Turn Your RPG PDF Collection into Booklets

As much as I like PDFs, sometimes I just want something hands-on to work with alongside my journal, and little booklets solve that for me. Turn any PDF into a travel sizes booklet that you can take with you whenever you need and take advantage of that growing collection of PDFs I know you have tucked away on your computer.
Instructions from Adobe on how to print Booklets
helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/pr...
I've also included links to most of the PDFs I showed at the beginning of the video in case anyone was going to ask me about them :D
**PDF LINKS**
DOOMVAULT 3.0 (The PDF link is in the product description)
www.runehammer.online/online-...
5e Hardcore Mode by Runehammer Games
www.runehammer.online/online-...
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
Black Light for ICRPG by Markside Games
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
Mothership: Player's Survival Guide by Tuesday Knight Games
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
Junk'd by Runehammer Games
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
Low Fantasy Gaming by Pickpocket Press
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
The Perilous Wilds by Lampblack & Brimstone
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
Mausritter by Losing Games
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
The Waste is Not Kind: An ICRPG Post Apocalyptic Toolkit by Epic Sloth Games
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
Shadowdark RPG Quickstart Set by The Arcane Library
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
Index Card RPG Master Edition by Runehammer Games (PDF)
www.runehammer.online/online-...
Index Card RPG Master Edition by Runehammer Games (B&W SOFTCOVER)
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
FREE ICRPG Quickstart
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...

[@TorilAthtar]

So I work in a print shop. What you just made is called a saddle stitch booklet. Generally they don't have 3 staples just 2 but there is nothing wrong with 3, 2 is just cheaper. I was curious as how you would staple this since you did have the correct stapler for (saddle stitching) and the foam was very clever. I would suggest though that after fold over the staples with you finger you tap them down with a hammer they will be a little tighter that way. Someone else commented using cardstock as a cover and that is a good idea. There are other paper you can use that are designed to be covers. You'll know because it will say cover stock. So if you looking at paper and they both say 80lb, one will say 80lb cover or 80 text. Basically the cover is what it says, the cover. Text is paper inside the book that say the novel is printed on. The way professionals do this in mass. The print each sheet separately cut the top and the bottom to size. Then collate (put it in order) them together. Next you would stitch it together and fold it. The last step would be called a face trim. You generally cut the book after it fold it give it a smooth and even finish. However this might be hard if you doing a book that had a good amount of sheet in it. So you might have get get creative with that part. Anyway good video and good idea for the smaller books like this one.

[@KanesKiln]

Wow! Thank you so much for the expert tips and suggestions on this one! This kind of stuff would definitely elevate these booklets to new heights instead of little janky ones in putting together in my basement 😂

[@TorilAthtar]

@@KanesKiln No problem. Its nice to see people keep paper alive in table top games.

[@Tuiren73]

Thanks for sharing this. The foam trick is nice! You might also consider doing covers in card stock for a little more durability.

[@KanesKiln]

Oooh that's a great idea! I'd never really considered doing covers but that would make them a little sturdier. Thanks for the tip!

[@KubrickFR]

I would recommend cutting the booklet after folding it. It makes it way easier to flick through

[@KanesKiln]

That is really good to know. I figured cutting them before folding would ensure everything lined up, but I’ll have to try that.

[@Crushanator1]

When you cut first then fold, the papers end up with sort of a curved edge, as the pieces at the center of the fold stick out slightly farther than the pieces at the outside of the booklet. If you have a booklet that's a very low page count you might not notice, but it'll be noticeable by the time you get to maybe ten folded pages or so.

[@KanesKiln]

That is really good to know! Thank you :D

[@samanthalacroix2687]

This reminds me of the old Travelers books. The booklets for that game were nice, compact and precise because they allowed better organization as each class or subject was separate. An added bonus was the fact they all stored and transported super easily as I only had to take what I needed. Excellent tip!

[@KanesKiln]

I’m not familiar with Traveler books but they sound awesome! I’d also completely agree that little booklets like that are so handy to have around. I throw a different booklet in my backpack fairly regularly and just keep it on hand

[@thehoundsoftindalos8456]

​@@KanesKilnTraveller: Science-Fiction Adventure in the Far Future. First published in 1977 by Games Designers’ Workshop, Normal Illinois. Primary designer Marc Miller. Today this edition is often referred to as Classic Traveller. The original gamebooks were black and digest-sized (known as the "little black books") Very similar to what you are producing. Question, how many sheets of paper can you feasible use using this process and still hold together. Great upload BTW.

[@KuittheGeek]

I recently go into booklet printing as well, and I am doing something similar to what you have shown here, but with a few differences. First off, I prefold my pages, then crease them with a pen, but people also use a bone folder. I find that helps me center the pages much easier. Then I staple with a rotatable stapler, so it does the staple folding for me, but I like that it can still be used as a normal stapler. Then I use my utility blade, a metal ruler, and craft cutting board to cut the edges off a get a nice clean, square cut. That also lines all of the pages up nicely so you can flick through it easier. Especially as you get higher page counts, the pages bow out more if you don't cut it last. But I have really liked doing this lately, and I have made a bunch of custom booklets for ICRPG, Basic Fantasy and D&D 5e, as well as I have printed some of the classic D&D modules for personal use. I even went through and designed a character specific booklet for my D&D game so I have all the sheets relevant to my character for leveling and basic class and race rule reference. I just extracted the pages for Halflings, Rogues, Optional Rogue rules from Tasha's Caldron, Equipment, and Feats, then made a custom cover using a screen grab from my Hero Forge print, and printed it for use. I really like it, and I have found it super helpful.

[@KanesKiln]

Woot! Getting some mastery with booklets is awesome! I think it’s a great idea to mix and match things into custom booklets. So useful at the table and they can be exactly what you want and need.

[@1ccortez]

Another tip I learned. I wasn't liking Acrobat Reader for printing booklets because the outside margin was larger than I wanted so I used another program to generate the printable PDF. What I found recently is that in the Print dialog screen, there is a button in the bottom left for "Page Setup..." and adjusting to "Format For" my own printer left a smaller margin.

[@KanesKiln]

Ooh that’s a great tip! Thank you

[@piotrp6793]

So... Basically you can... Print them... Wow... Never would thought about it... Amazing ;P

[@DeusMachina71]

I'm old, I've got older eyes. I appreciate the larger font of the bigger print out..lol

[@KanesKiln]

Totally works! Sometimes just have a nice print out and some paperclips works great!

[@DeusMachina71]

@@KanesKiln I've just been letter size spiral comb binding them unless they were completely formated as Zines in the pdf.. I do the folded Zines for things like Mörk Borg.. My issue becomes when any booklet goes over 15-20 pages it's hard to saddle stitch and I have a beefy long arm stapler but too many fails even with that

[@Teachingartclass]

Speaking as a fellow avid bookletizer. to my mind the cutting is just added steps. All that margin you're cutting away is prime annotation/note-taking space anyway, better to have it than to shed it.

[@connorkennedy1794]

Thank you so much. The foam trick seems so obvious in hindsight, but it's a real lifesaver.

[@KanesKiln]

You’re welcome! And yeah that foam has helped a ton while i try to plot out when to get a long armed stapler but until then you gotta do what you gotta do haha

[@ShannonFerguson]

I am going to try this for sure!

[@KanesKiln]

You should!

[@vickyr7072]

Great video and a really cool idea! I'll have to give it a shot. Alternatively what I might end up doing is skipping the trimming step so that I can keep all that white space for any notes I want to make within the booklet itself.

[@KanesKiln]

Some extra space would be nice. Everyone is having such great ideas today! Thank you!

[@mattmcguirk4511]

@@KanesKiln This is kinda the coolest part about simple, public forums like this. Things that I wouldn't have even thought about, like stuff you bring up in this...and all the sudden, here's another 500 tips in the comments. All free. :O. Also, according to the video...YOU RECORDED THIS AT 6 AM TODAY!?! I'm hardly alive by then lol

[@KanesKiln]

I know, right? I was not expecting the number of awesome tips about making booklets. So cool! And yes, I did film this at like 6am. I pretty much make all my videos in the morning while my family is still sleeping. That way I can record, edit, and publish my videos before I go to work or soon after haha

[@ProfBoggs]

This!

[@Thalanox]

Now I just need a few friends willing and able to get together on a weekly basis to play all these tabletop rpg modules with. Most hobby shop hobbies haven't recovered from the lockdown.

[@KanesKiln]

Yeah the pandemic has been rough on the in-person hobby. You could always try virtual games?

[@captcorajus]

You should probably invest in a booklet stapler that has the long are to allow you to properly staple such things. I like to fold a regular piece of paper first, and then align the stapler with test staples along to crease to make sure they fall exactly in the center. Also, you might want to fold the booklet first before cutting the leading edge as those will not be aligned once folded. THEN cut to get a perfect edge.

[@KanesKiln]

It’s definitely on my list to get and that’s a great tip! Thank you! This who video has gotten so many good suggestions

[@Drunk-Mosquitos]

I've been thinking about how to make guides for players in ICRPG. I never said it out loud, which means my phone can read my mind now. I truly appreciate this video, and I will definitely be doing this for my players!

[@KanesKiln]

You’re probably right. It’s scary how much phones know 😬but definitely use those booklets. Even pulling specific pages out of a pdf and compiling them into a new set is super helpful for players.

[@davezenz]

good use of the foam!

[@KanesKiln]

Haha thanks! Always good to keep some foam floating around

[@CyberSkelly817]

1,000th subscriber!! Thanks for the video.

[@KanesKiln]

Woot! Hooray! Happy day! Thanks for helping me close out the year strong :D

[@SeanPoppe]

Hell yah duuuuude that foam idea is so simple. We make zines at my library buy only have one king arm stapler, this will help a lot!!!

[@KanesKiln]

Sweet! Glad I could help haha. It really works well with the small staplers or if I have to bring out some nails for the bigger ones 😄

[@Jdufore19]

Great idea! Thanks for sharing :)

[@nodtothestrange1008]

I love doing this but I've been spending ages binding them using thread. I didn't even realise my stapler could open flat like that - thanks! It'll be less time binding and more time playing now :)

[@KanesKiln]

Sweet! Glad I could help and it's always nice to have more booklets :D

[@gotfoo666]

I know, right!! I was using my dremmal to drill holes through the thicker booklets.

[@dancingpotplant]

I bought a wire binder, a long arm stapler and plastic ring binder for this purpose exactly. Very satisfying indeed! Do rather like the guillotine in the video though.

[@telarr9164]

This is a cool idea. Thanks !

[@KanesKiln]

Thanks! Glad you liked it.

[@PhilipDudley3]

I use TexLive's pdfbook2 to convert a PDF to a booklet. Since I don't have a 2-sided printer, I have to print then rotate the paper. I did this because I did not use Adobe Acrobat Reader.

[@KanesKiln]

Ooh I haven’t heard of TexLive, I’ll have to look into that but I am very grateful for two-sided printing haha 😆 You’re a trooper for rotating them by hand

[@PhilipDudley3]

@@KanesKiln You can provide --short-edge and not rotate but you're still manually moving paper. My option is command line driven. I also use Docker or Podman so as to not spend 4hrs installing TexLive LaTeX on Winders

[@lilcwa]

Super-useful tip!

[@KanesKiln]

Thanks! It's always nice having a quick reference booklet for all the fun stuff we end up playing. I keep the Waste Is Not Kind at my desk and it's so easy to grab.

[@Redlurk3]

Seen ya got the good stuff ! The OG LFG! Choice game!

[@KanesKiln]

It’s a collection I’m telling ya haha!

[@antigrav6004]

Quick note, as someone who's done a bunch of these, sometimes you need to add an empty page to get the page flip right. not all PDFs have this fixed.

[@KanesKiln]

Good catch. I know the Adobe Reader makes sure that the total number is divisible by 4 but occasionally I've had to add blank pages like you mentioned. Thanks!

[@PastaLuke]

This is awesome! Seems like you could make a follow-up video about all the tips people are leaving! Haha

[@KanesKiln]

It's definitely been on my mind haha. Might have to do one next week or something.

[@gitgo567]

How to print a pdf and staple it together! Very useful video!

[@KanesKiln]

Glad it was helpful!

[@dm4life579]

Sweet hack man. The foam is a great idea.

[@KanesKiln]

Thanks! You got to work with what you’ve got 😆

[@seannicolson136]

I'll have to see if I can find a trimmer like that. If you don't have foam around, cardboard works too.

[@KanesKiln]

Cardboard would be a great option since it’s easier to get haha

[@TheBinger033]

I do booklet printing for player character sheets too!

[@KanesKiln]

Nice! I've sometimes made character booklet that combine gear tables and character sheets. Very useful stuff

[@AminWT]

Thank you for the useful advice! Turns out I was just planning on buying a nice BnW laser printer to turn some of my PDFs into booklets, as I prefer reading on paper. I'm definitely using your binding technique 😅

[@KanesKiln]

Oh sweet! Well, I hope you get a printer than can turn those PDFs into booklets for you :D

[@Thalanox]

Laser printer is a great idea. Inkjets are for people who have to print off a report with coloured graphs and charts once or twice a week. They're not for high volume printing, or low volume printing with long gaps between printing sessions. Do look into a laser printer with automatic duplex printing. I think that's what they call it when you can tell the printer to print double sided and you don't have to do anything like take the paper out of the output tray, flip it a very specific way, and put it back into the input tray. It was a massivequality of life upgrade for me when I made the switch. Also, when your toner is running low, you can get a surprising amount of more life from it if you remove the toner cartridge, and just gently tap each corner of it onto a flat surface. The idea is that the tapping will re-distribute whatever toner powder is left in there, and will allow you to print again. Each time you do this, a smaller and smaller number of pages can be printed before the printing starts to fade a bit. The toner lasts for quite a lot of pages compared to the same amount of inket printer ink, dollar for dollar. It also doesn't dry out like inkjet printers.

[@AminWT]

@Thalanox thank you for the valuable info! Double print sounds like a must-have, I wouldn't want to flip those pages manually 😅

[@Pantherrrr]

Nice video. Instead of staples I prefer to needle through some waxed string and knot it. It's more work but it allows to have larger booklets

[@KanesKiln]

Definitely. That would make some nice strong booklets.

[@liamtaylor4955]

Good video, thank you! 1) How do you like your Epson? 2) I just bought the FlexTale Solo pdf, 613 pages! How do you like to bind your big pdfs?

[@KanesKiln]

I love my Epson Eco-Tank! It certainly doesn’t print the highest quality of stuff, but the ink is cheap and I can print with abandon without breaking the bank. Seriously, I’m printing RPG stuff all the time and I never have to worry about it. As for printing big pdfs, you’ll actually use less paper printing it as a booklet which is nice. The trouble will be binding. I would either print it in sections as multiple booklets or you’ll want to use a nail to pierce the spine. Then you can use needle and thread to bind the pages yourself.

[@VermilionMage]

Heck yes.

[@feruspriest]

I know you're doing a lot on ICRPG, but hat's off to your Return to Dark Tower behind your head, man.

[@KanesKiln]

Thanks! That game is awesome! I have my dads original that we would play while I was growing up, so I could help but get the new version

[@JanStrakon]

Nice video, man. I've been doing that too. The only thing that bothers me a little bit is that center pages tend to creep out - but that's a concern when a booklet has more pages, like maybe 30+ (just guessing). I mean I could cut it on the outter side to make it flush, but the more the pages the more the threat of actually cutting off some actual content of the pages. But still, a great way for some handy reading format (I hate reading pdfs...). The booklet with the most pages I've printed gotta be Frontier Scum and oh boy, that stuff really creeps out in the middle.

[@KanesKiln]

I’ve gotten a ton of tips about making these booklets in the comments and it sounds like cutting the pages after they are folded would solve that issue but I think I’m going to have to do some experiment and come back with a follow up video

[@Zombu47]

I was fully expecting to click on this video and have somebody say, "Just click the print button dummy!" I didn't know about the booklet option. Thanks for the info lol.

[@KanesKiln]

Haha that would have been a funny video though 😂 but yeah, booklets are awesome!

[@scottamelville]

Do you ever print the cover page separately on glossy? Or thicker stock?

[@KanesKiln]

I haven’t as of yet, but it’s a great idea! Once I have something I want to be more permanent I’ll definitely be trying it

[@Skittlebrau46]

A deep reach stapler should be less that $15 bucks if you are making these, or anything needing to be stapled in the middle of a page. This would save a few steps with the binding and get rid of the need for the foam trick.

[@KanesKiln]

100%. So far the standard desk stapler has worked in my favor until I get anything too thick, but a bigger stapler is definitely on my list of kit upgrades.

[@MarcusBeirne]

Worth noting that you should only print "Both sides" if you have a printer that has a feeder for both sides. Mine doesn't, so I print "Front" then flip the printed paper up so that the printed on side faces away, then print the PDF booklet set to "Back". Et viola, manual double sided printed booklet. YMMV depending on your printer.

[@KanesKiln]

Nice! That's a good call out and tip on how to handle printers without that double-sided printing. I couldn't survive without double-sided printing but I know that's not the case for everyone. Thanks for noting that!

[@TheTYMONGER]

I make folders for each company. But all of the ICRPG in one folder. I make subfolders for things like PC sheets, & quest books like one folder for BearCats. When I am done I make a copy in a flash drive. So if I loss info on my PC I have a copy.

[@KanesKiln]

Same. I just reorganized all my pdf files into folders and sub folders based on the systems. I can’t handle everything being everywhere and anywhere on my computer haha

[@chrissteadman4614]

Nice tip about the foam 👍What do you find to be the limit on number of pages? Some gaming pdf rulesets are hundreds of pages and I've not found a satisfactory way to print and bind these at home.

[@KanesKiln]

Hmm... an exact limit I'm not sure on but I do know that after a certain thickness my stapler just can't push through. So I go find like a finishing nail and hammer from my garage and use those to pierce through the sheets of paper into the foam. Once those are done, I'll either manually add in a staple and fold it in or use needle and thread to bind them. I had to do that with the ShadowDark RPG booklets I showed in the video, and those clocked in at about 65 pages.

[@chrissteadman4614]

@@KanesKiln Thanks Kane, I'll give your suggestions a go. Thanks for taking the time to reply 👍

[@gotfoo666]

It depends on the stapler. My old school metal stapler will go through 24 pages but my plastic stapler from Staples has a limit of 18 pages.

[@totally_not_a_bot]

Try glue binding, where you print and bind several pages like this, then the next several, down to the last. You then press your packs between two boards and glue a cover on in a few steps which include trimming. I'd recommend looking it up. The whole process takes a few days what with the glue needing to dry, but you wind up with a proper book at the end. Each packet should contain a multiple of four pages, except the last one which will always have a blank page or three. A standard packet size is 10 or 12 sheets of printer stock. So 40 or 48 pages. You can adjust up or down a bit to find the most consistent division. Leave out the covers for, well, the cover. Practical example, 173 pages. Subtract 2 for the cover, 171. Nearest multiple of 4 is 172, which is 172/4= 43 sheets. I would do that as a block of 10 and 3 blocks of 11. So 40 pages once, 44 pages three times, with the last being short a page. Glue it up and you have a small book.

[@zethnar]

Look up Coptic Stitch book binding. I think with adobe reader you can print into a number of signatures then bind them together with a cover so that you get more durable books with a less cumbersome spine.

[@KanesKiln]

That is good to know! Thank you! I’ve thought about showing how I would stitch a booklet together but figured any book binders out there would just cringe at my attempt haha

[@zethnar]

@@KanesKiln I've stitched together several 200 plus page books using that method and they turn out pretty good.

[@TredHedJon]

Thanks for the tips! Also...what is the Equinox pdf? I have pretty much all of the others except that one.

[@KanesKiln]

It was a short-lived graphic novel from Runehammer that was going to followed characters from Blood and Snow, Warp Shell, and Alfheim across the Runiverse.

[@TredHedJon]

@@KanesKiln Interesting. Can it still be found somewhere?

[@KanesKiln]

It's still available over on the Runehammer Patreon along with a lot of other goodies. The $1 level pretty much gives you access to everything Runehammer is up to.

[@TredHedJon]

@@KanesKiln Thanks!

[@jeanfoutre3620]

I dunno why i was led here by yt, but i'm intrigued now. I like RPG. Where can we find those pdfs to download and figure out if i want them too?

[@KanesKiln]

There should be links to most them in the video description. They’re definitely worth a peak, but what kind of RPGs do you like?

[@beyondfantasy4972]

Whenever I print Electric Bastionland as a booklet, it only prints the Rules Summary Page and the cover. D: I'll try with my other PDFs later on today.

[@KanesKiln]

Hmm that’s really strange…

[@NaTeCrAfT13]

My printer is about to get abused lol so many things I want to print now

[@KanesKiln]

Print with abandon! Print minis, print booklets, print index cards and terrain. Print everything! :D

[@JevousGaming]

Exactly what I’ve been doing this past year with many of my PDFs. I’ve realized that around 80 pages is the maximum that works for this. Also, some games’ font size are too small for booklets so I go full A4 size binded with a ring binder.

[@KanesKiln]

Haha glad I'm not the only one :D A good ring binder cannot be overstated. Do you use the same binder after working on a PDF for a while or do you get a new one every time you switch?

[@destroso]

I tried doing this and it just printed straight through without asking to flip the pages on a ET-2800

[@tavern.keeper]

You should invest in a laser printer. Toner is a lot cheaper than ink.

[@KanesKiln]

I’d love to get a laser printer one day. It’d certainly up the quality of the prints

[@Thalanox]

@@KanesKiln It can be hard to switch away from something you're used to to go to a new thing. This is especially true when you don't see a real need to swap to the new thing. Trust me, if you're as interested in a hobby as you're portraying yourself as in this video, then upgrading a very core piece of equipment to make massive gains in that area of the hobby is going to be some of the best "Quality of life" money you're going to spend. Bite the bullet.

[@bonbondurjdr6553]

Is that normal-sized paper or do I need longer paper?

[@KanesKiln]

Nope. That’s just standard 8.5x11 copy paper I use for the printer

[@bonbondurjdr6553]

@@KanesKiln Oh wow! Alright! Thanks for the trick, it's pretty cool!

[@juanmarquez9988]

Make them print press a other alt too cards

[@sable2146]

Tell your wife you need a long reach booklet stapler.

[@KanesKiln]

Haha it's on the list. I just need to get one for her crafting supplies and then I can use it whenever I want :D

[@juanmarquez9988]

Build a cool kit print press other bo alt

[@clinthaig]

What kind of person happens to have specific xps foam laying around their home? Someone who also watches too much DungeonCraft! Bwhahahaha

[@KanesKiln]

You know it!