not a PDF) is a laptop backpack and is well padded. It also has a lot of pockets and spaces for any type of writing material.
cloud1052 06-28-06, 12:56 PM	try looking for bags or carrying cases at office depot. I just bought a big five star binder with 10 of those colored separaters. I have all of my character sheets, graph paper, line paper, battle grids, notebooks, i even bought some card protector sheets to put the cards from my miniatures in them. and my three books (phb, dm guide, and my monster manual) along with other books fit in a pocket on the front.
MadApplejack 06-28-06, 12:57 PM	I was hanging out on the street one day, and along comes this shady guy carrying a briefcase. He comes up to me and says, "hey man, you wanna buy this briefcase? Only $5." Now, I have no use for a briefcase, so I offer him $3. He was kind of disappointed, because he wanted to buy some cigarettes and a soda (or so he says...I'm pretty sure he wanted the money for something less legal), but I wouldn't budge (I only had $3). Low and behold, I now had myself a briefcase, like a lawyer or something. I found it was the perfect fit for the three core books, a pack of sticky notes, and my dice. It even has some built in folders for character sheets, and a holder for my Mirado Black Warrior pencils. Serendipity, baby!