How do y'all store your games?

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Gringnr

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What it says on the tin. I have a mix of hardbacks, box sets, perfect bound, staple-bound, Magazine size, novel size, A4, A5(?) and some odd stuff like folded-up newspaper and "map in an envelope" (these last two courtesy of Recon 1e).

My concerns are environmental damage (light, moisture, etc.), longevity and bending/creasing.

Now, not all of my stuff is "mint" (though some is!). But I wanted to ask what y'all do to preserve the life of your games.

Edit: pics of what I'm currently working with. Ignore the lack of organization, this is a work in progress and we're moving house...

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Honestly I don't worry about damage. Some of my gaming stuff has had to live in garages so some of it is a tad musty smelling. Some has definitely been sun bleached. There's also boxes in various states of disrepair or repair and worn and bent covers. On the other hand, while the boxes are not in good shape, my 1977 Traveller LBB and my OD&D LBB are in extremely good shape. The condition of my RQ3 indicates that I have never used it in play (just as occasional reference) though the box is a bit beat up.

Wayne of Wayne's books recently posted on MeWe about the acid free storage bags he puts everything in. That's obviously the best way to preserve something you aren't regularly using, and may even be good for something with moderate use. At some point though taking a book in and out of a bag is going to add wear and tear.

The biggest danger is water damage. Don't store your games in the basement if there's any chance of flooding (yea, like we can all do that...). Make sure your books aren't underneath bathrooms, laundry rooms, dishwashers, kitchen sinks, water heaters, fridges with ice makers, or any other thing connected to the plumbing. If you live in hurricane or tornado country, try to have at least one floor between your books and the attic so you have some chance of staying dry if the roof is damaged. If you live in the shadow of a volcano or forest fire country, store your books in your bug out bag...
 
Thanks. It seems to me that the best solution is well-made hardnacks. But the older stuff is not usually available in that format lol.
 
Thanks. It seems to me that the best solution is well-made hardnacks. But the older stuff is not usually available in that format lol.
Hardbacks definitely have advantages. For valuable stuff that you don't use regularly, don't discount acid free storage bags. They will give some protection against water damage also.
 
Custom wooden shelving, with most everything vertical, as it would be on a store shelf. But it took me a long time to organize that, and for many years I had things in boxes in my (mostly dry) basement.
 
Some are on two Transcend external hard drives. And Drivethru is keeping the rest for me:shade:.
Oh, you mean the few deadtree books that I own? Those are between the other SF/fantasy/other fiction books on my shelves. Usually somewhere close to my gamebooks (CYOA/BWYATH):thumbsup:. But overall, it's not a big issue for me, due to being primarily a PDF guy.
 
All in deep freeze, which means they have to thaw out a few hours before I use them. It’s normally good to take them out in the morning before I set the oven.
 
Ok, time to share some pictures. I've been meaning to post up pictures of my office for awhile now. Since my office serves as my work office and for several hobbies, instead of trying to put specific picture sets together, I offer a tour of my whole office:

 
Ok, time to share some pictures. I've been meaning to post up pictures of my office for awhile now. Since my office serves as my work office and for several hobbies, instead of trying to put specific picture sets together, I offer a tour of my whole office:



Dragonstrike! Do you still have the VHS film/instructions?
 
Thou art one of the honored ancients whose hidden architects understand the elder forgotten secret languages of yore? I mean COBOL.
Jokes aside beautiful office and great RQ collection.

I'm starting to notice a pattern on the PUB and the pop of IT folks in here. :hehe:
Just because I took a COBOL course once doesn't mean I have the faintest idea how to program in it...

These days I do C with a smattering of Python, Bash, SED, and maybe a few other scripting languages.

My RQ collection has almost everything official from the RQ1/2 era (missing Creatures of Chaos and the Soloquests), and pretty much all the RQ3 stuff (mostly missing Land of Ninja, and maybe one or two other things). I mostly don't have multiple versions of things other than Apple Lane and the RQ3 repeats.
 
Then later I added this to the left of the above pictures to hold whatever I was using currently.

Below that I store the rest of my Harn stuff in binders of course but that how we do things in Harn :smile:

That's lovely. Looks like a store! I have mine on shelves, in boxes, in more boxes... I have too many physical books for my shelves, so I need to figure out some way to have them all visible. I should be moving soon, so I plan to try to keep that in mind as I unpack.
 
Large translucent plastic bins with snaptight lids, along with charcoal sachets (to absorb ambient moisture) and incense sticks (to perfume and prevent insects), away from ambient light (to avoid sun bleaching), on at least a second floor or higher (in case of flooding)... surrounded by enchanted Ty Beanie Baby guardians. :skeleton:

( :goof: Ok, you got me, that last part is not true. They are enchanted off-brand non-collectible stuffed animal guardians.:heart:)
 
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You make me feel simultaneously better and worse about my Lego collection. Better because I apparently haven't dived that deep in. Worse because mine is soooo much less organized.
 
I keep very little gaming stuff on display and store the vast majority in large plastic tubs. I use Chessex miniature cases for the minis. I normally keep my dice and tokens in a Crown Royal bag but it's time to upgrade to a leather pouch for dice. Cheap Plano boxes are a godsend for fiddly stuff like board game pieces. Gaming cards are sleeved and stored in cardboard card boxes, baseballs card sheets + 3 ring binders, or specialized card boxes. I use 3 ring binders and sheet protectors to keep campaigns organized along with 3x5 cards. I think that covers most of it.
 
I am clearly little-league compared to some of you guys! A few shelves in my mancave, four crates (GURPS 4e, GURPS 3e, WFRP 3e, Rolemaster (2 editions...)).

I have a very small number of more ‘collectible’ books (e.g. a signed copy of GURPS 4e from the launch) and they are on our ‘normal’ book case downstairs in what has become my wife’s home office under lockdown.

My 40k miniatures are in an honest-to-god ammunition crate. My mum used to work at the Royal Ordnance Factory which used to be nearby. One of the perversely reassuring things in the 80s was we had our own designated nuke if things went hot - no need to worry about how to survive a nuclear winter!
 
Are you sure that isn’t just a picture of your FLGS?
The other side is where my wife's videogames and merchandi$e are...

Mind you, games are pretty much the only thing we spend our surplus money on.
 
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If we're doing shelfies here's most of the RPG shelves
 

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So here is my shelf with commentary. I made this a few years back.

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The major difference today is that the OD&D wooden box went into the bottom of the more boxed set and The Dungeon Fantasy Boxed Set along with the Fantasy Trip Boxed set are in it's place. Plus I was able to obtain the Dragonquest 1st edition boxed set which is in the boxed set stack.. My criteria for "collecting" was to get back the stuff I used to own in the mid 80s. So if I saw a boxed set at a decent price on ebay I grabbed it. For example Champions 2e or Gamma world.

I also put all my classic traveller booklets in the white boxes to the left. Just make them easier to handle then trying to pull them off a shelf while running a campaign.

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I actually could use a hand and is this is the right thread for it. I game at a club and have to haul my gear around. I was using my old USMC rucksack but that thing finally bit the dust after 25 years and I need a distinctive and durable replacement. I strongly prefer natural fibers unless it's there's a compelling reason not to. Yes, I am one of those people who never wears artificial fibers.
 
I think my wife would divorce me if I had the collections that some of guys have.
Well in my case it came with the package. I never lost or had my stuff thrown away. And I done well enough publishing that I hadn't have to pay for any material with my paycheck for a while. But yeah I have some friends who wives would not look too kindly on them spending a lot on RPG stuff.
 
I actually could use a hand and is this is the right thread for it. I game at a club and have to haul my gear around. I was using my old USMC rucksack but that thing finally bit the dust after 25 years and I need a distinctive and durable replacement. I strongly prefer natural fibers unless it's there's a compelling reason not to. Yes, I am one of those people who never wears artificial fibers.
Thinkgeek's Bag of Holding

It seem out of stock but it is what they call a messenger bag. It is awesome and been using one for a couple of years.




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or

Tergus rolling laptop bag

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I think my wife would divorce me if I had the collections that some of guys have.
I owned 80% of it when I meet my wife and owned a comic/game store. If she couldn't handle it she picked the wrong guy. I also made it clear I would end any relationship that didn't leave me a reasonable space to keep the stuff and have as my own. I grew up in a house where mom had stuff and dad had junk. I suspect that's pretty common at least in that era. It's fine if someone doesn't like my hobbies but if they can't stand seeing them around they aren't the right person for me.
 
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