The Bit Box: A Guide To Printing RPG PDF's (Project B/X Moldvay/Cook)

Some tips and tricks to printing double sided documents. I'll also create a seamless B/X Basic/Expert Moldvay/Cook D&D ruleset.
BLUEHOLME RPG: www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pu...
Classic D&D Scans: www.dndclassics.com/

[@TheDMGinfo]

I use a colour laser printer with a duplexer (turns the paper over when printing to immediately do the other side). I produce A5 size booklets, which are folded and stapled A4 sheets. There are 4 pages printed to a single sheet of paper (2 on each side). The settings for this are booklet printing, portrait, 2 pages per sheet, short edge, center bind, duplex (double sided). When done properly the printer prints out the booklet in the correct order and all that is required is to fold in half and center staple. I have a long arm stapler that allows easy reach to the middle of the booklet. Best stationary investment ever. For thicker booklets, I will stitch bind them with white thread. I do this to sell my own work or for DVD booklets for clients.

[@earlteagrey]

A duplex printer would be amazing. I'm using the same printer I bought 11 years ago!

[@TheDMGinfo]

Printers are cheap now. You should investigate one with a duplexer.

[@Samwise7RPG]

It is nice to see some OSR love in this video. :) I print out PDFs with my slow old laser printer. Sometimes the toner smudges but it is a nice cheap option.

[@earlteagrey]

OSR = O.G. (Original-Grognard!)

[@Samwise7RPG]

Great tips for printing out RPG PDFs.

[@anthonyhargis6855]

Excellent video, very informative. Sam, send me the link to his Home Page, or whatever you call it. I want to subscribe.

[@dreamscapedesign5536]

Yes, yes it is. Good example at 8:15, too. ;-)

[@earlteagrey]

Anthony Hargis kzbin.info

[@anthonyhargis6855]

Earl Tea Grey TV Much thanks! the Search Engine on KZbin just wasn't doing it for me.

[@Samwise7RPG]

Anthony Hargis when you look at a KZbin video click on the username that is just below the video the left side of the screen. That will take you to their profile. There should also be a subscribe button there. I hope that helps.

[@captcorajus]

Great video... though I am really interested in the setting for a booklet printing as I would love to print out the OD&D booklets.

[@earlteagrey]

I did a tutorial set of pictures on booklet printing, and I just need to record the commentary. Coming soon captain!

[@captcorajus]

Awesome. I was trying to figure it out, but wasn't sure of some of the semantics, and didn't want to waste a bunch of paper and ink experimenting. lol BTW, I put my top 5 up today, thanks!!

[@earlteagrey]

Awesome! I'll return the favor and make the booklet vid next :)

[@wyrdness1]

My favorites :) The link to get the legal PDF copies of B/X is www.dndclassics.com/ in case you wanted to add that to the description box. a legal PDF of Kepp on the borderlands can also be found there. These are beautiful quality scans, fully OCRed and bookmarked, quite unlike the old bootleg scans that were available a few years back. The only disadvantage I can see is that they are watermarked to the purchaser (in what would otherwise be the margen of the page).

[@earlteagrey]

Nice!

[@NemoOhd20]

For Linux users, Master PDF Editor 5 handles this fine. A cheap laser printer is worth it's weight in gold for this. Brother makes one which is under $100 now. Pamplet/ Booklet printing is the way. Thanks for the video.

[@earlteagrey]

Thanks for the info!

[@starchild5793]

The D&D Rules Cyclopedia is available for print on demand through Drive thru RPG.

[@qsviewsrpgs4571]

This was quite helpful, many thanks!

[@jjh9355]

Thank you for this vid, It was what I needed to know.

[@TheSimhook]

Super useful, thanks!

[@Hamenopi]

Yes. Sharing. I can't tell you how many times I messed up printing stuff.

[@earlteagrey]

Hamenopi I STILL look at that cheat sheet when I need to print because I never remember what the page order is supposed to be.

[@CrusaderGabriel]

I know this video is old but since I've been quite obsessed about old shcool lately i was about to buy the boxes, things that stopped me included: 1. Box is in bad condition (understandable as those are products from 46-43 years ago) 2. Is incomplete (no dice although lets be real, if they had dice either dice would be with incredibly heavy wear or if dice were new in bag with the crayon price would skyrocket) 3. Booklets themselves are in bad condition. After poont 3 I thought, maybe I'm better off just getting a pdf and if i happen to convince people to play B/X go with my iPad, but I'm the type of guy that still likes physical books so thought on getting those boxed when I really get to play B/X. This is imo the absolute best alternative, after all those arent being printed anymore and each year that passes it gets more and more expensive and mainly for the box because the books we can 100% get online

[@michkabailey222]

Somehow I missed this video. Well made video and lots of useful info.

[@earlteagrey]

Thanks! I have a few "spin offs" planned for half sized and letter sized booklets. You'll be very familiar with my work lol. ;)

[@shelbymichlin1408]

I've printed a number of things this way; it's easier now that I have a printer that does duplex printing. But I'd love to see options other than loose-leaf binders. They take up extra room. And turning pages, or even putting them up on shelves, and taking them down again, can create tears. I remember heavy-duty paper binders with fold-down clips instead of rings, for a snug fit. I remember a company I worked for, using a home-made "drill-press" to drill holes in stacks of paper records, then buying some kind of covers with little screw-in posts of various lengths for a snug, custom fit. Anyone have a source for these? Also some books (GW Warhammer and Stormbringer, I'm looking at you!), the bindings begin to split and pages fall out. I have seen libraries repair books in this condition by rebinding them, using glue and clamps, even adding hard-covers. But I don't know the method, or what type of glue they use. More info on these topics would be great!

[@TomMartinek]

I haven't done it myself, but I know a couple of people who had some book binding done and it didn't sound like it was too expensive. Doing a quick search for book binding brought up this place: www.qualitybindery.com/hardcoverbookbinding.html Looks like they're rebind your books starting at $20.

[@beccawells8618]

For the post that you are talking about I would look in the scrapbook section of your local arts and crafts store

[@SwordlordRoy]

I have been printing some of my own PDFs (Just finished Chainmail, intend to start in on OD&D next chance I get). Admittedly, relying more on the fact my Local Library has this thing where you can print off 10 pages per day for free. So, suppose that's my tip, see if there are any low-cost alternatives you can exploit.

[@earlteagrey]

Love it! The 1e DMG may take a few visits lol. There's also a single volume OD&D out on the web that may be worth investigating!

[@SwordlordRoy]

@@earlteagrey I did break down and get the 1e core books (as well as Unearthed Arcana) PoD, probably looking at BECMI D&D after OD&D.

[@toraparatodos]

Many thanks. Great ideas. Did you ever get the OSR channel off the ground?

[@earlteagrey]

Thanks! I've ended up planning for more of that content to stay on this channel vs. a secondary. Since posting this, Blueholme released a full set of the rules that is pretty great!

[@XionProductions]

Protip: I've found that most printers have a generic brand of ink cartridges on ebay. Just look up your printer's ink cartridge on ebay and you should find ridiculously low prices for ink. That's how I buy all my ink now. You can often get about 3 sets of ink for like $20, that's right, I said sets. Now I've heard people say that buying these generic sets can either wreck your printer or not produce good print results. I've not had them wreck a printer before, sometimes my ink results on color prints can be a little off, but black and white if flawless. I will never pay full price for ink again. And lets be honest, even if your printer did go bad, they cost less than $100 for an ok one anyway. Which is about the cost of buying new original manufacturer ink cartridges.

[@earlteagrey]

That's awesome! I'll have to look on eBay at refill time...

[@XionProductions]

Earl Tea Grey TV Yeah, another protip, or just maybe a regular tip, don't wait to buy ink cartridges until you need them. Like I said, you can buy multiple sets for cheap this way usually. I tend to buy 2 or 3 sets at a time and once I get down to my last set I order again. That way I never run out of ink. Last thing you want to have happen is run out of ink and need it. Then you end up getting desperate and have to run to a store and pay full price. Stay ahead the ink game ;)

[@wolfandfx8846]

I can't find very much 2nd d&d

[@caiomiranda2694]

Thanks! Here where I live RPG books are really expensive

[@earlteagrey]

You’re welcome! I’m working on a DIY binding video next for those longer books...