B. Zedan

Binding Dungeons, Dragons & Dives Notes

Posted by bzedan on Jul 04, 2022

[Main image description: Six binder-clip separated stacks of sketchbook pages are offset to show the neon yellow skinny sticky notes that label each section. The notes easiest to read are: First Icy Icy Story (1), An escape room, bad choices, new friends, and Shars domain, and Skirt gets married.]

While we're in this extended hiatus from our Dungeons, Dragons & Dives game I decided to take these three and a half years of notes and bind them. Whatever story we do next will be new (and I hope to be better about how I collect the scans of these also, keeping stories together), so it's time for the rest to be archived.

Thanks to this really great and casual instructional video from (part 1 and part 2, also here's a non-video guide on the process) I learned a great way to bind loose pages that honestly is easier than perfect binding.

The first big campaign we did made for its own single collection quite tidily but the second half, after we started getting more players, had shorter stories. After separating things into clear sections (as seen in the image for this post) I made little section dividers. I ended up printing these on yellow-cream stock so there was a visual contrast between each.

A screen capture of an explorer window showing a folder with five section divider pages that have tidy black and white border designs and section titles in a simple script: Business in Icy Icy; Bad Choices, New Friends, and Shar's Domain; Skirt Gets Married; A Return to Icy Icy; and Into the Feywild.

With that done it was just getting everything aligned and squared up for the glue.

A hand holds two text blocks of sketchbook pages, the sides facing the camera have been squared up and have beefy binder clips holding them together.

I have no idea how I want to do the covers for these, but now I have two tidy textblocks ready to go once I do. Double fan binding is a DELIGHT to page through and lays flat. A lot of these pages have stapled-on additions and it makes for a very satisfying experience.

Two bound text blocks stacked on top of each other, the fabric covering the spine on both is a rough off-white weave with thin brown stripes. The top textblock's first page is a half-sketch and half-lined page scribbled with notes and character drawings, and has a separate small page stapled to it with a sketch of a bird wearing an apron.

A textblock opened up, laying flat, the pages are open to a section divider with a tidy black and white border design and, in a simple script, "Skirt Gets Married."

A hand holds open a textblock to a sketchbook page, the fingers lifting up a smaller page of notes that have been stapled to the edge of the page.

PDF downloads of the latest batches of my game notes are available if you're a supporter, but you can also check them all out here in this Flickr album.

Crossposted with Patreon.

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