CT Only: Book 3 POD arrived!

[plazman30]

I just got my Book 3 Recreation PODs in the mail. I used Mixam.com, because they can do custom sizes. Here are some pics.

POD Book 3 next to Book 9:



Book 3 on top of Book 9, showing they're the same size:



Inside cover:



Table of contents. I added extra text on the left side to let people know it's a recreation:



Sample Pages 10 and 11 showing how tables look:



Back Cover:



Inside Back Cover:



Fun project. I'm sure my friend will be happy when I give this to him tomorrow.

 

[plazman30]

Those scratches you see on the front cover I did with a bone folder, trying to flatten the book. Luckily, I ordered 5 copies. I'll flatten the rest with a DIY book press.

 

[spank]

Nice!
What was the cost?

I just got my Book 3 Recreation PODs in the mail. I used Mixam.com, because they can do custom sizes. Here are some pics.

POD Book 3 next to Book 9:

View attachment 7049

Book 3 on top of Book 9, showing they're the same size:

View attachment 7050

Inside cover:

View attachment 7051

Table of contents. I added extra text on the left side to let people know it's a recreation:

View attachment 7052

Sample Pages 10 and 11 showing how tables look:

View attachment 7053

Back Cover:

View attachment 7054

Inside Back Cover:

View attachment 7055

Fun project. I'm sure my friend will be happy when I give this to him tomorrow.

 

[plazman30]

$5.50 per book plus shipping. I ordered 5 books.

 

[whartung]

Very nice, shame the paper seems thin though.

 

[Ildefonse]

Excellent work, thank you for this!

 

[plazman30]

It's 80 lb coated satin text, which is 120 gsm, or 32 lb bond.

Don't know how that compares to the LBBs.

POD paper is not the same as offset printing paper sadly.

 

[spank]

It's 80 lb coated satin text, which is 120 gsm, or 32 lb bond.

Don't know how that compares to the LBBs.

POD paper is not the same as offset printing paper sadly.

I keep looking at trying to print a few different thing, But I have no idea how any of the paper weights translate to anything. Ditto cards, there are a couple of things I'd like to get printed, but I have no idea what the final quality of each different paper weigh would be.

It would be super nice if there was a default set-up for POD LBB style books. I'd really like to get some of the TAS ones off DTRPG printed.

 

[plazman30]

Well the offset paper used in the LBBs is thinner than what’s available POD. And the books I had done, I chose the photo book option, which prints a much darker and richer black. If I had chosen the standard paperback book option, I’m sure you would not see all that ghosting.

I also chose satin finish on the paper. My two options were satin and gloss. Looking at Book 9, I think the LBBs used something in-between.

I chose 80 lb paper because that was the default, and deviating from that raised the price

 

[plazman30]

Printing the books isn’t too bad. It’s the shipping that gets you. I’d love to get a book printed in each paper weight in glossy and satin with different cover weights and compare them all and then make a recommendation. But that could get quite pricey.

I would love for Mongoose to offer this as a POD. But if they did it through DTRPG, they could only offer in Perfect Bound and not Saddle Stitched, like the original LBBs. And I wonder what the market would be for this. Recreating the first 3 LBBs is something I can pull off. But everything else is beyond what I can pull off and still work full-time and deal with a wife and kids.

And I’m sure Traveller fans would love to pitch in and help. But how many of them have enough knowledge of desktop publishing software to contribute to such an endeavor?

If I can finish all 3 books, and get them done in a font that won’t ost thousands a year in licensing costs, then I’ll have a talk with FFE and Mongoose about how to make this something the community can purchase.

 

[spank]

Yeah,
Selling the PDFs on DTRPG sort of locks you into their POD system. I'd guess the only workaround would be to do a print run and then let Amazon or somebody fulfill the orders. That seems to work well for Basic Fantasy, which is supposedly distributed at cost. It's $10 on Amazon, with free shipping. IIRC it used to be $5, but now it's up to $10. But still a great deal. It'd be nice to see something similar for Traveller, a base LBB set, or even just the Facsimile editon on Amazon at or near cost.

 

[plazman30]

Yeah,
Selling the PDFs on DTRPG sort of locks you into their POD system. I'd guess the only workaround would be to do a print run and then let Amazon or somebody fulfill the orders. That seems to work well for Basic Fantasy, which is supposedly distributed at cost. It's $10 on Amazon, with free shipping. IIRC it used to be $5, but now it's up to $10. But still a great deal. It'd be nice to see something similar for Traveller, a base LBB set, or even just the Facsimile editon on Amazon at or near cost.

You don't need to use their POD system. Zozer Games sells all its POD through Lulu.com, and sells its PDFs through DTRPG. I know Stellagama sells books through Lulu.com also.

The problem with the LBBs and Lulu is that you can't do custom sizes, and their saddle stitch is square-back saddle stitched, so it's a little different. If consumers will accept new POD LLBs in 6×9 (the same size as the Facsimilie Edition), then Lulu is an option.

I used Mixam and am pretty happy with the results. But I don't know what's Mixam's global distribution is. I'm in the US, so I had no issues. Not sure what parts of the world they cover.

If you want the LBBs to get offset printed, I don't see any reasonable way of doing that without doing something like a Kickstarter or BackerKit to take pre-orders. Once you get enough pre-orders, you do a print run. I could see that working, once, maybe twice. But I don't see a market where keeping these in stock is financially viable.

Chaosium did a great job with their Call of Cthulhu 40th Anniversary boxed set, where they completely recreated the 2nd Edition boxed set (with much thicker cardboard, thank God) along with a ton of supplements and adventures. They ran a Kickstarter for it in 2021. And it's now the tail end of 2025, and they still have product in stock.