26 lbs of back breaking rulebooks

A Starfinder & Pathfinder Nostalgia Stack

Before digital tools, PDF readers, and slick VTTs, this is an example of what you had to carry to game night. A literal tower of books.

This example stack?
👉 15 Starfinder rulebooks.
Total weight: 26 pounds.

It’s a beautiful, absurd, back-breaking monument to analog play.

Before mobile apps and auto-calculating character sheets, this was how we played. Every condition, every feat, every creature or fantastic world lived in a physical tome that traveled with us from table to table, house to house.

And then there’s my Pathfinder Core Rulebook — spine cracked, edges torn, cover barely hanging on. It’s been hauled to every session, marked up, bookmarked, and battered by years of adventure. Not out of neglect — but because it was used. A lot.

Why Does It Matter?

These books tell a story — not just of the game world, but of the real-world players who made the stories come alive. They’re heavy, sure, but they’re also evidence of how immersive, committed, and communal TTRPGs have always been.

Yes, things are easier now. But sometimes, it's nice to remember what came before.

A Love Letter to the Crunch
If you’ve ever hauled a stack of hardcovers just to run one encounter, you get it.
If you’ve ever cracked the spine of your Pathfinder Core Rulebook mid-combat, flipping between grapple rules and spell effects — you really get it.

And if this makes you want to pull your own battle-worn books off the shelf... that’s the point.