When I did this I spent forever looking for the right box before I found it at a thrift store: Steve Jackson’s Munchkin. Used dark wood grain contact paper to cover up the image of the game and printed out the wood grain covers onto a sticker sheet.
You're a life saver. I just printed the Car Wars booklet after watching your video! THANK YOU!!!! I also found out my printer does double sided printing in the process lol
Thanks, Cap! Just finished my OD&D LBBs! Used thick Japanese paper for the outer covers, giving them a rough vintage look. Slightly smaller than the originals (just under A5): pretty pleased with them. Must find a suitable box and apply the cover label now as a final touch, then pop them in, ready for use!
I'm not sure if I want to do this project, but it's so great to have all of this info to make it easier. Love the thoroughness, and the cool factor of this project is great. Cap, you're the man!
You might want to look for cardboard rock and fossil collection boxes. You can often find them without the trays since different trays can be sold to fit the same sized box.
LPT: If you buy a cheap (under $100) paper cutter it very likely will be made of plastic. The center area will bow and your cuts will be wonky. To fix this and get crisp straight cuts you may need to cut a narrow strip of wood and screw it to the underside of that edge. This does work very well.
I did this with the BFRPG books, and the result was really nice. I had to cut out the bestiary and rearrange how the info in the booklet was laid out, but the result was a nice, pocket sized booklet for each of my players. There's a straightforward means of getting booklets that look nice, too. If you have a office supply store around, they make some simple "Trapper keeper"-like book covers where whatever you print can be set inside. They don't look like the old books, but they look very professional. My players actually asked where I bought them!
Many thanks for a genuinely appreciated how-to. I've made a set of OD&D rule books based on your vid that have turned out really well, and I plan to make some sets for my players as surprise xmas gifts. Next challenge, making the supplements!
no cape hero making me save some money* been lurking ebay for quite a long trying to grab a white box (like for personal collection only, nobody I know plays old school and I doubt I would ever convince them to play OD&D) but they are always incredibly expensive and the most accesible ones are in really bad shape, been taking it super slow but just today while checking again I thought to myself "why do I want to buy a white box in the first place and why does it have to be an actual white box from 1974?" and it really hit me. I would be buying the box just for the booklets and for personal use only so why not just make my own reprints. (* - may still need to buy the stapler but that thing can be useful for other things and definitely way cheaper than an original white box)
As it turns out, since I did this video, I've learned that the box the Munchkin Card game comes in, is a pefect match. I made a great looking OD&D box out of that.
I followed your instructions and the books all came out great. I just need to trim off the bits that stick out tomorrow at work. Next up is the box. Unless Earl Tea Grey comes back soon with the secret, I will try the Munchkin method mentioned by another commenter. My plan is to cover the box with contact paper (watched a Martha Stewart video on it lol) and then apply labels to the front and sides. Thanks so much for the great video.
I went to my local gaming shop and found a copy of a game called Gold Raiders on clearance for $10. The box fits the booklets perfectly. Here are some pictures from my Twitter twitter.com/bitbytech/status/1173025154282196992?s=21 and here is a link to Gold Raiders on Amazon www.amazon.com/Quick-Simple-Fun-Games-Raiders/dp/B075FC4ZMC . My contact paper skills could use some work, but other than that, I am thrilled with how it came out. I used this video from Martha Stewart to apply the contact paper www.marthastewart.com/976300/storage-box-covered-contact-paper . Thanks again!
I was lazy and paid a print shop to make the 3 little brown books, the reference sheet along the with chain mail rules. They did a good job however it cost me $110 as of August 2024
@@captcorajus That was the exact statement that rolled through my head at checkout🥴. My own fault for not getting an estimate before the work began. I noticed some folks made comments on the price increase of some of the items needed to make the books. I suspect even with prices of everything going up, it’s still going cheaper to do the work yourself vs outsourcing it.
Also, I no longer use a conventional computer. I’ve been using an iPad for everything for nearly six years! I also, like most, no longer own a printer at home as I did for decades, for over 15 years now….. So, now what do we do?
I'd like to point out that the version of the single volume D&D you linked has a bit of errata in it, notably the exclusion of Cleric saving throws, and some duplicated text on the spell list page for Clerics. The copy I have which lacks the Frazetta art puts the Cleric saves back in, but the weird listing for Cleric spells is still the same way. ("First" and "Second" level spells say "Fifth" and "Sixth" instead.)
The link to the special covers doesn’t work anymore. Do you still have the PDF’s of those? I have purchased the books on drivethrurpg, but want to print them with the original covers. Would you be willing to email the covers to me if you have them?
The Link to the special covers no longer seems to be working. Such is the ways of the internet, however I'm sure they can be found elsewhere. Unfortunately I personally can not send to anyone.
While it would have to be on mobile u less you have Photoshop (with a built in PDF to image) there are PDF to image and Img to PDF apps for Android. I've run books with mismatched pages, renumbered/renamed them and run them through the other app.
Shame finding this video years later is that both drivethrurpg and DMSGuild only have the 3 book wizards of the coast 2013 reprints not the all in one book you had.
Yeah. No. I’m too stupid to do this, sadly. 😕 Thank goodness I have White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game. Sheesh… this is just far too complicated! Thanks for trying, though….
If you want to make any extra money at all…. Make these and offer any of us any amount of money and we will pay high dollar for them….because…. Despite being ‘tech-wise’, etc, I absolutely cannot at all do this on my own….surely I’m not all alone!… 😕
![Quando Rondo - Grow Up [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8zFnCg3BO4Q/mqdefault.jpg)
The Link for the covers has been updated. Not also, I've since found that a Munchkin card game works perfectly for the Box.
Any chance of adding a Swords & Spells cover?
When I did this I spent forever looking for the right box before I found it at a thrift store: Steve Jackson’s Munchkin. Used dark wood grain contact paper to cover up the image of the game and printed out the wood grain covers onto a sticker sheet.
I tried that and it worked out great!
Two years later, I'm still enjoying the relaxing samba music...
I would love to see this project for making the original Holmes basic Dungeons and Dragons booklets and box.
Unfortunately a quality PDF of the Holmes basic set isn't available
You're a life saver. I just printed the Car Wars booklet after watching your video! THANK YOU!!!! I also found out my printer does double sided printing in the process lol
Awesome! So glad it worked out for you!
Thanks, Cap!
Just finished my OD&D LBBs! Used thick Japanese paper for the outer covers, giving them a rough vintage look. Slightly smaller than the originals (just under A5): pretty pleased with them.
Must find a suitable box and apply the cover label now as a final touch, then pop them in, ready for use!
I'm not sure if I want to do this project, but it's so great to have all of this info to make it easier. Love the thoroughness, and the cool factor of this project is great. Cap, you're the man!
Capt, what a great idea! I have the pdf’s already, so I will have to do this. Thanks for showing how to make these. Keep up the great work!
You might want to look for cardboard rock and fossil collection boxes. You can often find them without the trays since different trays can be sold to fit the same sized box.
LPT: If you buy a cheap (under $100) paper cutter it very likely will be made of plastic. The center area will bow and your cuts will be wonky. To fix this and get crisp straight cuts you may need to cut a narrow strip of wood and screw it to the underside of that edge. This does work very well.
I did this with the BFRPG books, and the result was really nice. I had to cut out the bestiary and rearrange how the info in the booklet was laid out, but the result was a nice, pocket sized booklet for each of my players.
There's a straightforward means of getting booklets that look nice, too. If you have a office supply store around, they make some simple "Trapper keeper"-like book covers where whatever you print can be set inside. They don't look like the old books, but they look very professional. My players actually asked where I bought them!
Coolest video I've seen in ages. Thanks!
Many thanks for a genuinely appreciated how-to. I've made a set of OD&D rule books based on your vid that have turned out really well, and I plan to make some sets for my players as surprise xmas gifts. Next challenge, making the supplements!
I was JUST looking into how to do this. A surprise but a welcome one. Thanks!
no cape hero making me save some money*
been lurking ebay for quite a long trying to grab a white box (like for personal collection only, nobody I know plays old school and I doubt I would ever convince them to play OD&D) but they are always incredibly expensive and the most accesible ones are in really bad shape, been taking it super slow but just today while checking again I thought to myself "why do I want to buy a white box in the first place and why does it have to be an actual white box from 1974?" and it really hit me. I would be buying the box just for the booklets and for personal use only so why not just make my own reprints.
(* - may still need to buy the stapler but that thing can be useful for other things and definitely way cheaper than an original white box)
As it turns out, since I did this video, I've learned that the box the Munchkin Card game comes in, is a pefect match. I made a great looking OD&D box out of that.
For paper cutter I recommend Japanese katana.
Great video, you should also look to Delving Deeper, it is my favourite retroclone of the 3LBBs.
I followed your instructions and the books all came out great. I just need to trim off the bits that stick out tomorrow at work. Next up is the box. Unless Earl Tea Grey comes back soon with the secret, I will try the Munchkin method mentioned by another commenter. My plan is to cover the box with contact paper (watched a Martha Stewart video on it lol) and then apply labels to the front and sides. Thanks so much for the great video.
Let me know if the munchkin method works!!
I went to my local gaming shop and found a copy of a game called Gold Raiders on clearance for $10. The box fits the booklets perfectly. Here are some pictures from my Twitter twitter.com/bitbytech/status/1173025154282196992?s=21 and here is a link to Gold Raiders on Amazon www.amazon.com/Quick-Simple-Fun-Games-Raiders/dp/B075FC4ZMC . My contact paper skills could use some work, but other than that, I am thrilled with how it came out. I used this video from Martha Stewart to apply the contact paper www.marthastewart.com/976300/storage-box-covered-contact-paper . Thanks again!
Thank you for this I've always wanted to make these.
Where is the link for the Single Volume Edition? Thank you for the instructions on making booklets.
I was lazy and paid a print shop to make the 3 little brown books, the reference sheet along the with chain mail rules. They did a good job however it cost me $110 as of August 2024
Wow! That's expensive! I hope you get good milage out of that!
@@captcorajus That was the exact statement that rolled through my head at checkout🥴. My own fault for not getting an estimate before the work began. I noticed some folks made comments on the price increase of some of the items needed to make the books. I suspect even with prices of everything going up, it’s still going cheaper to do the work yourself vs outsourcing it.
Def new sub here! Great Video, thanks for the link to the Single Edition!
Dang - that stapler is over $19 now.
Also, I no longer use a conventional computer. I’ve been using an iPad for everything for nearly six years! I also, like most, no longer own a printer at home as I did for decades, for over 15 years now…..
So, now what do we do?
I'd like to point out that the version of the single volume D&D you linked has a bit of errata in it, notably the exclusion of Cleric saving throws, and some duplicated text on the spell list page for Clerics. The copy I have which lacks the Frazetta art puts the Cleric saves back in, but the weird listing for Cleric spells is still the same way. ("First" and "Second" level spells say "Fifth" and "Sixth" instead.)
Good to know!
Could you please do a video on how to print up modules too?
I need to try this out. Cool video.
Great detailed vid, thanks.
The link to the special covers doesn’t work anymore. Do you still have the PDF’s of those? I have purchased the books on drivethrurpg, but want to print them with the original covers. Would you be willing to email the covers to me if you have them?
another one! you spoil us!
The Link to the special covers no longer seems to be working. Such is the ways of the internet, however I'm sure they can be found elsewhere. Unfortunately I personally can not send to anyone.
Try now
This is so awesome!
Now Print out Arduin and the Complete Warlock
Nice work, sir
Nice explanation, but more difficult than D2 after midnight
Use hot glued corrugated plastic to make the box
While it would have to be on mobile u less you have Photoshop (with a built in PDF to image) there are PDF to image and Img to PDF apps for Android. I've run books with mismatched pages, renumbered/renamed them and run them through the other app.
Hey, I’ve done many brown box replicas. I can send you the secret!
Please do!
I saw a video a few years ago on one you did for a friend. So yeah man, give up the goods!
@@captcorajus Lol, sorry, been swamped. I'll try and find my WIP pictures
@@earlteagrey Yes please, my friend. I'm all ears!
What is the original font used for TSR publications did you say Fact Sans i can't hear it clearly on the video
Fax Sans for the type. Chisel D for the Headings, and Quentin Caps for 'Dungeons and Dragons'
The link to the special covers is not working. Would you mind to send the covers to my email if you have them? Thanks alot
Go ahead and print out Chain Mail and a few Judges Guild Books while you are at it.
I have :)
You sound ready to stream a game?
I love the intro music, who is it and the song??
Its not a song, its a snipet of some 'things'. ;)
@@captcorajus well, it's funky, and I love it. Played it for the first time over my system at the house on my TV, it has bass! :)
H! Late to the party on this one; does anyone know the exact dimensions of the box?
6 x 9, I think
The box of the 'Munchkin' game are the exact proportions.
Shame finding this video years later is that both drivethrurpg and DMSGuild only have the 3 book wizards of the coast 2013 reprints not the all in one book you had.
Capt, do you ever play any games with these old school rules or do you stick with something more modern?
Well, to answer you question.. yes! lol.. I play a modern game based on old school rules... Hyperborea.
@@captcorajus Cool! I never heard of it. Just looked it up.
@@mr.e1944 I've done a few reviews on it
@@captcorajus I'll watch your reviews. Thanks Capt!
Yeah. No. I’m too stupid to do this, sadly. 😕
Thank goodness I have White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
Sheesh… this is just far too complicated! Thanks for trying, though….
If you want to make any extra money at all…. Make these and offer any of us any amount of money and we will pay high dollar for them….because…. Despite being ‘tech-wise’, etc, I absolutely cannot at all do this on my own….surely I’m not all alone!… 😕
You're not going to get TSR artists to sign those.
Why not? The PDFs are available at DrivethruRPG and there's nothing wrong with printing copies for your personal use.
Hate to be a nag Cap, but where is that City of Brass review?
in production! The darn thing is 500+ pages. its a project.
Okay, when I clicked on this I was expecting a video about making OGL games, NOT how to print out books.
Well, I hope you enjoyed it anyway!!