Deluxe/Limited Editions

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Gabriel

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There are quite a few games released with deluxe "limited" hardcovers over the past decade or longer. I kind of like these sorts of things, and I get an irrational sense of satisfaction out of having something other than/above the standard version. Anyone else like them?

And, if you do go in for the deluxe/limiteds, do you store them away, or do you use them as your regular play copies? I'm a bit mixed on this point, but, for example, I use my limited edition alternate art D&D 5e books as my regular play copies.

Sometimes I think about how decadent it would be to use a Rifts 1e Gold edition as my regular toss-around/reference copy. Your definition of decadent may vary greatly. As you can see my definition has a very low bar.
 
It's funny, a lot of them are really generic embossed covers with some symbol on the front when the regular edition is actual setting art and then the page quality isn't really any better. So often I prefer the regular edition.

That said I eat up things like that when they are even marginally more appealing. I would use them as my "play copy" yeah.
 
Usually not. I think the DCC limited covers are far worse than the regular editions. Same with Exalted 3e.

I got the V20 leather edition cover. The paper of the book was so heavy, it warped the binding and there was no way to repair or replace it. I'm pretty sure DTRPG sells it as a 2 volume set for this same reason.

Since then, I have avoided special editions of books, unless hey are an obvious upgrade to the usability (cloth bookmarks, GM screen slipcases, that kind of thing). I think the Blades in the Dark limited edition fits the bill. Same with the Yellow King RPG.
 
I have a couple deluxe/limited edition books. The only one though that I find myself coming back to repeatedly just to go "wow this looks nice" is my copy of Ryuutama (in fact, I like it so much I'm sure I've mentioned having the limited edition version on the forums multiple times).

I do use it as my play copy.

I also have the limited edition of Interface Zero 2.0, but honestly don't care. I often forget which of the two is the limited edition one (I have both as the kickstarter came with both at certain levels).

(I do have the limited edition Shinobigami book coming eventually (I really do like Andy Kitkowski's translations, but he is slow as fuck, it should get here EVENTUALLY), but that one is a bit different, because on top of getting the cover treatment Ryuutama got, it is combining the first expansion book into the core book to make it one volume rather than the non-limited edition which is going to be two books).
 
I purchased the limited edition of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th because I wanted a less busy cover, tbh. By contrast, I preordered the standard Dune book because I like the cover.

Sometimes, if you really love a particular game, you just want the full works - so I’ll be getting the full leather versions of Pendragon 6 when they come round, for example. It’s nice to have the option at least.
 
It's funny. In my gaming group I had the reputation as the guy who got limited edition stuff. I'm looking through my collection and I can only find six books total that are limited edition vs small print run. I think they confused rare with limited edition. They can overlap but one is not necessarily the other.

My limited editions are:
Hellboy GURPS faux leatherette

Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 PHB,DMG,MM faux leatherette (PHB & DMG signed by Monte Cook because we were playing with him at the time and MM hadn't come out before we stopped and he moved)

OD&D woodbox reprint from a few years back.

And I suspect my most limited/valuable limited edition
Rise of the Runelords Deluxe Collectors Edition

Of them I've played with the 3.5 books and the OD&D boxed set.
If I ever run Rise of the Runelords I absolutely would put that on the table. It is really impressive looking and fits the adventure well.

Hellboy I'd use but the odds of me getting in a GURPS hellboy game are not high.
 
For a time I would try and get limited edition books if I could, now I don't bother.

I've got the RIFTS Collector's Edition, purely because it won't curl into uselessness through use. Heroes Unlimited and Palladium Fantasy Anniversary Editions, Beyond the Supernatural and Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles limited editions.

I did get the Warhammer 40,000 Black Crusade collector's edition for £10 less than the standard, ridiculously oversized fancy case and all.
 
I don't think I'd get into this for RPGs, as much as I'm a sucker for this when it comes to regular books.

Like Bunch Bunch , I have the leatherette version of GURPs Hellboy, but that's part of my Hellboy collection rather than my RPG hobby collection as I don't think its likely I'd ever run a GURPs Hellboy game (though this year that will be joined on the shelf by the KS edition of Hellboy 5th edition, which I'm probably even less likely to use).

Otherwise, I find that the sorts of RPGs I buy are overly expensive just in their regular editions these days (due to age and the Ebay Effect), and no one is doing any special collector's editions of them anyways. At most, when it comes to RPGs, I do prefer hardcover over softcover if it's an available option. Otherwise, I save the leather/collector's editions for novels.
 
If deluxe means better bound and more durable for use, then yes. If it's just a different cover, or as Skywalker mentions, leatherette, then not especially.

I prefer use over collecting. That being said, I do like having back up copies of games I like.

This is basically my approach as well. I'm not sure if there are special editions with extra content, but that would be in the same boat - what extra use do I get out of it. Particularly since game books these days just don't hold up like the old AD&D 1st Ed books have - I'm not going to spend a bunch of extra cash on a book where the spine's going to crack and pages loosen more or less as soon as I open it. Plus, I buy rulebooks to use, and seeing fancy special editions passed around beside the cola and cheezies would trigger my OCD something terrible.

I do have the Unicorn Clan special edition of the L5R 4th Ed book, but I got that on sale so it wasn't any more expensive than a regular rulebook.

All of that said, I do totally understand the collector's impulse. I'd probably have bought the special edition of Ryuutama if I had backed the Kickstarter - and no fear about getting that one soiled, I can't get anyone to play the game anyway. :sad:
 
I don't. But I'm uninterested in aesthetics beyond the functional (I have aphantasia) so I'm not the target audience. It's the same reason I buy a lot more second hand board games then the new stuff. The higher price range isn't justified by the nicer production for me.
 
I don't. But I'm uninterested in aesthetics beyond the functional (I have aphantasia) so I'm not the target audience. It's the same reason I buy a lot more second hand board games then the new stuff. The higher price range isn't justified by the nicer production for me.
I buy second hand games because I want MORE! for less. I'm not worried about other people's cooties.
 
I'd be fine with spiral-bound RPG rulebooks myself. It's funny how the miniature wargamming community has a sort of reverse-pretension to that of RPGs, where some (of course very vocal online) grognards won't even look at a game if it's published as a nice book with colour pictures, and isn't a badly photcopied analogue type-writer produced pamphlet bound at Kinko's.
 
I'd be find with spiral-bound RPG rulebooks myself. It's funny how the miniature wargamming community has a sort of reverse-pretension to that of RPGs, where some (of course very vocal online) grognards won't even look at a game if it's published as a nice book with colour pictures, and isn't a badly photcopied analogue type-writer produced pamphlet bound at Kinko's.
They hate it when the band sells out and goes all corporate and stuff.
 
Honestly I would like spiral bound just because it would be nice to have some books lay flat. Like a lot of hardbacks can lay flat but almost no paperbacks can.

(I'd still be in favor of nice art and paper/printing, but man spiral binding would be convenient.)
 
Exactly. I kinda feel the hobby has moved far away from prioritizing the needs of a reference book at the table.
 
I'd be fine with spiral-bound RPG rulebooks myself. It's funny how the miniature wargamming community has a sort of reverse-pretension to that of RPGs, where some (of course very vocal online) grognards won't even look at a game if it's published as a nice book with colour pictures, and isn't a badly photcopied analogue type-writer produced pamphlet bound at Kinko's.
Don’t they waste their time with carefully constructed and painted miniatures, or something?
 
Don’t they waste their time with carefully constructed and painted miniatures, or something?

As long as it was a grainy black and white polaroid taped to the page before photocopying
 
At the table, I usually just have my tablet or laptop there. My players will have a copy of the rulebook on their smartphones or tablets as well.

My wife has the biggest mental block to reading an RPG book from a screen. So anything she is going to run I have to buy physical copies for so she can read it. For things she plays in, I can generally get away with just teaching her the system myself.

(I'll admit I also prefer reading hard copies, though I've kind of accepted that 1. I have only so much space in my house, and I also have an extensive board game collection, and 2. a lot of stuff is just only available in PDF or prohibitively expensive physical)
 
I could maybe use a pdf during play (assuming it was well-bookmarked and set up for rapid navigation), but I can't learn a new system from one, if it's anything more complex that Risus. I still have to be able to sit down with a book and read it
 
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I love Free League games, but the artwork on ther standard covers is generally so good that it has led me to pretty much stick with those over the limited editions on all their games.
 
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