Well, I dont have any of that stuff onhand, but what kind of library is it and who maintains or stocked it? That sort of thing would help. I usually fill such things with thing of interest to he who maintains the library; but some good things that would be in almost any library are:
Grimermores of magic; who developed named spells (like Melf's xxx) for instance and their research notes.
Books on metalurgy an properties of known metals.
Books on any other substance and their properties.(herbs, wood, bones, skins of creatures, eyeballs, water types, etc.)
Geograph stuff: political maps; cultural maps; migration patterns, weather patterns, physical maps of terrain and bodies of water.
Alchemy books - equipment lists, uses for such stuff; recipes that may or may not work.
Astronomy books; stars, constellations, moons; with astrology stuff.
Engineering feats; great structures of the world, incomplete and complete maps of bridges, castles, world wonders like pyramids or ancient cities, city sewers and plumb lines for irragation
Poetry- some might even be spells to summon something in a rite; who knows
Ancient and modern rites of the dieties and perhaps any other lost or forgotten power.
works of fiction; these tend to be travel journals that may or may not have really occured like Livey's ancient journal in Rome; he was commisioned by the goverment and sat at the docks for years collecting stories from sailors of creatures and places they had seen, but never really went there; it is a real book and is quite facinating.
Books on war and everything from logistics, types of soilders, gear, equiptment and the logistics of how much they eat, how far they can travel.
Care and feeding of any animal from horses to griffons.
hope this helps; is often helpful to give books a name like; Gerkinshams Grimomore of the Mystical Properies of Feathers, Scales and Quills or some such blather, after all somebody wrote it and they probably dont have copyright and such laws so everybody put their name on everything.
anytime.
I'm pretty sure it was in the Campaign Workbook section, but I don't remember the issue number. It was within the last 6 months or so.
You might be talking about one of mine, "Essential Works" but that was more than six months ago. I won't reprint it here, (now we know why editors make writers sign contracts :) ) but I can offer you something else that might work even better.
My first draft of Essential works was for Dragon and intended to solve your exact problem. Since that version went nowhere, and I doubt it ever will, here it is. The specific examples come after the random tables.
Keep in mind, I wrote this thing several years ago so don't judge the quality too harshly.
Essential Works (Mark I)
Books are where dreams live.
And dreams are what gaming is all about. Every Dungeon Master and every player is at heart a storyteller. Someone who once read about magic and adventure and mystery, and thought, “Why not me?”
Books are the real magic. Is it any wonder that when PCs encounter them in adventures they sometimes ask questions? Questions which a busy DM may not have had the time to think about. Inquisitive players may want to know the names and topics of every book in a library while acquisitive may want to know how much they could get if they carted each book out of the dungeon and back to civilization.
One of the secrets of being a good DM is to make advance preparation seem like inspired imagination. What follows are a number of table that will help DMs answer three questions that are often asked when books are encountered in an adventure. What is the book about? What language is it written in? How much is it worth?
What’s the book about anyway?
The topic categories below have been kept deliberately broad to make it easy to find a place for books on just about any subject. The table is intended to reflect the composition of a “typical” library in a fantasy setting, the interests of specific NPCs could skew the percentages outlined below. For instance, the library of a powerful wizard should be expected to have more then one-hundredth of its contents devoted to magical theory.
01-20-Fiction and Drama
21-30-History
31-35-Reference Works
36-40- Myths and Fairy Tales
41-45-Art
46-50-Law
51-55-Philosophy
56-60-Naturalism
61-65-Technical
66-70-Biography
66-70-Poetry
71-75-Religious Works
76-80-Political and Economic Tracts
81-85-Travelogue and Memoirs
86-90-Health and Medicine
91-Linguistics
92-Magical Theory
93-Games and Sport
94-Education
95-Picture Books
96-Gazzetters
97-Children’s Books
98-Military Theory
99-Music
100-Mathematics
Some examples of possible books in each category are included below.
Fiction and Drama
-Casamir III-a play chronicling the life of an ancient tyrant who murdered his way to the throne only to fall victim to his own paranoia when he turned on his family.
-An Ordinary Day-A novel detailing a number of amazing things which happen to a juggler during one day at a spring fair including a conversation with a giant and being polymorphed into a frog.
-Forms and Functions-A comedic play detailing the chaos caused by a doppelganger interfering in several romantic relationships.
- Rudigo Squeaks-A novel written from the viewpoint of a wizard’s rat familiar.
-A Withered Throne-A play dealing with the tragic decline of a great hero and king as senility clouds his final years.
-The Line of Traal-A collection of short stories following a family curse over a number of generations.
-Between Leaf and Stone-A play that examines the final sundering of elf and drow by focusing on a married couple who choose different sides.
-Fire and Steel-A novel about a doomed band of adventures as they prepare for a deadly confrontation with a dragon.
-Beneath the Silver Moon-A play that is a savage criticism of a local ruler using rumors of his lycanthropy as a metaphor for his reign’s excesses.
History
-The Age of Might-A painfully lengthy examination of the rise and fall of an ancient empire with numerous charts and inventories included.
-The Roll of Kings-A detailed account of over two centuries of a royal dynasty, a little bit salacious at times and with too much of an emphasis upon gossip but useful to students of that era nonetheless.
-Turtho’s Chronicle-An account of the events leading up to an ancient war and its aftermath, while the main text tends to be accurate there are numerous sarcastic and opinionated footnotes which make the author’s bias very clear.
-Knaves, Cowards and Fools-A very irreverent look at history focusing mainly upon the importance of stupidity and blind luck as shapers of events.
-The Road to Glory-A book that alleges to have traced the migration of the Elven peoples back to their first home land many millennia ago.
Reference Work
-Der Grotis-A dictionary of Elven words written for the modern dwarf
-Fauna, Flora and Ore-A hilariously inaccurate “encyclopedia of everything worth knowing” written by a monk who never left the monastery and believed every half-baked traveler’s tale he heard.
-The Bard’s Companion-A slender yet comprehensive rhyming dictionary, perfect for the adventuring versifier.
-A Catalogue of Wonders-A rambling collection of notes on magic items, monsters and similar things, the differing handwriting suggests that it was compiled by a number of authors over many years.
Myths and Fairy Tales
-An Inquiry into the Nature of Origins-A compendium of creation myths told by many different faiths and cultures in an attempt to find some sort of universal truth by looking for common elements, very dry and academic.
-The Roots of Superstitions-Another dry academic tome, this one claming that there are rational explanations for most superstitions and gives a number of intriguing examples.
-The Twilight Road-A series of tales about a legendary folk hero and champion of the common man known only as the Shadow Weaver.
-Lessons from Legend-A collection of stories dealing with any number of magical beings, their weaknesses and how mortals can use these to outwit them.
Art
-The True Form-A medusa gives her opinions about sculpting and makes a not very convincing attempt to justify her efforts at “authenticity”.
-Secrets of Light and Dark-Perhaps the most revered book on painting, it gives innumerable tips and insights ranging from picking a subject to formulas for creating specific shades of paint.
-The Dramatics-A barely coherent guide to acting, directing and play writing focusing on achieving some sort of oddly mystical “union” with inspiration.
-Feathers in the Wind-A guide to the art of dance, rumored to be based upon the fighting techniques of an ancient order of monks.
Law
-The Laws of Inheritance-A weighty tome that is one of the classics of property law, among other things it was the first to deal with what rights, if any, free willed undead have in a society and concluded that generally they have none.
-The Codes of R’Tern-One of the earliest known law codes it contains all sorts of useful insights about the evolution of justice towards the modern day.
-Divine Judgement-Essentially a plea for anarchy it advocates that all punishment should be left in the hands of the gods and fate since mortals are imperfect and corruptible.
Philosophy
-Observation and Reality-A bizarre discussion of the nature of reality, the author essentially claiming that nothing exists unless someone sees it and refers to the gods as “witnesses”.
-Hunter and Prey-A sympathetic look at the beliefs of a number of intelligent monster races such as beholders, giants, lamia and yuan ti, allegedly written by a mind flayer scholar.
-Learning from the Nine Wisdoms- The author begins by outlining what he believes to be nine fundamental moral frameworks based upon the opposition of such abstractions as “Law versus Chaos” and “Good versus Evil” and then concludes by showing that pure objectivity is the key to inner harmony.
Naturalism
-A Field Guide to Edible Plants and Natural Poisons-Divided into two sections readers are repeatedly cautioned not to get them mixed up.
-Beasts of Stone-Uses the existence of fossils to propel a dubious theory about the supremacy of earth over the other elements and dwarfs over other races.
-Lore of the Elders-A patently absurd collection of lies and half-truths claiming to be based upon interviews with a number of treants.
-Fungi of the Underdark-A comprehensive guide to fungus looking at such things as the consequences of eating them, their medicinal properties, secrets of cultivation and the sorts of creatures who feed upon them.
Technical
-Elementary Principles of Construction-A competently written work intended to help engineers in a number of situations including bridge building, fortifications and mining.
-The Riddle of the Fire and Water-A classic of smith craft written as if a dialogue between several legendary dwarven smiths.
-The Mysterium-A very detailed explanation of the secrets and rituals of a particularly famous guild of glass blowers, also included is a graphic description of what they will do to any outsiders who steal their techniques.
-Cuisine for Connoisseurs-A cookbook filled with exotic recipes such “Breaded Basilisk” and “Stirge Puffs”.
Biography
-The Life of Delmin the Wise-A fawning account of a mediocre ruler written by his court scribe.
-The Roots of Darkness-A book detailing a succession of great villains in an attempt to prove that they were all the same person, some sort of reincarnating “source of evil”, with several chapters at the end devoted to calculations intended to help the reader predict when and where this being will be born again.
-The Eye of the Enemy-A paladin’s description of the upbringing of a variety of captured monsters in an attempt to show that evil is not inherent but learned.
-Lessons from Holy Men-A highly idealized account of the early life of a number of saintly individuals, each life meant to emphasize a particular virtue such as charity or patience.
Poetry
-A Symphony of Thew and Thunder-A legendary collection of odes to battle, war and the glory of combat.
-Echoes of the Final Years-An epic detailing a possible end of the world.
-Reflections of Night and Noon-A collection of poems that are supposed represent dream fragments ranging from nightmares to daydreams.
-Paeans of the Heart-A collection of love poems from many races.
Religious Work
-The Fundamentals of Faith-A thoughtful look at the nature of mercy, truth and goodness.
-Defense for the Cleansing-A harsh and intolerant justification for a notorious holy war and subsequent persecution of dissenters.
-Nyall’s Ritual Curses-A comprehensive collection of curses, hexes and the rituals of excommunication for all the major faiths.
-Proscribed Rituals and Forbidden Texts-A list of books banned by a particular religion arranged into neat categories to explain why they are forbidden as well as a detailed exploration of various “heretical” practices.
Political and Economic Tract
-The Origin of Privilege-A scathing attack upon inherited wealth and property, responsible for at least one revolution.
-The Natural Aristocracy-One of the first books to develop and advocate the concept of Magiocracy, rule by magically gifted.
-A Heritage of Hatred-A frothing attack upon gnomekind, shrilly blaming them for all the troubles in the world including absurd “proofs” that they are secretly a subspecies of orc.
-When All Where Kings-A nostalgic description of what life was like before the development of civilization and a wildly impractical plan to return to this ideal state.
Travelogue and Memoir
-My Travels to the City of Brass and Elsewhere-An amusing account of a wizard’s travels throughout the multiverse filled with all sorts of interesting facts and anecdotes.
-Customs of the Outer Islands-A detailed examination of the society and culture of the fisherfolk of a distant island archipelago.
-I Lived those Years-A highly literate account of a young noble’s training as a soldier and subsequent activities as leader of a colorful band of guerrilla fighters.
-The Diary of Njord-An early draft of a famous journal that chronicles how the founder of a powerful noble family came to prominence, this one revealing him as a cold blooded pirate, not the idealized lie his descendents are prepared to kill to maintain.
Health and Medicine
-Anatomy of the Five Forms-An exactingly detailed look at the interior workings of five races, dwarfs, elves, gnomes, halflings and humans.
-The Path to Wellness-A seminal work that explores the relationship between illness and lifestyle choices, in particular offering a number of diets and exercises intended to cure various diseases.
-The Healing Properties of Gems-A serious and scholarly look at the mystical properties of gemstones and how they can be used to improve the reader’s health.
-Ten Things Clerics Don’t Want You To Know!-A relentlessly enthusiastic and chirpy little book claiming to show how a person can live without healing magic.
Linguistics
-Fundamentals of Grammar, a structural approach-A mind numbing look at how various languages are constructed in hopes of finding a set of universal principles, a good substitute for anesthesia.
-Master Orcish in One Week!-An accessible and effective teaching aide though wildly optimistic about how long it would take to actually learn the language.
Magical Theory
-As Above So Below-A collection of astrological charts and formulas designed to assist in creating horoscopes for people, places and things.
-Principia Magica-One of the most influential works on magic ever written it offers a number of “laws of magic” that are still critical in advanced research.
Games and Sport
-The Rules of Frotage and Fifty Classic Matches-An obsessive look at a rather obscure board game, while the author clearly knows his subject one cannot help but feel a measure of pity for someone so emotionally stunted.
-Tools of the Trade: Fundamentals of Performance-A collection of tips for carnival entertainers such as jugglers, tumblers and ventriloquists.
Education
-The Multiverse for Beginners-A user friendly explanation of the many planes of existence.
-Manners for Mealtime-Contains all sorts of notes on dining etiquette ranging from the proper cough needed to ask for seconds of dwarven rock bread to how to leave an ogre birthday party without triggering a blood feud.
Picture Books
-Faces of the Age-A collection of portraits of the most influential men and women of an earlier century.
-Fantastic Beasts: A Spotter’s Guide-A detailed collection of drawings of magical monsters.
Gazetteers
-Trails, Trade and Travails-A loose folio of precisely drawn maps intended to assist merchants showing both dangers and opportunities.
-Nain’s Map Fragments-A collection of pieces of old treasure maps and some speculative notes about what those who decipher them might find.
Children’s Books
-Uncle Tumbleblossom’s Trip to Letter Land-A cutesy and patronizing attempt to teach children the alphabet by following the adventures of an annoying halfling.
-Look, Touch, Smell-A friendly little book that encourages children to fully experience their surroundings.
Military Theory
-Ten Sea Battles that Changed the World-A gripping description of a series of decisive naval engagements.
-The Art of Siegecraft-A dry but informative exploration of the strategic and tactical components of sieges ranging from sapping to catapult maintenance to the logistics of starvation.
Music
-Music of the Spheres-A collection of sheet music allegedly based upon something called “Celestial Harmonics”, with the author’s plea for donations at the end.
-Jurlo’s Workbook-The early composition notes of a brilliant and famous songwriter.
Mathematics
-The Reality of Numbers-An exploration of math for laymen, presents a gripping and accessible look at how mathematics affects all aspects of life.
-Geometry for Dimension Travelers-A staggeringly complex look at the multiverse that makes heavy use of the fifth and sixth dimension to explain exactly how planar travel works.
What language is it written in?
01-50-Common
51-55-Old Common/Dead Language
56-60-Monster language (see below)
61-70-Dwarven
71-80-Elven
81-85-Gnome
86-90-Halfling
91-95-Planar language (see below)
96-Natural (1-50 Sylvan, 51-100 Druidic)
97- Gibberish/Indecipherable
98-Multiple Languages (roll d6+1 times)
99-Cypher
100-Magical
Monster Languages
01-40-Draconic
41-50-Goblin
51-55-Giant
56-60-Gnoll
61-70-Orc
71-100-Undercommon
Planar Languages
01-15-Abyssal
16-25-Aquan
26-35-Auran
36-65-Celestial
66-75-Ignan
76-90-Infernal
91-100-Terran
-Common typically refers to the everyday language of the campaign. DMs who have created several modern languages for different parts of the campaign world are encouraged to modify the table to take this into account.
-Old Common/Dead Language refers to any campaign equivalents to Latin or similar languages.
-Gibberish/Indecipherable deals with books that cannot be translated even by magical means implying they are either are collection of nonsense or written in a language that is somehow immune even to magical divination.
-Cipher deals with books that are written in a code which can be broken by careful work or by magical means. Many organizations may possess a secret language known only to members, Druidic for instance, is exactly such a language. These organizations could include such things as craft guilds to keep technical knowledge hidden, religions for the higher mysteries of the faith and even an aristocracy to keep the “secret history” of a realm hidden from prying eyes.
-Magical Writing deals with books that can only be read by magic or in some sort of special circumstances (such as under the light of the full moon or in the presence of a fiend). While it is likely that the person who wrote the book (and took such extraordinary precautions to keep the words secret) considered its contents to be highly valuable DMs should keep in mind that people, even obsessive arch mages, can be wrong.
How much is it worth?
The typical campaign world assumes that books are much more common then should be physically possible prior to the invention of the printing press. We can see this in such things as the high literacy rates (every character class save barbarians begins play able to read) and the relative affordability of paper and ink. It is likely that some sort of magical process is at work increasing the availability of printed material. Exactly what this is could vary from campaign to campaign ranging from specially created “Copy Golems” to “Pens of Dictation” or anything in between. Whatever the reason an increase in the supply of books also tends to deflate their relative value.
Look at it this way, if a low-level wizard can afford to have a library for the PCs to plunder, the library itself cannot be worth a vast fortune.
Book Base Value
01-05-3d8 sp
06-10-d8 gp
11-20-3d8 gp
21-30-d8 x 5 gp
31-40-3d8 x 5 gp
41-70-2d8 x 10 gp
71-80-5d8 x 10 gp
81-90-2d8 x 100 gp
91-95-5d8 x 100 gp
96-99-d8 x 1000 gp
100-3d8 x 1000 gp
Value Modifiers (roll once)
2-Ownership of the book is dangerous because it is forbidden/censored by a powerful group or individual such as the secret police or the inquisition (reduce base value by 75%)
3-Book is partially or completely made of some material likely to be offensive to many such as the flayed hide of a sentient being (reduce base value by 50%)
4-Book is heavily damaged (reduce base value by 50%)
5-Book is rumored to be under some sort of curse or ill omen (reduce base value by 25%)
6-Book has some minor damage such as torn pages or bloodstains (reduce base value by 25%)
7-Book value unchanged
8-Book has gorgeous calligraphy and illustrations (multiply base value by 1.5)
9-Book is rumored to contain some valuable secret (multiply base value by 1.5)
10-Book has annotations containing added information or indicating that it was once owned by a famous person (multiply base value by 2)
11-Book is a work of art and/or made of precious materials (multiply base value by 2)
12-Book is an obscure work by a famous author (multiply base value by 3)
wow i hope that was a cut and paste :)
Hal for President!!
That was very cool of you, Hal.
Wow!
I'm speechless!
Wow!
There's also a Book subject generator on DM Tools, the idea for which I gleaned from Hal's article.
for a few specific books you could always try the class acts artcicle "Grimiores" from Dragon #338.
oh; and if you dont mind a shameless plug; that most awesome Lilth maintains a rocking npc generator that you might find useful. She too is the greatest :)
I purchased a couple of very useful PDF files from Ronin Arts that provide a variety of useful titles and descriptions for books that you might want to look into:
* 101 Spellbooks
* A Dozen Holy Books and Divine Tablets
If you'd be interested in some ideas for actual libraries, as well as a couple of more book ideas, they also have Athenaeum Arcane: Esoteric Libraries
Lastly, they also sell A Dozen ... Collection 2 which contains several PDFs that each contain a dozen items of one kind or another that includes "A dozen documents and papers" and "A dozen free spellbooks" and the afore-mentioned "A dozen holy books and divine tablets" among other non-book related items. I haven't read the "documents and papers" one but the "free spellbooks" is also quite good.
Hope that helps some. :-)
Jenni
Hal,
Can I post that on my web site? -- with credit to you, of course and spruced up a bit to make it more readable.
Web site: http://www.soundadvicefortoday.com
Best,
John Simcoe
I think I have took part on such conversation here before, but it might be a long time ago...
Indeed most classes can read (a thing which I might change in some future campaign) but I was wondering if non-adventuring classes can...all those experts, warriors, commoners...
If one wants to give the library more historical feel, I would say the table should maybe have somewhat less fiction and drama and more history and religion...though also typical of the time period is strong overlapping of the topics...philosophy and religion would easily be spilling over to books about naturalism or law and the separation of history and fiction could be very blurred...
And no pornography? Or is it "art"?
Oh, and on value modifiers...
"2-Ownership of the book is dangerous because it is forbidden/censored by a powerful group or individual such as the secret police or the inquisition (reduce base value by 75%)"
Such treatment could be argued also to boost the price of the book, possibly with very high multiplier...
E X - C E L L - f r e a k i n g - E N T
This is much better, Hal! Man, have you saved me some grief! I was hoping maybe the PCs wouldn't make it to the library tonight, but now I can't wait!
Thanks a million!!!
No problem, glad someone could find a use for it :)
Hal,
Can I post that on my web site? -- with credit to you, of course and spruced up a bit to make it more readable.
Web site: http://www.soundadvicefortoday.com
Best,
John Simcoe
Feel free, I wouldn't post something in an open forum if I didn't want people to use it :)
Indeed most classes can read (a thing which I might change in some future campaign) but I was wondering if non-adventuring classes can...all those experts, warriors, commoners...
If one wants to give the library more historical feel, I would say the table should maybe have somewhat less fiction and drama and more history and religion...though also typical of the time period is strong overlapping of the topics...philosophy and religion would easily be spilling over to books about naturalism or law and the separation of history and fiction could be very blurred...
And no pornography? Or is it "art"?Oh, and on value modifiers...
"2-Ownership of the book is dangerous because it is forbidden/censored by a powerful group or individual such as the secret police or the inquisition (reduce base value by 75%)"
Such treatment could be argued also to boost the price of the book, possibly with very high multiplier...
Only barbarians have illiteracy as a class feature, implying that everyone else can read. This wide spread literacy should also affect the distribution of available books making books with weightier topics less common than in the Dark Ages.
(good point on the porn... :) but it was intended for a family magazine after all :) )
My thought on the forbidden book thing was more about how it would affect the pool of potential customers, cutting down on demand and hence price. You're right, as a rule people willing to buy forbidden books do pay more, since this also affects supply, argueably more so.
Director of Sales
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As foreguessed by Cosmo, the PCs didn't get to the library yet. It *seems* to be on their list of places to go in the very near future, but we didn't progress as far as I thought we might, then they decided to take up another thread that I had dropped for them a couple sessions ago. Maybe next week then?
Thanks to all for your suggestions and links!
Of course they didn't go to the library... you were prepared for it. Now if you hadn't have bothered/worried about it, or if Hal hadn't have been so cool as to bust out his stuff, then the PCs would have made a beeline straight for the library.
Thus is the nature of players. ; )
Glad to hear you had a good session, tho!
cos
Just wanted to drop a huge thank you to Hal for his awesome post. I cut 'n pasted it and printed it for any future forays into libraries my players make.
I also wanted to thank you, Hal. I already printed it out and it has found the way into my DM binder.
Great work!
The Tablesmith program also has a random book generator in it, in addition to all the other random tables it has and you can make.
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Totally awesome. When I run a game, my players know they can count on me to have all the quirky little "flavor" details accounted for. I, too, have printed out your grand library of ideas (10 pages!), and I'll be happy to share them with my group.
Thanks for everyone's fun and helpful suggestions; it's threads like this that make the Paizo messageboards feel like a real community. :)
Only barbarians have illiteracy as a class feature, implying that everyone else can read. This wide spread literacy should also affect the distribution of available books making books with weightier topics less common than in the Dark Ages.
My thought on the forbidden book thing was more about how it would affect the pool of potential customers, cutting down on demand and hence price. You're right, as a rule people willing to buy forbidden books do pay more, since this also affects supply, argueably more so.
Hmm, something like in most places it would be impossible to sell forbidden books but in underworld market it would fetch price*4 (and of course dealing in this market is always risky...).
The common literacy does bug me, as I cannot fathom how would such a society work while still have a pseudomedieval feodalistic society. Is feodalism kept in place by force? Then why not limit the possibility for literacy in the first place...too paradoxical for me. In our Western world mass production of books started pretty much in 18th and 19th century, before that (and for some while during) most people simply didn't read because it was pretty useless skill for most people.
Maybe in future campaign I will do something like this...
Mages and clerics get automatic literacy.
Monks, paladins, bards and aristocrats get rudimentary literacy, where they can slowly and with difficulties read their own language and Common. They can buy full literacy with 1 skill point.
Others are illiterate, but can buy rudimentary literacy with 1 skill point or full literacy with 2. So most rogues and experts would take literacy, but eg. fighters and commoners rarely do.
I believe I read someplace (The FAQ maybe?) that NPC's of the commoner are illiterate as well, and they should make up the bulk of any population base.
The article's all spruced up with art and html.
Here's the link:
http://soundadvicefortoday.com/2007/03/16/hal-macleans-essential-works--a-f antary-library-builder.aspx