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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Bernd on June 27, 2012, 09:45:21 AM

Title: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Bernd on June 27, 2012, 09:45:21 AM
Hey Guys,

I bought “Vol 1: Your Story“ when it was just released, read through it a few times and played a single session (a one-shot). Some months ago my gaming group decided to play the DFRGP regularly, so I read it again a few times, we played two sessions and then my book fell apart. A month ago I bought another one. This one had its headband loose, so I sent it back and I got a new one (my third). I read it a few times (as preparation), we haven’t played again yet. But guess what, it starts falling apart again. And I was very careful.

Any of you having the same issue? I think about getting my money back and just print it myself and put in a ring binder or something.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

EDIT for clarity: With “falling apart”, I mean that the pages of my book get loose from the glue binding. It’s holding together by those cords. But it’s getting worse, like the binding ripping of the cover.
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: InFerrumVeritas on June 27, 2012, 12:49:04 PM
Contact Evil Hat.  My book's held up fine, but I've seen others post this before.  Fred there is really quite good at making amends and rectifying things.

http://www.evilhat.com/home/contact-us/
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Ghsdkgb on June 27, 2012, 02:18:52 PM
Yeah, this us actually a known issue. Some small percent of books had faulty glue in their bindings. Fred takes care of ya.
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Shecky on June 27, 2012, 05:43:16 PM
Ditto the above - sometimes, weird stuff happens, so Evil Hat is jaw-droppingly dedicated to customer service.
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Bernd on June 27, 2012, 07:45:17 PM
Well, it's the third book I’ve laid my hands on and all three of them were flawed. Two of those book were the second printing, I believe. My local retailer here in Germany even specifically looked for a copy the seemed to be okay (took him some weeks to find one that didn’t have a loose headband). Did they ship all the flawed books to Europe?

I'm not sure if contacting Evil Hat directly is a better way than handling it with my retailer (who is in direct contact with Evil Hat anyway), since I live in Germany and the shipping costs are almost as high as the book itself.

Just wanted to know if I should try until I get a copy that will last or if I should just ask for my money back and save myself and my retailer the hassle and just print it myself.
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: EdgeOfDreams on June 27, 2012, 09:18:35 PM
It's worth the effort to get a proper copy. It's a beautiful book, and unless you've got the money and access to a professional-quality printer, printing it yourself just won't look and feel as nice.
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Thomas Ryder on June 29, 2012, 10:31:06 PM
I'm over in sunny old England and my copy is holding up pretty well, so it could be a mainland Europe issue, or you could just be spectacularly unlucky. :(
Either way it seems like EvilHat take care of people and hopefully they will see that you are obviously a dedicated fan and deserve attention.

EDIT:  Oh and I completely agree about the beauty of the book.  I wouldn't be able to use a crappy printed copy knowing how stunning the original is.
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Quackerjack on July 06, 2012, 10:39:07 AM
My book began to fell apart too. Since I wanted to play the DFRPG I just tried to glue it back together. Now its kinda ugly buit it holds together. :D

Edit: I'm in germany too.
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Shecky on July 06, 2012, 11:20:18 AM
My book began to fell apart too. Since I wanted to play the DFRPG I just tried to glue it back together. Now its kinda ugly buit it holds together. :D

Edit: I'm in germany too.

Then do as has been suggested and contact DFRPG. They'll help.
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Chrono on July 07, 2012, 02:41:34 AM
They do well about helping!
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Quackerjack on July 07, 2012, 06:32:15 AM
Yes they do. Fastest reply I ever had.
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Andinel on July 08, 2012, 10:04:59 PM
Fred is fantastic at responding and helping out. My copy started falling apart recently too, and Evil Hat's already sending me a new one. I'm telling all my friends about how awesome they are.

It's nice to have a company so dedicated to customer service!
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Shecky on July 09, 2012, 03:21:54 AM
Fred is fantastic at responding and helping out. My copy started falling apart recently too, and Evil Hat's already sending me a new one. I'm telling all my friends about how awesome they are.

It's nice to have a company so dedicated to customer service!

Be sure and tell Fred that. Not only do they personally like hearing compliments (who doesn't?), it lets them know what they're doing RIGHT, which is just as important as knowing what they're doing wrong. And, to be practical, doing what you can to reinforce behaviors you like helps YOU out in the long run.
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Bernd on July 09, 2012, 11:23:38 AM
Some days ago, I received my fourth copy from my local retailer, and it fell apart on the same day. I now had four copies from different batches (is this the right word?) on my hand and all of them fell apart within days. This can’t be just bad luck.

Anyway, I gave it back and I’ll bring my original copy to a bookbinder and see if he can fix it.
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Shecky on July 09, 2012, 12:40:19 PM
Some days ago, I received my fourth copy from my local retailer, and it fell apart on the same day. I now had four copies from different batches (is this the right word?) on my hand and all of them fell apart within days. This can’t be just bad luck.

Anyway, I gave it back and I’ll bring my original copy to a bookbinder and see if he can fix it.

And let Fred know directly as well. This is the kind of thing he needs to know.
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Bernd on July 09, 2012, 02:21:53 PM
And let Fred know directly as well. This is the kind of thing he needs to know.

I was under the impression that he’s an active reader in this forum.

But you’re right. I guess I’ll write him an e-mail.
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Richard_Chilton on July 09, 2012, 06:52:49 PM
No, I don't think he's an active reader.  At least not in this section of the forum.

He owns these boards, he's the chief moderator of these boards, he runs his own gaming company, and has a family - I doubt he has the time to follow every thread here.

Richard
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Shecky on July 09, 2012, 08:38:15 PM
I was under the impression that he’s an active reader in this forum.

But your right. I guess I’ll write him an e-mail.

What Richard says; he's extremely busy and only gets to duck his head in here under extreme circumstances.
Title: Re: “Vol 1: Your Story” falling apart
Post by: Leadfeather on July 20, 2012, 03:50:21 PM
I was sent a second book after my first one fell apart. Unfortunately the second one fell apart also. This really comes down to an issue of the printer not Evil Hat and I felt bad asking for a third copy of the book even though the second one was defective as well. Its signatures were still glued together but they had separated from the cloth band (super) in the spine. I decided to try and fix it myself. It has been several weeks since I fixed it and in that time I have read the book cover to cover as well as leaving it open overnight several times and there has been no loosening of the repaired binding. I am not promising this will work for you but it worked for me. Enter all the usual caveats here about me not being responsible if you ruin your copy with excessive gluing.

Materials:

Elmer's Multi-Purpose Glue-All White Glue
Wax paper
A long thin wooden stick, I used a shish kabob stick
Spring Clamps, I used 4
Fingers, I used 10

1. I took a piece of wax paper several inches longer than the height of the book, I then folded it to the width of the spine so that it was several layers thick and fed it down into the spine of the book so that was between the hard outer spine and the cloth (super) that the pages are glued onto. This was done to keep from gluing the pages to the inside of the hard spine of the book.

2. I opened the book wide and set it up vertically, so I could see where all the signatures were loose. I then poured glue down between the cloth (super) and the loose pages. The hardest part was estimating how much glue to use, imo less is better than more. I spread the glue around more with the shish kabob stick until I was sure I had a nice even coating between the super and the loose pages. I flipped the book over and did the same thing from the other side.

3. I closed up the book and arraigned all the signatures so that they were lined up on the top and bottom evenly, then I pressed them all down into the spine so that the signature edges were pressed into the glued super, and the super was pressed into the wax paper which was pressed into the inside of the outer spine.

4. I clamped the book closed with the spring clamps, double checked that all of the pages were aligned properly (flush with each other), and wiped up any excess glue that oozed out of the top and bottom of the spine.

5. I left it clamped over night.

6. The next day I removed the clamps, opened the book, and pulled out the wax paper. Parts of the wax paper stuck to the super, I used the skish kabob stick to gently remove them. And the book was fixed.